The Disney Premiere Passport: A Mild Rant

[Drfate102]

I hope everything works out. We have been WDW pass holders for years. We are going to Disneyland for our honeymoon and upgrade to the Premier.

 

[DLR29]

I'm at WDW currently, and I'm a Premier Passport holder. I have not updated my PP to the ones that have the RFID chip in them (they just have a supervisor come by and swipe my card). I have thought about it, but I guess I won't to save the trouble when I return to CA.

However, my parents had bought Premium DLR APs and just upgraded them to Premier here in Florida. It took them like an hour to upgrade them because they had to call CA and get all of the expiration dates and birthdates and personal info, etc. Now my parents' APs might not work back in CA? Hmmm...

 

[starry_solo]

Wow, when we went to WDW in 2012 with our DL-issued Premier APs, all the WDW CMs had to do was enter our passport # and expiration date into their system and our Premier AP worked (with the fingerprint swipe)

 

[PAGAS]

They worked the fifth day of our DLR trip. The prior four days we had to wait in the ticket lines to get a paper ticket to get in. The worst was the first day at the gates when they pulled us aside and made us feel as if we had done something wrong. We spent nearly $3k on the passes and we were treated very poorly. There is a very low probability that we will get the passes again.

 

[Merry Mousketeer]

They worked the fifth day of our DLR trip. The prior four days we had to wait in the ticket lines to get a paper ticket to get in. The worst was the first day at the gates when they pulled us aside and made us feel as if we had done something wrong. We spent nearly $3k on the passes and we were treated very poorly. There is a very low probability that we will get the passes again.

I am sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. They will issue you the Park Hoppers at the turnstiles. It's a bit of a wait, but nothing like the ticket lines. I would hope Disney will not allow this problem to continue much longer, but I recommend you write guest services to share your experiences. Hearing from Premier pass holders may encourage them to resolve this sooner. I hope this didn't affect your overall enjoyment of Walt's park.

 

[nkushch]

Just to throw in my story...

I purchased my pass in CA, went to FL in July and tried to convert to RFID. Hollywood Studios couldn't get the RFID to work so they sent me to Epcot Guest Services. Epcot finally got it working.

Jump ahead one month, I try to go to Disneyland with my new card. As with everyone else, it doesn't work. I get issued a temporary pass while they "contact Florida".

It took 3 separate trips with all of them needing to contact Florida without it working. Finally, a supervisor Emailed Florida instead of whatever the others had tried. Now it works.

To sum it up, ask the Disneyland ticket booth to contact Florida by email!

 

[Disney Dreams]

The issue is that the two Resortd don't have the same software/entry reader systems at their gates. Essentially, you are buying an AP that works at whichever resort you start at that can be swapped out for an AP at the other resort when you visit. And then swapped back to your original resort when you go there again.

You have purchased rights to visit the Parks in both Resorts, but due to the technology differences, the same physical card won't work at both Resorts.

- Dreams

 

[RandFamily]

The issue is that the two Resortd don't have the same software/entry reader systems at their gates. Essentially, you are buying an AP that works at whichever resort you start at that can be swapped out for an AP at the other resort when you visit. And then swapped back to your original resort when you go there again.

You have purchased rights to visit the Parks in both Resorts, but due to the technology differences, the same physical card won't work at both Resorts.

- Dreams

Then why in the world don't they just issue two different passes. Incredible bureaucracy!

 

[HydroGuy]

Then why in the world don't they just issue two different passes. Incredible bureaucracy!

I would imagine that they fear someone would send one of the passes to CA and the other to FL and two people could use them.

 

[rmgreenesq]

Thanks for highlighting the problem on the podcast Michael. Pursuant to your suggestion, I created an account at Disneyland.com to add the Florida issued AP. The Disneyland.com website recognized it.

Here's hoping that Orlando and Anaheim have resolved this issue, and my pass works on my next trip to Disneyland next month. If it doesn't, I'll be talking to guest relations.

Rick

 

[rms123]

Thanks for highlighting the problem on the podcast Michael. Pursuant to your suggestion, I created an account at Disneyland.com to add the Florida issued AP. The Disneyland.com website recognized it. Here's hoping that Orlando and Anaheim have resolved this issue, and my pass works on my next trip to Disneyland next month. If it doesn't, I'll be talking to guest relations. Rick

We tried this but no luck today. We spent half of magic morning getting temp tickets. I complained at city hall and did get an anywhere fastpass. Still, grrr.

 

[PatMcDuck]

We leave for a Florida in less than two weeks - I'm hoping that the Magic Bands, which have the pass on them for us at least (I know people have had issues registering them on My Disney Experience), will allow us to enter without switching to the RFID cards.

I will *not* give up the pass that I know works in California just for a few days of easy entry in Florida.

I think by getting the Magic Bands, you are in the RFID world. I put a 10 day hopper no expire (an old one) on a Magic Band, and used 5 days of it. I still have that old non RFID ticket. I don't think it would work for admission at WDW anymore. But, I am not sure of course.

My interest is this was that we were going to use the WDW pass at DL, and I think we can't now.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

Thanks to all the previous posters, my partner and I were prepared this morning when we arrived and tried to use our Premier passports that we bought originally in Anaheim, but converted to RFID in Orlando. The gate CM had to get her lead, who was very nice and laid the blame on Orlando dropping the ball. (The RFID Premiers are supposed to have dual DLR technology on them, and they do, but the problem is one of a database sync failure.)

Long story short, we were given 1 day paper comp hoppers stamped "Premier", and our names were put on the exception list so that for the next two days of our stay, new comp daily hoppers will be issued on the spot at the gate. We will also have to get hand stamped each day.

The CMs were massively nice about it, and the lead will send an email to Orlando, as noted by PPs. But she said Orlando won't even read that email until Monday. No harm really, but we're somewhat annoyed at TDO for giving such short shrift to Anaheim Premier holders. After spending more than $1500, I sure as heck should not need a hand stamp.

 

[DisneyaHolic23]

I think the thing that is so frustrating is that all of us Premiere Passholders are some of their best customers, and we are being forced to lose time on every trip standing in line at Guest Relations. They have always been really nice, and once we got a bunch of FastPasses, but honestly, I have paid almost $1,000 for a pass that should work without problems! (And, wow - what a price hike this year - probably our last Premiere Passport. Last year I spent about $750 for my pass, and this year it is around $1,000.) That is a STEEP hike!

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

Now that we're back home, here is the message I submitted via the DLR online comment form today, giving props to DLR CMs who were awesome toward us:

"This is a complaint concerning non-working Premier Annual Passports. We do not blame DLR or TDA here, but we wanted to know our thoughts so the appropriate parties in Orlando can know them, too. My partner and I are Premier AP holders. DLR is our "home" resort and that is where we purchased them on March 1 of this year. In May, we visited WDW and were asked to convert our APs to RFID-enabled cards, with the promise (a literal, verbalized promise) from the Guest Services booth at Epcot that our new Premier AP cards would work at DLR.

I know you already know where this is going, as during our visit this weekend to DLR we were told we were among many other Premier AP holders with the new RFID cards with the same problem. Problem being, of course our new APs did *not* work at DLR.

We were told by a DL main gate lead that the problem was common and was caused by Orlando not syncing their database correctly with DLR (or not planning to do so.) She put us on the exception list so that the main gate leads could issue us comp 1-day hoppers on the spot without us having to stand in the ticket booth lines, and that we would have to get our hands stamped to re-enter the parks and to show our AP and comp hoppers and explain the issue in order to receive the appropriate discounts for every meal and piece of merchandise that we purchased.

She also told us that the only way to fix the issue was to "send and email to Orlando"--and she frankly let us know that since we arrived on a Friday, our email probably would not be read in Orlando until after the long holiday weekend--and our three-day trip--were over.

First let me say that that original lead and every other DLR CM whom we encountered (except for one Emporium CM who argued with us because she didn't believe Premier APs existed!) went above and beyond to help us out during our entire stay and keep things magical for us. Wonderful on-stage (and backstage!) CMs are one of the things we love the most about the west coast parks, and why we feel like DLR is "home" for us!

My problem which I hope you can communicate to the proper Orlando individuals is this:

1.) As a customer having paid more than $1,500 for our two Premier APs that by definition are supposed to be valid on both coasts, it is absolutely not acceptable that proper database syncing--or whatever else the proper technology ball is that was dropped in this case--was not planned for by Orlando to make sure that Anaheim visitors could still use their APs at their home park. More than 25 million people visit DLR every year. How on earth did the west coast parks fall off the radar screen here in Orlando?

2.) How dare there not be a person in Orlando at work every day the parks are open--including through a long holiday weekend--to fix problems like this? Because Orlando didn't care about our experience as Anaheim guests enough to actually, simply, have a single person to deal with this issue between Friday and Tuesday, we ended up spending a total of about *three solid hours** during our three-day trip standing in lines, explaining our non-working Premier APs to CMs, and waiting for leads. That's three solid hours of precious Disney vacation time, as we see it pretty much stolen from us and that we can't get back because Team Disney Orlando just didn't care. And we paid more than $1,500 for our APs and another $1,500 on air tickets, hotel, and food and merch in the parks to receive treatment like that.

So basically, I want an explanation and an apology from Orlando. I know you probably can't make that happen. But I want you to know that as two DLR vets, we will never purchase Premier APs again based on our experience this weekend. If Orlando doesn't care about Disneyland visitors, we will be more than happy to confine our future visits to Anaheim.

And I'd also like a time machine to get our precious three Disneyland hours back, you know?

Thank you for listening. Please keep being Disneyland!"

 

[rms123]

I am in the process of writing my letter, but here's a recap of our experience the last 5 days. Luckily I knew from the board about the problem or I would have lost it several times.

We arrived on Wed night late to the GC so we couldn't go to the ticket booths. So, the next morning we headed straight for the ticket booths at early entry opening. They don't open before that. They knew about the problem and said they'd send the email and we'd be on an exception list. Well, when we went to the turnstiles it we waited 30 min for the lead to clear us and he got us a park hopper for the day. Crowds were bad enough that 30 min into early entry even Alice had a 30 min wait.

Next day we try again for early entry at CA. DHs ticket works, but mine scans as my daughters and then hers shows re-entry. Took another 30 min to call the lead who wouldn't do anything fast to take down my name and send another email. He also says I need to go get a new pass since it would be easier. Grr - that's what we asked for to begin with since we're done with FL for the year. The wouldn't do that for us without charging us $20/pass. Seriously!

Later that afternoon we go to the ticket booth as directed. Everything scans correctly there. They say it must have gotten fixed.

Next day. Try again. Same problem. DDs name and pic on my card. CM at the turnstile says my DDs ticket must be all used up. Are you kidding me!

We go to the ticket booth again. This time refusing to leave until we know if will be fixed. 33 min later they say they'll call when it's done. Apparently there is one guy in FL named Darren who can fix this problem. I don't even know where to start on that. End of the story is that after hours, two missed early entries, lots of frustration, it's now fixed. Customer relations did put two fastpasses and two magic mornings on hold for us for our next trip.

I can't believe that they've known about this for months and haven't either hired temps to go type in everyone's info like this Darren person or better yet, created a simple computer script to move things over. This is craziness and I really expect more.

 

[Drfate102]

We are here at Disneyland and have been since Sunday. My wife's Premier has not worked once, keep getting a paper ticket. They have said that they need the computer to transfer the info. She is extreay frustrated about this and we still have a few more days here. However, I linked my ticket to the Disneyland AP site, which I had to send an e-mail in, and it is working perfectly. So link them passes the both AP web sites.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

Just a recap on our experience, DLR responded to my complaint email by phone late last week. I made it clear in the email and on the phone that we were grateful for all the help we got from DLR CMs because of a problem that TDO created, not Disneyland. Even so, we were sent four universal Fastpasses and the guest relations CM also said to call him directly a week before our next trip and he would set us up with a VIP viewing experience. I thought that was very classy of them.

He also told me that if we weren't going to be visiting WDW again during the remaining validity of our Premiers, if the problem persists they would just reissue us new cards the next time we're in Anaheim. So all in all we're good with DLR's response.

 

[rmgreenesq]

This is a quick update on my experience. My family and I went to Disneyland last night. This was our first attempt to enter the parks since I encountered difficulty with my Florida RFID Premiere Annual Pass.

Apparently whatever the Cast Member was supposed to do when I encountered difficulties last time worked. My pass worked for parking, admission, and a table service discount. No delays, no questions, no paper ticket, and no problems at all.

Rick

 

[msteddom]

This thread is making me so glad I resisted updating to RFID last time I was in Orlando!!!