Major Problem with new Annual Passes

[allknowingeye]

Lol, ok. Guess you aren't understanding and being defensive for no reason so I'll bow out.

Oh I am understanding perfectly. And to not be offensive there is an issue with the system that has been identified that needs correction, when people plan is their concern, not mine.

 

[allknowingeye]

I would guess it is more likely that the date on the Sorcerer pass is incorrect. It is clearly stated in the email for the two that we purchased that "the pass certificates expire one year from" as others have stated above.

Some got that wording, some did not. I myself did not. I suspect they were changing things as they were going along this morning. Even Guest Services was confused and realized this wasn't right and was trying to contact responsible departments.

 

[BK2014]

Some got that wording, some did not. I myself did not. I suspect they were changing things as they were going along this morning. Even Guest Services was confused and realized this wasn't right and was trying to contact responsible departments.

Has anyone besides you reported not having that wording in their email?

 

[soniam]

Hmm, I wonder what this means for pre-pandemic vouchers, Does my one year clock start now? You better believe that if when I go to activate them, they try to give me face purchase value there will be hell to pay. The expiration when I bought them said I had 'til 2030 to activate.

I don't this applies to you. You technically have an old AP, I think. If your date says 2023, then that's your date. Any new policies would have to apply to newly purchased APs or renewals starting today.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

This is exactly what I was going to say. Probably trying to prevent people from "hoarding" APs for years to avoid price increases. Can't say I blame them for that.

That’s crazy though. These are interest free loans for Disney. Disney should be ecstatic to sell thousands of dollars worth of AP’s today that won’t be used for years.

 

[Jennasis]

My understanding thusfar is the vouchers are good for a year. If a year goes by without activation, you can apply the purchase price of that voucher towards a new one.

Your "year" starts when you first USE the activated pass.

 

[Liquidice]

That’s crazy though. These are interest free loans for Disney. Disney should be ecstatic to sell thousands of dollars worth of AP’s today that won’t be used for years.

If Disney continues to raise prices at 20% or more per year, it is a better investment to take your money later and get 20% more than to take your money now, invest it and get a return of lets say 10%

Disney also has a lot of free cash flow, if they didn't right now - they might be hungrier for cash and maybe more interested in you buying an AP and taking the cash.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

If Disney continues to raise prices at 20% or more per year, it is a better investment to take your money later and get 20% more than to take your money now, invest it and get a return of lets say 10%

Disney also has a lot of free cash flow, if they didn't right now - they might be hungrier for cash and maybe more interested in you buying an AP and taking the cash.

I mean, it’s still crazy from a business perspective. There is no way that Disney can think it can raise AP prices by 10 percent per year in perpetuity. And again, it’s free money now.

 

[JuneChickie]

Hmm, I wonder what this means for pre-pandemic vouchers, Does my one year clock start now? You better believe that if when I go to activate them, they try to give me face purchase value there will be hell to pay. The expiration when I bought them said I had 'til 2030 to activate.

But what about someone like me ?

I have (2) Annual Passes
( they each include all 4 parks and parking ) that are certificates (vouchers) that are not linked to anyone or any MDE ,, it has always been where these types of tickets never expired
They're 9 years old . Are they still unexpired . The receipt for these 2 certificates have totally faded through the years.

??

But I sure hope like the above poster said that these stay never expire until we are ready to use them.

 

[Liquidice]

But what about someone like me ?

I have (2) Annual Passes
( they each include all 4 parks and parking ) that are certificates (vouchers) that are not linked to anyone or any MDE ,, it has always been where these types of tickets never expired
They're 9 years old . Are they still unexpired . The receipt for these 2 certificates have totally faded through the years.

I posted under another thread but didn’t realize that was for new pass questions ,,, my mistake

But I sure hope like the above poster said that these stay never expire until we are ready to use them.

I'd expect they will stay unexpired. Disney, at least historically has been really good at honoring past terms and conditions.

A few years ago, we had Disney tickets that had no expiration date that were almost 20 years old and did a quick day trip to Magic Kingdom and they exchanged the unexpired tickets for new tickets and let us in, same day. The CM didn't even bat an eye, just verified the tickets still had days left on them and exchanged them for new ones.

 

[peabody58]

But what about someone like me ?

I have (2) Annual Passes
( they each include all 4 parks and parking ) that are certificates (vouchers) that are not linked to anyone or any MDE ,, it has always been where these types of tickets never expired
They're 9 years old . Are they still unexpired . The receipt for these 2 certificates have totally faded through the years.

I posted under another thread but didn’t realize that was for new pass questions ,,, my mistake

But I sure hope like the above poster said that these stay never expire until we are ready to use them.

Pre-Covid we had 4 DVC AP Pass Vouchers [2011] (email copies of our purchases with the confirmation #).

We called WDW Ticketing and after some difficulty on one set of the passes, they were able to load them into our MDE accounts listed as 'DVC AP Exchanges, Expire 12/2030'. We aren't too worried about the expiration date as they should all be used by then.

Activated one set of the DVC AP Exchanges at GS in DS in Oct 2019. Then Covid hit. The Park Reservation system wouldn't work for us until we moved our remaining DVC AP Exchanges into a 'Dummy MDE Account' we created.

Last week I moved the DVC AP Exchanges back into our MDE accounts. Today I played with the new PArk Reservation system. Our DVC AP Exchanges work as Legacy AP's and they default to Platinum Passes. I'm not sure if MM will be included, but at least there are no black-out dates, and we can still reserve park days. We won;'t be activating this set of AP's until May 2024.

My recommendation is that you plan a few hours and call WDW Ticketing and get your old vouchers loaded into your MDE. This should save you a lot of grief in the future. Even though the 'exchanges' show an expiration date, the old vouchers never had an expiration. Good luck.

 

[ddlar]

Has anyone besides you reported not having that wording in their email?

I also did not get that language. I have the email, even searched it to make sure I wasn't missing something.

I did get a response from Disney yesterday confirming that I simply need to pick up the new pass within the year, and the expiration date of the pass will be a year from when it is picked up. The MDE language does not help. It shows up as a Pass and not a Voucher or Certificate. If it said Voucher or Certificate, and clarified that it needs to be redeemed for the Pass, it would clear things up.

 

[Liquidice]

Pre-Covid we had 4 DVC AP Pass Vouchers [2011] (email copies of our purchases with the confirmation #).

We called WDW Ticketing and after some difficulty on one set of the passes, they were able to load them into our MDE accounts listed as 'DVC AP Exchanges, Expire 12/2030'. We aren't too worried about the expiration date as they should all be used by then.

Activated one set of the DVC AP Exchanges at GS in DS in Oct 2019. Then Covid hit. The Park Reservation system wouldn't work for us until we moved our remaining DVC AP Exchanges into a 'Dummy MDE Account' we created.

Last week I moved the DVC AP Exchanges back into our MDE accounts. Today I played with the new PArk Reservation system. Our DVC AP Exchanges work as Legacy AP's and they default to Platinum Passes. I'm not sure if MM will be included, but at least there are no black-out dates, and we can still reserve park days. We won;'t be activating this set of AP's until May 2024.

My recommendation is that you plan a few hours and call WDW Ticketing and get your old vouchers loaded into your MDE. This should save you a lot of grief in the future. Even though the 'exchanges' show an expiration date, the old vouchers never had an expiration. Good luck.

I called the VIPassholder line and was told when I activate my AP certificate after 9/8/21, I will get the new pass (Gold pass becomes Sorcerer Pass) but they will give us free PhotoPass downloads since my Gold Pass certificate originally included that. The one issue here is that the blackout dates are different between Gold and Sorcerer and when I activate, I'll inherit the Sorcerer blackout dates. It doesn't impact me, but people who had plans to travel for Thanksgiving and haven't activated their passes yet may be stuck and it doesn't sound like Disney is willing to make exceptions for this. I feel bad for someone like me who is Out of State (which is probably DVC only) and renewed their AP before 9/8/21 and has a Gold renewal certificate and plans to go in Thanksgiving. It is probably a really small sub-set of people, so you would hope Disney will eventually make the exception for them.

 

[JuneChickie]

I'd expect they will stay unexpired. Disney, at least historically has been really good at honoring past terms and conditions.

A few years ago, we had Disney tickets that had no expiration date that were almost 20 years old and did a quick day trip to Magic Kingdom and they exchanged the unexpired tickets for new tickets and let us in, same day. The CM didn't even bat an eye, just verified the tickets still had days left on them and exchanged them for new ones.

I’m hoping this will apply to my (2) 9 year old annual passes .

 

[Mlchiranky]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this… has anyone had major issues calling to upgrade their tickets? I was on hold for five (!!!) hours yesterday, hung up, and now I’ve been on for over four hours today. I need to get upgraded this week so I can make dining reservations on Sunday for the additional days I’d like to add to our trip. Any help would be great!

 

[luv2cheer92]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this… has anyone had major issues calling to upgrade their tickets? I was on hold for five (!!!) hours yesterday, hung up, and now I’ve been on for over four hours today. I need to get upgraded this week so I can make dining reservations on Sunday for the additional days I’d like to add to our trip. Any help would be great!

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I've seen several times now that ticket upgrades to AP can only be done in person right now.

 

[allknowingeye]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this… has anyone had major issues calling to upgrade their tickets? I was on hold for five (!!!) hours yesterday, hung up, and now I’ve been on for over four hours today. I need to get upgraded this week so I can make dining reservations on Sunday for the additional days I’d like to add to our trip. Any help would be great!

I was shocked when I got through in 15 minutes on Wednedsay afternoon - was expecting 5 hours. What number did you call?

 

[allknowingeye]

I also did not get that language. I have the email, even searched it to make sure I wasn't missing something.

I did get a response from Disney yesterday confirming that I simply need to pick up the new pass within the year, and the expiration date of the pass will be a year from when it is picked up. The MDE language does not help. It shows up as a Pass and not a Voucher or Certificate. If it said Voucher or Certificate, and clarified that it needs to be redeemed for the Pass, it would clear things up.

This whole thing seems hit and miss - some got this language, some did not. Some got an expiry of 2022, some got 2099. You are right about the MDE - I saw that as well. The lack of consistency smacks of very poor quality control across the offering. This added to the head ache for Guest Services since these went on sale on the 8th, they were just left wondering what was going on with no support. Part of what I found that may help explain this is it appears there is actually at least two Park Reservation Systems operating right now. One handling regular tickets and old passes, and the new that went online on the 8th that is handling the new Annual Passes. This is something they need to get straightened out toute suite, confusion is not what you want at $1299 a pop.