Park Reservations and AP Renewal

[TiggerBouncy]

My AP is going to expire Oct 10th, and I am going to WDW with my Son on Oct 15th. He's going on a cash reservations, so he can make his park reservations. But since my ticket expires, I do not have a valid ticket to make a park reservation. I called member services, and they told me I can only renew 60 days in advance.

So what happens if I go to renew 60 days in advance, and all the park reservations are sold out, but my son got in because he had valid tickets?

Is there no way to resolve this other than by purchasing a second set of daily tickets for DW and I? That doesn't make sense.

 

[Phatscott25]

Are you staying on-property for that trip as well?

 

[TiggerBouncy]

Are you staying on-property for that trip as well?

Yes, but we are in separate hotels. He is on a cash reservation, and I am on DVC points.

 

[CarolynFH]

My AP is going to expire Oct 10th, and I am going to WDW with my Son on Oct 15th. He's going on a cash reservations, so he can make his park reservations. But since my ticket expires, I do not have a valid ticket to make a park reservation. I called member services, and they told me I can only renew 60 days in advance.

So what happens if I go to renew 60 days in advance, and all the park reservations are sold out, but my son got in because he had valid tickets?

Is there no way to resolve this other than by purchasing a second set of daily tickets for DW and I? That doesn't make sense.

It’s unlikely that park reservations for October 15 will book up by early August (sooner than 60 days before October 10), so I wouldn’t be too concerned - I’d simply renew my AP on the first possible date and book park reservations that day. However, on the unlikely chance that they did book up, I’ve read posts from those who have called Guest Services at (407) 827-1100, explained the situation (son has park reservations, you’d like to match them), and been granted their request.

 

[Phatscott25]

Yes, but we are in separate hotels. He is on a cash reservation, and I am on DVC points.

Well in that case, I think you'll be OK. Sure, you won't be able to book a park reservation until you renew your pass 60 days prior. However, the "bucket" of park reservations set aside for resort guests does not "sell out" nearly as quickly as the others. So even if park passes sell out for pass holders (and even ticket holders), there will probably still be availability for resort guests. If not, you can follow the advice of @CarolynFH above.

 

[CarolynFH]

Yes, but we are in separate hotels. He is on a cash reservation, and I am on DVC points.

I agree with above - the park reservation bucket for AP holders with resort reservations seems to last longer than just about any other bucket!

 

[TiggerBouncy]

Thank you for the replies all. I was concerned!

 

[WilsonFlyer]

OK Guys. This is a real world problem. Let's up the ante. What if it's over Christmas? Or maybe even Thanksgiving or Easter? Or July 4? 60 days out is not going to be an answer.

Are we actually saying, "Oh, it ain't gonna happen. Don't worry about it!" as an ANSWER??? We ought to be able to do better than that.

I thought I had read about a more complete answer for this, but for the life of me, I can't remember how you're supposed to deal with it.

 

[Sandisw]

OK Guys. This is a real world problem. Let's up the ante. What if it's over Christmas? Or maybe even Thanksgiving or Easter? Or July 4? 60 days out is not going to be an answer.

I thought I had read about a more complete answer for this, but for the lie of me, I can't remember how you're supposed to deal with it.

You have to wait or buy tickets and use those toward the renewal. I had that last year…trip over Easter and 60 days wasn’t until January.

I had a extra ticket in my account, so used that.

 

[CarolynFH]

OK Guys. This is a real world problem. Let's up the ante. What if it's over Christmas? Or maybe even Thanksgiving or Easter? Or July 4? 60 days out is not going to be an answer.

Are we actually saying, "Oh, it ain't gonna happen. Don't worry about it!" as an ANSWER??? We ought to be able to do better than that.

I thought I had read about a more complete answer for this, but for the life of me, I can't remember how you're supposed to deal with it.

Sandi gave the complete answer. If OP's question had been about Christmas or other exceedingly busy times, I would have included that option of buying a ticket to apply to the AP renewal cost, but for mid-October I didn't think it was necessary.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

And maybe that's the answer I had read about. I was thinking I had read about people actually being able to renew early for reservations somehow. Maybe not.

Disney needs to fix this. +12 months, especially on resort reservations for AP holders. They can always cancel them after 30 days for non-renewals.

If they insist on continuing this ridiculous reservation crap, they need to make it work like it's supposed to without penalizing their best and most loyal clients. The whole fact that this problem even exists is ridiculous in and of itself. They made it. Fix it.

 

[Sandisw]

And maybe that's the answer I had read about. I was thinking I had read about people actually being able to renew early for reservations somehow. Maybe not.

Disney needs to fix this. +12 months, especially on resort reservations for AP holders. They can always cancel them after 30 days for non-renewals.

If they insist on continuing this ridiculous reservation crap, they need to make it work like it's supposed to without penalizing their best and most loyal clients. The whole fact that this problem even exists is ridiculous in and of itself. They made it. Fix it.

At first, they did allow early renewals. They stopped thar last August as I tried before the new passes started.

 

[chaoskids]

You have to wait or buy tickets and use those toward the renewal. I had that last year…trip over Easter and 60 days wasn’t until January.

I had a extra ticket in my account, so used that.

This is what we did. We bought tickets and will use the purchase price of the tickets toward our APs. We tried to renew on a recent trip, about 17 days before our renewal period, and were not able to.

 

[npatellye]

At first, they did allow early renewals. They stopped thar last August as I tried before the new passes started.

Agreed. I squeaked by with an early renewal (had a trip spanning NYE and beyond) before they stopped. I’m anxiously awaiting our 60 day window this year because I still need a few days of reservations for Thanksgiving week that I can’t make without renewing.

 

[kilik64]

Unless they legit hit whatever their total capacity cap is right now, they are not limiting the AP park res buckets as much as they are the hotel and offsite buckets. I dont think you will have any issues getting park res 60 days out when you renew.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

Unless they legit hit whatever their total capacity cap is right now, they are not limiting the AP park res buckets as much as they are the hotel and offsite buckets. I dont think you will have any issues getting park res 60 days out when you renew.

I believe the greater availability for passholders you have observed is an artificial situation because the lawsuit in California still exists. Disney does not want to create more plaintiffs by blocking passholders and still allowing ticket sales at the same time. While that lawsuit exists you are probably going to see passholders still having availability when ticket sales reach caps.

However, that could change at any moment if the litigation is settled. So, I would not advise that 60 days out OP can be fairly certain of availability. I suggest OP buy the tickets and then 60 days out call the passholder line and convert the tickets to help cover the renewal cost.

 

[beamreach]

My AP is going to expire Oct 10th, and I am going to WDW with my Son on Oct 15th. He's going on a cash reservations, so he can make his park reservations. But since my ticket expires, I do not have a valid ticket to make a park reservation. I called member services, and they told me I can only renew 60 days in advance.

So what happens if I go to renew 60 days in advance, and all the park reservations are sold out, but my son got in because he had valid tickets?

Is there no way to resolve this other than by purchasing a second set of daily tickets for DW and I? That doesn't make sense

Valid point. AP ostensibly allows unlimited admission outside of, if applicable, pre-published black-out dates. The Park Reservation system places additional restrictions which limit park access, which is probably a consumer protection issue. Will be interesting to see how the Disneyland Class Action suit proceeds on this matter. In the meantime, the solutions listed are your only option.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

Yeah, as I mentioned in my original post, I know that buying a ticket is an option. I just don't think it's a GOOD option or even a reasonable one.

If they insist on continuing this ridiculous reservation crap, they need to make it work like it's supposed to without penalizing their best and most loyal clients. The whole fact that this problem even exists is ridiculous in and of itself. They made it. Fix it.

We are in complete agreement. I know that RIGHT NOW, It looks like 60 days out is relatively open and I should be able to match my sons schedule, but there is a chance that things change (there is always a chance) - they lower capacity, or some big promotion pulls in a bunch of people and I am blacked out on those days from the parks he is choosing - most importantly Hollywood Studios. Yeah, If I call and I get a good CM they might be able to get me in.... but then again, they might not. It would not be the first time a CM has said "can't help you" and if a previous CM had told you that "it will be fine - just call back then", well that CM was wrong.

The amount of time that you can purchase a renew of an AP must equal the amount of time you can reserve a park. Either limit park reservations to 60 days, or increase renewals to whatever you make park reservations are the only acceptable answers.

 

[Ansky]

We actually have this same problem in August. Our passes expire on the 14th and our trip starts on the 13th. So we are only able to make park reservations for arrival day (we are staying on property). I contacted Disney because at the time when I looked at the current park availability there were certain parks unavailable up to a month and a half away. It obviously isn't two months but nobody has any idea what may happen in the future. When I called the passholder desk I basically got a shoulder shrug over the phone and told I could buy regular tickets and just apply the cost towards our annual pass renewal when it came time to purchase the annual passes. Our trip is longer than 10 days though so that would only solve part of the problem. I then emailed Disney Guest services and after a couple weeks got a canned response that my comments were shared with the leadership team and management and that I could renew my passes at 60 days out giving me plenty of time to make park pass reservations. So we have just chosen to wait it out and keep an eye on the the park pass availability. Hopefully it just won't be a problem. I don't understand why they don't do something to fix this problem. It isn't a problem until it is and then what? It doesn't seem likely that they have a plan in place in the event park reservations are limited at 60 days out. You would think that they could make exceptions to renew early for the people this is a problem for. I can't imagine that it is a huge number of passholders. Good luck to the OP.

 

[kboo]

I was thinking I had read about people actually being able to renew early for reservations somehow. Maybe not.

I was one of these people - back in 2020 I had an AP expiring mid-stay over Christmas and was able to call and renew very early so that I could make park pass reservations for 2021. we aren't going for xmas this year, though, so I don't know how it has been working going forward.