New member! AP renewal question...

[hbaker76]

hi all! i am a new member to the DIS boards - but long time Disney fan / fanatic. my family and i are DVC members (since 2006), and also AP holders. however, for as many annual passes that we've bought over the years, we've NEVER done an AP renewal, since the timing of our trips never worked out that way. our last APs expired in NOV 2016, and i renewed them over the phone. they currently appear in my My Disney Experience account as 'DVC Member Gold Pass 13 for 12 - Renewal Certificate'. so here's my question...

our first trip with the re-new'd APs is coming up in mid-FEB. will we be able to walk right up to the MK gates on our first day, scan our magic bands, and get into the park with these AP renewals? or are we going to need to first head to a will call window or guest relations somewhere to 'activate' the new APs? i have called Disney ticketing, as well as DVC member services on multiple occasions to ask this question. i've gotten a 50/50 split so far on the answers. 2 for a 'seamless' transition to the new AP (without requiring the activation step), and 2 telling me that i'll need to activate them first.

anyone able to share some recent experience with this? i'd appreciate the feedback!

thank you!!

 

[erionm]

Your renewal is in the form of a certificate which is not valid for park entry. You have to stop at either a Park Ticket Window or Guest Relations Location to activate the renewal.

 

[CAS239]

If it's a renewal cert I believe you'll need to go to guest service to activate. I'm a Florida resident and when I renew I just go to the park like usual.

In theory no renewal should make you go to activate anything and it's a renewal, nothing is changing but the year of expiration. Activation is carrying over along with payments..but I guess it might be different for Florida AP vs Regular AP

 

[erionm]

I'm a Florida resident and when I renew I just go to the park like usual.

If you renew on-line (FL Residents & Tourist APs only), you no longer have to activate as those on-line renewals automatically extend the expiration date of the AP.

 

[hbaker76]

Your renewal is in the form of a certificate which is not valid for park entry. You have to stop at either a Park Ticket Window or Guest Relations Location to activate the renewal.

thanks for the info, erionm...i was afraid of that being the case. we won't get to our resort until about 900p on arrival day, so we're going to have to hit the will call window outside of the park in the morning before heading in for Day 1. not my ideal start to the vaca - but we gotta do what we gotta do

 

[hbaker76]

If you renew on-line (FL Residents & Tourist APs only), you no longer have to activate as those on-line renewals automatically extend the expiration date of the AP.

would be great if they extended this service to non-FL resident / non-Tourist APs as well. seems like CAS239 is spot on...the only thing changing with a renewal is the end date. and clearly MDE is aware of the renewal...that information is just not being communicated downstream to the magic bands. oh well...

 

[loves to dive]

I don't have DVC APs but I do have regular ones and have renewed them 3 times. My discount card has an expiration date on it so I have had to go to GS to get a new card but have been told every time there is nothing else I need to do. I've never tried just going through since I need that discount card.

 

[CAS239]

thanks for the info, erionm...i was afraid of that being the case. we won't get to our resort until about 900p on arrival day, so we're going to have to hit the will call window outside of the park in the morning before heading in for Day 1. not my ideal start to the vaca - but we gotta do what we gotta do

You can head over to Disney Springs and activate them there to avoid losing park time

 

[Accident]

Just in case, I'm 90% sure in the case of a dvc gold ap renewal certificate that the person(s) who the dvc contract is in must be present when getting the aps activated in case you in a situation that person will not be there.