Is it just me, or is AP Days sorta lame?

[PinkiexLi]

So, I went to my first AP Day yesterday and I have to admit I was underwhelmed. We first hit Stage 12 where we had to wait in line (which I understand, being an annual passholders that standing in line what we mostly do) to get into the area. Then when you get in, you're greeted with a commemorative button and some recipe cards. You get a free bottled water and you're off to the next line which was a character meet and greet. There was a station for coloring and a booth that they do cooking demos and then another tent with photo pass and merchandise. (Tshirts and cups)

For some reason I thought that the character meet and greet would be a rare character brought out of the woodwork for the APs, but it was just Goofy in his Halloween costume. Which is nice, but really not worth spending over an hour and a half waiting in line for. Would have been easier to take pics with him in Town Square over at Disneyland.

Over at the gazebo, it was even lamer. They had a background that you could hold up an AP sign in front of for pictures. Oh, and another of the same commemorative button and more recipe cards. This time there was a kiosk with information on renewing your annual pass. We did get a scavenger hunt time thing for the phrase of the week but it was for fun only.

Don't get me wrong there were also some special menu options. I had the Mac and cheese with bacon pizza that was pretty awesome, but overall I thought it was ehhh....

Is it really lame, or did I miss something awesome cuz I didn't do enough research?

 

[Dreamsofcolor]

I went to an AP Days last year and it was a bit embarrassing. They were offering buttons, recipe cards and coloring stuff in the Blue Sky Cellar. I wasn't impressed at all and felt it was thrown together at the last minute.

 

[Indiana Scott]

Hate to say it but yes, pretty lame. We're not into the picture stuff and the sippy cup stuff and refills doesn't do anything for us either.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

We didn't think it was lame, but we didn't go in expecting to be blown away. Agree that it wasn't the same as the special AP nights in the parks that used to be offered. But it was nice to be recognized and appreciated by Disney and CMs for being passholders. The CMs we met yesterday were great about talking with us and asking about how we use our passes. And it was fun seeing other passholders we know in the lines. And we actually use the recipe cards and share them with friends who live far from DLR. Making the recipes is a fun way for them to live the magic between visits.

 

[Astylla]

I for one as a non local AP holder ( 6 hours away) was thankful to see it offered on weekends since that's majority of our visits.

We knew we needed to go early because it could get worse later in the day. This weekend was a last minute trip and we lined up around 11:50am and waited about 35 minutes to get in but were offered multiple bottles of water and appreciated they weren't the tiny ones but around 16 oz. They were offering food prep demonstrations later and we only waited about 15 more minutes for the Wizard Donald meet and greet which is who we really wanted anyway! He was very engaging with families and very cute even signing his autograph for a little girl on the coloring page of him.

We love the recipe cards since we can share them with friends and the buttons are cute to collect too. It's a fun little extra but don't think it's meant as a full fledged offering but again more of a bonus. I enjoyed it.

 

[disneychrista]

Anything to get local APs into the park.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Anything to get local APs into the park.

?? Above poster just said that she isn't even local and drove 6 hours for this offering. But if Disney uses the information from all the APs scanned during this month, they could get a pretty good idea of how many local APs visited and how many drove/flew from further away. We saw passholders from Canada and Australia, so AP Days definitely appeals to more than the locals.

 

[l4dyj8]

I think their exclusive AP event nights that happen now and then are better.... so I've heard. They are only on weeknights, select invites.

Experienced the AP days a few months ago. It's just a small perk. I appreciated stepping away from the crowds, AC and able to charge my phone. Don't expect more or wouldn't go out of my way. Although I hear that this time, parking is free?

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Free parking is a perk for APs who carpool (4 or more people in the car). A nice perk if you don't have parking added on to/included with your pass.

 

[cruisehopeful]

I went through some of it yesterday, only because we were there anyway. They were out of buttons, so they gave us a recipe card and a scavenger hunt. There was a special offer for photo pass, but I have that for free and have never used it. There were a lot of people sitting around with really large binders of trading pins. When we walked by the other area near Monsters, Inc, there was a line and we weren't willing to wait in a line to see what there was since the first part we went to was so lacking. I'd rather that they give each AP holder a single use fast pass and not have the other stuff at all.

 

[mich311e]

I for one as a non local AP holder ( 6 hours away) was thankful to see it offered on weekends since that's majority of our visits.

We knew we needed to go early because it could get worse later in the day. This weekend was a last minute trip and we lined up around 11:50am and waited about 35 minutes to get in but were offered multiple bottles of water and appreciated they weren't the tiny ones but around 16 oz. They were offering food prep demonstrations later and we only waited about 15 more minutes for the Wizard Donald meet and greet which is who we really wanted anyway! He was very engaging with families and very cute even signing his autograph for a little girl on the coloring page of him.

We love the recipe cards since we can share them with friends and the buttons are cute to collect too. It's a fun little extra but don't think it's meant as a full fledged offering but again more of a bonus. I enjoyed it.View attachment 195652

Your pic is super cute!! Love the backdrop!!

 

[Astylla]

Your pic is super cute!! Love the backdrop!!

Thank you we really enjoyed it too. The line moved quickly and we had fun!

 

[ImDMous]

I liked it, but I knew what to expect, it's pretty much the same as last year except a little less space. I've been twice and got to see Skeleton Goofy once and Minnie dressed like a cat once. Minnie was super cute! Neither time was a line to get into the area, just a line for the character which went fairly quickly.

 

[egritz]

I agree. We are 1st time AP'ers and made an adult only trip in February which happened to coincide with AP Days. I was completely underwhelmed. I don't care about buttons or recipes, and DH couldn't be convinced to stand in line for the character (it was Jiminy Cricket when we were there). Oh well. Definitely wouldn't help get me to visit if I weren't already planning a trip.

 

[disneychrista]

?? Above poster just said that she isn't even local and drove 6 hours for this offering.

In my opinion the target audience of these special events are not those who are traveling to the park but those who are local and maybe need something "more" to get them in the parks.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

In my opinion the target audience of these special events are not those who are traveling to the park but those who are local and maybe need something "more" to get them in the parks.

The target audience already owns passes. They don't need something "more" to get them in to the parks. The fact that they own APs speaks to that. All the complaints on this board about "the locals" tells me that other people think Disney hardly needs to do something "more" to attract even more locals to the parks. LOL. We can (and do) visit the parks often, without any extra incentive from Disney. AP Days is just Disney's (admittedly low budget) way of acknowledging a group of regular/frequent visitors. Your previous comment ("Anything to get local APs into the park.") makes it sound like local APs are desperate and undiscerning for Disney to throw them scraps. That may not at all be what you meant, but I know that I'm not begging for Disney to throw me a bone.

 

[Darkbeer1]

Disney clearly markets to locals and AP holders, and tries to get them to the park on slower days, as their perfect year is about 95% capacity 365 days a year.

So they picked a slow weekend to hold the event, to try and drive more people (read into that "wallets") into the parks.

They actually used the Pumbaa Lot for guest parking Saturday morning and Disney Way was backed up due to the heavy traffic. (I went to the AGW for a Sushi Class and got stuck in the traffic.)

Same with the different AP levels and blockout dates.

 

[disneychrista]

The target audience already owns passes. They don't need something "more" to get them in to the parks.

Do you really think they do these special events to "reward" APs? I don't. They do them to get the APs into the park, when it is expected to be lower attendance. Just because someone has an AP & is local does not mean they spend all their time at the parks. Events like this encourage visits with the hopes that they will spend money while they are in the parks.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Do you really think they do these special events to "reward" APs? I don't. They do them to get the APs into the park, when it is expected to be lower attendance. Just because someone has an AP & is local does not mean they spend all their time at the parks. Events like this encourage visits with the hopes that they will spend money while they are in the parks.

I didn't say "reward," I said "acknowledge." (And, if Disney is savvy, use the info from all the passes scanned to see who's visiting, how often, from where, money spent, etc.) But I'm pretty sure Disney won't mind if passholders see it as a reward. And, as Darkbeer1 stated above, Disney chooses to hold these events during slower times to pump up the numbers. What is wrong with that business decision? If some guests like it (not all guests, obviously), there isn't anything wrong with that. For the OP, he/she gave it a try and it didn't float their boat. At least they know now so that they can skip this event next time. Maybe another event will work out better.

 

[ludari]

I thought the previous AP event was better since you got to meet some rare characters and not just your regular characters in Halloween costumes. I also don't like the fact that the current AP event you have to get into a food line to get the recipe cards which is a pain especially since you have to share the line with people trying to order food. At the previous AP event you also received free bags of popcorn which is not a big deal but clearly it looks like they are just throwing things together hastily.