Questions on year round passes

[adam-s]

My wife and I will be visiting Disneyland California along with bro/sis in-law in March. We had planned to get year round passes.

Question is how do I get them in hand without burning a week or so of the time waiting around for vacation? We plan on several trips this year and another in March 2010 and it would be nice to have the passes still working then.

I had considered buying 4 or 5 day park hopper tickets via Expedia and then trading them in for year round when we get there. Would this work for sure? I'm assumming that buying the passed outright on the disney site would activate them immediately and cause them to expire sometime January 2010?

I may not totally understand how the passes work? I've read that I should be able to upgrade tickets for the difference between what I paid and the proce of the new tickets?

 

[BillyFan]

The year doesn't start on your AP until you activate it, so you can purchase it from the Disneyland web site, print it up and take it straight to the turnstyle. You'll just need to go to the AP processing center in the park on that first day to get a permanent card with your photo.
Have fun!!!!!

 

[DangerMouse]

The AP's are not activated until you actually use them at the parks the first time.

Although, if you are not planning on staying on-site at a DLR hotel, I would suggest purchasing a parkhopper first for the MM privelege and then upgrading to a AP after you have attended MM. You can upgrade at the Bank on Main Street and just pay the difference between the price you paid for the PH and the price of your AP.

Make sense?

 

[adam-s]

Thanks much for the reply. I forgot about the whole early entry thing...I do like watching Disneyland wake up.

How early or late will the process the year round passes? We'll probably get there around 6pm Sunday night and I'm thinking if we just go ahead and buy the year round passes I'll need to swap them in right away if we want to catch Fantasmic/parade/fireworks.

Thanks

 

[AC7179]

How far in advance can you buy the APs? Do they expire?

I was going to go ahead and buy our vouchers once we had saved up for them, although we probably won't go until 2010. Would that work?

 

[bumbershoot]

Thanks much for the reply. I forgot about the whole early entry thing...I do like watching Disneyland wake up.

How early or late will the process the year round passes? We'll probably get there around 6pm Sunday night and I'm thinking if we just go ahead and buy the year round passes I'll need to swap them in right away if we want to catch Fantasmic/parade/fireworks.

Thanks

If you were getting in at night, but wanted to have a day of Magic Morning, you couldn't upgrade to APs yet. You will lose the MM if you haven't used it when you upgrade. So buy hoppers that have enough days on them to get you to your MM day (sat sun tues thurs), and THEN upgrade.

Your AP will be backdated to the first day of use of the hoppers.

How far in advance can you buy the APs? Do they expire?

I was going to go ahead and buy our vouchers once we had saved up for them, although we probably won't go until 2010. Would that work?

They do have expiration dates on the vouchers. If the date comes and goes you don't lose that money, but if the AP cost goes up you'll have to pay the price difference.

Better to save and put the money into a dedicated, interest-bearing, savings account instead.

 

[kerickson]

Another tip. I plan on buying Deluxe AP's for my kids, but the last day of our trip is a blackout day. We dont need Premium passes for our other trips, so I plan to buy a 7 day hopper, then on the last day (which is a blackout day) upgrade to the AP (we can either do it at the end or beginning as you can buy and use a Deluxe AP on a blackout day). That way we don't lose a vacation day in the parks.

 

[pixiewings71]

Another tip. I plan on buying Deluxe AP's for my kids, but the last day of our trip is a blackout day. We dont need Premium passes for our other trips, so I plan to buy a 7 day hopper, then on the last day (which is a blackout day) upgrade to the AP (we can either do it at the end or beginning as you can buy and use a Deluxe AP on a blackout day). That way we don't lose a vacation day in the parks.

Just make sure the Deluxe AP's are MORE than the 7 day tickets. You can only upgrade to a higher cost pass, so if you pay less for the 7 days then you'll have to upgrade to a Premium pass. Just an fyi.

 

[adam-s]

Great info all the way around. I might skip the mm anyway as we'll be in a hurry to get our first year round passes. We decided to go ahead and arrive on a Saturday though, which is a blockout day.

Looks like I can use hoppers for this day and maybe even do the mm if we decide to hold out that long and just trade in for year round after that. Very nice!

I'll probably swap in for year rounds on Sunday though as we had planned on using the 10% discount at rancho del zocalo and that pasta place at the end of main street USA but holding out till then will get us a free blockout day!

 

[iKristin]

Ok so if I buy my AP online and my trip isn't until October I can't get the hotel rates since it won't be active until I go too the park?

 

[TheAXIOM]

Ok so if I buy my AP online and my trip isn't until October I can't get the hotel rates since it won't be active until I go too the park?

Correct.

You need to activate your AP in the park in order to get the special reduced rates.

 

[bumbershoot]

adam-s, if you get there early enough on Saturday you could use MM that very first day. I know, nearly impossible to do, but just in case...

If you're going to upgrade to the APs on Sunday, make sure you do have at least a 2 day ticket, to get you in the gates on Sunday.


iKristin that's hard to answer definitively, because sometimes people are able to use the number on their voucher to create an AP account on disneyland.com (or add the voucher number to their current disneyland.com account like I did). Other times people can't. IF you can use the voucher number to log in online, then you'll be able to see the AP pages and the Hotel Availability Calendar which gives you the opportunity to hear your hard drive rev up like a jet engine ...I mean, lets you see the basic prices of the hotel rates, taking into account the best rate available for an AP holder at the time. (my relatively new Mac absolutely HATES the disney sites, that's what the jet engine thing refers to)

But you can always call them up and ask what the current AP price is. I'm SURE that as soon as a special price for October dates comes out you'll see it mentioned here...probably by then it'll be called AP9 or AP10, or even higher if the resorts get really desperate over the summer! So either call them periodically to see if an AP special has come out, or just check around here until someone posts the good news, and then you can call them.

 

[iKristin]

Yikes...that makes me not want to risk it with wasting my money. Might as well just book it through Alaska and just get the 5 day park hopper because I'm not gonna be using the AP again anyway if I would have bought it. I don't wanna risk buying the pass and not even being able to use it for the hotel discounts which is what I was going to get it for to save us money on our trip

 

[pixiewings71]

Great info all the way around. I might skip the mm anyway as we'll be in a hurry to get our first year round passes. We decided to go ahead and arrive on a Saturday though, which is a blockout day.

Looks like I can use hoppers for this day and maybe even do the mm if we decide to hold out that long and just trade in for year round after that. Very nice!

I'll probably swap in for year rounds on Sunday though as we had planned on using the 10% discount at rancho del zocalo and that pasta place at the end of main street USA but holding out till then will get us a free blockout day!

You can still activate or upgrade your pass on a blackout day, you do NOT have to pay the blackout fee. Trust me, I did it in 07 and it still works now. So if you absolutely can't wait to have that AP in hand (I know how good that feels!) then you can activate it on Saturday and you'll be fine. Also, if you are staying onsite you get MM with your AP, it's available to all ticketed DLRH guests.

Yikes...that makes me not want to risk it with wasting my money. Might as well just book it through Alaska and just get the 5 day park hopper because I'm not gonna be using the AP again anyway if I would have bought it. I don't wanna risk buying the pass and not even being able to use it for the hotel discounts which is what I was going to get it for to save us money on our trip

Getting the AP for hotel discounts really isn't worth it. It's better to just get park hoppers and stay offsite. I mean, you can get some really great AP rates but they don't always offer them, the standard discount is just 10% so unless there is a really great AP9/10 rate that they release it's really not worth it.

 

[iKristin]

No I want to stay on site. It's my mom's birthday and her first trip to Disneyland so we're making it special. That's why I was going to get the AP so it would include my tickets and discounts on the PPH

 

[McCall]

No I want to stay on site. It's my mom's birthday and her first trip to Disneyland so we're making it special. That's why I was going to get the AP so it would include my tickets and discounts on the PPH

Just for your information when I call to book AP rates at the hotels I am NEVER asked for info on my AP just told I must show it at check in, and that is no problem if you bought vouchers, just go redeem them before your check in, often they will even take the voucher at check in as proof.

As to whether they will offer discounted rooms when you want to go, that is another matter and only calling will tell you if there is anything available at the reduced rate.

Also just FYI, I had a room booked at the GCH for Feb 7 one night at the AP rate and there is a special going on right now that was CHEAPER by about $25 than what I had booked at AP so I called and they gave me the cheaper rate.
Just shows that Sometimes, AP is not the cheapest rate.

 

[pixiewings71]

No I want to stay on site. It's my mom's birthday and her first trip to Disneyland so we're making it special. That's why I was going to get the AP so it would include my tickets and discounts on the PPH

Ok, well it is still doable. What I would suggest is booking your stay now, without the AP discount at all. Then as it gets closer to your stay (August, is that right? I can't remember now) watch the boards here, we will all post about the new AP9/10 rate when it's available and we will post the dates it's available. After you find out if there will be the awesome ($139/169 PPH $149/169 DLH $229/???GCH sorry, I don't remember the GCH rates) rates then you can call back and change the stay you already have booked. OR, if they won't let you change it then rebook and then cancel the original stay. You don't need the AP to book it at those rates, you just need the AP when you check in. And really, if you have the voucher they will tell you to bring it by after it's active so they can verify your account. So don't give up, just keep checking here and we will all help you!

 

[iKristin]

Ok thanks a bunch

 

[adam-s]

I'll have a 12 hour drive on the Saturday we arrive so probably no magic morning for us. I'm having serious Disneyland flashbacks already...not sure I'll survive until March.

We have been depressing ourselves with Disney movies though...probably doesn't help.

 

[bumbershoot]

...I'm not gonna be using the AP again anyway...

Famous last words. Similar to ours..."well we'll be going for at least one ONE-day visit when we visit my brother in San Diego within this year, and a 5 day plus a 1 day cost MORE than the AP, so just that one day will make the upgrade worth it"...that was in Sept of '07, bwa ha ha ha ha....


Sign up on the disneyland website. Wherever you can, click YES to get emails about specials, info, offers. Check that email often. They've been sending out codes recently that are better than the AP rate for some dates, and it seems likely that will continue until things really turn around.