AP question....

[sublimesting]

I booked next fall for Sept 24 thru Oct 8th, 2011. We are staying at Pop and get free dining. I upgraded the dining to one table instead of 2 walk up for $20 per day ($10/person). The problem is you can only book a trip for 10 days then have to start over (for ticket purchases).

Would it have been a better investment to do an AP (for 2 ADULTS)?

If I did AP for 2 adults, would I lose the free dining?

My total trip cost came out to $3183.76 to stay at Pop Century with free Walk up dining. Did I miss anything to get the cost down...is there a way to lower that cost? I don't want to make a rookie mistake as this is only the 4th trip I booked there.

 

[ornurse]

I have one other suggestion that may or may not work for you. We were helped tremendously by Barbara in ticketing when a CM gave me some misinformation in renewing our AP's. That story is too long to get into, but...just try calling this number 407-566-4985. (I believe you press option 5 when you get through). It's a small office with only 4 CM's working at a time. Their hours are somewhat shorter (like 9-5 during the week and only 8-12 on Sat). I think if you explain what happened, they may be able to do a customer service file on it. That way when you roll your tickets into an AP, the CM who does the tickets at the park can access the file. Did you buy all your tickets from Disney or were the 3 from an outside vendor? If they were all from Disney, they may be able to roll the full amount into an AP. All I know is they are VERY helpful in that office and try very hard to rectify things like this. Good luck and I know you will have a wonderful trip!!

 

[Monty]

Quite true however it will be a bit easier to upgrade the 2 day vs. separating the 2 day from the key to the world card, putting it on a separate ticket then upgrading the 3 day to an AP all the while not having the dining on the key to the world go poof. If it was a 2 day vs a 10 day I would of course go with the 10 day but with a 2 day vs. 3 day it is about a wash and I would go with the simpler option especially when a guest has never done this before.

Just for future reference, there's no need to separate the 2 day admissions from the KTTW card, they remain valid tickets on the card even after you leave. Just because it's no longer a room key has no impact on the ticket part.

We used our room keys for room entry and dining and our APs for park entry without problem and when it came time later to upgrade the tickets to a new AP for me and a MYW ticket for Morgan, I just gave them the old room keys and they credited us with the value of the tickets on them.

 

[Master Yoda]

Just for future reference, there's no need to separate the 2 day admissions from the KTTW card, they remain valid tickets on the card even after you leave. Just because it's no longer a room key has no impact on the ticket part.

We used our room keys for room entry and dining and our APs for park entry without problem and when it came time later to upgrade the tickets to a new AP for me and a MYW ticket for Morgan, I just gave them the old room keys and they credited us with the value of the tickets on them.

You are correct. There is no reason to remove it from the card save for one...durability. We always seem to have one of the KTTW cards die on every trip and if I was going to hold onto a ticket long term I would want it on mylar stock. I know that they can just look it up but I would rather not deal with that either.

 

[sublimesting]

I have one other suggestion that may or may not work for you. We were helped tremendously by Barbara in ticketing when a CM gave me some misinformation in renewing our AP's. That story is too long to get into, but...just try calling this number 407-566-4985. (I believe you press option 5 when you get through). It's a small office with only 4 CM's working at a time. Their hours are somewhat shorter (like 9-5 during the week and only 8-12 on Sat). I think if you explain what happened, they may be able to do a customer service file on it. That way when you roll your tickets into an AP, the CM who does the tickets at the park can access the file. Did you buy all your tickets from Disney or were the 3 from an outside vendor? If they were all from Disney, they may be able to roll the full amount into an AP. All I know is they are VERY helpful in that office and try very hard to rectify things like this. Good luck and I know you will have a wonderful trip!!

Interesting, kind of like a Disney CM special forces unit. I'll give them a call today and let you know what happens.

 

[ornurse]

Barbara in that office was able to get my AP's good for 15 months instead of the usual 12. They had a promo last year that if you renewed by Aug 30th your AP's would be good for 15 mos. I wasn't allowed to renew until Sept 1st (missing it by 1 day! because my pass renewal date was Oct 1st. You can renew 30 days in advance). At any rate, a CM had told me I could get the 15 month special so I paid and then found out they had told me the wrong thing. After making many frustrating calls, a CM gave me that number and lo and behold!, it got fixed! I couldn't get to WDW until Sept because of surgery and she even extended the renewal period. She made a customer service file (they give you a number so don't lose it!!), and when I went to the park with my renewal vouchers, I gave the file # to the park CM, they read her notes and I got the 15 months as a courtesy. I'm sure without her help it wouldn't have happened. I'd call and tell them the whole story (see if Barbara is there!) and I'm sure they CAN make an exception for you. Good luck! I'm interested to hear how this turns out.

 

[Monty]

Barbara in that office was able to get my AP's good for 15 months instead of the usual 12. They had a promo last year that if you renewed by Aug 30th your AP's would be good for 15 mos. I wasn't allowed to renew until Sept 1st (missing it by 1 day! because my pass renewal date was Oct 1st. You can renew 30 days in advance). At any rate, a CM had told me I could get the 15 month special so I paid and then found out they had told me the wrong thing. After making many frustrating calls, a CM gave me that number and lo and behold!, it got fixed! I couldn't get to WDW until Sept because of surgery and she even extended the renewal period. She made a customer service file (they give you a number so don't lose it!!), and when I went to the park with my renewal vouchers, I gave the file # to the park CM, they read her notes and I got the 15 months as a courtesy. I'm sure without her help it wouldn't have happened. I'd call and tell them the whole story (see if Barbara is there!) and I'm sure they CAN make an exception for you. Good luck! I'm interested to hear how this turns out.

Just for future reference:

The renewal window is 60 days before and 30 days after expiry. From the Passholders' site:

For Passholder convenience, Passes can be renewed 60 days before and 30 days after the expiration date located on the pass.

 

[ornurse]

You're right about the 60 days of renewal. According to WDW passholder site you can renew 60 days in advance. It's funny tho that many CM's with whom I spoke told me that one can only renew in a 30 day window. However according to everyone at WDW I wasn't eligible for the special offer as my pass was an Oct pass and that offer only applied to Sept renewals or earlier. Nor could I renew in August when you needed to renew because I had had surgery. I didnt put in all the details as it was too complicated to explain. I will say that except for that ticketing office, I would not have been able to get the 15 months. They were exceptional and very helpful during a most frustrating time. Barbara, in that office, told me they would make a guest file for me as a courtesy because I had been told incorrectly that I could renew. I'm sure for Disney it was a small gesture to make that would sustain customer loyalty. I know it worked for me--not to mention I can talk the DH into going more often now that our passes are good until January 2012!!:king:

 

[ornurse]

By the way, does anyone know if that renewal of 60 days before is new? I talked to at least 5 CM's who said you could only renew 30 days before and that the passholder site was just a special offer.........it really confused me. You always hope to get true information from employees.

 

[Monty]

By the way, does anyone know if that renewal of 60 days before is new? I talked to at least 5 CM's who said you could only renew 30 days before and that the passholder site was just a special offer.........it really confused me. You always hope to get true information from employees.

I think it is new... The wording "For Passholder convenience..." seems to suggest it's a change.