New AP's - first day is not blocked out!

[Angrose]

I just spoke to a CM at Disneyland about activating my new AP this weekend. This is my first AP so I wanted to confirm the process since I purchased it on the DL website and will need to change the eTicket for the actual AP card. I got a Deluxe AP and planned my weekend trip to arrive early evening on Saturday. Since I thought I couldn't go in the parks on Saturday (blocked for Deluxe APs), I figured that I would just go and get my AP card, hang out in DTD, go to Trader Sam's and get to bed early.

Well....come to find out, I can actually go into the parks on Saturday!!! The CM said that the first day you activate your new AP is a "free" day, no block-outs apply! I am happy and bummed at the same time. Happy because I can sneak in a few hours at the parks if I want, but bummed because if I had known that before I would have arranged to arrive earlier on Saturday! Plus, my mom will be with me and she only bought a 2-day ticket. She's quite frugal so I'm not sure if she'll want to upgrade to 3 days for just a few extra hours.

Oh, well, I hope this information helps other new APs who are planning their trips. I may just have to put my mom to bed early and sneak back into the park and hang out until midnight! Woohoo!

 

[tiffjoy]

Hah! This would have helped me as well. Oh, well. We bought three day park hoppers with the intent to upgrade on Sunday since Saturday is blocked. The Disney store is only five minutes away so it's not a big deal, but I wouldn't have even bothered if I had known.

Thanks for sharing! Hope it can help someone else!

 

[sheetz]

Yes, it's always been that way because it's effectively the same as buying a regular ticket and then upgrading to the annual pass. Disney is just saving you the extra step.

 

[Angrose]

Yes, it's always been that way because it's effectively the same as buying a regular ticket and then upgrading to the annual pass. Disney is just saving you the extra step.

The problem is that they don't really advertise that anywhere, or if they do then it's not very apparent in the AP section of the website. Oh well, no harm done. I'm set for the year now anyway!! Yay!

 

[sheetz]

I don't know why they don't mention it but I don't think they ever have explicitly, yet it seems to have always been an option. Laziness? USH has the same policy and they do mention it on their website.

 

[figment_jii]

I actually don't think it's laziness on the part of Disney to not mention that you can activate your AP on a blockout day and get admission. I think it's done deliberately so that if they decide to stop allowing AP holders to enter on their first day if it's a blockout day, they aren't taking away an official perk.

 

[sheetz]

I actually don't think it's laziness on the part of Disney to not mention that you can activate your AP on a blockout day and get admission. I think it's done deliberately so that if they decide to stop allowing AP holders to enter on their first day if it's a blockout day, they aren't taking away an official perk.

But it's not a real perk since it's, as I said, the same thing as buying a regular ticket and upgrading it to an annual pass.

 

[PinkBudgie]

I'm glad to hear this is still the case. I had heard this a few years ago and now find myself in that situation. We are arriving on a Sat afternoon with a deluxe AP voucher and I was wondering if we could get in or not. That will be motivating to get going when we are getting up early for our 8 hour drive down.