Passholder Catch 22 w/Theme Park Reservations

[k5xs]

Just booked a trip for mid-September. As we are Annual Passholders, we booked room-only reservations.

Cast Member who assisted us was terrific, and she encouraged us to immediately make theme park reservations, as "They disappear quickly."

Well, we tried, and we couldn't. Called (hour-long wait) and were politely informed that as our Annual Passes don't expire until late August (before our trip), we will be unable to make park reservations until we renew our passes. So I said "No problem, let me renew them right now."

Nope. "You can't renew an Annual Pass until 60 days prior to expiration." That will put us competing for theme park reservations much closer to our trip.

I sent an email to Guest Services, and three days later heard back. Amidst a lot of polite language was their answer "We understand that the system seems unfair, however, we cannot allow guests to do an early renewal at this time."

I get it that changing a policy is likely complicated, but it sure seems they would want to get the early renewals if for no other reason than to take care of guests under the circumstances. More, I can't help but think they would want additional cash flow now instead of 60 days from now.

Bummed.

(Edited to remove date calculation error that GatorLisa was kind enough to point out.)

 

[gatorlisa]

I understand it's frustrating to not be able to make your park reservations now. But, you will be able to reserve sooner than 3 weeks before your trip. You said your current APs expire in late August. You can renew up to 60 days prior to their expiration, so you'll be able to renew in late June, and at that point you should be able to make your park reservations. Not as soon as you would like I know, but still 2-3 months prior to your trip.

 

[k5xs]

You're right. Oops.

Thanks.

 

[Castlequeen5]

Not ideal...but could you book a package deal with the tickets? Basically it would be like a $200 deposit. Then you could make you park reservations. Once you get your passes renewed, then you could cancel those reservations. Or you could switch it back to room only.

 

[Upatnoon]

Mid-September is a pretty slow season, I think you'll be fine. If this was the week after Christmas I might be concerned.

For a mid-September trip, the weather would be my biggest concern as that's the peak of hurricane season.

And who knows, Disney might have boosted capacity by then.

 

[k5xs]

"Not ideal...but could you book a package deal with the tickets? Basically it would be like a $200 deposit. Then you could make you park reservations. Once you get your passes renewed, then you could cancel those reservations. Or you could switch it back to room only."

Thanks.

Thought about that, and may still try it. My concerns are that I may not be able to hold two theme park reservations simultaneously, which would mean I'd have to cancel the resort-reservation based reservations before I could make the AP reservations, and I'd be right back where I started the moment I canceled the one set. But maybe we will try that.

 

[empedocles]

Can't you buy tickets, make park reservations, then apply the cost of the tickets to the AP renewal?

 

[kylenne]

"Not ideal...but could you book a package deal with the tickets? Basically it would be like a $200 deposit. Then you could make you park reservations. Once you get your passes renewed, then you could cancel those reservations. Or you could switch it back to room only."

Thanks.

Thought about that, and may still try it. My concerns are that I may not be able to hold two theme park reservations simultaneously, which would mean I'd have to cancel the resort-reservation based reservations before I could make the AP reservations, and I'd be right back where I started the moment I canceled the one set. But maybe we will try that.

All the system cares about is if you have valid ticket media for your park reservation dates. I had this exact same problem last year when I booked our CR trip for the 50th around the 499 mark, my AP didn’t expire until Jan 1st of this year so couldn’t renew early and wasn’t able to book park reservations for that weekend. So I had our TA put tickets on our ticketless package as placeholders just so we could book MK for 10/1. Got our park reservations and in Feb I renewed my AP. Took the placeholder tickets off and everything was fine.

 

[2DisPrincesses]

So if I have a package booked and Park reservations made, I can cancel the package and the Park reservations will not automatically cancel (as long as other tickets are in place before I cancel)?

 

[subtchr]

"Not ideal...but could you book a package deal with the tickets? Basically it would be like a $200 deposit. Then you could make you park reservations. Once you get your passes renewed, then you could cancel those reservations. Or you could switch it back to room only."

Thanks.

Thought about that, and may still try it. My concerns are that I may not be able to hold two theme park reservations simultaneously, which would mean I'd have to cancel the resort-reservation based reservations before I could make the AP reservations, and I'd be right back where I started the moment I canceled the one set. But maybe we will try that.

You wouldn’t have to cancel anything. You are still entitled to park reservations as resort guests with your AP. Once booked, it doesn’t matter which pool they came from.

You could also purchase tickets to cover your trip, and when renewal time comes around, use the value of those tickets toward your renewal, if you didn’t want to go through the package ticket route.

So if I have a package booked and Park reservations made, I can cancel the package and the Park reservations will not automatically cancel (as long as other tickets are in place before I cancel)

yes.

 

[kylenne]

So if I have a package booked and Park reservations made, I can cancel the package and the Park reservations will not automatically cancel (as long as other tickets are in place before I cancel)?

Yep

 

[focusondisney]

"Not ideal...but could you book a package deal with the tickets? Basically it would be like a $200 deposit. Then you could make you park reservations. Once you get your passes renewed, then you could cancel those reservations. Or you could switch it back to room only."

Thanks.

Thought about that, and may still try it. My concerns are that I may not be able to hold two theme park reservations simultaneously, which would mean I'd have to cancel the resort-reservation based reservations before I could make the AP reservations, and I'd be right back where I started the moment I canceled the one set. But maybe we will try that.

You would not make 2 sets of park reservations. You would make park reservations with the tickets with your package. When you renew your AP, you cancel the package tickets... not the park reservations. The reservations are linked to you, not the ticket. Just make sure your AP shows before you cancel the package ticket, because you do need a valid ticket for the park reservation.

 

[rick1zoo2]

You may want to check out this thread which deals with AP's:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/ap-only-info-thread-reservation-system-extensions-refunds.3798147/
I was able to get early renewal AP certificates (our AP's expire in Sept) so that we could make park reservations for Nov and Feb 2022 trips, but we are DVC members and that may be why we were able to do that.

The main thing from that thread is to call the AP VIP number to explain your situation: (407) 939-7277

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I an a DVC member and have an AP. I stopped at 3 different guest relations to see if I could renew my AP early because it expires Sept. 2021 and I have a Sept. 2021 trip and a trip over Oct 1st and wanted to get those park reservations done.
But all 3 times I was told I could not renew early.

I'm so thankful I bought a 2 day park ticket for Oct. 1st and Oct. 2nd so I was able to do those park reservations way back before they ran out for MK and Epcot.