AP activation, AP rates & late arrival

[sacrament to wdw]

Oops, sorry, I must have typed my username wrong - its supposed to be sacramento to wdw!

Anyway, thanks to the great advice on these boards, we were able to get AP rates for the Beach Club Resort, May 6-11. We don't yet have our Annual Pass. We were planning to buy it over the phone or when we arrive.

Problem: we don't arrive until after 10 p.m., and Disney's reservation agents tell us we have to have the actual pass (not the voucher) when we check-in. We understand that all of the ticket windows, etc. close by 10, and besides, we wouldn't even arrive at WDW until 11:00 or so.

We can't change our flight to arrive earlier (we're travelling on frequent flier miles and the earlier flight is already booked).

We've called BC directly and asked if we can check-in and bring the pass by the next day. The answer was pretty vague, but they thought we could. We're reluctant to rely on that vague answer.

Does anyone have any experience with this, that is, arriving without an actual pass, and bringing it by the next day? We don't mind paying the AAA rate for the first night.

Are there any other options we haven't thought of? Thanks for your help.

 

[crcormier]

I don't know for a fact, but I believe I've read on the boards that as long as you have your voucher, that should suffice when checking in, though I'd wait for someone else who's done it to confirm.

 

[Aurora's Mom]

We were in the same situation you described two years ago at the BC. We checked in around 11:15 p.m. and only had vouchers. They just told us we needed to go to the Epcot entrance and exchange/activate them the next day and bring them back to the desk and they'd be set. We did just that, it is only a 5 minute or so walk over there (depending on where you are in the resort), and it really didn't take very long to get done. There shouldn't be any problem at all. If the front desk has any questions about it (some of the newer employees haven't dealt with every scenario yet), just ask for a manager and they'll fix ya up. HTH!

 

[swilphil]

Definitely order your AP vouchers before you leave. I'd do it soon as it can take a while to get them though I think you can pay a little extra for quicker shipping. That way if you are delayed, you won't have to worry about checking in without a voucher. I was under the impression that the hotel could see on their computer whether you had purchased a voucher or not. We were at CR over Easter and were never asked for our AP. We activated the voucher after we checked in.

 

[MPLsDad]

This is my first post since I got home this morning and I sure do miss WDW already! We had a voucher at check-in and we checked in after 11pm. There were no problems at all - they did ask to see the green card and that was it. I didn't even have to return to show them the activated AP. We had a wonderful trip!!!!!

 

[sacrament to wdw]

Based on what your comments, we called WDW again, and got an agent to confirm that they will accept the voucher. Thanks for your help.

 

[drp4video]

I just got back, and when I checked in, I asked if they wanted to see my AP pass and they said no. That is the first time that that has happened, usually they want to see it.