renewing your annual pass before your current one expires

[halfmonkey]

So we currently have SoCal AP that expire on 12/29/13. We just bought the SoCal "gift cards" AP at Vons to lock in the "old" prices and have to activate them by 12/31/13. We currently have a quick trip planned for early December.

My question is, if we go in early December and activate the "gift card" AP that we just bought, do they start the one year cycle from that date or do they start it from the time that our current AP's expire? I'm asking because we're wondering if we should instead postpone our trip to the end of December in case they actually start the one year timeframe from the time that we activate them which would be in early Dec instead of late Dec, when our current AP's expire.

I'm hoping they extend it from the time that it expires because I've heard on these forums that they give you a window of 30-45 days prior to your AP expiring to renew. In this case with the price increase, if someone was within that timeframe, I guess they could have potentially renewed their AP at the old prices.

 

[Malcon10t]

When I did it a few years ago, it was from the date of the first visit. You aren't renewing if you use the new voucher. If you have a SoCal select, this might work as the price of the renewal is the same price as the old voucher. But if it is the regular SoCal, you will need to add $20 to make it a renewal. You need to decide if it is worth it to lose a week or so for the $20 savings.

 

[halfmonkey]

When I did it a few years ago, it was from the date of the first visit. You aren't renewing if you use the new voucher. If you have a SoCal select, this might work as the price of the renewal is the same price as the old voucher. But if it is the regular SoCal, you will need to add $20 to make it a renewal. You need to decide if it is worth it to lose a week or so for the $20 savings.

Sorry but I'm not sure I follow. I do have the SoCal and I paid $329 for a pass buying the "gift card" at Vons. Why would I need to pay an additional $20?

 

[Malcon10t]

Sorry but I'm not sure I follow. I do have the SoCal and I paid $329 for a pass buying the "gift card" at Vons. Why would I need to pay an additional $20?

The current price of a SOCal s $359. The renewal is $349. You have a voucher for a new pass. You can get a new AP and use the voucher and get the date as of the day you redeem it, or renew and add $20. At least that was how it happened to people last year.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

The AP vouchers are meant for people who are not current AP holders. They are not designed as an insulator from price increases. That being said, they worked well as a loophole last year for those folks who were willing to let their APs lapse and then start again fresh. They also were a great thing to buy in advance if you planned on getting an AP later in the year and wanted to avoid the price increase.

If you already have an AP, then buying an AP voucher does not lock in a renewal price for you. All you have done is pre-bought your next year's worth of AP at the price you paid. I thought it would only work for you if you let your AP lapse altogether meaning you would need to activate the new AP on Dec. 30 or 31. I was surprised to hear from Malcon10t that you could actually start your AP year over while you still had an active AP, but it sounds like she has actual experience with this so I would trust her statement. So your choices are the following:

1. Activate before your expiration date on your current AP. Your new expiration date will be the date of activation.

2. Wait until your current AP lapses on Dec. 29 and activate the new one on Dec. 30 or Dec. 31.

3. Apply your AP voucher toward renewal of your current AP. If you choose to use it in that way, then your AP voucher basically reverts to gift card status. Whatever you actually paid for it is applied to the current price of the renewal which as previously stated will be $349 (the new $359 price minus a $10 renewal discount). Since you paid $329 for your AP voucher, then a $329 credit will be applied to your renewal and you will owe Disney another $20 to maintain the same pass with the same expiration.

4. Let your AP lapse and wait until after Jan. 1 to get a new AP. In that case, your AP voucher still has the $329 value you paid for it and can be applied toward the $359 current price of the AP. You will owe Disney $30 and your pass will start on whatever date you first visit in 2014.

Obviously options 3 and 4 do not save you any money.

 

[halfmonkey]

The AP vouchers are meant for people who are not current AP holders. They are not designed as an insulator from price increases. That being said, they worked well as a loophole last year for those folks who were willing to let their APs lapse and then start again fresh. They also were a great thing to buy in advance if you planned on getting an AP later in the year and wanted to avoid the price increase.

If you already have an AP, then buying an AP voucher does not lock in a renewal price for you. All you have done is pre-bought your next year's worth of AP at the price you paid. I thought it would only work for you if you let your AP lapse altogether meaning you would need to activate the new AP on Dec. 30 or 31. I was surprised to hear from Malcon10t that you could actually start your AP year over while you still had an active AP, but it sounds like she has actual experience with this so I would trust her statement. So your choices are the following:

1. Activate before your expiration date on your current AP. Your new expiration date will be the date of activation.

2. Wait until your current AP lapses on Dec. 29 and activate the new one on Dec. 30 or Dec. 31.

3. Apply your AP voucher toward renewal of your current AP. If you choose to use it in that way, then your AP voucher basically reverts to gift card status. Whatever you actually paid for it is applied to the current price of the renewal which as previously stated will be $349 (the new $359 price minus a $10 renewal discount). Since you paid $329 for your AP voucher, then a $329 credit will be applied to your renewal and you will owe Disney another $20 to maintain the same pass with the same expiration.

4. Let your AP lapse and wait until after Jan. 1 to get a new AP. In that case, your AP voucher still has the $329 value you paid for it and can be applied toward the $359 current price of the AP. You will owe Disney $30 and your pass will start on whatever date you first visit in 2014.

Obviously options 3 and 4 do not save you any money.

Thanks or breaking it down. Option 3 and 4 would not be something we would do considering that I bought the "gift cards" to lock in the old pricing.

Option 2 might be doable but then we'd be compromising our planned trip to work around the expiration date and so as you mentioned that would onlu leave us 2 days to use before the end of the year.

Option 1 looks like our best bet and just to make sure I understand you correctly. So if our passes expire on 12/29 and we go to DLR/DCA on 15th and activate the "gift cards," does that mean that our new passes will then expire on 12/15/14?

Also, with our SoCal passes, Dec 14th is a blackout date. If we go on Dec 14th to activate the "gift cards," do they let us go into the park on that date? I know that if we were to get brand new passes and activate them on a black out date, we do get access but seeing that these are not technically new passes but are renewal, does htat loophole not apply?

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Thanks or breaking it down. Option 3 and 4 would not be something we would do considering that I bought the "gift cards" to lock in the old pricing.

Option 2 might be doable but then we'd be compromising our planned trip to work around the expiration date and so as you mentioned that would onlu leave us 2 days to use before the end of the year.

Option 1 looks like our best bet and just to make sure I understand you correctly. So if our passes expire on 12/29 and we go to DLR/DCA on 15th and activate the "gift cards," does that mean that our new passes will then expire on 12/15/14?

Also, with our SoCal passes, Dec 14th is a blackout date. If we go on Dec 14th to activate the "gift cards," do they let us go into the park on that date? I know that if we were to get brand new passes and activate them on a black out date, we do get access but seeing that these are not technically new passes but are renewal, does htat loophole not apply?

According to what Malco10t said, it would seem that if you activate your passes on Dec. 14, they would count as new passes. The blackout date would not be a problem in that case. I have also heard that if you renew in person on a blackout date, then you get entry to the parks that day even if you would otherwise be blacked out, so you would seem to be fine under either interpretation. Bear in mind I have tried neither of these things myself, so I can't say with absolute certainty that they work. I was surprised that Malco10t had success with using an annual pass voucher to re-start her pass even though she was an active AP, but first-hand experience is probably most reliable, so I would go with what she said. Her explanation is that, yes, if you go to the park on 12/15/13 and use your vouchers, then your passes will expire next year on 12/15/14 even though your current passes expire on 12/29/13. It's because as far as Disney is concerned (regardless of how you interpret your actions), you are activating a new pass and thus replacing your previous pass, not renewing it. You may do best at this point to talk to a Disney CM and explain the situation and see what they say and then hope that whatever they tell you is consistent with whatever the ticketing CM you talk to on the day you visit thinks can be done. Since I don't work for Disney (just visit a lot ) I could be off in my interpretations of the rules.

 

[halfmonkey]

Right now, we're kind of starting a family tradition of at least going two times in a year. Once in September because my son has all year round school and he has fall break in mid-sept whereas most kids will have just started school not too long ago. This works great for us because the crowds are low and the summer sun is still with us. We'll spend a few days there.

Then in December, we also plan to go back to enjoy the holiday decorations since they're so awesome.

At this point, we're planning on going on Dec 1st but now we may go on Dec 15th. So for us, we just need to decide if we go on 12/1 or 12/15. Whether or not DLR/DCA extends our passes to 12/29/14 or extends it beginning from our trip date, I guess, is a small issue to resolve. Either way, my hope and understanding is that the old prices we paid will be honored.

The unknown will simply be how they handle extended our passes. Do they roll them into our current passes and extend it or do they technically issue new passes and so we'll have one set of card expiring on 12/29/13 and then another set of annual passes expiring on 12/1 or 12/15 in 2014.

I will call them later and report back.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

The unknown will simply be how they handle extended our passes. Do they roll them into our current passes and extend it or do they technically issue new passes and so we'll have one set of card expiring on 12/29/13 and then another set of annual passes expiring on 12/1 or 12/15 in 2014.

I will call them later and report back.

I believe the system will only handle one annual pass per person at a time. If you activate the new passes for 12/1 or 12/15, then the old 12/29/13 pass would be immediately deactivated. People have had this problem when renewing online or by mail too close to their trip date. They arrive at the park with their old pass in hand since the new one hasn't arrived in the mail yet but find that the old pass has already been deactivated. I think this problem is being phased out though. I read something recently about Disney making the passes perpetual. They are no longer going to print the date or pass type on the card, so you can keep the same card from year to year even if your pass type or expiration date change.

I am interested to hear what you learn after talking to Disney about your situation. Thanks for offering to share.

 

[halfmonkey]

I called disneyland and what I was told was that dine I'm planning to activate the "gift cards," I technically will not be renewing my AP and will instead be starting new ones. Therefore, it seems that if we go on Dec 15th, our newest passes will extend to 12/15/14.