Whoa..Annual Pass Increase - Effective 10/4/15

[CalgaryTroy]

Wow! fascinating thread, I have learned so much, and I just HAVE to make a couple comments -
first - iKristen & Malcon10t are my heroes for putting APs and the costs in perspective, thank you!. The early complaints were getting a little much.
and second - one of the early comments mentioned something like " I heard a rumor there were other vacation destinations in America..." - had to smile and add that there are other vacation destinations in the world too - come on up to Canada where your US$ goes super far right now and you can REALLY avoid crowds
Ofcourse the most interesting thing I learned was about just how many guests are AP holders, whether it's 80% or 60% that and iKristens 63 visits/year blew my mind! Ofcourse I've only ever been to DL 6 times in my life ( which when I tell most people that I get " really!! why so many times?! ).
Ofcourse any changes that would reduce the # of AP holders makes us International folks happy. Crowd levels dropping 80% sounds like heaven to those of us who fly for hours to go on an annual ( or every 3 years for me ) trip.
I hope I haven't offended too many people

 

[5forMickey]

Wow! fascinating thread, I have learned so much, and I just HAVE to make a couple comments -
first - iKristen & Malcon10t are my heroes for putting APs and the costs in perspective, thank you!. The early complaints were getting a little much.
and second - one of the early comments mentioned something like " I heard a rumor there were other vacation destinations in America..." - had to smile and add that there are other vacation destinations in the world too - come on up to Canada where your US$ goes super far right now and you can REALLY avoid crowds
Ofcourse the most interesting thing I learned was about just how many guests are AP holders, whether it's 80% or 60% that and iKristens 63 visits/year blew my mind! Ofcourse I've only ever been to DL 6 times in my life ( which when I tell most people that I get " really!! why so many times?! ).
Ofcourse any changes that would reduce the # of AP holders makes us International folks happy. Crowd levels dropping 80% sounds like heaven to those of us who fly for hours to go on an annual ( or every 3 years for me ) trip.
I hope I haven't offended too many people

I actually agree with you so at least one you didn't offend .

We are fortunate to go at least yearly, sometimes twice (and we hear the same thing "again -- why") but we travel two days to get there, spend a good penny on lodging and meals and I wouldn't mind adding a bit more cash to empty the parks a little. We are AP holder's because our trips are that long, and heck, even for just the one trip I still think it is a great value. Did I like it better when you could extend to a 7 day pass, sure, but it still didn't stop us from going as long or change our idea that it was a good value. It's probably hard to balance the desires of the "traveling" guest and those that just drop in for the day. Either way, for those of us that enjoy Disneyland I guess we will always manage and find a way to make the best of it. I do have to remind my kids that it is a "treat" to go on vacation (which we consider Disneyland), not an "entitlement".

 

[egritz]

If we are thinking of the same poster, that person had a Premier pass. Other boards have mentioned that Premier passholders were able to get the PP perk (not PP+ with the borders, as you noted) right away. CMs have told me that Premiums will have to upgrade or renew to Signature or Signature Plus to get the PP benefit. But what Disney says and what actually happens can be so different in real life. I'm also interested to see if any Premiums get the benefit without upgrading.

Oh, i thought there was someone else who had the previous $749 pass and said they got the PP+ privileges, but I could be confused. I never paid much attention to the names of the APs before (we've never held AP's) so I'm probably mixing it up.

 

[agamble]

Oh, i thought there was someone else who had the previous $749 pass and said they got the PP+ privileges, but I could be confused. I never paid much attention to the names of the APs before (we've never held AP's) so I'm probably mixing it up.

I think people reported buying the old PAP tickets (with 365 days admission) at Disney stores and once they took them to the ticket booths they were given the new "best" pass including the photo privileges. Rather than having an old PAP and getting the photo privileges added on.

 

[egritz]

I think people reported buying the old PAP tickets (with 365 days admission) at Disney stores and once they took them to the ticket booths they were given the new "best" pass including the photo privileges. Rather than having an old PAP and getting the photo privileges added on.

That may be what I was remembering (and tried to do myself, but was a day late as the local Safeway that had the tickets on Saturday was ordered to pull them on Monday, when I finally had my 5Day PHer's sold and so I went in to buy them and found them GONE, lost my $130 savings I was looking at).

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Forgive me, long time lurker, but I registered just to comment on this. This differs from what I'm seeing (and have been seeing since the jump in price) in my account.

It says it is $989 for the Signature Plus for renewal and $799 for Signature (coming from a PAP) in my account. So it's still a $60 discount for the highest pass. $50 for the other. Does your account say something different? I would be very intrigued if others were seeing varying renewal amounts.

That could be right. I was looking at what the CM wrote down on our vouchers, so I was seeing it upside down. It looked like $980, but with her handwriting, it could easily have been $989. Either way, for those who are worried about this, the renewal discount is still there.

 

[rocland1]

Just FYI.

I bought a Premium voucher back in Feb just before the last, last price increase and held it until my regular Premium pass expired in Sept. I just activated it on November 1st and they issued it as a Premium (not Signature or Signature Plus).

 

[ten6mom]

^I sure hope he does end up only (well not "only" but you know what I mean) paying $509. Please do let us know. I have a few more weeks until my own AP will come up for renewal and am expecting it to be the $559. Glad to hear you also saved on your kids' passes, ten6mom.

Well, I can't say for sure what would have happened if he had renewed when I first saw the discount off the "old" price, but when he finally did it it was a discount off the new price. Too bad about that.... mine expires in February and I expect NO discount.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

^I'm sorry about that. FYI, I did renew my Deluxe AP a week or so ago and did get the renewal discount. It was $559. I could have renewed online but preferred to do so by phone and the CM was super friendly. As long as Disney does not suddenly stop renewal discounts, which they had better not I sure hope, as long as you renew before your AP expires, you will/should get the discount.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Just FYI.

I bought a Premium voucher back in Feb just before the last, last price increase and held it until my regular Premium pass expired in Sept. I just activated it on November 1st and they issued it as a Premium (not Signature or Signature Plus).

Interesting. Earlier reports were that Disney is just upgrading the premium vouchers to signature plus. Whatever. Either they have finally sorted out what policy to take with the premium AP vouchers, or this is just another inconsistency. You don't mention having any difficulties though, so at least whatever procedure they have settled on is going smoothly?

 

[rocland1]

No problems. Very smooth. Just a raised eyebrow when they saw I had the voucher since Feb. But no questions about whether it should be Premium or Signature Plus. I didn't really care either way (not a PhotoPass user).

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

No problems. Very smooth. Just a raised eyebrow when they saw I had the voucher since Feb. But no questions about whether it should be Premium or Signature Plus. I didn't really care either way (not a PhotoPass user).

Thx. Good to know. I too have a voucher from February, and I don't really care about the PhotoPass either. Nice perk I suppose but not what I paid for or expected to get. My purpose, as was yours I suspect, was to lock in a lower annual pass price.

 

[ArchOwl]

Interesting. Earlier reports were that Disney is just upgrading the premium vouchers to signature plus. Whatever. Either they have finally sorted out what policy to take with the premium AP vouchers, or this is just another inconsistency. You don't mention having any difficulties though, so at least whatever procedure they have settled on is going smoothly?

Thanks for the update. Just out of curiosity how do you know it was issued as Premium? Was it the paperwork you signed or something?

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Thanks for the update. Just out of curiosity how do you know it was issued as Premium? Was it the paperwork you signed or something?

I'm assuming you are asking rocland1 this question, not me. I haven't redeemed my voucher yet. I'm wondering if they gave rocland1 a premium since there was already a lapsed premium in the system. Maybe they only bumped premium vouchers to signature plus if they were for brand new AP holders.

 

[Kender]

I'm assuming you are asking rocland1 this question, not me. I haven't redeemed my voucher yet. I'm wondering if they gave rocland1 a premium since there was already a lapsed premium in the system. Maybe they only bumped premium vouchers to signature plus if they were for brand new AP holders.

Nah, there's definitely been people using them reporting getting issued Signature Plus passes who already had Premiums. The common thing I've read is cast members saying it's because they "can't issue something that doesn't exist".

But this report is definitely a new one on me. Or at least no one reported this yet. Getting Premium with the vouchers, I mean.

The only difference I can see is that the voucher was bought before the first price increase this year. Maybe that's a factor?

Or maybe they decided to put Premium back in the system to deal with the onslaught of vouchers?

I have a voucher (bought after the second increase) I'll be using later this month (my pass already expired). I can report back what they issue me. I don't care about photopass so it doesn't matter to me what I'm given as long as I have the same discounts, parking, and no block outs.

 

[ArchOwl]

I'm assuming you are asking rocland1 this question, not me. I haven't redeemed my voucher yet. I'm wondering if they gave rocland1 a premium since there was already a lapsed premium in the system. Maybe they only bumped premium vouchers to signature plus if they were for brand new AP holders.

Ah, yes, sorry wrong quote! I was just wondering how rocland1 knew it was processed as a Premium since the pass itself doesn't have the information on it.

It is interesting because I had some friends with Premium vouchers who activated them a week or so ago. They had lapsed APs, but their vouchers were processed as new APs and they were given Signature Plus. They logged in with them and were able to download PP pics, so that is how they knew for sure. But the ticket CM also told them that they would be getting the Signature Plus.

 

[Malcon10t]

I too have had numerous friends who purchased Premium vouchers and were given Signature Plus passes. But you can't tell just by looking at them.

 

[ten6mom]

^I'm sorry about that. FYI, I did renew my Deluxe AP a week or so ago and did get the renewal discount. It was $559. I could have renewed online but preferred to do so by phone and the CM was super friendly. As long as Disney does not suddenly stop renewal discounts, which they had better not I sure hope, as long as you renew before your AP expires, you will/should get the discount.

thanks... I Hope so too, but I thought I had read in more than one place that there would be no future renewal discounts.... although it would be hard to decide when to start making that change! I do wish they would allow renewals "early" ... or at least earlier than 2 months prior to expiration.

I guess I will find out around the end of this year!

 

[rocland1]

Thanks for the update. Just out of curiosity how do you know it was issued as Premium? Was it the paperwork you signed or something?

I don't recall anything on the paperwork. Just chit-chat with the CM, i.e. "Thanks for being a Premium AP holder." Then, when I linked the new pass to my Disney online account, it definitely shows as Premium, not a Sig.

Maybe it was just this CM, maybe it was because I bought the voucher in Feb. Don't know. At any rate, they do still have the ability to issue Premium (at least as of Nov 1st). If others get upgrades, that's great.

 

[ArchOwl]

I don't recall anything on the paperwork. Just chit-chat with the CM, i.e. "Thanks for being a Premium AP holder." Then, when I linked the new pass to my Disney online account, it definitely shows as Premium, not a Sig.

Maybe it was just this CM, maybe it was because I bought the voucher in Feb. Don't know. At any rate, they do still have the ability to issue Premium (at least as of Nov 1st). If others get upgrades, that's great.

Thank you so much for the info. It will be interesting to see what I get when I turn in my voucher.