New AP info I heard today!!

[TravelingJen24]

So, I called the disneyland hotel about ap rates for mid-feb. The castmember and I started talking and he asked whether I had received my letter in the mail. I told him that I didn't and he stated that since disney has offered their monthly payments that the amount of annual passholders has went from 65,000 to over 2 million people. Because of this, they are now only letting so many passholders in each day and when they hit the limit, then passholders will be held out. Apparently they already have signs indicating this. I have never heard of something so ridiculous. To act like the monies we pay for our passholder is any different than regular passes to he park is outrageous. I understand that they didn't expect this kind of response, but if that was the case, they should have capped the amount of people that were able to purchase them. Don't think either that this is just one type of ap. Apparently it is for all including premium. I was just venting and thought others should be aware.
Also there will only be a 10% discount for ap rooms between now and the end of april. There will be no additional APH or other discounts as there is just too much popularity. Great. The room at the DLH for feb. 17th for four nights was $288.00 a night.

 

[sonnyjane]

Until I see an official statement from them, I'll treat this as a rumor, but I would hate to think that my premium pass (or frankly any annual pass) wouldn't be accepted, and that I'd in fact be punished for taking advantage of a great deal. I am planning on heading up to the parks on Wednesday for the day, so I'll keep an eye out for any signage.

 

[boiseflyfisher]

I find that hard to believe.

 

[TravelingJen24]

Typically, I would think that same thing, but the castmember was speaking to me as another annual passholder and not a castmember. He stated that when they received their letter in the mail that his wife was totally surprised. I hope that it turns out to be wrong as well, but considering how high the prices are at the hotels through out the beginnings of this year, I wouldn't doubt it. I have been going to dis for fifteen years and have never seen the hotels so crowded during this time of the year.
I guess there would be nothing stopping them as this is part of holder agreement "Disney reserves the right to cancel, suspend or revoke any Annual Passport or deny theme park admission to any Annual Passholder at any time for any reason."

 

[SKWDW]

From the terms & conditions of Disneyland APs: "Annual Passports do not guarantee theme park admission"...

It would SUCK, especially if you paid the $439 that they're charging for the current Premium AP.

So it could happen. I hope they're not going to do it.

 

[TravelingJen24]

I would hope that no one would have to deal with that. I guess I'll just wait and see. Basically, I can't really afford to go now after hearing the room rates anyways.

 

[DangerMouse]

hmmm . . . interesting . . .

 

[boiseflyfisher]

It doesn't surprise me that there aren't going to be better AP rates at the hotels after the current AP special expires. I'd expect to see them again once Spring Break is over. Disney doesn't make money when hotels are 1/2 empty, so once demand decreases, I'd expect the AP rates to show up again.

If they want to decrease the number of AP holders, it seems logical to me that they would do away with the payment plan and the cheapest tier of AP offered. Any way they do it, if indeed they do anything, somebody is going to be mad.

 

[sonnyjane]

Hmm. If their plan to decrease the number of AP holders is to just anger everyone that has an AP, and essentially make an AP the equivalent of a stand-by ticket for a flight, then they will likely succeed. Until it affects me, it's not a big deal, but I assure you if I show up one morning and they tell me that they can't take my PAP because there are too many AP holders in the park, the angry, publicist side of me will certainly rear her head!

 

[Flitterific]

Hmm. If their plan to decrease the number of AP holders is to just anger everyone that has an AP, and essentially make an AP the equivalent of a stand-by ticket for a flight, then they will likely succeed. Until it affects me, it's not a big deal, but I assure you if I show up one morning and they tell me that they can't take my PAP because there are too many AP holders in the park, the angry, publicist side of me will certainly rear her head!

Ditto to that! I would be very upset if I flew all the way down there just to find that my PAP is useless Hopefully this is just a rumor though...

 

[Leofoenget]

So, I called the disneyland hotel about ap rates for mid-feb. The castmember and I started talking and he asked whether I had received my letter in the mail. I told him that I didn't and he stated that since disney has offered their monthly payments that the amount of annual passholders has went from 65,000 to over 2 million people. Because of this, they are now only letting so many passholders in each day and when they hit the limit, then passholders will be held out. Apparently they already have signs indicating this. I have never heard of something so ridiculous. To act like the monies we pay for our passholder is any different than regular passes to he park is outrageous. I understand that they didn't expect this kind of response, but if that was the case, they should have capped the amount of people that were able to purchase them. Don't think either that this is just one type of ap. Apparently it is for all including premium. I was just venting and thought others should be aware.
Also there will only be a 10% discount for ap rooms between now and the end of april. There will be no additional APH or other discounts as there is just too much popularity. Great. The room at the DLH for feb. 17th for four nights was $288.00 a night.

First of all I take exception to the 2million #. According to "other sources on another board" the AP's are reaching 1 million not 2.

Secondly, I would assume on any day the park was getting close to reaching capicity, they would limit the number of guests entering the parks AP or not. IF they decide to put EXTRA limits on the AP's other than the normal blockout days, and it's a "first come first serve" and I could be bared from entering on any normal day, then I may rethink my AP. I live far enough away to not really care about the AP if it came to that.

 

[Sherry E]

Well, I hope we can get confirmation from some other people soon. Maybe other folks will receive the letter that is supposed to have gone out?

I just want to make sure the OP knows that we appreciate any and all info! It's just that this sort of story is big news - especially in light of all the recent crowd issues largely due to AP holders - so I think everyone might be a little surprised that no one else has posted about it yet. It could be that once this "letter" the CM told you about starts circulating, it will be a very hot (and controversial) topic here on the DIS!

I didn't realize that the number of AP holders is at 2 million or more. I thought it had been at almost one million before Christmas, and I assumed it probably climbed significantly after Christmas, but to climb by more than another million people is insanity!!! If what the CM told you IS true, DLR clearly has to do something to revamp the AP program in some way. They should have put a cap on how many APs were sold to begin with, not put a cap on the number of people who can get in after they have bought the APs. That is basically robbing people! Yes, I know that technically they have the legal right to limit who goes into the park, but they wouldn't be in that mess in the first place if they hadn't sold so many APs or made them so easy to get! That is like they are saying, "Okay, well we took your money but now you can't get in if we are extra busy." They should have eliminated the monthly payment plan - and I say that being someone who was considering doing the monthly payment plan, but I will fully understand if they have to get rid of it - and as, I think, Lulubelle suggested, they should combine the 2 SoCal APs into one AP and raise the price on it.

 

[bumbershoot]

Also there will only be a 10% discount for ap rooms between now and the end of april. There will be no additional APH or other discounts as there is just too much popularity. Great. The room at the DLH for feb. 17th for four nights was $288.00 a night.

Except for the fact that there IS an AP rate from now through Feb 11, and a whole section dedicated to it on the AP pages...

If the CM didn't know *that*, what else doesn't he know?

From the terms & conditions of Disneyland APs: "Annual Passports do not guarantee theme park admission"...

Tickets don't guarantee admission on any given day, either. Not if it's too crowded!

 

[blackjackdelta]

Except for the fact that there IS an AP rate from now through Feb 11, and a whole section dedicated to it on the AP pages...

If the CM didn't know *that*, what else doesn't he know?



Tickets don't guarantee admission on any given day, either. Not if it's too crowded!

I agree with Molly. I do not have an AP but did look up the terms and conditions and she is correct.(I expected so.) I did call a few minutes ago and the CM I spoke with could not answer the questions about what the OP posted. I asked how long she had been with the resort in the position she has and she stated 9 years.

If all that happen, it would be very Draconian of Disney to do so and I do not see Disney being that way.

Jack

 

[iKristin]

I doubt they would turn away any AP holders except when it is over capacity of course. I just don't see Disney doing this at all and sounds like a rumor.

 

[Eeee-va]

This is really interesting. I have a hard time believing it exactly as the CM understood it, as I think Disney would rather have a full park than an empty one, even if that means letting in several thousand AP-holders after 5 PM and having considerably fewer paid admissions.

That said, DL got insanely crowded just for a new fireworks show (which the most vocal AP-holders online disliked!) and a couple comparatively minor changes to Fantasmic!. The thought of crowd control for a major new show, the likes of which have never been seen before, PERIOD, must be scaring Disney pretty bad.

I CAN see them changing their priorities for who can get in when the park hits capacity. In other words, as awful as it would be, when the park gets crowded, I can imagine them denying admission to AP-holders first, and THEN stop selling tickets. Looking at short-term financials, it does not make sense for them to let people with "free" admissions in while turning away people who would like to pay money to get in.

Now, this would still create a lot of ill-will from AP-holders and quite possibly come back to hurt them. But it would not be nearly as problematic as them turning away an AP-holder who arrived at 10 AM simply because the AP "quota" has been filled, even though the park is only at half-capacity.

If the rumor is true but the regular "handstamp" rules apply, then I would be upset for the people who bought their APs thinking they could get in, say, after work every Friday. For myself, I'd just be mildly annoyed, because the worst it would probably do would be to keep me from getting into Disneyland on my arrival date into the parks--all other days I'd be there bright and early. Even if I were tired from the night before, I would not sleep in and just open up DCA instead of DL--I'd know I'd need to get there early no matter what.

But if any of these restrictions are true, the thought of being considered a third-class citizen of Disneyland does make me less interested in being an AP-holder in the future. Disney probably wouldn't mind that too terribly much, since I live out of town and I'm sure they would like me to buy park hoppers instead. (Although I wouldn't spend the money for hoppers twice in one year, so in 2009 they wouldn't have had me there to spend money on some pretty non-crowded days in December if I hadn't upgraded my park hopper to an AP in crowded June ).

 

[TravelingJen24]

I appreciate all the views that have been posted. I, of course, cannot guarantee anything that I ever hear from a cm and most of the time I don't trust anything that I hear. I don't want anyone to get the feeling that I am not understanding of the fact that people misunderstand information they receive all the time, including castmembers. Trust me, I hope that this information is totally incorrect, but the way things have been changing at dis, I wouldn't be surprised. My cousin was just there and they stated that the lines were short, but that the park was packed. That maybe because of all the aps. Who knows?

 

[californiamomof4grls]

It make since that they would limit the APs before the people buying tickets for the day but what I don't understand is does your stamp still work?
And did anyone think that perhaps they are trying to get more people into DCA they are spending an insane amount of money right now. They have construction going on which may be driving down sales enough that they are trying to send people over there. I mean if you (APs) are denied access to DL you would probably head over to DCA, right? Just a thought?

 

[pixiewings71]

Maybe instead of limiting the number of AP holders they allow in they should completely get rid of monthly payments, or get rid of the lowest level of AP. It really makes no sense to be able to make monthly payments on a $150 AP.....I mean I see it on the Deluxe or Premiums but not the So Cal levels. It is my opinion that Disney needs to get rid of BOTH So Cal APs and only have the Deluxe & Premiums available, that will really cut down on the number of APs they have issued.
Altho 2 of our APs have expired we do have 2 that are still active and we have no received any letters other then our "renew your AP now" letters. Which are going unanswered and in the circular file.

 

[callmeblissful]

I really hope this isn't true. I can't imagine driving all the way up from San Diego without the knowledge of whether I would be let in or not!!! This is outrageous!