New Annual Pass Question

[LillyL76]

Hello,
we are vacationing at Disney World next month and we are planning on buying annual passes at the park. I have a couple of questions because we are first timers and we're not too sure on how it all works.
The reservation is made under my sisters name. We do not have a Disney account online. I keep hearing that the annual passes are linked to the online account, if we don't have one, should we make one prior to going? Do they ask you for it when buying the passes at the parks? Would we be able to make them when we get back and link the passes then?

Also, how many fast passes can you get with the annual pass? We're planning on going to all 4 parks over 2 days (2 parks each day). We arrive on Wednesday and will be going to the parks Friday and Saturday because we are getting the Florida Resident pass which has blackout dates and those are the days during our vacation that we can go and aren't blocked. If we buy the passes on Wednesday when we get there will we be able to set up fast passes before we go to the parks (if we make the online account beforehand of course)? If not, is there a way to set up fast passes in the park without a Disney online account?

Any other tips or advice on the passes or online accounts will be very much appreciated!

Thank you!

 

[wdwrich]

Sorry, but you'll have to purchase tickets/pass vouchers ahead of time and link them to a MDE account in order to make FP+ ahead of your trip.

 

[Hopefully]

You will get great detailed help if you post this question on the Theme Parks Attractions and Strategy thread here on the DIS, rather than on this Resort thread.
Good Luck

 

[Wood Nymph]

You can't make get fastpasses until you have tickets. You should up an account before you buy tickets. The CM that sells you the annual pass will link your annual pass to your account.

The Annual Pass gives you three fastpasses per day and all three of them must be at the same park. Once you have used up your 3 fp's you can get additional ones, one at a time, depending on availability, at a kiosk inside of a park.

An annual passholder can get fp's 30 days ahead of time. I am an annual passholder and I can get a fastpass for Buzz Lightyear at 7pm tonight, for example, even though I am at work in a different state right now. If you have a Disney resort reservation then you can book fastpasses 60 days ahead of time, but you will have to have your account linked to the reservation in order to do that.

What I suggest is to set up your MDE account and then call the tech support people to help you connect properly to your sister's resort reservation. That way you can make fp's together and see each others plans. Tech support does a much better job of combining families that a regular person can.

 

[buzznina]

Can I ask why you are waiting to purchase your APs at the park and not online? In case you did not know, WDW also offers us (FL residents) a 12 month payment plan so it's not one big lump sum. Then I would setup your MDE account so you can link them to your reservation and then be allowed to make your 3 FPs per day ahead of time. Waiting for your trip will limit your success of getting FPs for the top rides. You are allowed 3 FP reservations per day and once you have used those 3 you can get additional FPs at kiosks located in the parks. You are only allowed to make early FP reservations for 1 park per day, they do not allow you to reserve FPs for 2 parks on the same day. I would highly suggest getting to the 1st park at rope drop, where you can get on the top rides with the least amount of wait time and save your FPs for the 2nd park.

 

[LillyL76]

You will get great detailed help if you post this question on the Theme Parks Attractions and Strategy thread here on the DIS, rather than on this Resort thread.
Good Luck

I'm sorry, I'm new here so I wasn't sure where to post. I will try posting this over there! Thank you

 

[LillyL76]

Thanks for all your replies! The reason we're waiting to buy the annual passes at the park is because we want to try and pay the deposit cash and then set up a credit card for the monthly payments. I'm still trying to figure out if this is a possibility. If not, then I'd say we just buy it directly online. Anyways, I think I'm going to create an account and then whether or not we buy them online or at the park, we'll have that out of the way.
Thanks again everyone

 

[Hopefully]

I'm sorry, I'm new here so I wasn't sure where to post. I will try posting this over there! Thank you

No need to be sorry!!! I was just trying to direct you to the forum full of MDE and FP + experts
Enjoy your trip

 

[MakiraMarlena]

If you wait to buy your admission at the park, you will not be able to make any FP reservations ahead of your visit.

 

[buzznina]

Thanks for all your replies! The reason we're waiting to buy the annual passes at the park is because we want to try and pay the deposit cash and then set up a credit card for the monthly payments. I'm still trying to figure out if this is a possibility. If not, then I'd say we just buy it directly online. Anyways, I think I'm going to create an account and then whether or not we buy them online or at the park, we'll have that out of the way.
Thanks again everyone

Just an idea What about buying Disney GC(s) and using them to pay the deposit.

 

[LillyL76]

Just an idea What about buying Disney GC(s) and using them to pay the deposit.

That's not a bad idea! I hadn't thought about that; I'm going to talk to my husband about doing that! Thank you

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

If you are a member of AAA you can still get discounted tickets. We bought our APs that way. We also purchased the week-day only Florida Resident APs. We don't venture near WDW on the weekends - too crazy. They still have the regular black out dates though.

 

[buzznina]

That's not a bad idea! I hadn't thought about that; I'm going to talk to my husband about doing that! Thank you

I would call them 888-701-4100 just to make sure. And if you have a Target CC or debit card you can save 5% on Disney GCs.