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Interesting take on AP bulletin, app and parks


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https://thekingdominsider.com/im-a-walt-disney-world-annual-passholder-and-i-have-some-serious-questions/?fbclid=IwAR24ly4_J1HsNjL_Kj8deKBfNSdGOxCnCkDbIUMEAd4JHtClBv1e-JhM21E

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Let me first start off this article by addressing the fact that just because I’m an annual passholder, does not mean I’m entitled to anything, and it doesn’t make me any more important than the millions of guests who plan on traveling to Disney World in the coming months. As Disney continues to make announcements regarding its phased reopening, I cringe whenever I see Annual Passholders comment with a severe case of entitlement. That being said, I have several questions, just like any guest who’s traveling there in the next few months would.

Disney World’s official message to its passholders, says the following;

“Our Annual Passholders are some of our most loyal and valued Guests. We truly can’t wait to welcome you back—and we will do it with great thought.

With that in mind, when the parks reopen, park capacity will be significantly limited—and may continue to be for a period of time, based on guidance from health experts to promote physical distancing.

We understand how much excitement, thought and time goes into planning your Disney visits and realize some new changes may be disappointing. For example, during this unprecedented time, an annual pass will not guarantee park entry and Annual Passholders will be required to make an advance reservation to enter a park.”

Even when delivering a message where essentially, passholders will absolutely be affected by the new changes, they still make it seem magical- don’t they? To be honest, I read that over a month ago and didn’t think twice about it. After all, in Disney I trust.

But then, Disney’s “Know Before You Go” guide to visiting Walt Disney World was shared yesterday, and it was a lot. I mean, A LOT. That magical message of “everything will change, but we value you as a passholder, and it will all be okay,” started to lose its luster. As a result of yesterday’s announcement, I have several questions.

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  1. How will your new reservation system (that nobody knows anything about, by the way) work for passholders?

Disney’s new policy is that guests will need a reservation to enter the parks. All guests, including those staying at their hotels. In the beginning, an extremely limited number of passholders will be given the opportunity to preview the parks before reopening, as well as priority to reserving their own park reservation. That being said, Disney has also said you aren’t guaranteed a park reservation just because you’re a passholder. In fact, you aren’t even guaranteed a park reservation if you’re paying to stay in one of their hotels.

For the sake of this article, let’s say I’m not able to obtain a reservation for myself, my husband, and our two children. How do you justify that to a passholder, let alone the ones who pay extra to have no blackout dates? I get it, you have to be fair and I completely agree with limiting passholders, but it’s not so black and white. As always with Disney, it circles around back to the financials of it all. I buy into a certain pass because I want certain things, like being allowed to enter the park whenever I want, so how will Disney justify the financial aspect of it to its passholders?

Or will there be no financial justification? Are we (pasholders and guests, alike) expected to be okay still paying top Disney dollar, only to go to a place where half its magic has been temporarily suspended? Would you pay the price for a gallon of milk at the grocery store, if you’re only getting half a gallon, not the entire gallon you’re actually paying for? Furthermore, if the grocery store emailed you a few weeks before you went there to let you know you’d be paying full price, but only getting half- would that make it okay?

2. How will other limitations affect my pass?

Every passholder, no matter which level pass you pay for, has the ability to park hop. Heck, if you want to do 4 parks in one day, have at it! After their two most recent announcements, Disney has said park hopping will be temporarily suspended. I completely understand their decision to do this, and if we’re being totally honest, I’m a little relieved. I hate having to feel rushed or like I have to park hop because it’s something I’m paying for. When my family lived in CT and we’d visit Disney for our vacation, we never purchased park hopper tickets. Especially having little ones, it took all we had just to get up and out of the hotel to one park, let alone, happily hop from park to park.

I assume the no park hopping rule will also be imposed on passholders. Again, I can only assume, because, at this point, Disney has essentially been silent on how all their new guidelines will affect its annual passholders. Having never been a huge fan of hopping, I’m okay with this. Although, the majority of passholders won’t be. Actually, I shouldn’t say they won’t be okay, but it will come down to Disney having to financially justify the price of an annual pass.

Part of my annual pass includes Disney’s Memory Maker. Come to think of it, Memory Maker is the reason I purchased the level pass I have because it’s basically the only way I’m in our family pictures. Otherwise, it’s just my husband and the kids, everyone forgets about the mom/wife who actually has to take the picture (who most likely also planned the entire vacation, but that’s neither here nor there). It’s obvious that Disney has a value placed on Memory Maker, and that value is $169. Will Disney Parks be refunding each annual passholder who has Memory Maker included in their pass, $169?

3. How long until the clock starts running again on Annual Passes?

All Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort annual passes that were paid in full will be extended for the amount of time the parks were closed. As per Disney, the extension date that appears on your My Disney Experience App will be updated before the parks reopen. My question is, what will Disney World consider to be their official opening date? Before you say “July 11th,” and are quick to point out what you think is obvious, hear me out.

According to Disney this is a phased reopening period, where advanced reservations will be required. Naturally, they can’t tell us how long this phased reopening period will last, and I don’t expect them to. I don’t think anyone has the answer to that, not even Mickey Mouse. However, if I’m unable to obtain a park reservation, how is it fair if the clock starts ticking on my annual pass during this “phased reopening period,” even though I can’t actually get into a park?

To further prove my point, let’s look at Shanghai Disneyland. Shanghai is not restarting the clock during its Advanced Reservation Period, which means any dates an AP visits during that period are essentially a bonus. If they can’t get an advanced reservation, no worries, because they’re clock hasn’t begun to tick yet. I completely agree with how Shanghai Disneyland is handling this aspect of their reopening where passholders are concerned. Let’s hope it’s one of the things Disney World will also utilize in their parks.

What happens if you’re on Disney’s monthly payment plan? After facing backlash from its passholders (who read about Universal almost immediately pausing its monthly passholder payment plan), Disney Parks suspended monthly passholder payments on April 5th, 2020. When the parks reopen, the monthly payments will resume. However, going back to my point above, what will Disney consider to be its official opening date?

4. What about this reservation system?

I guess this applies to everyone, not just Walt Disney World annual passholders, There’s been minimal information given regarding the new reservation system. Which is fine, I just hope that what Disney is lacking in communication with its elusive reservation system, they’ll make up for in ensuring when they roll out their new system, it’s practically perfect in every way.

My one question about Disney Park’s new reservations system would be, is it created by the same developer who made the My Disney Experience App? Because if so, I’m worried. I can’t tell you how many times I thought I finally secured Fastpasses for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, only to have the app close out on me during the final step of obtaining the coveted passes. Or thinking I secured reservations to Ohana, only for the app to freeze, and I have to restart my entire phone (and yes, I had the latest ios update on my phone and the latest version of the app).

Walt Disney World is essentially basing the success of its guests getting into a park, via a limited park reservation, entirely on an app. If that’s not going all in, I don’t know what is. Listen, I have no problem complying with everything Disney World put in place since the era of magic bands has been ushered into the parks. If Disney wants me to book dining or fastpasses months out from my trip, I take no issue with that. But let’s be clear, this operation is a two-way street. I don’t mind booking things in advance (even though I certainly don’t plan my own dinners at home 180 days in advance), because Disney is guaranteeing me I’ll have a spot in the Slinky Dog Fastpass queue and a table at California Grill. I can only hope that all the bugs and kinks will be worked out (assuming there are any, and I’m basing my assumption off of the current My Disney Experience app), before thousands of people all at once, try to obtain a park reservation through an app that already doesn’t have the best track record.

I also wonder if the reservation system will allow guests to make half-day reservations? I, for one, can’t last an entire day in the park without taking a break back at my hotel. I live for those mid-day hotel breaks, where I stake my claim at the hotel pool. I’d love to see an option where I can reserve a time frame that is 4 hours long, rather than the entire time the park is open. I think it would be extremely inconsiderate for someone to reserve an entire day, and only use a few hours of the park. Whether you realize it or not, by doing that, you’re essentially taking away a reservation from someone who could be there with their family for a full-blown vacation. I would call this the “Locals-Only” option, there, I said it.

Needless to say, I’ll be interested to see all the details of Disney’s reservation system, when they eventually share it with us.

By the way, doesn’t all of this make you long for the good ole days? The days when the hardest thing we thought we’d ever had to do at Disney was obtaining a Rise of the Resistance boarding group. Now that I think of it, the My Disney Experience app used to close out on me during that process too. Oh vey…

I can’t imagine trying to plan a vacation for my family through all of this (thank goodness for travel agents, am I right?), and I sympathize with all of you. As an Annual Passholder, I was there at least once a month before COVID-19 turned everyone’s entire world upside down. Now I find myself in a situation where I’m trying to evaluate whether or not it’s actually worth it to keep my family of 4’s annual passes. One thing’s for sure, we’re all in the same small world boat, asking the same question- “What exactly am I paying for and are just going to ignore the only thing that hasn’t changed, prices?”

Whether you’re a passholder or not, do you have any questions or concerns? Comment below and share them with us. I promise you’re not alone in feeling confused or not being sure when it comes to visiting Walt Disney World.

 

 

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Lots of good questions, unfortunately no answers as of yet.

Various FB sites have a lot of discussions (whinings) on Disney needing to step up their game and start announcing how they are going to handle things so people can start making plans.  Some of the complaints are justified and some are just whines.

Even when they do make announcements they are confusing and conflicting.

When they announced about suspending AP payments one of the choices was to keep paying and extend your renewal date.  But there was no information on how to opt for that choice.  I waited a few days thinking I would get an email telling me what I needed to do.  When nothing arrived I bit the bullet and made the dreaded call to customer service.  I was only on hold for about 10 minutes before it got taken care of, but again a lack of information on Disney's part.

And the writer is so spot on about MDE!

 

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4 hours ago, Travisma said:

Lots of good questions, unfortunately no answers as of yet.

Various FB sites have a lot of discussions (whinings) on Disney needing to step up their game and start announcing how they are going to handle things so people can start making plans.  Some of the complaints are justified and some are just whines.

Even when they do make announcements they are confusing and conflicting.

When they announced about suspending AP payments one of the choices was to keep paying and extend your renewal date.  But there was no information on how to opt for that choice.  I waited a few days thinking I would get an email telling me what I needed to do.  When nothing arrived I bit the bullet and made the dreaded call to customer service.  I was only on hold for about 10 minutes before it got taken care of, but again a lack of information on Disney's part.

And the writer is so spot on about MDE!

 

You’re right about not getting any information about how to choose the continue to pay option. That is what I would have preferred, but I never received any information about how to choose that, and then my monthly payment stopped. So, I guess the choice was made for me. 
 

I don’t understand what will happen next, but MDE still shows my pass as valid. If they are going to expect full payment for the reduced hours and no entertainment that they apparently going to offer, then I might need to take a break from being a passholder for a while.

I’m not whining or mad at Disney.  They have to do what they need to to survive.  

TCD

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I was originally told by the AP phone line that the MDE would give us the option of continuing the passes or not.  Then my pass expired and nothing came on MDE and more nothing until I couldn't stand it any longer.

When we called again earlier this month, I was then told that we all had to file "forms" to extend the passes, which the CM at the time gladly did for us.  We were told that the passes would then be given 116 extra days in addition to the expiration date.  Since my pass expired May 31, I am on the clock July 11.  We waited longer than 10 minutes, but it wasn't terrible.

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On 6/9/2020 at 4:42 PM, Tri-Circle-D said:

You’re right about not getting any information about how to choose the continue to pay option. That is what I would have preferred, but I never received any information about how to choose that, and then my monthly payment stopped. So, I guess the choice was made for me. 
 

I don’t understand what will happen next, but MDE still shows my pass as valid. If they are going to expect full payment for the reduced hours and no entertainment that they apparently going to offer, then I might need to take a break from being a passholder for a while.

I’m not whining or mad at Disney.  They have to do what they need to to survive.  

TCD

So my calling didn't do anything.

I had called the AP group asking that they continue taking out my monthly payments for our 2 silver passes, which would then allow my renewal date to be extended by the amount of days they are closed.  CM made a note on our accounts and said we are all set.

Well, I just checked over my credit card statements, and the last payment they took out was March 20th.

So it looks like my passes won't be extended, and they just aren't making me pay while the parks are shut down.

It's just aggravating, because I thought I had it all straightened out.

Does anyone have the passholder phone # handy?

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1 hour ago, Travisma said:

So my calling didn't do anything.

I had called the AP group asking that they continue taking out my monthly payments for our 2 silver passes, which would then allow my renewal date to be extended by the amount of days they are closed.  CM made a note on our accounts and said we are all set.

Well, I just checked over my credit card statements, and the last payment they took out was March 20th.

So it looks like my passes won't be extended, and they just aren't making me pay while the parks are shut down.

It's just aggravating, because I thought I had it all straightened out.

Does anyone have the passholder phone # handy?

(407) 560-7277

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2 hours ago, Grumpy and Grandma said:

(407) 560-7277

So I found a link to the AP page that describes the options for passes with monthly payments.

The default option was do nothing, they stop taking payments out until the parks re-open, then start payments again and your pass expires on the original date.

The other option which I think changed since the original posting (or maybe I read the original one wrong) is that they will suspend the payments, then when the parks re-open they start up again, but you make up the missed payments at the end, and the passes are extended the amount of time the parks were closed.

I thought the original wording was they kept taking out the payments and did the extension at the end.

Of course there is no way without calling again to see what option you have.

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