The Annual Pass thread - information and questions

[Karin1984]

Does anyone know if it is possible to renew an Annual Pass on a restricted day? I know parking is not included, but can you still go up to the studios window and renew?
We've got the flex, and of course, the 14/15/16 july is blocked

And follow up question; you still need to do it onsite, correct? no renewal through online?

Never done it, but to your first question, I would say yes. You cannot enter the park if your current AP blocks it, but you can still go up to the registers.

I am not 100% sure, but I don't think you can at the moment, because of their changing the system. Even if you could do it online, in the old system you had to go to the park to exchange your temporary pass for a physical.

If you could extend online you probably should have received an email 2 months before expiring.

 

[fitnessmouse]

Never done it, but to your first question, I would say yes. You cannot enter the park if your current AP blocks it, but you can still go up to the registers.

I am not 100% sure, but I don't think you can at the moment, because of their changing the system. Even if you could do it online, in the old system you had to go to the park to exchange your temporary pass for a physical.

If you could extend online you probably should have received an email 2 months before expiring.

Wow. Decided to not take any chances and we renewed last Sunday. With the new AP news today so happy we did a quick trip.

 

[Karin1984]

I only see now that you only get EMH with the highest tier!

 

[Flossbolna]

We figured that our last AP (valid for nearly three years due to Covid and the extra three months for renewing) will stay our last ones. We just did a trip with single day one park tickets bought with the Ex-Shareholders-Club discount. Worked out fine. We actually enjoyed being forced to stay in one park.

 

[Flossbolna]

Wow. Decided to not take any chances and we renewed last Sunday. With the new AP news today so happy we did a quick trip.

I thought of your post when I read the news! You know, you can „upgrade“ to the new passes if you want to! I guess that is for those who have too much money and want to donate it to the Walt Disney Company…

 

[Karin1984]

I am in serious doubt what to do after next June. If calculated correctly, I need 7 park days to justify the highest tier, instead of 5. My visits are usually 2 days, sometimes 3 days. This means 3-4 visits a year. I can do that.

But it is also the principle, a 40% increase for the highest tier with so many benefits removed or adjusted..

What I enjoyed about the AP are a lot of little things together.
- Emh if I go with a lower tier
Complicated, as I stay onsite so often. We stayed onsite often last few years due to the park reservations.
- Photopass if I go with a lower tier.
Yes, love this.
- private access
Not a big deal to loose it, but I like it.
- free baggage storage
7 euro per day I use it, or build in extra time to go back to the hotel, when staying onsite.
- vip spots for parade and fireworks.
Didn't need it, because I have seen them so many times, but really liked it. Especially for fireworks in the summer. Do not look forward to stand in crowded places at night.
- hotel discount
This is a hard one, I often booked immediately via booking.com, because I hate calling Disney to find out if there was a discount.
- no discount when renewing.
Yeah... this is a bigger amount of money. It is great you can now more easily order it over the phone (they say), but the money will be missed.

Not or hardly relevant to me:
- decreased merchandise discount
Not a big issue for me, as I rarily buy merchandise.
- decreased restaurant discount
Yeah it was nice, but in the big picture, did I save that much money? The difference is a couple of euro's... hard to say.
- no parking
I dont have a car...
- Friend tickets
I dont have friends well, yes and no. I have friends, but not friends I go to DLP with. I have my Disney buddy and she has an AP as well ( for now).
- swimming at hotels.
Never used this.
- Easier to get park reservations
With me staying onsite so often, I don't really care. I used the waitlist once, and I got it granted quite easily.

The AP parties... this is really complicated to judge, as sometimes there is really unique entertainment, but they are so busy and the hassle of getting tickets is insane.

A rare character meet & greet only for AP holders (Supposedly in a relaxed setting) Hard to judge as it is new, and also I have been going to Disney parks around the world for so many years, I have met so many characters. What is still a rare character to me? Still bummed that i missed the Sultan in 2016 half Marathon weekend and Quasimodo in 2019 during the AP party, but if I do not meet them ever in my life... can live with that

 

[fitnessmouse]

Yes I understand getting upset about all these changes if you have infinity or plus.

We only use the flex for parcs access and time it well and has been beneficial for us. Discounts we use mostly the couple euros on food. Don’t really spend much on merchandise anymore.

So for us, we’re happy to have another year access and we’ll see what we’ll do next.