New APs? Will this affect DVC passes?

[3 Hobbits 2 Disney]

For renewals it has been 60 days before or 30 days after. I haven't seen the 30 days after still around on the updated sites. Has anyone?? TIA

 

[pangyal]

No ticket bridging specials? Does that mean that we can no longer bridge tickets at all? Or just not get the added value?

Sorry to be dense, but I'm not quite understanding the question ?

I can try, though- I didn't ask about bridging, say, hoppers to APs. That I do not know about, as we just buy APs online without bridging attempts. Is this what you were asking ?

 

[disfanforlife]

Sorry to be dense, but I'm not quite understanding the question ?

I can try, though- I didn't ask about bridging, say, hoppers to APs. That I do not know about, as we just buy APs online without bridging attempts. Is this what you were asking ?

Yes, that is what I was asking. Don't be sorry. I will find that question out myself in January when we go with our kids. I was thinking about upgrading (bridging) my DD's PH to an AP. Just nice to know that the option is still possible. I am going next month too, but just DH and I. I will find out on that trip what happens with our AP's that we already renewed. But, I suspect we will have answers about that from others before we go.

 

[han22735]

For someone who doesn't travel during the black out dates the increase is only $20 and now includes photo pass pictures. So for me and my family the change isn't so bad.

 

[pangyal]

Yes, that is what I was asking. Don't be sorry. I will find that question out myself in January when we go with our kids. I was thinking about upgrading (bridging) my DD's PH to an AP. Just nice to know that the option is still possible. I am going next month too, but just DH and I. I will find out on that trip what happens with our AP's that we already renewed. But, I suspect we will have answers about that from others before we go.

If you already renewed before Oct. 4, you are grandfathered in with no MM and no blackout dates.

 

[Mrs.Milo]

But this is the 2nd price increase this year......first March and now October. Non expiring tickets discontinued, and now adding black out dates. What's next......afraid to ask.

 

[rfc0001]

Has anyone called to verify the situation with vouchers/certificates? We have "regular" AP vouchers purchased with the DVC discount and were going to activate them next month.

We also have pre-purchased the memory maker which I want to cancel if WDW is going to give us the "gold" AP vs the "regular" AP which we purchased.

I really don't want to call member services but I might have to - I think we can get a refund on the memory maker if it hasn't been used, right??

Just to add to what others have stated, via Chat with MS (in writing) I confirmed that unactivated certificates would still be activated as the old APs with the old terms/benefits.

Oh ok, I see that now. Mine is a renewal certificate too. I was under the understanding that you couldn't renew more than 60 days in advance or 30 days after expiration. Otherwise, I would have renewed my son's AP too.

That is what is stated, buy I have now both times I've renewed done so in person well prior to 60 days. The last time I did so was right after the previous price increase, and I asked them if I could purchase renewal certificates prior to 60 days on the phone as well, and they said yes -- would have been nice to know at the time prior to the rate increase, although turns out it was good I renewed prior to this second, unexpected price increase

This is somewhat off topic for the current discussion (but next year may make a difference when we are deciding to renew):
If the current AP expires on 10/18/15 (as in the above example) and you buy a renewal certificate, when does the "renewed AP" expire? Ie current one expires 10/18/15 but you don't use the renewal certificate until, say, 11/18/15: does the expiration date then become 11/17/16 or does it get back dated to 10/17/16?

I realize I have not had enough coffee yet this am - so I don't know if I am asking my question in a way that makes sense.

In the past, they have kept the same expiration date. That would be great if it was only from when you actually used it, but I doubt that would happen.

So, qualifying my answer with the fact I've purchased renewal certificates prior to 60 days before renewal per previous response -- when I went to activate said certificate they actually started them that day - well after my renewal date. I even asked them if that was right, and they still did it. I'll see if I'm so lucky with my next round. If this is consistent, it's a great reason to buy AP Renewal Certificates prior to 60 days before renewal. Or -- I may have just gotten lucky

 

[Anal Annie]

Did we all REALLLLLY think they would put in these new expansions & renovations at AK and now HS AND DTD (now DS) without passing on the bulk of the costs to their most loyal patrons?? When these expansions were announced did we really think that we wouldn't somehow be funding them?? Nothing comes without a cost. Sure, I'm ticked that they've done these crazy price increases TWICE in one year but I am not surprised. And I'm also peeved that they're slapping a whopping 50% increase on the TIW card - THAT's RIDICULOUS and we will no longer plan so many TS meals once this one we have expires. I must say that we will definitely have to re-evaluate how we use our DVC after next summer. We have AP's and a TIW card that will get us thru that. But beyond that we may be cutting way back on our trips as they're just sucking us dry and we don't have it. DS has gone off to his freshman year of college so our habits were about to change anyway. But now they're REALLLLLY going to change. Maybe instead of trying to get 2 or 3 trips in per year to the world maybe we'll start trying to plan some trades or visit HHI more often. Maybe we'll bank them plan another trip to Aulani one day (although probably not before college tuition is done). Then again, I may be all talk….once the withdraw sets in I may be able to have my arm twisted….we'll see. I just know we're definitely going to cut out TS meals after our TIW card expires and most likely drop to only 1 trip per year...

 

[freediverdude]

The Gold is not the same as the Seasonal pass (now Silver). Gold only has Easter and Christmas blackout, Seasonal/Silver also has summer blackout. Looks like my renewal for the new Silver will be up about $30 and now includes parking which it did not in the past.

Laura

Yes, thank you, I did not realize that until later, the info was just trickling out when I made that post in the middle of the night. Locals with the seasonal now silver and the weekday select are probably very happy with this, small increase plus includes parking, which was a big factor up until now. They'll probably have less people using methods to avoid the parking fee now. I will probably end up getting the gold one, although I hate the idea of any blackout days, that was part of the reason for getting the regular annual this year for me.

 

[disfanforlife]

Just to add to what others have stated, via Chat with MS (in writing) I confirmed that unactivated certificates would still be activated as the old APs with the old terms/benefits.
That is what is stated, buy I have now both times I've renewed done so in person well prior to 60 days. The last time I did so was right after the previous price increase, and I asked them if I could purchase renewal certificates prior to 60 days on the phone as well, and they said yes -- would have been nice to know at the time prior to the rate increase, although turns out it was good I renewed prior to this second, unexpected price increase


So, qualifying my answer with the fact I've purchased renewal certificates prior to 60 days before renewal per previous response -- when I went to activate said certificate they actually started them that day - well after my renewal date. I even asked them if that was right, and they still did it. I'll see if I'm so lucky with my next round. If this is consistent, it's a great reason to buy AP Renewal Certificates prior to 60 days before renewal. Or -- I may have just gotten lucky

I think that you have gotten lucky - good for you I have heard a few other people say the same thing. But, most of what I have read and what happened for me was the expiration date was the same date - even if I didn't activate until a month later. Last year I activated mine in December, but my expiration was still Nov 2015.

 

[rfc0001]

FYI -- contrary to what I and others have been told by MS, according to CM reports they are issuing new Platinum APs for old AP vouchers (certificates):

The information posted up-thread about AP certificates is different than what was actually happening in the ticket booths today. If someone brings in a certificate for a non-renewal 'old' pass type, the computer automatically turns it into a 'new' pass type. No difference is paid. Renewal certificates are a bit different and I'm not comfortable commenting on how they work because I didn't do any today.

1) Seasonal is the equivalent of Silver. Annual is the equivalent of Platinum. Premium is the equivalent of Platinum Plus. There is no equivalent to the Gold pass - it's entirely new.
2) As I said, I'm not comfortable commenting on renewal certs because I haven't actually processed any, and I don't want to give anyone an incorrect piece of information!

I sent a couple of texts to people who are still at work, and the answer I got back was that renewal certificates are being applied to the renewal of an equivalent pass (seasonal = silver, annual = platinum, premium = platinum plus) and the price difference is being 'vouchered off' meaning the guest pays nothing additional. This makes sense to me since it's how we handle other renewal certificates that are worth less than the actual renewal, like AAA discounted renewal certs.

 

[disneymom2one]

I just clicked purchase on six day park hoppers for our upcoming December trip. It is the first trip in many that will not include annual passes. We are Florida residents and DVC members but my husband and I both teach at the college level and our daughter is a sophomore in college. Our trip starts on December 17 and ends on December 24 this time. I just can't justify the cost of the platinum annual passes when we really can only make it down for this one trip plus maybe a few long weekends throughout the year (our breaks and our daughter's don't coincide except at Christmas). The cost increase is just too much. If we decide to head to central Florida for a long weekend, we'll head to our old standby of Busch. DVC was never about the ticket discounts for us since we're Floridians anyway but I will say that we've been finding great joy at vacationing at other places for usually better prices. Last Christmas, we had a ridiculously great time in Asheville, NC. We'll keep our DVC but it has become an every other year destination for us with the rising prices on everything.

 

[Judique]

Ok....sounds like pretty good news.....

 

[dwight16]

Ok everyone needs to calm down the price went up 20 bucks of us unless we went to travel the 2 Christmas weeks and Easter week. We also get photo pass I think that's a good deal. Now I never and would never travel during those 3 weeks so I think it's nothing major. It looks like it goes up 120 if you need those 3 weeks. I am telling you this is going after locals I think the majority of us who buy APs for dvc reasons don't always travel at the biggest point times of the year since we need to maximize points and stretch it to a few trips.

 

[mjr0483]

It's not entirely about profit. Disney profits by this.... But at the same time it will help crowd control. The busiest times of the year are Easter and Christmas. While it sucks that they are screwing and pissing off their most loyal fan base.... You have said it best in the past. They already have us.... They don't need to keep us happy. They know we will be visiting year round.... So they keep those willing to pay the premium prices at the premium crowd times happy.... And it will help them control peak crowds by blocking out those two busy times. That I believe is the biggest factor here. Attendance is way up and they are looking at solutions to keep crowds up and not drive people away.

This doesn't impact us too much as we avoid those crowded times like the plague... But will cost me $80 more when we upgrade to the AP this December. I just hope they remember their most loyal crew if times get tough for them like after 9/11 when DVC ers kept them afloat.

This won't keep the Holiday crowds down as much as it will for Disneyland. They have a huge Holiday issue. Until the enact time of year pricing for Tickets as they do for rooms, you won't see crowds go down that much.

My personal situation is we used to get Premium DVC passes so the blackouts don't affect us. Combined with the price increase and the DVC discount decrease, for our family of 4 it will be $511 more. And I needed to purchase soon anyway because I need to do FP+ for January. I didn't find out about this increase until today. I am so pissed. A difference a day makes.

Face it, we are not going anywhere. Sheep

 

[Simba's Mom]

What exactly is PhotoPass downloads? Do we get to download photos for free?

I wonder about this too, sort of. What I really want to know is-what IS a download? From my understanding Gold members get photos, but not Memory Maker. Let's say that just DH and I go to WDW as gold AP holders, take some photopass pictures (if the lines aren't too long), then come home and want to put those pictures in our Photobucket account. Someone here suggested that the AP holder has to be in every picture-no problem. Can we do it? Any reason to upgrade to a memory maker?

 

[LauraLap]

This is beyond frustrating for me. We have a trip planned and our first day is going to be January 1st!!! It is the only day that falls into the blackout date We have purchased 7 day passes already and were going to upgrade when we got there. If we use our tickets on Jan 1st and then upgrade as we leave the park, do we automatically have to get the "Platinum" Pass? If not, I may have to forego our BOG ressies and skip that day

 

[bringmethathorizon]

we only try to purchase every other year.but with a family of 4 adults its done got ruff.
we also go that week before Christmas when we do have passes so not thrilled with the blackout dates.and couldn't care less about the memory maker.
still love disney and will still go just may have to alter how we do it.

 

[SarahInMN]

I wonder about this too, sort of. What I really want to know is-what IS a download? From my understanding Gold members get photos, but not Memory Maker. Let's say that just DH and I go to WDW as gold AP holders, take some photopass pictures (if the lines aren't too long), then come home and want to put those pictures in our Photobucket account. Someone here suggested that the AP holder has to be in every picture-no problem. Can we do it? Any reason to upgrade to a memory maker?

I think Disney has done a crappy job naming things because I honestly think confusion is coming from terminology and it took me awhile to find the actual description on the Disney site.

Previously, PhotoPass or PhotoPass plus (the plus gave you ride pics, etc) enabled you to download all your pictures. Then they renamed it to Memory Maker.

Now, anyone can either purchase MemoryMaker to download all the pictures OR they can use the PhotoPass photographers and buy pictures individually.

My confusion of MemoryMaker vs AP with PhotoPass stemmed in part from suspicion of Disney "giving" something away with the APs. In reading the Disney Terms site (scroll down to Memory Maker and "Disney PhotoPass Benefit for Select Annual Passes"), the sound almost identical except AP with PP has a 365 expiration term and no 3 day wait period like the memory maker. Unless I'm missing something (which seems possible because it sounds too good to be true), the AP with PP is a great deal for those of us who usually buy MemoryMaker: we have 3 trips planned (nov 2015, Jan 2016, and Oct 2016) on our AP vouchers (going to activate next month) and won't have to buy MemoryMaker for the 2nd two trips. Of course I already bought it for Nov 2015 and have to figure out what to do/how to get a refund.

As far as I can tell, from the Terms page, AP with PP is superior to Memory Maker because of the longer expiration period and unlimited use for the life of the 365 day pass.

Also, you can download any friends/family pictures whether or not they have an AP with PP:

 

[dwight16]

I honestly think confusion is coming from terminology and it took me awhile to find the actual description on the Disney site.

Previously, PhotoPass or PhotoPass plus (the plus gave you ride pics, etc) enabled you to download all your pictures. Then they renamed it to Memory Maker.

Now, anyone can either purchase MemoryMaker to download all the pictures OR they can use the PhotoPass photographers and buy pictures individually.

My confusion of MemoryMaker vs AP with PhotoPass stemmed in part from suspicion of Disney "giving" something away with the APs. In reading the Disney Terms site (scroll down to Memory Maker and "Disney PhotoPass Benefit for Select Annual Passes"), the sound almost identical except AP with PP has a 365 expiration term and no 3 day wait period like the memory maker. Unless I'm missing something (which seems possible because it sounds too good to be true), the AP with PP is a great deal for those of us who usually buy MemoryMaker: we have 3 trips planned (nov 2015, Jan 2016, and Oct 2016) on our AP vouchers (going to activate next month) and won't have to buy MemoryMaker for the 2nd two trips. Of course I already bought it for Nov 2015 and have to figure out what to do/how to get a refund.

As far as I can tell, from the Terms page, AP with PP is superior to Memory Maker because of the longer expiration period and unlimited use for the life of the 365 day pass.

Also, you can download any friends/family pictures whether or not they have an AP with PP:

Is it retro active I activated mine in August going in 2 weeks will I get the pictures?