Premier Pass

[Disney Dreams]

Al Lutz reported it last week on Miceage.com.

Ah,ok. That I knew. Mousermerf said it as if it were fact or announced from Disney. I had not heard anything official so I was wondering if Mousermerf had.

-Dreams

 

[mousermerf]

Al Lutz reported it last week on Miceage.com. The guy is very accurate with info that gets posted. When it comes to being IDed, it has only happened at the Mickey and Friends Parking. In all fairness I was told when I got mine ID would be needed to get in, but that has not happened yet. My DW and I should have been automatically upgraded in March as well, but we had a three week ordeal getting our passes. I really can't blame anyone at DL for the problems when the program first rolled out. I blame Disney upper management. The CM were all hit by suprise. None of them knew this pass was coming out. Bob Iger announces the pass at the Shareholder meeting one day and the next day it is available. No one at DL had any training, and I know this as my friends mom works backstage at DL and has many a friend at the AP center were she used to be a supervisor. See the thing that gets me about that is they could have offered training well before this pass came out. Since I had a WDW pass for at least five years before this wonderful pass came out, I know when my Premier pass was made. The date in the upper right shows when it was printed and put into the WDW system. Since mine was printed in Jan. if 2010, someone knew about this pass. So Disney Upper management decided to keep it secret and offer no training what so ever.

DLR and WDW were given identical notice for this pass - WDW trained their CMs, DLR did not.

 

[aan1701]

Ah,ok. That I knew. Mousermerf said it as if it were fact or announced from Disney. I had not heard anything official so I was wondering if Mousermerf had.

-Dreams

No, nothing official from Disney, but he is usually right on the money so I would expect to see the change.

 

[aan1701]

DLR and WDW were given identical notice for this pass - WDW trained their CMs, DLR did not.

My friends mom told me they got litterly less than one days notice.

 

[mousermerf]

My friends mom told me they got litterly less than one days notice.

Then that was the choice of DLR's management.

 

[aan1701]

Then that was the choice of DLR's management.

And that was my point. I am sorry I should have said Disneyland upper management.

 

[mousermerf]

WDW very much has a policy of trying something new, even if the old way appears to work, just to try out new methods and see if things can be done efficiently or more effectively.

DLR on the other hand, is known for being stuck in its ways, and further - not playing well with others.

The resulting difference in technological infrastructure and adaptability between the two locations makes you wonder if they're even run by the same company.

 

[pycees312]

I can say I do feel sorry for the cast members who have to deal with this IT nightmare. When i purchased the pass( with in days of the announcement) I was not a happy camper to find out EVERYWHERE we went was an issue. Getting in was an issue etc. it took two days before someone came up with the idea to get us a regular park hopper pass to use. I mean fast passes were not avail with the premier. And from what i've been reading some people say it's fixed and some say it's not. My trip was in March and we are scheduled to go again this month. My husband will be super ticked if we get there and the passes still have issues. I wonder why the lag on this?? So it makes me wonder if it will be offered again. I notice there was no price increase like all the other passes. So maybe the systems are so much more different that at this time it's not worth the headache?? Who knows.

 

[AMouse&ADream]

I didn't see this posted in the thread so far, but it seems somewhat related to the OP, so I figured I'd ask.

I'm looking at upgrading my Premium AP to a Premier.. is that possible? Can I apply any value from my Premium AP to the Premier? If so, how is that calculated? Would it be based on when I do it (for instance, if the pass has was six months in vs. brand new), or is it just the retail difference?

 

[mvf-m11c]

I didn't see this posted in the thread so far, but it seems somewhat related to the OP, so I figured I'd ask.

I'm looking at upgrading my Premium AP to a Premier.. is that possible? Can I apply any value from my Premium AP to the Premier? If so, how is that calculated? Would it be based on when I do it (for instance, if the pass has was six months in vs. brand new), or is it just the retail difference?

Yes, you can upgrade your Premium AP to the Premier. You pay the difference of what you paid for your Premium AP to the Premier (Premier is $700 and you paid for your Premium is $439 than you pay $261 for the remainder to the Premier). You can upgrade to the premier anytime if you have a current DL or WDW AP and the expiration date will be the same date as your old Premium AP expiration date.

 

[Nala83]

I've read about all of the problems people had using the Premier when it first came out (getting in, getting fastpasses, getting discounts, etc). Has anyone been recently? Have these problems been ironed out?

I'm headed down next month to use my Premier pass for the first time at DLR.

How are things working these days?

 

[jennb]

Had an interesting experience with my DD 9 's Premier Pass. As we are Premium AP holders at DLR, and we had a trip to WDW coming up with our MIL, who is a cast member, we needed only WDW tickets for 1 family member (CMs get 3 plus themselves in) - we are a family of 4 plus MIL. So we opted to upgrade DD9's Premium AP (which was up for renewal in June to the Premier pass). Did this at the AP center in DL. It took no less than 5 cast members and about 30 to 40 minutes to do so. They had to take her picture etc. She used the Premier pass a few times at DLR prior to our WDW trip in July.

We arrived at WDW - my MIL got us all in through the AK gate, but DD9 had to have her Premier pass activated. I went with her to Guest Relations outside the AK gate. It took about another 30 minutes before whatever was wrong with it was fixed. I even had to show my ID (which makes no sense as it wasn't my pass - showed ID and my DLR Premium AP). According to the 2 WDW CM's - the DLR CM's issued the Premier pass incorrectly. After it was "fixed" DD9 had no problems for the remainder of our stay at WDW. She used it again at DCA after our return with no issues. (We did get a rather snarky comment from the DCA CM at the entrance gate - "Oh, one of those $700.00 passes" - was all in the tone of his voice).

 

[Disney Dreams]

WDW very much has a policy of trying something new, even if the old way appears to work, just to try out new methods and see if things can be done efficiently or more effectively.

DLR on the other hand, is known for being stuck in its ways, and further - not playing well with others.

The resulting difference in technological infrastructure and adaptability between the two locations makes you wonder if they're even run by the same company.

I think you paint DL very negatively here.

They have different budgets and in some ways they actually DO compete with each other. WDW and DL are run by different teams.

They are very different places with different guests demographically.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

Yes, you can upgrade your Premium AP to the Premier. You pay the difference of what you paid for your Premium AP to the Premier (Premier is $700 and you paid for your Premium is $439 than you pay $261 for the remainder to the Premier). You can upgrade to the premier anytime if you have a current DL or WDW AP and the expiration date will be the same date as your old Premium AP expiration date.

I believe you pay FL tax on $350 of the value, even if you buy it in CA, so the actual OOP is $722.75. With a credit of $439, your balance would be $283.75. -- Suzanne

 

[pixarmom]

At WDW, they credited me the value of the WDW AP (not what I actually paid for it) when I upgraded to Premier.

I initially upgraded my GAD voucher to a WDW AP in March, then upgraded the WDW to a Premier in July.

 

[mvf-m11c]

I believe you pay FL tax on $350 of the value, even if you buy it in CA, so the actual OOP is $722.75. With a credit of $439, your balance would be $283.75. -- Suzanne

You are right about upgrading to the premier and you have to pay FL tax to the premier. I just forgot to add the sales tax. Thx Suzanne for clarifying.

 

[goofyfordisney]

Hi,

My DL Deluxe AP is expiring on 8/20/20...currently, I have an upcoming trip to WDW in December - Free dining plan/tickets (6 day hoppers) - I was planning on letting my DL AP expire, then use my WDW tickets to upgrade to the Premier Pass because I will be returning to WDW in May '11 or June '11 for another 7 days as well as planning a couple of short DL trips in 2011.

It's probably better to let my current DL AP expire (even though I will miss out on the renewal fee) and just upgrade my WDW hoppers in December, right?

If I upgrade my WDW hoppers, I can't use my DL AP to upgrade to the Premier too, can I? If its possible to combine upgrading the WDW hoppers and the DL AP, would the expiration date of the Premier pass be prorated to the first date that I use my hoppers, or the date that my DL AP was renewed?

TIA!

 

[Califgirl]

Hi,

My DL Deluxe AP is expiring on 8/20/20...currently, I have an upcoming trip to WDW in December - Free dining plan/tickets (6 day hoppers) - I was planning on letting my DL AP expire, then use my WDW tickets to upgrade to the Premier Pass because I will be returning to WDW in May '11 or June '11 for another 7 days as well as planning a couple of short DL trips in 2011.

It's probably better to let my current DL AP expire (even though I will miss out on the renewal fee) and just upgrade my WDW hoppers in December, right?

If I upgrade my WDW hoppers, I can't use my DL AP to upgrade to the Premier too, can I? If its possible to combine upgrading the WDW hoppers and the DL AP, would the expiration date of the Premier pass be prorated to the first date that I use my hoppers, or the date that my DL AP was renewed?

TIA!

If you are not planning a trip to DLR after 8/20, then I would let the DLR AP expire and get your Premier Pass in WDW. I would do it this way because if you renew your Deluxe AP in September, and don't have a trip, you will basically lose those 2 1/2 months of 'value'. Your Premier Pass would have the expiration date of your Deluxe AP renewal.

If you are planning to get to DLR between 8/20 and the time you go to WDW, then yes, they will credit you the price of the Deluxe AP toward your Premier Pass, just remember the expiration date is that of your Deluxe AP in that case.

 

[pixarmom]

Hi,
If its possible to combine upgrading the WDW hoppers and the DL AP, would the expiration date of the Premier pass be prorated to the first date that I use my hoppers, or the date that my DL AP was renewed?

TIA!

The ticket experts on the WDW board have said that you can't combine a DL AP and a WDW hopper to get a Premier. As I understand it, you would need to either upgrade the DL AP or upgrade the WDW hoppers.

One other thought - you might want to run the numbers with the Premier, and without the 6-day hopper/free dining. Free dining requires guests to pay rack rate for the resorts, and for many WDW AP holders, the room only discount saves way more $$ than free dining. Since you are more than 45 days before your trip, it's worth considering whether it makes more sense for you to keep free dining or to convert to a room-only reservation with a discount and buy a Premier when you get to WDW. (This assumes that the room only discounts come out sometime soon!)

I know the math is different for everyone, so this might not make any sense for you. In our experience (family of 5) AP room only discounts and Tables in Wonderland is a much better deal than free dining.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

If you are not planning a trip to DLR after 8/20, then I would let the DLR AP expire and get your Premier Pass in WDW. I would do it this way because if you renew your Deluxe AP in September, and don't have a trip, you will basically lose those 2 1/2 months of 'value'. Your Premier Pass would have the expiration date of your Deluxe AP renewal.

If you are planning to get to DLR between 8/20 and the time you go to WDW, then yes, they will credit you the price of the Deluxe AP toward your Premier Pass, just remember the expiration date is that of your Deluxe AP in that case.

However, if goofyfordisney renews the DL AP, the MYW tickets included in the Dec package cannot be also be applied to the upgrade to Premier. Goofyfordisney will have to save them for a future WDW trip after the Premier pass expires. -- Suzanne