Recent Experience Activating AP on Blockout Day

[LisaT91403]

We received Deluxe AP's as a holiday gift. They are the 13-month passes, and were purchased in person at the Disney Store...so they look like gift cards (as opposed to a paper voucher from the website).

I know that, in the past, you could enter the parks in the day you activate an AP, even on a blackout day. However, I did an online chat yesterday, and the CM said that this had been done in the past as a courtesy to those purchasing passes the same day...and that it might not be the case anymore.

It makes sense that, if you are *buying* the pass that day, they would need to let you in; otherwise, I'd think you'd just buy a one-day ticket and upgrade to a pass before you leave. But if the pass has already been purchased (but not activated)...I guess they don't have any incentive to let you in?

So...does anyone have recent experience with this?

 

[sleepymouse]

I called to ask about this recently and was told that when purchasing at DLR and using that day, a blockout day, they process it as a single day ticket and then upgrade it to a pass at the same time, or something like that. So my guess is that it will not work, but who knows? We are going to see if we can activate and use our prepurchased deluxe APs on Feb 19th (blocked out day). I will try to report back .

 

[LisaT91403]

It would be great if you could report back. Thanks!

 

[LisaT91403]

Has anyone had recent experience with this? We want to activate our new Deluxe APs on 2/19, but it's a blocked day. I'm not sure if we should risk the trip or not.

 

[LisaT91403]

Okay, I'm replying to my own thread. LOL

I just did an online chat, and the agent told me that I can activate a new pass on any day, even if it's blocked. She said the only time that I wouldn't be allowed to do it is if the park is at capacity and they are not letting people in.

I will be giving it a try this Sunday....

 

[agamble]

Years ago they sold blockout tickets to APs. They stopped doing that and people wondered if you wouldn't be able to activate on a blockout date. However people were still able to. Our last APs were activated in June 2015 (nearly 2 years ago now) on a blockout day. We took our vouchers right to the gate and they scan. They do not tell the gate scanners that you are blocked out. When we took our vouchers to the ticket booth many hours later she mentioned that our tickets were blocked that day. She gave us a blockout pass and told us to present both our APs and the blockout pass when we went to the gate. We did not have any problems entering, and our AP cards worked for FP. People call CM and get answers on the phone, ask a CM in person and get another answer, then e-mail and get a third answer. They're not always reliable.

 

[LisaT91403]

So true about asking 3 different people and getting 3 different answers!

I printed out a copy of the chat transcript, just in case. I am going to think positive thoughts, and hope that it all works out.

 

[agamble]

So true about asking 3 different people and getting 3 different answers!

I printed out a copy of the chat transcript, just in case. I am going to think positive thoughts, and hope that it all works out.

I'm sure it will all work out. I have read so many other accounts like mine where people activate on a blockout date and all is fine. I just meant that first CM didn't know. You and I were posting at the same time.

 

[LisaT91403]

I wanted to report back on this. We visited on 2/19, a blockout day for Deluxe AP's. We had no problem activating and using our AP's on this day. We were given our regular AP's, and also a paper "Blockout Day" card that we had to show every time we entered the turnstile on that day.

The activation took a long time because we purchased the AP vouchers prior to the price increase, so the CM had to override all of the pricing then add the 13th month to the pass.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Glad that everything worked out!

 

[agamble]

I wanted to report back on this. We visited on 2/19, a blockout day for Deluxe AP's. We had no problem activating and using our AP's on this day. We were given our regular AP's, and also a paper "Blockout Day" card that we had to show every time we entered the turnstile on that day.

The activation took a long time because we purchased the AP vouchers prior to the price increase, so the CM had to override all of the pricing then add the 13th month to the pass.

Thanks for reporting back on your blockout experience and that you were given the 13th month. Hope it was a good trip.

 

[LisaT91403]

Thanks for reporting back on your blockout experience and that you were given the 13th month. Hope it was a good trip.

Great trip, thanks! We were there 2/19 & 20, and had lots of fun despite a bit of rain and big crowds. Looking forward to 13 months of magic

 

[agamble]

Great trip, thanks! We were there 2/19 & 20, and had lots of fun despite a bit of rain and big crowds. Looking forward to 13 months of magic

Hey LisaT9, thanks again for letting us know that everything worked out with activating your pass on a blockout day. I was curious if you park hopped or got discounts at all before going to the ticket booths. We're moving up our activation date by a few weeks and going on Memorial weekend Sunday. I remember getting the blockout pass when we upgraded several hours after we went inside DL, but it was before park hopping. I don't remember much else. I'm sure we were given a ticket we used for FP, etc. but it's been almost three years since we last activated our APs and it's hard to remember if that ticket was good for anything besides FP and taking to the ticket booth to exchange.

 

[LisaT91403]

Hey LisaT9, thanks again for letting us know that everything worked out with activating your pass on a blockout day. I was curious if you park hopped or got discounts at all before going to the ticket booths. We're moving up our activation date by a few weeks and going on Memorial weekend Sunday. I remember getting the blockout pass when we upgraded several hours after we went inside DL, but it was before park hopping. I don't remember much else. I'm sure we were given a ticket we used for FP, etc. but it's been almost three years since we last activated our APs and it's hard to remember if that ticket was good for anything besides FP and taking to the ticket booth to exchange.

We went to the ticket booth first thing to get our passes. In addition to the pass, we were given a paper block out day ticket that we needed to show upon entering either park. We only used the paper ticket at the turnstiles. For everything else (FP, discounts), we used the AP. Yes, we went to both parks. Hope this helps!

 

[agamble]

We went to the ticket booth first thing to get our passes. In addition to the pass, we were given a paper block out day ticket that we needed to show upon entering either park. We only used the paper ticket at the turnstiles. For everything else (FP, discounts), we used the AP. Yes, we went to both parks. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the response. When we did this we went straight to the gates and then later went to the ticket booths so as to get in the parks right away and avoid the morning congestion at the ticket booths. It doesn't really matter though as our day is going to be very go with the flow. Our main purpose is to ride Hyperspace Mountain as it opened after our last visit and is now closing at the end of the month. We missed out on all of the 60th stuff as our last day was the 24 hour party, but we didn't stay for the crazy first parade & fireworks. I've kicked myself a few times for assuming the fireworks and parade would still be there two years later. So we're not going to chance that Hyperspace will return later this year and we're just going to go. Plus it gives us the chance to surprise our kids as they know about the trip in June with Grandma, but they don't know about this one.

 

[Niltiac]

Hey LisaT9, thanks again for letting us know that everything worked out with activating your pass on a blockout day. I was curious if you park hopped or got discounts at all before going to the ticket booths. We're moving up our activation date by a few weeks and going on Memorial weekend Sunday. I remember getting the blockout pass when we upgraded several hours after we went inside DL, but it was before park hopping. I don't remember much else. I'm sure we were given a ticket we used for FP, etc. but it's been almost three years since we last activated our APs and it's hard to remember if that ticket was good for anything besides FP and taking to the ticket booth to exchange.

When we activated passes about a year and a half ago, it wasn't a blockout day, but we still got paper tickets because we went straight to the turnstiles and picked up the actual passes later in the day. The paper tickets were good for parkhopping, but I don't think they were good for discounts. I actually can't remember if we tried to use the discount.