What am I not Understanding re Purchasing Annual Passes Through DVC Services?

[richsole]

This post would be far too long if I wrote re the prolonged adventure I recently had in picking up APs I'd purchased via phone from Member Services and picked up on our arrival last week.

So please just accept my word for it when I state that picking it up was inordinately long and inconvenient. When one arrives for a vacation one wants to maximize vacationing time, not spend it on long lines at Customer Relations.

Not being any kind of businessperson, and trying mightily to be fair, what am I missing by suggesting one of two solutions to eliminating the Customer Services wait line at a crowded theme park entrance or at Disney Springs, which btw was where I went to AVOID the theme park process:

1. Simply pre load the passes to our Magic Bands in the same way ordinary Park and Park Hopper passes are loaded prior to arrival?

2. Have an individual at the Front Desk on check in load the passes then and there?

I am finding the present process inconvenient enough that I'd have to seriously consider not buying APs in the future.

 

[n2mm]

I would add that somewhere in this mix there has to be a CM to verify that the person getting the DVC AP is eligible to receive it. If not, there would be some who purchase it for friends and family members not living at the residence of the owner. BTW, when I purchase an AP, I link it to my magic band during purchase. When I go to guest relations, it's only to actually activate the AP and verify my name, address, and DVC account number. And as always, make sure the expiration date is correct!! (that's important as my daughter and her family had expiration dates that expired 2 months after activation. She got home and I pointed it out to her -- saw it on my friends and family -- and it took her 2 hours and she talked to more than 6 people to get it corrected.)

 

[hakepb]

You could currently buy MYW tickets, have them loaded and ready for the morning of your 1st day, then stop into an inside the park Guest Relations at a more leisurely afternoon timeframe before you leave the park.
(And buy full price tickets straight from Disney if you don't want any price bridging issues)

 

[disneynutz]

Disney does everything for a reason.

Bill

 

[BillPA]

I didn't have any delay picking up my APs on the last trip. But I don't go to MK to do it, I have learned to go to AK to get them. Did you buy direct or resale?

 

[richsole]

I didn't have any delay picking up my APs on the last trip. But I don't go to MK to do it, I have learned to go Did you buy direct or resale?

I went to DS, and bought them through Dvc .

 

[Gillyrose779]

We get FL annual passes and have to verify residency at purchase and renewal. We find the process VERY easy. I like to do it at the back entrance of Epcot. It takes, maybe, 5 min.

 

[richsole]

We tried to park at BW to do that but they wouldn't let us.

 

[DenLo]

We activated our last APs at the TTC and took 20 minutes for the two of us. How long would it take for a family of four?

 

[DebbieB]

This post would be far too long if I wrote re the prolonged adventure I recently had in picking up APs I'd purchased via phone from Member Services and picked up on our arrival last week.

So please just accept my word for it when I state that picking it up was inordinately long and inconvenient. When one arrives for a vacation one wants to maximize vacationing time, not spend it on long lines at Customer Relations.

Not being any kind of businessperson, and trying mightily to be fair, what am I missing by suggesting one of two solutions to eliminating the Customer Services wait line at a crowded theme park entrance or at Disney Springs, which btw was where I went to AVOID the theme park process:

1. Simply pre load the passes to our Magic Bands in the same way ordinary Park and Park Hopper passes are loaded prior to arrival?

2. Have an individual at the Front Desk on check in load the passes then and there?

I am finding the present process inconvenient enough that I'd have to seriously consider not buying APs in the future.

It's not just DVC AP's, all AP's are handled this way. They log name and addresses into the system for each ticket. They want to verify ID's for adults to help prevent transfer. With DVC, they also want to verify eligibility for the discount for each ticket.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

This post would be far too long if I wrote re the prolonged adventure I recently had in picking up APs I'd purchased via phone from Member Services and picked up on our arrival last week.

So please just accept my word for it when I state that picking it up was inordinately long and inconvenient. When one arrives for a vacation one wants to maximize vacationing time, not spend it on long lines at Customer Relations.

Not being any kind of businessperson, and trying mightily to be fair, what am I missing by suggesting one of two solutions to eliminating the Customer Services wait line at a crowded theme park entrance or at Disney Springs, which btw was where I went to AVOID the theme park process:

1. Simply pre load the passes to our Magic Bands in the same way ordinary Park and Park Hopper passes are loaded prior to arrival?

2. Have an individual at the Front Desk on check in load the passes then and there?

I am finding the present process inconvenient enough that I'd have to seriously consider not buying APs in the future.

AFAIK you could have gone to any ticket window to activate. No need to wait at a guest service. Personally I prefer the resort front desk just concentrate on hotel issues vs theme park items such as AP.

 

[cvjw]

It is just luck of the draw when you deal with guest services. Sometimes there are 5 people in line in front of you and sometimes there are 50. Sometimes you get a very competent cm who understands how things work and sometimes you don't.

I have had very easy AP activations and very trying ones. I just try to not let it ruin my day.

 

[bumbershoot]

This post would be far too long if I wrote re the prolonged adventure I recently had in picking up APs I'd purchased via phone from Member Services and picked up on our arrival last week.

So please just accept my word for it when I state that picking it up was inordinately long and inconvenient.

I feel that there is value in knowing the full story.

 

[Sammie]

Most often at Disney if something seems to take more time than necessary it due to the fact that at one time someone abused an easier way. We always pay for the crimes of others.

 

[Sammie]

We tried to park at BW to do that but they wouldn't let us.

After activating them were you going into the park, if so that is why they wouldn't let you. You can't park at the BW for park access.

 

[iteachlit]

I was thinking about this process the other day in advance of our November trip. When I last purchased DVC APs (a few years ago), I used MDE to link the voucher numbers to our MagicBands. That allowed us to make our FP+ selections.

We visited a MK ticket window to activate the vouchers. Wow. What a terrible process.

The CM was miffed that I had linked the voucher numbers to our MagicBands. Even though I had written our names next to the respective linked vouchers, the CM was very confused. The activation process involved printing a ticket for each of us, writing our names on those tickets, then turning those back in to get APs printed.

I think we were there for 30 minutes to get four APs activated. Luckily, the process did not foul up the FP+ selections; I suppose that's because FP+ selections are linked to the MagicBand.

The other thing that drives me nuts is the requirement to show paper tickets / DVC member IDs / TIW / etc. each time I want to use a discount. I understand that this is to prevent fraudulent transactions. However, with everything that the MagicBand can do, why can't it at least let the CM at the cash register know that I have an AP?

 

[Deb & Bill]

I was thinking about this process the other day in advance of our November trip. When I last purchased DVC APs (a few years ago), I used MDE to link the voucher numbers to our MagicBands. That allowed us to make our FP+ selections.

We visited a MK ticket window to activate the vouchers. Wow. What a terrible process.

The CM was miffed that I had linked the voucher numbers to our MagicBands. Even though I had written our names next to the respective linked vouchers, the CM was very confused. The activation process involved printing a ticket for each of us, writing our names on those tickets, then turning those back in to get APs printed.

I think we were there for 30 minutes to get four APs activated. Luckily, the process did not foul up the FP+ selections; I suppose that's because FP+ selections are linked to the MagicBand.

The other thing that drives me nuts is the requirement to show paper tickets / DVC member IDs / TIW / etc. each time I want to use a discount. I understand that this is to prevent fraudulent transactions. However, with everything that the MagicBand can do, why can't it at least let the CM at the cash register know that I have an AP?

Because they don't know that the magic band is truly yours.

 

[iteachlit]

Because they don't know that the magic band is truly yours.

Correct. But the biometrics do. This tech is much more affordable now. It could be rolled out to POS.

 

[disneynutz]

I was thinking about this process the other day in advance of our November trip. When I last purchased DVC APs (a few years ago), I used MDE to link the voucher numbers to our MagicBands. That allowed us to make our FP+ selections.

We visited a MK ticket window to activate the vouchers. Wow. What a terrible process.

The CM was miffed that I had linked the voucher numbers to our MagicBands. Even though I had written our names next to the respective linked vouchers, the CM was very confused. The activation process involved printing a ticket for each of us, writing our names on those tickets, then turning those back in to get APs printed.

I think we were there for 30 minutes to get four APs activated. Luckily, the process did not foul up the FP+ selections; I suppose that's because FP+ selections are linked to the MagicBand.

The other thing that drives me nuts is the requirement to show paper tickets / DVC member IDs / TIW / etc. each time I want to use a discount. I understand that this is to prevent fraudulent transactions. However, with everything that the MagicBand can do, why can't it at least let the CM at the cash register know that I have an AP?

So you want Disney to spend money that tells the CM's that you get a discount? Not going to happen, they want it to be an inconvenience and also hope that you forget that you can get a discount.

Bill

 

[iteachlit]

So you want Disney to spend money that tells the CM's that you get a discount? Not going to happen, they want it to be an inconvenience and also hope that you forget that you can get a discount.

Bill

Well, yeah!

I get it. It's a minor nuisance. It just irks me.