I did a thing!

[fidoandminiadventures]

My husband and I were relocated for work recently and decided to make the best of it and purchase APs! We are super excited!

Our first official AP trip was this past weekend. I’d have to say crowds werent too bad (not as bad as two weeks ago- right before the schools started). We are huge pin traders and made a few good trades.

Had a few questions: what is the point of the souvenir cups? Are they like the popcorn buckets where you can refill it for a discounted price?

Anyone else expecting a huge TL renovation announcement from D23 and then disappointed when nothing came out? Does the runaway railroad in TT mean theyll repaint those poor hills?!?!

Any cool things i should do/try/experience as new AP holders? Times/dates to go? Things I should know about AP? We are three hours away so weekday trips are a little difficult (unless its a three day weekend) and I am a very new to disney so i have so much to learn- my first trip was in april! (Husband grew up going as a kid).

Anyone else think its a little silly that a 14.99$ pin from D23 is now being sold for $100+ online?! Guess thats great for those who could go- a way to make money , just depressing for us normal folks who couldnt and would love some pins and aren't willing to pay those type of prices!

 

[DizMe]

Congratulations! I bet you guys will have a blast this year.

I can't answer your question about the cups; I'm not really sure about which cups you mean because I don't usually buy drinks in DL since I don't drink most of what they serve, but I have on several occasions gotten the souvenir plastic mug type (with a handle and turn-to-open lid) for my husband. He doesn't like to go to DL but he loves the travel mug for work . As far as I know there is no discount on a drink if you reuse it but I'm not really sure since I don't drink the things you'd put in it.

Resale prices are crazy sometimes! I went to the Haunted Mansion 50th party, and so many people were buying things with the idea of reselling them for a profit. You can get your pass revoked if you're tracked, but it didn't seem to stop the practice from what I could see.

I think you really have to see the parks at Christmas time, but I'd go as early in the season as possible to avoid huge crowds. I usually go the first week in Dec. You can't avoid crowds but it's so much fun and manageable if you get to the parks early. I stopped going for Halloween because it's just a mess IMO. It's cool, but too many parties interfere with the flow of days and the crowds are crazy. However, if you go really early in the Halloween period you can escape some of that. I went end of Sept-first of Oct last year for an event and it was fine. We forgot all about the Halloween season until we got there and it was decorated!

You might look into some of the special events/days that various groups put on. Keep your eyes on this forum and you'll see them mentioned. There are great hotel rates and fun events; my friends and I often go to Dapper Day (twice a year; next one is in November). I used to go to Tiki Day but that has now morphed with Adventureland Day! It's a lot of fun, too. Those are unofficial events. The HM party I mentioned above was an official Disney event. As a D23 member you probably know about most of this but thought I'd throw it out there anyway. If you were thinking of staying at a Disney hotel, Dapper Day and Gay Days have half-price Disney hotel rooms, but do be sure and give some credit to those organizations by going to the Expo or wearing a red shirt or something.

 

[billyjobobb]

I wish I knew why Disney did half the stuff they do. D23 was sold out with what? 20,000 attendees? But almost all the awesome pins were very low les there was an awesome mystery set for haunted mansion that was le 300? Why? We bought the le mystery set from the hm50 party and we’re having a horrible time trading for the ones we want. Everybody bought them to sell them. It seems pin trading is dying and pin dealing is taking its place.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

I wish I knew why Disney did half the stuff they do. D23 was sold out with what? 20,000 attendees?..

At the 2017 Expo, there were 40,000 attendees on the Saturday alone. Don't see why this year would have been different.

 

[WonkaKid]

Any cool things i should do/try/experience as new AP holders? Times/dates to go? Things I should know about AP? We are three hours away so weekday trips are a little difficult (unless its a three day weekend) and I am a very new to disney so i have so much to learn- my first trip was in april! (Husband grew up going as a kid).

Woo hoo! Welcome to the AP-holder club! The main thing I'll recommend is to do at least one rope drop on a Sunday morning. The park is usually quiet until at least 10:30 and it's a great way to start the day. My friends and I often remark that we get more done in the first 90 minutes than we do all the rest of the day. Maybe that's simply because we slow down when crowds grow but it's still a lot of fun .

Anyone else think its a little silly that a 14.99$ pin from D23 is now being sold for $100+ online?! Guess thats great for those who could go- a way to make money , just depressing for us normal folks who couldnt and would love some pins and aren't willing to pay those type of prices!

Agree 100%. I'm told by a CM I know that Disney often looks into these things and if the seller can be traced back to an AP, the holder's pass is revoked. And rightly so. I'm told it's not uncommon but probably not as common as it needs to be to stop the inflated sales. I suspect that many people that jack pricesare not AP holders, so there's little at risk for them. But at least Disney takes some action, unlike with runners at rope drop ("rope runners")... other than to ask them not to run. Most ignore them. I did see it enforced by security for a few weeks after SWL opened but they've since stopped. I think that's mainly because attendance is down far more than expected and Disney doesn't want to pay for extra security.

 

[fidoandminiadventures]

Woo hoo! Welcome to the AP-holder club! The main thing I'll recommend is to do at least one rope drop on a Sunday morning. The park is usually quiet until at least 10:30 and it's a great way to start the day. My friends and I often remark that we get more done in the first 90 minutes than we do all the rest of the day. Maybe that's simply because we slow down when crowds grow but it's still a lot of fun .


Agree 100%. I'm told by a CM I know that Disney often looks into these things and if the seller can be traced back to an AP, the holder's pass is revoked. And rightly so. I'm told it's not uncommon but probably not as common as it needs to be to stop the inflated sales. I suspect that many people that jack pricesare not AP holders, so there's little at risk for them. But at least Disney takes some action, unlike with runners at rope drop ("rope runners")... other than to ask them not to run. Most ignore them. I did see it enforced by security for a few weeks after SWL opened but they've since stopped. I think that's mainly because attendance is down far more than expected and Disney doesn't want to pay for extra security.

I cant wait to do a Sunday rope drop! We were going to come down for labor day- but decided that perhaps the weekend after would be better.

It makes me a little happier knowing that Disney is trying something to reduce the number of people reselling. Now if only they could also work on the fake/scrapper pins as well hahahaha.

 

[fidoandminiadventures]

Congratulations! I bet you guys will have a blast this year.

I can't answer your question about the cups; I'm not really sure about which cups you mean because I don't usually buy drinks in DL since I don't drink most of what they serve, but I have on several occasions gotten the souvenir plastic mug type (with a handle and turn-to-open lid) for my husband. He doesn't like to go to DL but he loves the travel mug for work . As far as I know there is no discount on a drink if you reuse it but I'm not really sure since I don't drink the things you'd put in it.

Resale prices are crazy sometimes! I went to the Haunted Mansion 50th party, and so many people were buying things with the idea of reselling them for a profit. You can get your pass revoked if you're tracked, but it didn't seem to stop the practice from what I could see.

I think you really have to see the parks at Christmas time, but I'd go as early in the season as possible to avoid huge crowds. I usually go the first week in Dec. You can't avoid crowds but it's so much fun and manageable if you get to the parks early. I stopped going for Halloween because it's just a mess IMO. It's cool, but too many parties interfere with the flow of days and the crowds are crazy. However, if you go really early in the Halloween period you can escape some of that. I went end of Sept-first of Oct last year for an event and it was fine. We forgot all about the Halloween season until we got there and it was decorated!

You might look into some of the special events/days that various groups put on. Keep your eyes on this forum and you'll see them mentioned. There are great hotel rates and fun events; my friends and I often go to Dapper Day (twice a year; next one is in November). I used to go to Tiki Day but that has now morphed with Adventureland Day! It's a lot of fun, too. Those are unofficial events. The HM party I mentioned above was an official Disney event. As a D23 member you probably know about most of this but thought I'd throw it out there anyway. If you were thinking of staying at a Disney hotel, Dapper Day and Gay Days have half-price Disney hotel rooms, but do be sure and give some credit to those organizations by going to the Expo or wearing a red shirt or something.

I cant wait for Dapper day! And I have never heard about Adventureland/ Tiki day!

You kinda answered my questions about the suvonier cups at different places- we usually come prepared with our own water bottles but the occasional carbonated beverage is needed lol.

 

[WonkaKid]

Now if only they could also work on the fake/scrapper pins as well hahahaha.

I know a couple at DL that together own more than 15,000 pins. As I recall, they said that more than 90% of the pins traded by CMs are scrappers.

 

[fidoandminiadventures]

Oh for sure! Its sad when even the CM dont know, they think they have a “good pin” for trivia and its a scrapper pin or heavily faked. My husband loves to trade with CMs he says its about the conversation and not always the pins- but what we see mostly on the boards and lots of repeats of the same fakes.

 

[billyjobobb]

I have given up trying to trade with cast members in the park. They’re all from the same batch of scrappers