Disney World AP Update: Charges, Reservations, Extensions & Refunds
Walt Disney World has released more info for Annual Passholders about reopening, including AP reservations, extensions, payment options, and more. In this post, we’ll share details of the announcement and offer additional commentary. (Updated July 5, 2020.)
As previously covered, Annual Passholders are now able to make Disney Park Pass theme park reservations. As covered in our Park Pass Update: AP Availability & Fresh Frustrations, many dates have already filled up–including almost every date in July and many weekends in August.
Additionally, eligible Annual Passholders were eligible to register for preview days prior to the official opening of Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. Unfortunately, the AP Reopening Preview filled within minutes of going live earlier this week. We have some more bad news…
On July 3, many Annual Passholders on the monthly payment plan noticed that their credit cards were hit with a lump-sum charge from Disney, reflecting four months worth of monthly payments. In fact, reports from disgruntled APs have flooded social media, with many understandably upset at being charged hundreds of dollars by Disney with zero notice prior to the parks even reopening.
It’s difficult to say how many APs are impacted by this–it should only be those who opted-in to the monthly payment plan extension. Walt Disney World’s default course of action for APs on the payment plans was to automatically stop and waive monthly payments while the theme parks are closed. Payments would then resume on their regularly scheduled dates once the parks reopen–without any expiration extension. Guests who chose the default (or did nothing) should not be seeing the huge charges on their credit cards.
In an update from Walt Disney World, this was caused by a glitch in a third party vendor’s processing, and the charges were incorrect. Walt Disney World indicated that it’s in the process of reversing the charges (which will occur automatically without action by impacted Annual Passholders), and apologized for the inconvenience.
Park Pass Reservation Policies for APs
A number of questions have remained concerning refunds, AP extensions, limits on the number of simultaneous Disney Park Pass reservations that Annual Passholders could make, and registration for AP preview days. Thanks to the latest AP update from Walt Disney World, via the Annual Passes: Know Before You Go page, we now have answers to most of those questions.
All Annual Passholders are eligible to make Disney Park Pass reservations for up to 3 days at a time. This is a rolling number, meaning that once one day is used, another reservation can be made, and so on. As before, Annual Passholders could visit as many days as they’d like, subject to availability and applicable pass blockout dates. (So it really becomes an issue of demand.)
Annual Passholders staying at select Walt Disney World resort hotels or other select partner hotels (e.g. Disney Springs Resort Area Hotels, Bonnet Creek Resorts, Swan & Dolphin, and Shades of Green Resort) with valid theme park admission are eligible to make advance theme park reservations for their entire length of stay–up to a total of 14 days with reservations. Likewise, all reservations are subject to availability and applicable pass blockout dates.
Some pass benefits and features will not be available during periods of limited capacity. Also, park experiences and offerings will be modified and subject to limited availability or even closure. If you have any questions, please contact V.I.PASSHOLDER Support at (407) 939-7277. Options to manage your annual pass continue to be available during the closure period.
Reopening Policy Options
As the theme parks prepare to reopen, Walt Disney World recognizes that the Disney Park Pass reservations system will change the way that many Annual Passholders prefer to enjoy visiting the theme parks. With that in mind, Disney is offering these alternative options to manage your pass.
If you are an Annual Passholder that has paid in full, your options include:
- You will receive a one month extension to your pass (unless you choose one of the alternative options below). This additional month will automatically be processed and visible in your My Disney Experience account in October 2020.
- Alternatively, and in lieu of the one month extension, Passholders who have paid in full may choose to cancel their annual pass and receive a partial refund.
- As another alternative, and also in lieu of an extension of their passes, Annual Passholders who have paid in full may choose to receive a partial refund for the park closure period.
If you are an Annual Passholder on the monthly payment plan, your options include:
- You will receive an additional one month extension to your pass. This additional month will automatically be processed and visible in your My Disney Experience account in October 2020. Please note that monthly payments are scheduled to resume with park opening on July 11, 2020.
- Alternatively, and in lieu of the additional month extension, Passholders on the monthly payment plan may choose to cancel their annual pass and waive their monthly payments due after August 11, 2020. Any payments made between July 11, 2020 and August 11, 2020 will be retroactively refunded for those that select this option and all future payments would be stopped.
Walt Disney World will send information in early July 2020 with details on how to take action on these options.
AP Refunds & Extensions
As previously covered in our last Annual Passholder update, the new restrictions on visiting and park hopping are arguably a unilateral contract modification that goes beyond what’s contemplated by any reasonable change of terms provision or disclaimer. (There’s fine print language that restrictions apply including, but not limited to, capacity constraints and other closures. However, this is fundamentally different than a standard capacity closure. Again, arguably.)
Accordingly, our expectation was that Walt Disney World would not restart the clock until after the reservation period has ended. That’d be the prudent and guest-friendly course of action, but that does not appear to be what Walt Disney World is going to do.
In our view, these options are adequate alternatives for many Annual Passholders. It’s nice to see Walt Disney World proactively providing these options, rather than waiting for more Annual Passholder backlash (as happened when the closure begin and Walt Disney World was not going to offer refunds or pause monthly payments).
Of course, this isn’t going to be a “perfect” solution for everyone, but there is literally no way to make everyone happy right now. This is an unprecedented time, and Walt Disney World is attempting to make lemonade out of lemons.
Personally, my expectation is that most dates will be pretty easy to book via the Disney Park Pass on short notice, so I’ll happily take the 30 day extension, which will likely be a windfall. While many Walt Disney World fans are worried about the difficulty of booking Disney Park Pass reservations, one key thing to remember is that even though park attendance will be limited to ~30% of normal numbers, most tourists won’t be returning anytime soon.
Understandably, the equation is very different for out of state Annual Passholders and others. Without the certainty of knowing they’ll definitely be able to reserve access to the parks, it’s difficult for a non-local AP to book a trip right now and risk being shut out. Of course, the solutions for that are booking a hotel stay or waiting to see data points emerge that indicate how difficult it’ll likely be to reserve park visits on short notice.
For other Annual Passholders, the lack of certain entertainment or the ability to Park Hop may be a non-starter. Or, you may simply not feel safe visiting a theme park at any point in the foreseeable future. All totally valid perspectives, and if any of these are the case for you, it’s probably most sensible to cancel your Annual Pass, as saddening as that might be.
Overall, a good amount of info concerning the future of the Annual Passholder program at Walt Disney World. Basically, we have all of the key info at this point, and are just waiting on the refund/recovery processes to be rolled out, and the registration for Annual Passholder preview days to open. (If Universal is any indication, the preview days will be busier than the days that follow–theme park fans love the perception of exclusivity and being first!)
All in all, a pretty big day for Walt Disney World news! Hopefully, this latest update to the Annual Passholder page answers most of the big questions you had. We’ll keep you posted should there be further developments.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Are you an Annual Passholder? Think these policies seem fair? Satisfied with the 30 day extension or will you be requesting a refund? Will you be attempting to visit Walt Disney World during the AP preview period? Do you expect reservations to visit the parks being competitive or easy to score? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
7 a.m. Eastern time: Just trying to log in. System error. Just trying to call. Fast busy signal. Patience…..
Hi Tom! What’s your best guess when they’ll send the magical email that will allow Passholders to sign up for previews? Don’t care if you’re wrong, but curious what you think.
Thanks!!
Living in the uk we get annual passes and visit twice per year. The June/July trip has already been cancelled by Virgin with the Nov/Dec one looking dodgy too.
Our passes haven’t even been activated yet so unsure how we’re on. Maybe best option is to ask disney to just scrub this year and leave it so they’re valid next year….awaiting word
As long as you haven’t activated those passes yet, the clock hasn’t even started on them.
Thanks DebC
Think worry is if we don’t get there at all this year would they be good for next year.
We normally buy them and they begin Jan 1st ish even though don’t activate then till June, use them again in Nov then buy again for the next year…beginning Jan 1st ish
John, unless they are activated at the gate, they are good for a long, long time. I bought an annual pass about seven years ago and just activated it two years ago. I added it to My Disney Experience when it was purchased, and it just sat there for years waiting for me to use it.
Ahh, Good to know As thought it had a time limit to 1yr after purchase
Many thanks for replying
My annual pass was used for the first time two weeks before they closed. I basically have a pass for a year and 4 months! I’m pretty excited about this! Our tickets will be good into the Christmas season of 2021!!!!!!
Ya…..so I’m not that good at math it will be good al summer season next year so I’m still excited
Ok so I’m tired and bad at math good until July. That’s still a good deal for me
I know everybody is complaining about AP vs resort stayers. I do not have the option to cancel because I bought DVC points but I still paid $3000 for 6 nights.If I cannot get reservations I have lost all my money because why spend the travel money if I can’t go to parks. I can’t ever go back because to long to save the money I would lose in time to be able to go, Way too old if wait much longer. But the rest of you are making it sound like thiss is disney forever. They already said it would only last until this 6 ft rule lasts. Trust me Disney makes a lot more money when they can let in more people and have dining paackages.
This is a win for me, as I activated my pass in August 2019 and with the closure time and extra month added back on, my trips in October and then January are covered! I’m west coast RunDisney fan, and with this extension I will end up with just shy of a year and a half and seven trips (five of them race weekends). Now, hoping that Wine & Dine is still on!
I likely got a home run with how Disney is handling this. I am an out of state annual Passholder, as is my spouse and daughter. We started the clock in March and were at the park the last day it was open during an 8 day trip. We “lost” our trips in April, May and June. We had previously decided our September 2020 trip probably should be cancelled and were cautiously optimistic on our October trip. Now with the fact I will basically get a prorated refund for what I used, I lucked out I’ll get a new annual pass when traveling and everything is back to normal. But getting a refund on 50ish+ weeks of annual pass after only using 8 days before the shutdown is a home run. How they handled it actually benefited me for once.
So the park was closed for 3 months and we only get a month added to the original expiration? So my AP that was expiring in Jan now expires in Feb?
You get 4 months. 3 closed + 1 extra
No , you will have the entire months there were closed added on and an additional month.
I’m glad you mentioned that Heather because that’s how I read it and was confused. But I see the answers others are saying which is great. 4 months extension is perfect!
Still not thrilled with this seeing that FL is still imposing a two week quarantine from NY, so couldn’t reasonably use my pass when the park opens.
I’m a Canadian AP and non-essential travels are forbidden until July 21st (for now).
Starting the clock on July 11 on annual pass expiration seems unfair and will lead to more people canceling their pass than hanging on to them.
If travelling to the US continues to be complicated and requires a quarantine period when I arrive or when I come back home, there will not be a lot of out-of-country customers in the parks.
We know that (a) everyone has a different opinions on when it’s “safe” to return, (b) cases are increasing, adding further concern for many, (c) many people (like Louis) are unable to return due to governmental restrictions in their home state/country, and (d) Disney has dramatically cut how and when we can use our annual passes.
Disney also spit in the faces of their most loyal customers, their passholders, with an insulting “30 day” extension, after substantially cutting the benefits we’ve already paid for in advance.
If Disney really CARED about their passholders, which clearly they do not, the would STOP the countdown clock on our APs and NOT restart until (a) the next time we use them, or (b) some distant date into 2021; whichever comes first.
That would be FAIR for both sides. Disney wouldn’t have to issue refunds, and passholders wouldn’t be penalized (via countdown clock) if they wouldn’t attend due to health concerns, or couldn’t due to governmental restrictions.
It would also help a LOT with good will, because right now I’m furious at Disney for their “30 day insult” after taking away just about EVERY reason I buy passes each year. I’ve been as loyal a guest as humanly possible. I’ve been attending since WDW first opened. My family are long-term AP holders. We do many multi-day/night trips every year, including the special ticketed events, and ALWAYS stay at an on-site Disney resort.
And in return, they strip away the perks of our APs, force us into a lottery system, and give us a lousy 30 day extension. BIG DEAL. What a crummy way to bite the hands of the fans who’ve fed you so well for all these decades, Disney.
Parks were/are closed 116 days. So you get 116 days, plus 30 more days added to your pass.
I’m also a Canadian AP and our passes were set to expire in early May, which means even with the extension we’d have to get there by the end of September. I doubt we’ll be comfortable travelling by then, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were still some travel restrictions from Canada to the US at that time.
We had a trip planned at the end of April that we missed out on – even if we request a refund, it won’t cover the cost of park passes that we’ll now have to purchase outright when we rebook.
With over 4,000 Covid-19 cases reported yesterday for the state of Florida, I wonder if WDW will end up opening at all…..Not looking to debate about the virus or anything. I just wonder what Disney’s reasoning would be if they continue to push forward with opening yet covid cases are continuing to rise within the state. I know the NBA has been expressing a great deal of concern.
I assume a lot could change within the coming weeks – for better or for worse. Hopefully we start to see a downward trend of cases and not a spike.
They’re going to open up. The problem with shutting down is that it can only be done for so long before the businesses (and the employees) go broke. Eventually economic concerns overwhelm the concern over getting a disease that 99.9% of people will survive (and apparently most wont even know they have it).
I wonder the same thing. Coming from NJ we can’t even plan a trip until July 15th after the required 2-week quarantine travel restriction is lifted (we are in Southern NJ and never saw a spike in cases luckily) but by that time with FL’s increasing cases I’m wondering if a opening will still be realistic. But with the additional month on top of the 3 month extension we already have I am very satisfied with Disney’s attempt to do right by it’s pass holders.
@Jennifer Gato, note that it wasn’t a free 3-month extension. It was NOT a gift. Legally they had to, because they shut down the parks. You were only credited (so far) with the number of days their businesses were CLOSED. Since it was impossible to attend, they were forced to stop the clock.
The only “gift” you will be given is 30 extra days, which is a terrible insult, because there are substantial restrictions on both how/when we attend, and what we can do/see/experience during that attendance.
We are getting far LESS than the original passholder agreement.
Tom, with Disneyland opening only following 6 days after WDW when will reservation system, cancellation policies be announced in your humble opinion.
I think one of my biggest aggrevations is Disney has forgotten many of their base visitors, the residents. I always feel like we get the short end of the stick because we live here. Living here doesn’t mean we go to the park all the time, but we would love to have the ability to plan in advance like everyone else.
But you get discounts the rest of us can’t get too. My friend lives there and gets discount on APs, hotel rooms, etc.
Now I’m totally confused. We have Weekday select passes, pay monthly, and they were due to expire June 8. I just checked mydisneyexperience.com and it says they have expired! I thought there would be an extension or a note or something with information.
Susan, we have the same. Ours weren’t due to expire until Dec 10, but they have been extended to April 6, 2021. It just happened earlier this morning.
In looking at the email from Disney it says we will need to select: 1) a park to visit, 2) a date to visit, and 3) a TIME to be in the park.
This TIME question has me really nervous. Will they not let us leave, fo swimming and come back?
At least you get an email from Disney. I typically get no emails from Disney and wouldn’t even know what’s going on except for social media and sites like this.
I called and spoke to a cast member about this. I was told the reservation is good for the entire day, so leaving and re-entering should be OK. I am still taking this with a grain of salt since I have not seen it in writing.
Totally agree with the comments how Disney has handled their “most loyal customers”. We have three Platinum Plus APs for the second consecutive year after having Platinum for several years prior to up grading to Plus. Disney has really missed the mark and then to not even give us the Shanghai AP compensation is just unfair and a insult to our “loyalty”. Unless something changes between now and opening day, we will opt to cancel our APs until this is over.
Wow! Some of the comments are just plain nasty! I live in Maine & purchased Platinum Plus AP in March with a trip planned for late August. I purchased the PP for the water parks & may not be able to use them. Living 30 min away means youbcan come any day you would like. I booked my resort stay in March & it only seems fair than anyone with a pre-existing resort reservation would be able to reserve all of their days. It is more of a guarantee that those with existing reservations will show up! Anyone staying offsite could reserve park days & cancel their trip but not their park days, which could go to others who do plan on going. It’s kinda like FastPasses. If you don’t use it, no one else can take your place if you don’t cancel it. Staying on site allows for more control over the actual attendance number.
My unknowns are:
– will the water parks be open?
– will there be any compensation if water parks and Hopper are not usable
– which hotel will we actually stay in??? LOL
APHs must have a reservation to enter a park. We cannot just go when we want under the
current Reservation System.
Living close does not mean we can come anytime we want. We have lives also. We work and have families and also have to plan a trip. We also have families who come here from out of town for their vacations, but just stay with us instead of the resort. So it’s not that simple. Living close as a PH also means we get the leftovers the Resort guests haven’t booked.
Both my husband and I have full time jobs and we have a teenager and parents and siblings–we can’t go any time we want, because we have lives. The value was that we could be spontaneous, and go when we could even if it was last minute. Now we can’t be spontaneous and so most of the value of the pass is lost for us.
I don’t understand why the extra month will be added in October. Why not add it now? Especially for people whose passes, with the 117 day extension, are going to expire prior to October.
I agree! We have a trip planned in May and the extra month will cover that trip – but now we can’t make park reservations until October when they extend our AP’s… 🙁
Agreed! My passes now expire on 9/11 because I only had two months left on them when the parks shut down. So I really don’t understand how this October thing is going to work. Will we not have passes from 9/12 until the end of the month/some day in October when they add an extra month? Will they totally forget about people whose passes have already expired? As an out of state passholder, how am I supposed to plan a trip when I don’t even know when the 30 day extension will be?
I am so upset that AP are only allowed 3 days whereas Resort Guest will be able to visit the parks every day of their stay. In addition, I was told by a cast member that anyone that has a multiple day ticket will be able to reserve days for however long their ticket is good for. So I have 3 family members that have AP’s and 2 that each have 5 day park hopper tickets,(not sure if we’ll receive some credit for the hopper portion) so the 3 of us that have annual passes can only reserve 3 days but the other 2 members can reserve 5 days! There are 4 parks, yet an AP can only visit 3 – Feels like annual passholders are not so special anymore. I hope more passholders complain about the unfairness.
Three days at a time. Use one day and then book another.
What is unfair about it Nanette?
The unfairness is that being an annual passholder should give you the little extra to book more than 3 parks! Why is it fair for people staying on property to book more than 3 days? I was told that people with a regular ticket can book more than 3 days, so where is the fairness with this?
it’s unfair b/c nanette paid more for her AP than her family members did for their 5 day ticket, and nanette is only guaranteed 3 days and they are guaranteed 5.
it’s unfair to out of state AP b/c we arrange flights or long drives, plus lodging, for a typical week long vacation–now we schedule our vacation around if we can get admission–and we can only definitely get into the parks 3 days and then have to gamble we MAY be able to pick up a rolling day at the last minute. We won’t be able to make ADRs past our 3 day window b/c ADRs require 24 hrs cancellation, and what if we get into a park the 4th day instead? (or, if we can’t get into the park we have an ADR for? if we make a non park ADR and then are able to get into a park? we functionally can’t make ADRs outside the 3 day park window)
they need two options, one for APs that live close by and are happy w 3 rolling days, and one for APs that live far away and would be happy w 7 days every quarter.
I may not need to plan 180 days out but I can’t plan around not knowing if we can enter the parks until the night before, and despite the fact the parks should be easy to get into, if there’s one thing we know about disney, it’s that historically demand outstrips supply, which means it’s a crapshoot on capacity.
i don’t want the stress and worry of having to score park admission in real time during my vacation, and 3 days guaranteed admission isn’t going to cut it.
scrolling thru the posts last night, I remembered when getting my 3 year old to wear a mask all day was my biggest concern, that was so last week!
Disney understands that the AP is not the same product now than it was before. That’s why they are offering to refund any unused portion. Not ideal, but I believe they are being fair by offering that option.
But @Kelly if you stay on Disney property you can book up to fourteen days at once. Or even at some of the good neighbor hotels like at Disney Springs, Swan and Dolphin, etc . Sorry I am just not getting all the angst. Especially since they are offering refunds if you don’t like the current terms. And yes I am an out of state AP with as Disney Springs resort reservation in November. Plan to be online at 7 AM Monday to book for length of trip.
Disney can’t let passholders book without limit right now and keep capacity down. They just can’t. They don’t want to be a pandemic hotspot. I think they’ve covered themselves with the refund option..
Mickey… because I live here. I paid for full access except for blockout dates as a PH, I don’t need to stay at a resort. I pay enough as a homeowner and resident in the state of Florida, not to mention I live 30 minutes away. My kids and grandkids come for vacation for a week at a time, we make plans months in advance for the entire week because resort guests have always scooped up the best of everything long before PH can. You won’t be able to use these 3 days and then make more because nothing may be available. Nothing like telling a 5 year old they only get 1/2 of a Disney vacation because although grandma lives close to Disney, it’s not good enough!
To nanette and Kelly…. I agree with both of you. And completely unfair for 1/2 of us pass holders, just because we aren’t staying on property, we get less of an advantage.
we don’t know yet what the refunds will be. i read one blog that disney may offer $5/month and/or nothing at all depending on how many days you’ve already been in the parks on your AP. details tbd early july!
i know staying on property is the magical solution for reserving park days. there’s 2 types of people in the world, those who do and those who don’t! but we can get a luxury 3000+ square foot 5 bedroom villa w private pool and hot tub, 15 minutes door to door, for $1500 for 7 nights. we have family in FL and they all pile in and we have a big family vacay. i don’t think disney even has anything 5 bedroom and if they do, it’d be like 20K a night!
i do understand disney can’t let APs come whenever they want. i get that. my issue is those of us who come for 1 week at a time, 2-3X per year, as APs. we need more than 3 days guaranteed access at a time. we don’t need unlimited 3 day rolling access.
THE benefit for on site stays is now guaranteed park access. (no need for an AP now, just an on site reservation). for those of you who like to stay on site, it’s a non issue. for those of us who don’t, it’s a huge issue.
What’s unfair is that I paid extra to be able to go to any park whenever I wanted. Now that’s being taken away, but I’m expected to pay the same price, and I get the same mitigation as the person who bought the Epcot after 4 pass. That’s not okay. Also, most resort guests paid far less for their tickets, so why should they get preferential treatment?
I am an AP and have a resort reservation for December. The system would NOT let me have a park entry for all the days I was planning to be there. The system said that I had reached my limit. I only got 5 days out of 7 that I was going to visit. I also cannot book for any days for my September visit. I wish Disney would just give an option to refund the closed days and the rest of my AP pass for this year.
I agree the 3 days for APs not staying on site seems completely unfair. I understand things have changed, but the expense of travelling to Florida from North Carolina to not be guaranteed entry outside of 3 days is hard to swallow. With two small children, having access to a kitchen and washer and dryer is important to me, and the cost of such things on site is prohibitively expensive. Our options are stay offsite in a 3 bedroom with full amenities or onsite in a value resort with two beds and one bathroom – not much else to speak of. Even the “cooler” doesn’t keep temp well enough to store cold cuts for a sandwich to try to be budget friendly. We’ve done it before for the convenience of not having to rent a car, but it’s very frustrating to know that in order to guarantee access to the parks, I have to funnel even more money into Disney after as many have noted, there are very few perks left for the APs right now – also considering I also won’t have access to the water parks that are included in my pass. PLUS as most have not mentioned in this particular comment, there are also next to no perks for onsite guests either with EMH and changes to dining/fastpass + – it’s truly a double whammy. The one benefit is for AP holders to be able to guarantee access to parks that they technically should have freedom to attend anyway. It doesn’t sit well at all with me.
Tom, For the AP, one month extension of the original date PLUS the number of days the parks were closed or just a one month extension?
It seems they have already started extending them the number of days the parks were closed because my AP Reflects that extension in the My Disney Experience App. In October they will add an additional month, at least that’s my understanding.
It’s the extension plus one month! For instance we would have expired in February 2021. We were just updated to June 2021. Now I am assuming we will get the 30 day extension bringing us to July 2021!
Mine still says Expires Feb 25, 2021 (the original expiration date). So theoretically I’m supposed to be extended to June 21, 2021 plus another month? But there’s not guarantee when I make the trek from Colorado that I’ll be able to actually USE the pass?
Us out of staters must pay full Platinum price … rather than the FL Res passes at half that … with no guarantee we can actually get in. So, no, I’m not very satisfied with the current situation. We’ll see if this resolves in the future, but the way the web site functioned today was not encouraging.
So I’m an out of state AP holder who feels like this is a little unfair to those who are not staying on property. I had planned to visit in April and planned to stay at the Resorts but obviously that had to be canceled. We ended up getting the refund for the resorts expense, but now are getting penalized for not lodging on property for our other planned trip in September. It was planned for us to stay off property while still getting as much usage of the pass as we could get for our available traveling schedule. This September trip would have been our last usage of the AP tickets. That’s great that we have an extension but I don’t know if we can swing even using it. So now our full week plan to visit the parks every day is limited to only 3 days ? The purpose for the AP was to schedule as many ways to visit for a year and get as much usage as possible. I’ve just lost 4 days of my planned usage of my AP pass. How is that acceptable? It was a planned vacation that fits my schedule and I shouldn’t have to be limited. I can even tolerate the one park one day, but at least let me go to a park every day I’m there.
After you use one day you can book another. It’s a rolling three days.
But will they guarantee I’ll be able to actually get another 3. If everyone is booking for dates as early as next week, what type of availability will there actually be 2 day’s before the date you want to go.
@Debbie I understand the concern. @Tom seems to think parks will rarely reach the capacity. Fingers crossed he is right! Disney can’t allow unlimited booking for APs if they don’t want to become a pandemic hotspot. I do agree it’s not ideal.
I am sad that because of Florida’s spiking numbers we can’t even consider a quick trip down for the AP preview days!
@bklynsteph …. but if I was paying to stay on their property I’d have the ability to book for my entire trip. There is where the unfairness begins. Same rules don’t apply to all the pass holders. ( local or out of state… only get priority if you are paying even more to Disney then the cost of annual pass holders already paid. )
It’s so unfair for AP holders, what’s the difference if a AP reserves 5 days or someone with a daily ticket. Why would a daily ticket holder be more entitled to reserve more than 3 days. I agree that out state AP need more than 3 days. As for booking 3 days then book additional day, nothing is guaranteed, so it’s a crap shoot to book a trip. Bottom line as AP we should be entitled to the same if not more than a daily ticket holder. The people who do not agree are probably people that gave resort reservations and have entry everyday.
My pass would have expired at the end of April. It’s been updated to an expiration of 8/23. Being out of state, passes are only a good value for us if we can use them for multiple trips per year. Our April and June trips were cancelled by Disney and now we can’t even book on site lodging before they expire. A prorated refund is a lot less than another week’s worth of park admission would have been.
As a family of 5, we’ve just flushed thousands of dollars this year. Our state has just started re-opening and the family members who have been called back to work can’t take vacation.
They extended expiration for regular tickets until 9/21. PH should have been given the option to pause and restart the unused portion of their passes prior to that date.
I don’t care about meet and greets, fireworks, and parades, but I don’t know if I feel like 1/12th the value of my Platinum Plus pass (about $80, by my back of the envelope math) in the form of a free month makes up for the end of spontaneous trips and no park hopping. $80 doesn’t seem like a lot given what I’m losing.
You’re right, it’s not by a long shot.
Technically, it isn’t the absolute least Disney could have done, but it’s pretty darned close.
I would NEVER have renewed our passes under these terms. I paid up-front and in-full for my family to have a year of A, B, C, D, E. Now in the middle of the term, Disney unilaterally took away A, B, C and part of D, with virtually NO compensation in return.
Passholders are Disney’s most loyal customers, and look how they’re treating us. Now, consider how Shanghai Disney passholders are treated. Their AP clock is stopped indefinitely. How ironic that passholders in the country that gave us this mess are being treated better than than us.
I agree with your statement. What I’m trying to tell myself is that what Disney is telling customers is that a lot can change in the next few months. Let’s all try to look at this as just the immediate future, or even just for the initial reopening. Now, if this situation continues and continues, then Disney will need to do something immediately.
I continue to point to how Shanghai has handled all of this for their annual passholders. I think if Disney just stopped the clock on passes expiring (and adding the four months for the initial closure), AP holders would be left content and happy. It just seems like doing that would stop all of us AP holders from feeling screwed over. Or even just give AP holders 50% off their passes and let them keep them. I don’t know, something needs to be done.
If Disney did that, I would be able to look past the three day limit and no park hopping. Come on Disney! You have not done a professional job in keeping guests informed.
What I find interesting is that myself and others have commented that Disney AP holders are the most loyal and “cherished” guests. I think it’s clear that potentially AP Holders are not the money makers for Disney parks? Which means, they just really don’t care about any of us.
Anyways – only time will tell. Be safe and healthy everyone!