Understanding Annual Passes

[DemonLlama]

Yup, you got a present. Will she be around during those extra days to take advantage?
I don't think I've ever been at WDW on the last day of my pass, so a present wouldn't help me.

Ha! Of course not. She'll be home for Christmas break as of Dec. 16!

 

[goofy4tink]

I recall reading on here some new APs have an "activate by date" not long in the future. Any info on that?

Just bought my Gold AP yesterday. MDE ticket area shows that my AP must be activated by Dec 31, 2030!

 

[epcotty]

Just bought my Gold AP yesterday. MDE ticket area shows that my AP must be activated by Dec 31, 2030!

Interesting. I know I read on these boards that some new APs were to be activated by end of this year or end of next year. I wonder if that's just with some of them

 

[AngiTN]

Question: Why do people buy regular tickets and then upgrade to the Annual Pass later? Does this save them money?
Answer: In some cases it can. If you get a good deal on park tickets, you can upgrade them to an Annual Pass up until the last day the tickets can be used. So if you bought a 7 day park hopper for $390 from places like parksavers.com, undercover tourist (or similar site) and the price from Disney was $470, as a courtesy Disney Cast Members at the Guest Services may bridge your ticket. What this means is that they will assume your tickets are worth the full price of $470 and subtract this from the full cost of an Annual Pass. If an Annual Pass costs $800, you would need to pay Disney: $800 - $470 = $330. Therefore the total cost of your Annual Pass would be $330 + $390 = $720

Question: I will be staying onsite and have MDE, will the voucher be linked to my resort reservation and MDE?
Answer: Yes, when you activate your voucher it will be linked to your MDE

These 2 are not exactly correctly answered.

Tickets will be bridged to an AP at this time. It's not a courtesy. Some CM may not know how to do it correctly but it can be done and if you get a CM that doesn't know how, ask for a supervisor or go to another counter. Now, the policy can always change but it's not accurate to call it a courtesy

and

Your voucher is linked to MDE when you buy it, not when you activated it. You can book FP, book AP resort discounts, etc from the time you purchase the AP. You don't have to wait to activate it do to those things.

 

[AngiTN]

This is only if you are staying off-site. All AP holders staying on-site can book for the length of stay. I am currently holding FPs 10 days in June and 5 days in Aug. Both trips I am staying on-site.

Same. I have a 4 day stay this week and a 10 day stay in July and have FP for all days.

 

[stratus]

These 2 are not exactly correctly answered.

Tickets will be bridged to an AP at this time. It's not a courtesy. Some CM may not know how to do it correctly but it can be done and if you get a CM that doesn't know how, ask for a supervisor or go to another counter. Now, the policy can always change but it's not accurate to call it a courtesy

and

Your voucher is linked to MDE when you buy it, not when you activated it. You can book FP, book AP resort discounts, etc from the time you purchase the AP. You don't have to wait to activate it do to those things.

Updated, is the wording more accurate now?

Thanks for the corrections

 

[AngiTN]

Updated, is the wording more accurate now?

Thanks for the corrections

Yes, that clears it up. Good work on gathering all the info

 

[dislovefrommn]

I want to clarify about magic bands real quick. We just booked a dvc rental for next spring and plan on buying ap's then for the first time. We'll link the ap to those magic bands that we get. Linking them in MDE won't activate the pass, right? It won't be activated until our first park day?

 

[AngiTN]

I want to clarify about magic bands real quick. We just booked a dvc rental for next spring and plan on buying ap's then for the first time. We'll link the ap to those magic bands that we get. Linking them in MDE won't activate the pass, right? It won't be activated until our first park day?

First, you don't link anything to MB. It's the other way around. MB link back to the data in your MDE account
But yes, linking the AP to MDE won't do anything. It's not active till you to go GS and activate it

 

[rj2k21]

My family is planing on Updating our Florida Resident Tickets to AP in August. Am I able to do it and activate at Disney Spring Guest services? Will changing my passes effect my FP's

 

[AngiTN]

Disney Springs GS can handle the AP tickets/purchases
Switching them has no impact on FP

 

[erionm]

Disney Springs GS can handle the AP tickets/purchases
Switching them has no impact on FP

And as of 5/15, there is only a single Guest Relations location at Disney Springs. It's located at the Welcome Center which can be found in the Town Center neighborhood.

 

[AngiTN]

And as of 5/15, there is only a single Guest Relations location at Disney Springs. It's located at the Welcome Center which can be found in the Town Center neighborhood.

Interesting. I never knew they had more than 1

 

[RayO]

Hello everyone, hope you don't mind me crashing.

I have a couple of questions. First the background. I am going solo this October for 10 days with park hopper, and I am planning on taking my mother for Food & Wine at the end of next September next year for 11 days. She is turning 70 next year, so thought it might be nice for her. I am a fan of the DxDP, I enjoy the Signature Restaurants. Unless something drops at the end of next month, this year I am paying rack rate for everything. I have a few friends that are CM, and I was unable to book through them this year for the Friends & Family Discount due to my travel dates. Next year however, one of my friends will let me use her CM discount for the September 2017 trip. I was planning on upgrading myself due to planning on going for 21 days within a year. I know that with the F&F I will have to pay rack for my mother next year when it comes to her park tickets.

My questions are: Will I be able to add on the DxDP for the trip next year if I have an AP, and my mother has standard Park Hopper tickets; or is it best to get the dinning plan on a ticketless package and get mom's tickets through an authorized vendor?

Also, I always see tickets listed for 10 days but never 11 when it comes to pricing; will I need to get my mother an AP for next year once she goes for that 11th day or will I have to get her a 10 day + a 1 day?

Sometimes I wish my CM friends worked in the ticketing office instead of in the parks to answer these questions. lol

Thank you in advance.

 

[erionm]

Interesting. I never knew they had more than 1

Used to be one in the Marketplace adjacent to the Marketplace Co-op (former Team Mickey) store and a second at Disney Quest next to the DQ ticket windows.

 

[j2thomason]

Used to be one in the Marketplace adjacent to the Marketplace Co-op (former Team Mickey) store and a second at Disney Quest next to the DQ ticket windows.

Guest services has moved to the new Disney Springs Welcome center.

http://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions...-to-new-welcome-center-in-the-town-center.htm

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

I'll take question #3. There are several reasons. One has already been mentioned. Also, if you want to take advantage of a promotion like free dining, you have to buy a package. That would require at least a two day ticket but NOT an AP.

Another reason could be because you are initially not sure what your plans are. I took my 83 year old mother on test run and when it turned out she liked WDW, I upgraded her to an AP.

I love that your Mom enjoyed test run at 83! Go Mom!

 

[erionm]

Guest services has moved to the new Disney Springs Welcome center.

http://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions...-to-new-welcome-center-in-the-town-center.htm

I posted that yesterday afternoon in Post #92 above.

 

[AngiTN]

Don't know if you want to include an info regarding using discounted tickets (or package tickets) to apply to renewal but I can list what our experience was last week.
I had discounted tickets (purchased from Parksavers) for both DH and DGD to use towards the renewal of their AP.
We had NOT used the tickets. That actually ended up making the process easier.
The CM we got (at AK's ticket window) called to confirm she was using the right process.
The process the CM used was to issue a credit for the cost of the tickets I was using to renew. Not the cost I paid but the cost Disney sells them for.
Had we used them it would have still been possible to bridge them to a renewal but it would have made it harder on the CM (or at least a difference process with more steps)
So there were 2 credits issued.
She then processed the renewal, used the credits for each ticket and then I paid the balance owed.
Total due was exactly right and I knew before it would be since she'd issued the credits and showed me the amount on those credits.

So bottom line based on my experience, don't use the ticket first to simplify the process

OH, and DGD did not need to be present for the renewal. We did however, need her MB to scan to access her ticket. I'm sure they would have been able to look them up some other way but that again, made it a less involved process for the CM since all she needed to do was scan DGDs band and she saw her AP

 

[stratus]

I'm not sure how to make that into the form of Q & A... maybe
Q: What is the easiest way to upgrade from discounted tickets to an AP
A: Unused tickets seem to be easier for CMs to process and bridge