Questions about upgrade from WDW AP to Premier AP.

[Huff]

Where exactly do we need to go to upgrade our current WDW AP's to Premeir AP's? I'm told only a few locations have the printers that can produce these AP's. So do we go to any ticket window, or to guest services outside DL? Do we still have to go to the AP center inside the parks for photos? During our last trip in Jan. we upgraded our WDW MYW KTTW cards to WDW AP's. The AP's our on our KTTW cards. We did not get a photo taken.

We currently have DLR AP's that expire end of this month. We had wanted to credit the MYW tickets to the renewal of our DLR AP's and upgrade to Premier at that time but our resort could not do that. They said only GS at the parks could do that but we had no time to go to park as we were headed to the airport. To avoid losing the MYW credit all together our only choice was to get WDW AP but those will expire 1yr from our Jan. visit and we couldn't get the renewal discount. Any slight chance DLR will straighten it out and move our renewal date to March and give upgrade credit?

 

[starry_solo]

1. You have a WDW AP that expires January 2013;
2. You have a DLR AP that expires March 2012.

FYI: You lose any renewal discount when you get a premier pass good for DLR and DCA. I went to guest services a few months ago, thinking I could get the current price for my DLR Premium pass and just pay the difference between the current price ($499) and the Premier pass ($775-ish) as I plan to be at WDW in May. But, DLR records showed that I only paid $439 for the premium pass (got the $20 renewal discount and got it before the rates increased). So, I would have had to pay $340-ish for the premier pass.

So, I will be renewing & upgrading the pass instead (so it keeps the June expiration date and will be good til June 2013).

You can upgrade your WDW AP to a premier pass so it's good at DLR too but it will expire in January 2013 (same day as the original expiration date for WDW AP).

Someone more knowledgeable can answer, but I didn't think you could use already used media (tickets) to apply to an existing AP.

 

[Sir Aaron]

I don't think they will combine APs, at least that is what I've heard in the past. Premier can only be done at the GS at one of the parks, which includes DL. Likely you'll have to choose which AP

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Your Jan trip would've probably been too early to renew your DL APs anyways, plus there is no renewal discount for the Premier. You can ask if they can fix the dates and explain the circumstances. They may.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

Your Jan trip would've probably been too early to renew your DL APs anyways, plus there is no renewal discount for the Premier. You can ask if they can fix the dates and explain the circumstances. They may.

In general, if you upgraded a ticket used for admission in January, the AP to which you upgraded it will expire in January of the next year. The OP can upgrade to the Premier before their DL AP expires, however, if the OP doesn't have a PAP. If the OP needs the March, 2013 expiration, however, they cannot get any credit for the tickets used in January, 2012. -- Suzanne

 

[Huff]

Sounds like our only choice is to upgrade the WDW AP to the Premier and have a Jan. renewal.

Had we had the time to go to a GS at a park during our WDW visit in Jan. I believe we could have had our MYW tickets credited to renewal and upgrade of our DL AP to a premier and ended up with a March expire date. Possibly they would have said we have to be withing 30 days of expire date, not sure. Since we could not get to GS we had to do what we could at our resort, which was to upgrade MYW to WDW AP.

To PP's, yes, you can apply used MYW ticket cost towards an AP or renewal of AP. I believe it must be done on or before the last valid day of the MYW tickets. Some have said within 14 days of first use.

So, we have to go to GS outside DL gates to get Premier AP? Or can we use our DL AP to get into CA and go to GS/AP center there since lines are usually shorter at CA GS?

 

[sonnyjane]

So, we have to go to GS outside DL gates to get Premier AP? Or can we use our DL AP to get into CA and go to GS/AP center there since lines are usually shorter at CA GS?

As of last year, there are no longer AP processing centers. All AP transactions happen at the ticket booths or GS outside the parks.

 

[Huff]

As of last year, there are no longer AP processing centers. All AP transactions happen at the ticket booths or GS outside the parks.

Some of our AP's were purchased in March and others in May of last year. Both times we went to AP center inside parks to get our photo taken. Our AP's do not have photos on them but they still took photos which show up on CM's screens at gates. Do they now take photos at ticket booths or GS or did they get rid of photos?

 

[CMHusband]

All ticket booths are now processing the Premier passes.This give you a lot of windows to choose from. Yes GS can do it, but they only have 2 windows and do a lot of group sales, so the wait can be longer.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

Sounds like our only choice is to upgrade the WDW AP to the Premier and have a Jan. renewal.

Had we had the time to go to a GS at a park during our WDW visit in Jan. I believe we could have had our MYW tickets credited to renewal and upgrade of our DL AP to a premier and ended up with a March expire date. Possibly they would have said we have to be withing 30 days of expire date, not sure. Since we could not get to GS we had to do what we could at our resort, which was to upgrade MYW to WDW AP.

To PP's, yes, you can apply used MYW ticket cost towards an AP or renewal of AP. I believe it must be done on or before the last valid day of the MYW tickets. Some have said within 14 days of first use.

So, we have to go to GS outside DL gates to get Premier AP? Or can we use our DL AP to get into CA and go to GS/AP center there since lines are usually shorter at CA GS?

I think I understand now what you were trying to accomplish. I don't think it would have helped to go to GS at WDW to do an early renewal of a DL AP. I think all they could do in Florida would be to sell you a Premier with an expiration date = your first WDW entry date.

For future reference, you might have been able to get around this if you renewed your AP at DL in January before heading to WDW. DL generally allows you to renew up to 40 days prior to expiration. If the timing was right and you had done this, you would have headed to FL with a DL AP expiring in March, 2013.

Then, you could have upgraded the renewed DL AP with cash to a Premier AP, which would then also have the 3/13 expiration date. Not sure if it was an issue, but current policy would not allow you to use the value of a WDW ticket towards the Premier because you already were using the value of 1 ticket (the DL AP) to upgrade.

Because I have not heard of anyone doing the early renewal then upgrade to Premier, I wouldn't be surprised if WDW GS were stumped by the whole process. Its possible that the computer couldn't spit out a Premier AP that expires more than 1 year in the future. I would have planned some extra time to work with GS to iron everything out. -- Suzanne

 

[bumbershoot]

Some of our AP's were purchased in March and others in May of last year. Both times we went to AP center inside parks to get our photo taken. Our AP's do not have photos on them but they still took photos which show up on CM's screens at gates. Do they now take photos at ticket booths or GS or did they get rid of photos?

Now you have your photo taken by photopass photographers in the parks. The ticket booths have the printers for the hard APs, so you do all your upgrading/purchasing of APs there, and then the picture later on.

Note: if you don't do your picture at your first park/first day, have the AP and your photo ID out when entering another park. They will want it! And they will remind you about your picture.

 

[Huff]

Thanks everyone! Think I got it figured out.

Can't get as good of a deal as I hoped but will end up with a premier AP for a cost of about $350. Thats less than just the cost of renewing our DL AP's and we will make another trip to WDW in the next year. It'll be worth it!