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!
Will I still get a prorated refund on the full annual pass amount if I had initially upgraded my pass from a 5 day park hopper ticket? Or only get prorated refund on the upgraded ticket amount?
So thi is interesting … I used chat to cancel my Out if state a Platinum passes last week and the app was showing my expiration date as June 7, 2021 before cancellation … now it looks like they added 30 days since it shows July 7, 2021 … hmm bigger refund? I was told I’d find out mid October
It appears that they are only offering refunds from July 11 through the end of the pass – what a about a refund for the months the parks were closed and we were unable to use them. Only seems fair that Disney should refund that portion of our passes too. Not prepared to go back to the parks under the current conditions.
I will never pay in advance again for Disney passes.
They extended the expiration date on the pass to account for the days the park was closed. My assumption is that we’d receive a refund through the end of the new expiration date. Is that not the case?
Hi Heather and Elizabeth,
My husband and I requested refunds yesterday. The wording in the email was “a partial refund for the remaining access days of your annual pass from July 11, 2020 through your pass expiration date (as extended, if applicable).” Looking on our My Disney Experience app, our passes had been extended through February 11 (instead of their original expiration of October 11), so it should be July 11 through the four additional months the park was closed and however much you had left on your annual pass when you canceled. Hope this helps! We were so sad to cancel, but as out-of-state people and with our jobs, our summer months were our best bet.
@Rebekah- when you cancelled did it say how much your refund would be or how it was calculated? I can’t get Disney to say how much we will be refunded and we have 9 months remaining on 4 platinum passes. I don’t want to cancel if we won’t get full value of the 9 months back.
It depends on how many days you used the pass to visit parks. If you used it more than 12 days, you won’t get anything back. If you used 6 days, then you get half the pro-rated value of the 9 months.
@Brighter that is such BS where did you hear that? Are you a Russian bot? There are a number of date calculators online you subtract July 11, 2020 from your expiration date then divide the number of days left in your pass by 365 … this gives a percentage of the number of days left and you multiply the percentage by the price you paid for the annual pass mine expires on June 6 2021 which means I have 331 days left or about 90% of the annual pass price would be refunded …
The way Guest Services at Disney Springs explained it to me is that my annual is equivalent in price to a 12 day ticket. So once I’ve used 12 days, the pass is “exhausted”, i.e. any days I go after that are essentially free and I wouldn’t get a refund because I basically got all the value out of it. The refund is *not* based on remaining days over cost.
@Joy…unfortunately, it calculates nothing. I’ll be very frustrated if people are correct and we only get the unused portion of 12 days back. I think we used it 9 days, so we’d be refunded only 1/4 of what we paid for instead of 1/2. It would have been very hard for us with our jobs to get back to Disney World before March 2021, so we canceled since that was a month after our extension would expire, but I’ll update here once we get something. If we only get a small amount it might have been better for us to see if we could have gone down. They did say we wouldn’t necessarily get anything until September, so I’m thinking they’re trying to keep us in the dark.
I haven’t called yet, but checked My Disney and all of our passes have been extended for 3 months. We will still get refunds because one of our children has health issues putting her in the more vulnerable category, but I’m more happy than I was with just a 30 day extension.
@Brighter – so if I used my pass 9 days, I’ll basically only get 1/4 of the prorated amount back?
That’s how Guest Services at Disney Springs explained it, yeah.
disney chat reps 100% state the value of the pass is remaining access days, NOT based on how many days you have already used the pass. tom states it also in his other post about AP refunds
Why is it so difficult for them to include a calculator and disclose an amount in the screen to select your option?!
Disney should refund all the dates the AP could not be used!
Explain how Disney feels a one month extension on an annual pass, for October, on a pass that expired April 9, which would mean that there were 24 days left, but that will not be added to the 7/11 opening date; makes any sense? Do we suddenly get a 30 day pass for October? Also, annual pass folks, and those that have been as us for many, many years, are always portrayed as being so “valuable” yet there are no available reservation dates in July as of this writing and very limited dates in August – but the reservation calendar is wide open for hotel and “ticket holders”. Very sad to now be not as “valuable”. Makes economic sense to sell more tickets for more revenue and forget about those that already have their passes, got their money already.
@Robert, totally agree.
Well said and we’re in the same boat. As of writing, our passes don’t even have the one month extension on them.. still show expiring 7 days after they open.. from the FIRST park open date… unreal.
I called Disney a few weeks ago to find out why the 2 passes in my account that expired in March, which I opted to extend, weren’t showing up. The cast member told me that he saw my request for extension had been put through, but that the system “hadn’t updated yet” he never said it wouldn’t show until October 2020. That makes absolutely no sense. Meanwhile, I’m here checking the app every day and waiting for the “system to update” thinking it’s going to take a few days or something.
The most ridiculous part of this for me is that Florida STILL has a mandatory 14 day quarantine on travelers from NY, so I couldn’t even go if I wanted to!
If you haven’t already cancelled, that kind of is what they have done. I’m not really defending them, but i guess in a way I am… did you check your “My Disney Experience”. My AP was set to expire in October of this year and I’m like you, I pay in full. They have already extended my pass’ expiration date to February of next year. I did nothing. You might want to check that if you haven’t already cancelled. It’s hard I know and i guess we’re all just trying to figure out what to do. Good luck. We all miss the magic!
This was the non-answer response I just received from my email to Guest Services mentioning all of the topics discussed in this thread (perks, quarantine, Shanghai, etc.). Two weeks for them to reply.
Dear Heather,
I am so glad you are part of our Annual Pass family. As you can imagine, a great deal of careful planning is taking place so we can provide our Guests and Cast Members with a good experience when they return to the Walt Disney World Resort. I would like to assure you that your feedback has been shared with the appropriate Leaders.
We evaluate our offerings and procedures based on a variety of factors, some of which are unique to the Walt Disney World Resort. We appreciate you taking the time to share your insights with us, and we encourage you to visit https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/experience-updates/annual-passes/ for the most up-to-date information about our Theme Park experiences and how we are assisting our Annual Passholders.
Should you decide you want to discuss options on your Annual Pass Ticket, please feel welcome to contact V.I.PASSHOLDER Support at (407) 939-7277 directly and their Team is happy to assist you further.
Heather, we appreciate you sharing your thoughts and I assure you I have shared your feedback with the appropriate areas and Leadership Teams.
After going to Disney Springs Guest Services to cancel our 3 Platinum Plus APs, I was told by the Cast Member that they could no longer cancel APs there. The Disney Springs Guest Rrlations CM gave me the 407 939-4277 number to cancel the passes. So I called that number and after being on hold for an hour and a half, I all the sudden got the survey message that you get at the end of calls to Disney. So I called the 497 560-9277 VIPassholder number and after spending just about an hour and 20 minutes waiting I was told by a Cast Member that he could not cancel the passes and that APHs would be sent an email shortly explaining options to include how to cancel. The CM said that payments taken out on 11 July would reimbursed between 11 July and 11 August. But the CM did say right now you cannot cancel over the phone and we were to wait for the email. CM also said that there is alot of confusion out as Disney is trying to deal with situation. He also said that the even the number that Disney Springs Guest Services is giving out will be of no help. The CM said that there are thousands of APHs that they have to get emails to as well and that please bear with them. Something is up. Maybe Disney needs the liquid assets that will come from all the APH monthly payments. Frustrating!!!
I called that number and waited nearly two hours only to be told by the CM to wait for an email about further instructions on how to cancel the APs. They could not cancel over the phone.
@Tony – my pass is paid in full and I would GLADLY keep it, if they weren’t starting the clock on it this weekend when it’s inconceivable that I’ll be able to go before September (at the earliest) when the mandatory quarantine is lifted. Wouldn’t (shouldn’t?) they prefer keeping them paused for now until things are safe and keeping our money? What is the likelihood that I’ll renew after this? It’s shortsighted.
I had initially thought that there was no way I would want to cancel my family’s passes, but as time goes on, I think I will have to because I’ve paid a lot of money for a pass I can’t use in the way it was intended to be used (Platinum Plus) and I’m only being offered 1/12 of the value as compensation. Plus, no one can tell me anything on the phone, and while I don’t expect to be catered to, I would like them to acknowledge that this just sucks and that they’re at least sorry that I can’t use my pass to park hop or come without a reservation. But they’re not doing that, so I think I’ll cancel and eat the renewal 15% discount. Better than paying for something I can’t use.
But I’m still sad about it.
Just an FYI, I called in a while ago and requested a refund for the time when the parks were closed and got an email today that my refund had been processed. There weren’t any details about how much or how many days, but I can let you know when the credit hits my credit card.
Frank, that would be great. Since we don’t plan to go back for at least several months, I’m seriously considering cancelling our APs too.
What’s held me back from cancelling is new passes cost more than renewals. But since it will probably be at least 5-6 months before we return, there is no reason to keep our APs active (for now).
Any idea if there is a deadline for calling? I still haven’t received an “official” communication from Disney on how to action my options.
thanks everyone for responding. I did check my Disney Experience and they have already extended my pass by 4 months. As I said, I’m not sure I read everything right, so I don’t know where the 30 days or one month comes in. But they have given me 4 months. I have reservations for December, but I’m playing a “wait and see if they stay open” given the way things are going in Florida. I have sympathy for the company so I’m going to hang tough for a while longer. good luck everyone.
fyi I just called with a request to cancel my monthly AP account and was told to await an email with further instructions. I asked if I could cancel today and was told that “would be lengthy, involving a review process”, and that the email would give more direct instructions. They couldn’t tell me when the email was coming out, said something like “in a few days now”. I’m guessing they want my July payment when they reopen this weekend. This all seems sketchy to me.
The refund processed today. I got a credit for 383.18.
Just for one pass?
what type of pass was it? platinum, gold, silver? thank you!
One Platinum pass
We got our refund for the park closures yesterday. We had called them a few months ago to request it though. It was generous and accurately calculated.
You received a refund of $383. Did that end up being at least $2.30 per day remaining on your pass? I’m trying to figure out how much to expect from the “partial refund.”
Please forgive me if this question was asked already…but…I’m so confused and would love some clarification. I have 5 passes in my family. 2 of the passes expired in March. I opted for the extension. I noticed one of the options says : “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”
So does this mean I wont be able to use the pass until October 2020?? I’m so confused by this.
Firstly apologies for length of question but so confused at the moment and seems conflicting answers depending on what you read but….
Living in uk we tend to go twice per year to make an AP worth it, June one cancelled but still have Nov/Dec booked but unaware if it’s going ahead with tui cancelling flights till Dec so maybe Virgin following suite.
I’ve been advised by someone on here that as pass hasn’t yet been activated it’ll begin from activation but never has before as gone from January to January.
Question is if we do get there in Nov will it last until End of Dec 21 as supposedly adding a month or so extension on or will it expire at end of Dec 20.
Also if don’t get there will it just carry over to 2021
If you haven’t activated that pass yet, it probably will not get an additional month added to it if you don’t activate it until the parks are fully opened. But if the parks still have limited opening when you do activate it, you might get the extra month. But I wouldn’t count on it at this point. The extra month was added, as well as the number of days the parks were closed to make up for the parks not being opened.
Appreciate reply, thanks DebC
Just wondering though would AP end in Dec 20 or would we get 12mth from activation as never had before
John, you should get 366 days of use. So if you start it on Nov 12, 2020, it will be good until Nov 12, 2021 (it’s still good on that day, too). If you haven’t activated the pass before later in the year, you probably won’t get the extra month.
Disney is on a obvious path to cater to the haves and not the have nots. Meaning of course Disney has a strategy to attract those with a higher tax bracket and price out those with less. So sad! But the rich get richer and Disney is rich and wants to be more so! Much more!
I’m not sure I’ve read this correctly but since i paid for my AP in advance, they’re going to give me a one (!) month extension??? The parks have been closed since the middle of March and open later this week. to me that is 4 months and what we should receive. And lucky me, became a DVC member in March. Guess what, those payments weren’t stopped. And truthfully i didn’t expect them to, but now there’s all the figuring i need to do. Feels like we’re not getting the magic here for being truly loyal.
They credited us with the number of days the park closed, so we broke even there.
So where did the “30 days” come from? In exchange for all the restrictions, NO fireworks, NO character greets, NO parades, reservations required but NOT guaranteed, NO park hopping, and all the other things which PREVENT us from using the passes under the terms in which they were originally sold to us…. they credited us with a lousy 30 days extra.
To be clear, I DO NOT fault Disney for putting the restrictions. But restarting the clock on our APs and only “giving” us 30 extra days, after taking AWAY so much, is a slap in the face to us AP holders. The RIGHT thing to do would have been to keep the clock paused until operations return to a reasonable approximation of “normal”.
I am also a DVC member and we have not been addressed at all. Payment still coming out and no help whatsoever. We have changed our trip 4 times now. You would think that Disney would give us the opportunity to free dining to compensate for the last 5 months of nothing! It’s like, we have their membership, so we’re good.
Donna, don’t ever plan on getting something like free dining when you are a DVC member. That’s usually offered when they are trying to fill the hotels (and they haven’t lost a bunch of money because of being closed for months). With DVC, they have your money whether you go or not. The annual fees and mortgage payments (if you didn’t pay in full and financed through Disney) still come out. With only the DVC resorts being opened right now, guess who is paying 100% of any operating costs for those open resorts? It’s always that way with SSR, OKW, VB and HHI, but not with the rest of the resorts. So where BWV shares the cost of transportation with BWI during normal times, BWV is paying for 100% of the transportation while BWI is closed. Plus when they limit the number of people riding on a bus, that means more buses, more drivers that BWV is paying for.
How does Disney expect people without Disney hotel reservations to plan out their vacation to see all of the parks if they are only allowing AP holders to make 3 park reservations at a time? They should at least allow 4 reservations since there are 4 parks. By the time you use the first one who knows if there will be availability to get more for the remaining days of your vacation.
well, ships (commanded by wise captains) do turn back to port,.. for instance, when a dangerous storm is brewing ahead or a contagious virus is discovered on board,..
I am still waiting on my refund from WDW taking out $210.88. If they overdraw my ACCOUNT ARE they going to pay my fees that I incurred because of this?
It is kind of frustrating how Disney answers requests for prolongation of annual passes with the options of accepting their current strategy or asking for a refund, but they do not process the refund or let us know what the amount will be.
I believe that it is a way for them to hang on to their liquidity while they rebuild their reservation bank, but I find the lack of information or accommodation increasingly irritating.
I agree. My husband called today to ask questions today and got nothing answered. Wanted to know if we were choosing a refund and to cancel passes, are they only refunding for the time the park was closed or for the full amount of unused time. Our passes were to expire in September and there is no way to get down there with the quarantine restrictions, so wanted to cancel them. The Disney customer service could only say that more information would be coming out next week after the parks open. She also couldn’t answer how much was being reimbursed for each day the park was closed. I’m feeling like they are keeping us in the dark and need to communicate better. Also thinking that if they aren’t refunding the unused dates that we would have had once the parks open, those who paid up front and weren’t on the monthly plan get screwed. The monthly payment plan people can stop the payments, but those who paid all at once don’t get their money back. Hope they do the right thing and refund fairly.
I was in support of all the options for AP holders at first. After all, no one could foresee a pandemic and Disney was doing the best they could with all the unknown’s. However; I am infuriated over the unapproved, enormous withdrawal from my bank account! It is unacceptable! I am so angry, I am cancelling my annual pass which I have maintained since2013. With money being so tight for a good many of us and no idea when we will get our refund, I feel the only voice I have is in canceling annual pass. I encourage other AP holders that have been taken advantage of by this multi- million dollar company to do the same.
I’m frustrated too. And while I’m sure there are better ways to handle this, they are dealing with 1000 scenarios and people who have been furloughed and I don’t know about you but as much as they want/need the parks to reopen, they are in states where the pandemic is raging. So they’re also having to figure out safety measures which are added expenses, what is safe and what isn’t, losing the college program for now and I’m sure things are going to slip through the cracks. Money is an issue for me too as I live on social security, but I paid my pass in advance to make it cheaper. I checked “My Disney Experience” and they’ve added almost 4 months on to my pass. And i didn’t have to do anything. I’m guessing they’re trying to expedite things as logically as they can, but if I know Disney – they will continue to make things right, it will just take time. I’m hanging with them for now.
Just an FYI — I was able to ask for a refund on my fully paid A/P thru the chat function. It took all of 10 minutes to accomplish. Might be better than waiting on hold for a couple of hours.
Unfortunately, the chat function is currently disabled on the website. 🙁 I had hoped that “We will send information in early July with details on how to take action on these options” would mean easy, straightforward options via online or e-mail, or have they not actually provided the “details” yet? I sent an e-mail through the online form, crossing my fingers.
@Emma – I also emailed a week and a half ago and have gotten no response. Haven’t gotten any info from Disney directly either.
Dennis, did your refund amount to roughly $2.30 per unused day? I’m trying to figure out how much to expect from the “partial refund.”
Tom,
We were thinking they could simply freeze everyone’s pass which would lock in the number of days you have remaining and then start the clock on the first day you return to the park. Effectively a new annual pass but instead of 365 days it had whatever number of days you had not used. To protect Disney they could freeze the passes until a specified date such as January 1 and then start the clock if you hadn’t visited by then. Of course most locals and even many out of town guests would probably visit well before January 1 if mask requirements were relaxed a bit in the outdoor spaces of the park.
I think that’s a great idea–I don’t see it happening, but it would be fair and resolve a lot of the current headaches.
Tom, why do you not see this happening? It does seem fair and I have been asking “why not?’ in many of your comment sections and have yet to receive a reasonable answer. Certainly there are cases in which Disney would be at a disadvantage when tallying up the count but it seems like such a simple solution that would make everyone happy and prevent the rampant cancelations that will ultimately lose more money,..
I don’t see it happening because they already made the decision on how to handle this, and despite backlash, have plowed forward with it for the last couple of weeks. Reversing course now would just upset everyone who already cancelled but would’ve preferred this option. It would just create more headache and frustration at this point–the ship has sailed.
Yeah, I have to agree with Tom on that point. The ship has sailed ……
For this reason, I made the sad choice to cancel all of my household’s APs and get a refund. If they would have paused the clock, I would have kept the APs active. And Disney would get to keep the $$$ we already paid (we pay in full each renewal).
Now instead, they will have to issue a refund. All they had to do was “the right thing”– i.e., stopping the clock while operations were materially disrupted and our AP benefits were materially suspended (park hopper, etc).
We are also FAR less likely to return as quickly. With APs active, there was incentive to return as soon as operations were normalized. Also, AP discounts on resorts are an incentive. But without going to WDW to activate new passes, I can’t get the AP resort discounts. So I’m less likely to do so– until there is a COMPELLING reason to return.
All in all, cancelling the APs takes away most reasons for us to return sooner.