AP Holders: Should Disney "Stop the Clock" on passes until there is a Vaccine for COVID-19 ?

[courtney1188]

Platinum is still very much worth it if you’re going to the parks more than 6 days, and thats without accounting for the discounts they provide. I find myself being able to enjoy my time in the parks more with an AP than when I bought single day tickets. I dont have to get there at rope drop and stay until closing. I can get there early, enjoy the atmosphere, ride a few rides, go back to grab lunch and take a nap, go for a dip in the pool and go back to the parks when I want. I dont feel the pressure of needing to rush my way through a day anymore

More than 6 days? A 7 day park hopper costs about 600, whereas an out of state annual pass costs over 1k. We do unfortunately still feel the time pressure, because with Disney being a 20 hour drive away, the most we can usually go is one week each summer. We just space those weeks so an annual pass makes sense - visit in August one year and June the next, for example. Except obviously this year messed up that plan.

 

[NCDisNut]

We live out of state and I always believe that it becomes worth it when you take your second trip. We tend to go late February or early March, May, September or October or both and December.

We always try to book a passholder discounted room rate too but even those have gotten a lot more expensive.

 

[Mit88]

More than 6 days? A 7 day park hopper costs about 600, whereas an out of state annual pass costs over 1k. We do unfortunately still feel the time pressure, because with Disney being a 20 hour drive away, the most we can usually go is one week each summer. We just space those weeks so an annual pass makes sense - visit in August one year and June the next, for example. Except obviously this year messed up that plan.

Good point. I guess I probably should have mentioned that it would be based on multiple trips. Single trip is almost always cheaper than an AP when you’re getting bulk days. But because now you have to use them before a certain time, they have to be used in that one trip, that’s why someone like myself that goes down multiple times a year, I find it easier and more worthwhile to get an AP

 

[kiki02]

Thanks.

 

[courtney1188]

If you scroll down a bit in this sub forum you’ll see a question about what Disney should do with APs, but it’s pretty much just a debate about what Disney SHOULD do. The only announcement Disney has made was the one regarding your options during the closure (get some money back or extend your pass).

 

[TammyAlphabet]

I would be satisfied if Disney would start the clock back on my annual pass upon my next activation into a theme park and let it run out from there. I live out of state.

 

[SwirlTheCitrus]

Has anyone's AP actually had *its date extended in the app?

 

[courtney1188]

Has anyone's AP actually had *its date extended in the app?

No, that won’t open until there’s a reopening date.

 

[Mit88]

No, that won’t open until there’s a reopening date.

Someone had mentioned Universal extended their AP 3 months last week. Doesn’t mean anything written in stone, but IF it meant anything, then they’re aiming for mid June reopening which would be 3 months after their initial closing It could mean nothing, they could easily change the expiration date by moving it again. But it’s something

 

[minniemous]

We live far away. This is the first year we bought AP passes. We Activated them in August of last year. We had a big April trip planned and then were going to go in June and August. April was cancelled of course then June and I personally do not feel safe to go in August. Even if I did feel safe I could not wear a mask in Florida in August. To extend the passes into the school year does not help because I can not take my daughter out of school. A refund for months lost is also not great since we bought the tickets based of these additional trips. I am sure Disney will work with us.

 

[Mit88]

We live far away. This is the first year we bought AP passes. We Activated them in August of last year. We had a big April trip planned and then were going to go in June and August. April was cancelled of course then June and I personally do not feel safe to go in August. Even if I did feel safe I could not wear a mask in Florida in August. To extend the passes into the school year does not help because I can not take my daughter out of school. A refund for months lost is also not great since we bought the tickets based of these additional trips. I am sure Disney will work with us.

I think we’ll hear more about what will happen with APs once there’s an opening plan in place. The two options, refund or extension are nice starts, but they probably know that theyre going to have to work with people on a case to case basis. Like your case for example, when you bought your pass in August, a pandemic Causing Disney parks to close for the longest period of time in their 60+ year history, wasnt on anyone’s radar. You dont want to go because you dont feel safe, and I think Disney will understand that, just as people understand that they as a business need to open back up earlier than everyone will feel comfortable going. I dont think they’ll start giving out free passes for a year, or anything thats going to heavily impact them bringing in money, but I’m sure they’ll do something individually on a case by case basis

 

[minniemous]

I think we’ll hear more about what will happen with APs once there’s an opening plan in place. The two options, refund or extension are nice starts, but they probably know that theyre going to have to work with people on a case to case basis. Like your case for example, when you bought your pass in August, a pandemic Causing Disney parks to close for the longest period of time in their 60+ year history, wasnt on anyone’s radar. You dont want to go because you dont feel safe, and I think Disney will understand that, just as people understand that they as a business need to open back up earlier than everyone will feel comfortable going. I dont think they’ll start giving out free passes for a year, or anything thats going to heavily impact them bringing in money, but I’m sure they’ll do something individually on a case by case basis

That is exactly how I feel. They will be fair and try to work with people.

 

[Chuck wright]

If they are going to limit the guests to only those staying in a wdw hotel then yes.. they should do this with the passes...

 

[FrankieWinthrop]

I'm hoping like someone else said - let APs in as a "bonus" when they first open without "starting the clock." Let those that can drive in (like we do from North GA) come on down and help build confidence without losing time on our expensive APs. I think throwing that bone to us would make a lot of us more willing to come down than if my AP clock starts again the second I sign in to a not-completely-open set of parks. We don't stay on property, so if they limited it to that and said my AP clock was starting anyway, I'd be on the phone ready to plead my case!

I think they'll HAVE to wait to restart the clock on APs until they can guarantee normal entrance and you wouldn't be turned away for capacity reasons. We paid for anytime admittance to 4 parks. And before someone says you can't get in if at capacity on NYE or Christmas, that was understood when the passes were bought, not that they may reach capacity on a random Thursday in June.

 

[AlldayIdreamaboutDisney]

I’m on the fence as to what to do about our AP. We were at WDW the week before the shutdown and activated our passes 3/9/20. We have a trip planned for 8/19/20-8/26/20. I know right now I have to cancel but haven’t done so yet. We are in a hotspot area and who knows when our travel restrictions will be lifted as well as a mandatory 14 day self quarantine upon arrival. Anyway, as much as I’d like to say I can rebook for next spring or so I’m not sure if it’s worth it to take the partial reimbursement or chance the extension on the tix for a possible 2021 trip. What are your thoughts?

 

[midaroco]

I think they'll HAVE to wait to restart the clock on APs until they can guarantee normal entrance and you wouldn't be turned away for capacity reasons. We paid for anytime admittance to 4 parks. And before someone says you can't get in if at capacity on NYE or Christmas, that was understood when the passes were bought, not that they may reach capacity on a random Thursday in June.

You actually didn’t purchase a pass that provides anytime admittance to the park. Read the fine print. You aren’t guaranteed access to the parks when purchasing the AP, or tickets in general for that matter.

 

[azdisneylover]

1. For those saying, "other parks are extending until 2021," - it's not an apples to apples comparison because they are extending only a season. I used to have Six Flags passes. You purchased a pass for the season and their season was about 5 months long: opened on the weekends starting in April, opened every day during the summer, closed for part of the fall, and then reopened for weekends in October and December for their Halloween and Holiday days. So, if they are not open during the summer this year, boom, you basically lose the entire season.

2. For those saying, "I am an out of state AP and I cannot just get back when they reopen, I would like to see my AP paused and the ability to restart later" - I think this is a valid idea and would make many APers happy, especially since the out of state APs are the most expensive and you buy your Platinum or Platinum Plus thinking about specific trips and specific dates.

I just worry how it all works logistically on the back-end. You would need to have each AP call and pause it instead of taking the refund or the automatic extension, and then call again to "restart" it, and how would that work with 30 and 60 day FP windows? And the amount of manual man-power to deal with this on the back end at the same time as they have to reissue refunds, etc. Disney is an entirely different beast than the local zoo, where you can just show up the day you want to go and get your pass extended.

3. And at the end of the day, it all depends on *when* they reopen and *when* they announce that reopening. There was enough discussion on the (now closed) coronavirus thread to understand that they reopening is a complex issue. Whenever they decide to reopen, it will take some time to actually reopen. They will need to call back the furloughed CMs, make certain health and safety modifications, train them, procure food and supplies that have been paused for a while, etc., so we may get much more of a heads up of reopening than what may be assumed in this thread.

I also see some comments that are making assumptions on when the reopening will take place and calculate the "value" of the extension based on those assumptions. But, what if the reopening is not then? IMHO, we need to have the reopening date in hand *before* we can assess whether the refund option or extension of the expiration date will work or not.

Knotts Berry Farm is about 6 miles away from Disneyland, and they are open every day, like Disneyland and are extending their passes to the end of 2021.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Knotts Berry Farm is about 6 miles away from Disneyland, and they are open every day, like Disneyland and are extending their passes to the end of 2021.

Wow that is super generous!

 

[courtney1188]

You actually didn’t purchase a pass that provides anytime admittance to the park. Read the fine print. You aren’t guaranteed access to the parks when purchasing the AP, or tickets in general for that matter.

Come on, now this is nitpicking. Clearly no one who purchased an annual pass last year expected a worldwide pandemic to shut down Disney. People had every reason to believe that buying a Platinum AP meant they could visit any day this summer.

 

[FrankieWinthrop]

Come on, now this is nitpicking. Clearly no one who purchased an annual pass last year expected a worldwide pandemic to shut down Disney. People had every reason to believe that buying a Platinum AP meant they could visit any day this summer.

True - it may be in the fine print, but I think Disney would lose a lot of loyal fan-base and big money AP spenders if they took that "read the fine print" route and said APs start although you may or may not get in the park for the entirety of your trip. People won't plan trips around that. I certainly wouldn't drive 8 hours and pay for gas, hotel, and food for that.