Walt Disney World is pausing new sales of some of its annual passes.

[RoseGold]

Meanwhile, Universal's Twitter:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1462770844942405633

 

[DisneyMike2019]

It was like that last night....click the link in the pic and it brings you to a page that shows Pixie as still being available.

I did. Exited the page, reloaded safari, nothing is there.

 

[JETSDAD]

I did. Exited the page, reloaded safari, nothing is there.

This is a part of the page that it links to:

 

[AEA1127]

I have an update from my own situation!

I called this morning and when I finally got through I explained that I'm currently an AP and needed a new pass for my 3 year old. She said that she was able to do this since he just became three and we are already pass holders. I didn't want to take any chances that things would change, so I just did it in the moment and renewed our passes at the same time.

However, I was charged multiple times so now I have a new headache

 

[Ariel620]

From what I understand, they wouldn't allow this anyways, as you went to the park on blackout dates. We were thinking of doing the same for our Christmas vacation, but were told that if you used the tickets on blackout days then they couldn't be upgraded to the sorcerers pass only the incredipass.

They have allowed this for us in the past, not sure about this year. But in 2019, we used regular expensive holiday tickets in the end of Dec (during the blackout), and upgraded to the gold pass for a mere $100 per person, and used the two times after that (granted that was after an extension from the closure), but regardless the gold AP was allowed to be upgraded to after using tickets during the gold blackout. That was a great deal, but maybe they are trying to stop that.

 

[KalamityJane]

I did. Exited the page, reloaded safari, nothing is there.

try restarting your phone, my mom was just able to get it to work after showing unavailable for her.

 

[CarolynFH]

They have allowed this for us in the past, not sure about this year. But in 2019, we used regular expensive holiday tickets in the end of Dec (during the blackout), and upgraded to the gold pass for a mere $100 per person, and used the two times after that (granted that was after an extension from the closure), but regardless the gold AP was allowed to be upgraded to after using tickets during the gold blackout. That was a great deal, but maybe they are trying to stop that.

Multiple posts here on DISboards since APs came back have confirmed that Disney has indeed stopped that. If regular park tickets are used on blockout dates for a particular AP, those tickets cannot be upgraded to that AP, only to an AP that would have been valid on the dates the regular tickets were used.

 

[Ariel620]

Multiple posts here on DISboards since APs came back have confirmed that Disney has indeed stopped that. If regular park tickets are used on blockout dates for a particular AP, those tickets cannot be upgraded to that AP, only to an AP that would have been valid on the dates the regular tickets were used.

Yeah, it makes sense that they would do that. I was surprised at how good of a deal it was really, the lady who did it back then was super helpful and even took off the ~$100 I paid for memory maker since that was included in the AP (back then). It was really a too good to be true deal!

 

[DisneyMike2019]

This is a part of the page that it links to:

View attachment 625009

I got it to work. I had to clean my cookies out. I have a pixie pass ready to check out but sitting on hold right now to see if they will allow me to purchase a silver equivalent pass. Just in case I went head and moved my hotel reservation back by two days to fit with the pixie pass just in case they won’t let me buy a pirate pass on the phone.

 

[Jross34]

slow sales.. take it away then bring it back and double your sales

 

[minmin27]

We arrive tomorrow. I called last week to upgrade our tickets to an AP. The cast member I spoke with didn't know how to do that. She could send me on but she said the wait was long (and I had already been waiting for her). She suggested we go to guest services when we arrive tomorrow. So frustrating.

 

[DisneyMike2019]

We arrive tomorrow. I called last week to upgrade our tickets to an AP. The cast member I spoke with didn't know how to do that. She could send me on but she said the wait was long (and I had already been waiting for her). She suggested we go to guest services when we arrive tomorrow. So frustrating.

That’s sucks.

 

[one_cat]

We arrive tomorrow. I called last week to upgrade our tickets to an AP. The cast member I spoke with didn't know how to do that. She could send me on but she said the wait was long (and I had already been waiting for her). She suggested we go to guest services when we arrive tomorrow. So frustrating.

Call them back, explain the situation. My experience is that TMs have latitude to make exceptions with management approval. Just be really nice. It’s worth a try.

 

[minmin27]

Call them back, explain the situation. My experience is that TMs have latitude to make exceptions with management approval. Just be really nice. It’s worth a try.

I was going to ask at guest services tomorrow but I may call tonight and stay on hold forever and ask. It's definitely worth a try! We also went at labor day and missed the annual passes by 2 days. And I have the money on gift cards to pay it, so Disney already has my money.

 

[jessbee25]

I was going to ask at guest services tomorrow but I may call tonight and stay on hold forever and ask. It's definitely worth a try! We also went at labor day and missed the annual passes by 2 days. And I have the money on gift cards to pay it, so Disney already has my money.

Definitely worth a shot! I think I'm going to call and send an email and hopefully one of them gets me through tonight. I'm afraid if I wait until we arrive Thursday my chances of getting them will go down. I'm still hesitant to pay over the phone but I feel like if I at least talk to someone I can work something out.

 

[Javin917]

WDW does allow folks to book an AP rate pending purchase of the AP. However, I believe officially they can revert to rack rate if the AP is not obtained within about 24 hours of check-in. If you have an AP voucher already you should be fine, but if you had planned to upgrade and don't yet have an AP, I suggest looking for an alternative rate or at least be ready if they change your rate. Now that I've said that... seems they don't always ask for the AP proof so it could be a non-issue.

Yep, we reverted to rack rate. Lesson learned! I really wish they let you upgrade online!

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

Do you have to activate your AP in order to benefit from AP hotel rates?

 

[CP3uhoh]

Again, the touringplans data doesn't lie. There are days where park passes are sold out and those days are nowhere near crowd level '10' days. Even adjusting for the idea that lightning lanes slow the standby lines less then fastpasses (which I find to be a dubious claim), they are still nowhere near a level 4 capacity closing from the before times. Attendance is still definitely being limited to a level far below what their "cap" was in the before covid times.

I guess I could explain the difference between crowd levels and capacity (they're not the same) but you think Touring Plans is actually useful at this point still so not sure it would convince you anything. Buy a ticket and go there would be a thought or talk to someone who would know for sure.

 

[RyMickey]

I recognize that it’s our fault for not making the purchase earlier, but as DVC members going down in two weeks, we feel pretty slighted by this news out of nowhere. Three of our party have AP’s, three don’t and were going to order them this week.

So, what does this mean for Disney? Well, we’re scaling back our time in the park and spending our money elsewhere. I realize six of us make no difference in the grand scheme of Disney money, but we refuse to pay for a six day ticket and then subsequent annual passes for our two trips next year. So they’ve likely lost our money and we'll be purchasing a Sea World Fun Pass that grants us access to that park until December 2022 for $85. We'll then be visiting Legoland in the spring and maybe Kennedy Space Center in the fall with a re-visit to Sea World, spending less time at Disney although not fully cutting the cord yet.

I say this only to note that Disney will indeed lose out on $$$ from us. If we weren’t DVC, we would not be making these trips and honestly, we’re looking into exploring other DVC options now beyond the parks. (And the fact that the passes are still not an option for DVC members to purchase is just awful…another ding to the ownership “privileges.”). I can envision DVC trips with ventures out to Universal in the future rather than going to Disney.

Disney just feels "dirty" to me anymore -- open up annual passes last month only to shut them down again unannounced is nothing but a pure money grab on their part. And yes, I guess they'll win a bit -- we're not denying a 2 and 4-year old a chance to see the castle for the first time so they'll get the "bigger money" of a single day ticket from some of us, but we are denying them the chance to see it multiple times. And we're not eating sit down meals and we're not purchasing many souvenirs. It's not quite as "cutting the cord" as much as some on here, but just as Disney is declining by degrees, I'm pulling back by my personal degrees.

I'm incredibly irritated by this latest news, but it's just a drop in the bucket of the awfulness that is Disney in the past ten months or so. I'm angry...but I think I'm saddened more than anything else.

 

[CBMom01]

I still don’t understand, except if the park tickets for one trip in a 1 year period are more than an AP. Don’t you get 100% credit toward the AP when you upgrade?

Also, if APs (Any level) are cheaper than a week hopper Disney should be a lot charging more for them