Sorry for confusion. Let me try again. When you renew, you typically get a renewal voucher that needs to be activated at GR when you go. Because it is a renewal certificate, the start day of your new pass will be the end date of the pass you are renewal. It was good for one year and if you didn't actually renew in that year, the voucher was no longer good for a renewal, but the value could be used toward a new pass...which right now are not being sold.
There have been a few reports in the last year or so of people who did that and the CM at GR actually gave them a new start date....instead of backdating like it should, it gave them a full 12 months from when GR activated it...
Now, the report is that when you go to renew with MS, they don't issue a voucher anymore, but an actual AP that has the renewal start and stop date on it...for example, the person who posted had just done a renwal for a pass expiring in early October, and the new ticket in the
MDE account had the new dates already (ie: valid 10/2/22 - 10/2/23). The person was told they don't have to stop into GR as it is set to go.
My voucher from May for my March 2023 renewal (yes, I got an exception to renew outside of 60 days because Disney messed up and took a day off a ticket I had in my account when I had a valid AP which should have been used), has a one year expiration instead and I have to activate it next winter before my current one ends.
In the end, renewing simply continues your pass with no break in dates. Because APs are not being sold, you can only renew, which means your new pass will start October 8, 2022...you won't be able to push it out to start in Feb unless new AP's are back on sale and in that case, you pay full price, and not the renewal rate.
What I would like to hear is if anyone else who renews soon is told that the pass they are given is indeed an active pass that just kicks in as soon as the old one ends without having to stop at GR before going to the park.