WDW Annual Pass Questions

[Capo]

Hi Gang,

My family is looking into getting WDW Annual Passes due to a few trips planned over the next year. Before we pulled the trigger, I wanted to make sure I understand a few items correctly:

1) We have a trip already booked for January (no tickets yet). If we purchase Annual passes now, am I correct in that we will get "codes" for those Annual passes that we can use to book fast passes 60 days out from our trip but that the 13 months (12 months + 1 month promo) won't begin until first day of use? I just want to make sure I don't accidentally activate the passes early as that it mess up future trips.

2) Is it possible to get discounted AP's through AAA or other types of places?

3) Is there any difference if you buy an AP directly from disney or a travel agency (different costs, lost benefits of some type, etc?)

4) I also have family members who are retired who want to buy Florida Silver APs. They have Florida licences but split their attendance in another state during part of the year. I assume this is no issue as long as they have valid Florida Driver's Licences, correct? Is there anything else they need other than Drivers Licences to show residency?

Thank you all!

 

[Fangorn]

1) when you purchase online or via phone, you will receive a voucher in the mail. If you purchase online while logged in to your MDE account, the voucher should link automagically. If it doesn't for some reason (or you're not logged in to your account), once you have the voucher you can link the voucher to your MDE account. This will allow you to make FP reservations. The AP voucher can only be activated at WDW, and the start date will be as of the date it is activated. Once activated the expiration date will show in the ticket portion of your MDE account.

2) No. APs are only available from Disney. The only discounts I'm aware of are for Florida residents and DVC members.

3) I don't believe you can purchase APs through a travel agency, but if you can, there would be no difference in benefits.

4) no issue for the family members who have Florida DL. That's all they will need.

There is one other option for you. We've done this more than once. Instead of buying the AP up front, buy a 10 day ticket. That will let you make FP as well and you don't have to mess with the voucher. Then once you get to WDW upgrade that ticket to the AP. You'll only pay the cost difference between the two. It has the advantage of splitting the AP cost into two payments.

Steve

 

[BrownHP800]

Just to clarify about booking FP+ 60 days out, you have to have a Disney resort reservation for 60 day booking, otherwise it is 30 days. Also you can only book 7 days of FP+ at one time. (May be more if staying on property?)

 

[Fangorn]

If you have a Disney resort reservation, you can make FP+ for the entire stay provided you have tickets that are valid for that period. Just did this for our 14 day trip. Had a split stay (4 resorts), and APs. Was able to make FP+ 60 days out from the first night, all the way through to the last day.

It seems that once the window opens, as long as you have a valid ticket and a resort reservation, you're good for FP+.

Steve

 

[china mom]

There is one other option for you. We've done this more than once. Instead of buying the AP up front, buy a 10 day ticket. That will let you make FP as well and you don't have to mess with the voucher. Then once you get to WDW upgrade that ticket to the AP. You'll only pay the cost difference between the two. It has the advantage of splitting the AP cost into two payments.

Steve

That won't work if they want the 13 month deal since they are not going until January and they would have had to purchase AP voucher or APs by Jan 3.

 

[Accident]

to add: you can actually use other forms of florida id to prove your a resident like lease, recent utility bill, etc so if they are a split state resident (snow birds or whatever situation) and they don't consider florida the primary residence to have a state id for any reason they may still qualify..

 

[Serenebean]

To chime in on "discounted" APs - you could buy the Parksavers 4 day ticket with 3 days free and bridge it to the AP when you get there...its about an $80 savings I think...Not necessarily a discount per se, but saves you money. This would also solve your FP question since you'll have an active linked ticket.

 

[Accident]

To chime in on "discounted" APs - you could buy the Parksavers 4 day ticket with 3 days free and bridge it to the AP when you get there...its about an $80 savings I think...Not necessarily a discount per se, but saves you money. This would also solve your FP question since you'll have an active linked ticket.

once you have an ap purchased online, you can book fastpasses against it without it being active so a ticket is not needed as long as you purchase the ap ahead of time your ok. for fastpasses.. dn't want to take away on the savings part.

 

[disneydreamer781]

I have a question as this is the first time I've purchased an AP. One of the passes is Will Call and the issue is I used both my credit card and a Disney Rewards redemption card. I'm supposed to have my credit card when picking up but I now longer have the Disney Rewards Redemption card that was used as it was close to expiring and I had the balance transferred to a new redemption card. Will there be a problem picking this ticket up without the original redemption card used? Does anyone know or has run into this in the past.

 

[erionm]

I have a question as this is the first time I've purchased an AP. One of the passes is Will Call and the issue is I used both my credit card and a Disney Rewards redemption card. I'm supposed to have my credit card when picking up but I now longer have the Disney Rewards Redemption card that was used as it was close to expiring and I had the balance transferred to a new redemption card. Will there be a problem picking this ticket up without the original redemption card used? Does anyone know or has run into this in the past.

If you have the confirmation number, you won't need the CC. Also, if you linked the purchase to MDE and already have a MagicBand (or RFID Admission Card) also linked to MDE, they can pull up the information by scanning that.

 

[disneydreamer781]

If you have the confirmation number, you won't need the CC. Also, if you linked the purchase to MDE and already have a MagicBand (or RFID Admission Card) also linked to MDE, they can pull up the information by scanning that.

Great! I have done all that. I'm just so used to having my passes before I go so this is new to me.

 

[Capo]

Thank you all for the info, that was helpful.

I liked the idea originally of buying a 10 day and bridging it to the AP. However, the 13 month + additional savings promo is definitely something we want, so it sounds like that would not work since we will not be there by January 3rd.

And to confirm, yes we are staying on-site and the resort confirmation is linked through MDE. If I'm hearing you all right, all I have to do is enter the voucher IDs and I will be able to make FP+ reservations 60 days out AND my 13 month time window won't start ticking until we are physically there and activate it at at ticket window, correct?

 

[Accident]

If I'm hearing you all right, all I have to do is enter the voucher IDs and I will be able to make FP+ reservations 60 days out AND my 13 month time window won't start ticking until we are physically there and activate it at at ticket window, correct?

If you purchased it from the disney website generally it's in MDE as soon as your done.. if not then yes, you link it to the mde account (I would try the confirmation number you get when you purchased it on your receipt) that should work. your fp+ will work as normal. You only need to stop at ticket window or guest relations activate it, that date +1 month is your renewal date 13 months later if you choose to renew it.

 

[Miffy]

Many thanks to everyone on this thread! You answered several of the questions I had.

Next question: If I buy an AP and link it to MDE and it's not activated yet, can I use it to get an AP discount on a room reservation? Or does the AP have to be activated in order to reserve a room? Back in ye olden days, I used to buy and activate my AP the day I got to WDW, but I would book the AP discount room reservation months in advance. But that was eons ago.

Thanks so much for any info!

 

[eeyoreandtink]

Many thanks to everyone on this thread! You answered several of the questions I had.

Next question: If I buy an AP and link it to MDE and it's not activated yet, can I use it to get an AP discount on a room reservation? Or does the AP have to be activated in order to reserve a room? Back in ye olden days, I used to buy and activate my AP the day I got to WDW, but I would book the AP discount room reservation months in advance. But that was eons ago.

Thanks so much for any info!

Yes you can. I have a current reservation that was booked that way. As long as the AP is linked in MDE you are good to go.

 

[Miffy]

Yes you can. I have a current reservation that was booked that way. As long as the AP is linked in MDE you are good to go.

Awesome! Thank you, eeyoreandtink.

One more question: Were you able to make the reservation through the Disney site? Or did you have to call? Thanks again.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

Awesome! Thank you, eeyoreandtink.

One more question: Were you able to make the reservation through the Disney site? Or did you have to call? Thanks again.

Made it online. You just have to sign in to MDE.

 

[Miffy]

Made it online. You just have to sign in to MDE.

Nice! Thank you again!

 

[Capo]

Hi All,

One additional question has come up. My parents are trying to purchase their Florida passes but they spend part of the year in a different state. That means at present their billing address is not in Florida, even though their license and primary residence is. How do you get around this? This seems like an obvious use case since so many Floridians live in other states part of the year.

Do they have to update their billing address or is there another way to get it to work?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Meriam]

A Fl license is all they need so they shouldn't have a problem.
I believe that they could also open a Florida bank account using their Florida residence, and present the 2 most current monthly statements.