Big changes coming to Annual Passes

[JohnD]

But do I need to pay the $110 down payment? Or just my normal renewal of $20 something?

My reading is that you continue paying the monthly amounts when you renew. There is a renewal "discount" but that rate could still be higher than the monthly rate you pay now.

You're not purchasing a new pass but renewing an existing pass at one of the new tiers. If your question still isn't answered then I suggest you call.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/passholder-program/renewal-information/

 

[GymLeaderPhil]

But do I need to pay the $110 down payment? Or just my normal renewal of $20 something?

Optional down payment when renewing only.

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

You're probably right. I guess it was mere coincidence in my case that the color I picked happened to be the same color as the slider.

Each year I have had the AP sliders they change the color. Last year it was blue for my whole family, regardless of band color. This year they are green. It's probably easier to make them all one color and then just change that color every year for all passholders.

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

If only they would bring back the bumper stickers!! The ultimate 'oh look at me I'm an annual passholder' lol

Now that would be worth the price increase

I still get one about once a year or so. It comes in a separate mailing.

 

[erins3204]

I stopped at the ticket counter yesterday to inquire about "upgrading" my pass to include the new photopass benefits and at first the guy told me $106 to upgrade. We said we'd like to do it for one pass. Then he scans my band and all of a sudden he realized our upgrade fee was actually $220 or something. My pass expires in June. What a bummer. I'm expected to pay the full upgrade fee even though I don't have a full year left on my pass? Should I inquire again in January and hope it's prorated then? Has anyone else upgraded?

 

[rucifee]

I stopped at the ticket counter yesterday to inquire about "upgrading" my pass to include the new photopass benefits and at first the guy told me $106 to upgrade. We said we'd like to do it for one pass. Then he scans my band and all of a sudden he realized our upgrade fee was actually $220 or something. My pass expires in June. What a bummer. I'm expected to pay the full upgrade fee even though I don't have a full year left on my pass? Should I inquire again in January and hope it's prorated then? Has anyone else upgraded?

They are doing this to discourage renewals, there are too many of us in the parks bringing the whole place down.

 

[dreamfinder]

I stopped at the ticket counter yesterday to inquire about "upgrading" my pass to include the new photopass benefits and at first the guy told me $106 to upgrade. We said we'd like to do it for one pass. Then he scans my band and all of a sudden he realized our upgrade fee was actually $220 or something. My pass expires in June. What a bummer. I'm expected to pay the full upgrade fee even though I don't have a full year left on my pass? Should I inquire again in January and hope it's prorated then? Has anyone else upgraded?

As of now, they are not prorating any pass upgrades. The cost should have been the difference between the old pass price, and the price of the new pass. Most of the upgrade costs are less than the Memory Maker cost, which may be why they aren't prorating the upgrade at all.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

I assume for those people who do want to upgrade, they're not allowing you to add that upgrade fee to your monthly payments? I imagine they want it all up front?

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

I assume for those people who do want to upgrade, they're not allowing you to add that upgrade fee to your monthly payments? I imagine they want it all up front?

I would assume you have to pay it up front.

I still have the current seasonal AP as mine expires in March for three passes and in Aug for the other one. At one point I asked a CM at the time of our renewal last March. What could we do to get all of our passes to expire at the same time in Aug. This way we would not have two different expiration dates to deal with. She said it would cost us an extra 6 months of a seasonal pass due at the time of the upgrade/change. So I said, No thank you.

So I just left them alone. Three years or so in and I am used to it now. So, three of my family passes expire/renew each March and the other one does so in Aug. To me it is not worth it to have a single renewal date. Plus when our third child becomes of age to need a pass they will be in the August time frame too. So then three and two, I guess better to leave as is.

 

[DisneyCane]

Does anybody know if the additional passholder benefits such as merchandise discounts will continue in 2016? The passholder site only lists 2015 benefits and says they apply to all passes purchased in 2015. My passes come up for renewal in mid December. Before I consider renewing, I would like to know exactly what I am paying for (beyond admission, free parking and photopass).

 

[DisneyDanielle]

Just purchased the new silver pass and received my magic band but no yellow discount/parking card. Did they do away with these? Thanks!

 

[Grumpy1973]

Just purchased the new silver pass and received my magic band but no yellow discount/parking card. Did they do away with these? Thanks!

Some parks scan the band (DHS does most of the time) and MK and Epcot both just wave you on through when you flash your MagicBand.. This didn't answer your ? Though.. My apologies

 

[dreamfinder]

Does anybody know if the additional passholder benefits such as merchandise discounts will continue in 2016? The passholder site only lists 2015 benefits and says they apply to all passes purchased in 2015. My passes come up for renewal in mid December. Before I consider renewing, I would like to know exactly what I am paying for (beyond admission, free parking and photopass).

Any benefits beyond park admission are subject to change or cancellation at any point and shouldn't be counted on. They haven't done any large scale changes for a few years (since they went from 20% to 10% for Premium AP) but no one knows for sure. They only list the benefits in 6 month chunks I believe right now simply to cover themselves if they do change the benefits.

 

[rucifee]

Any benefits beyond park admission are subject to change or cancellation at any point and shouldn't be counted on. They haven't done any large scale changes for a few years (since they went from 20% to 10% for Premium AP) but no one knows for sure. They only list the benefits in 6 month chunks I believe right now simply to cover themselves if they do change the benefits.

That's correct, they are offered as benefits in the promotional material and offerings for no other purpose than to make the sale. Even though they sell you on the idea that you'll have all of these fine benefits, you really don't have any other benefits beyond park admission. Read the fine print.

...

...

 

[FigmentsFangirl]

Also, was parking included in the AP of 1998? I don't actually remember.

Yes, parking was always included with the AP program even before 1998.

 

[Sonconato]

I apologize if this has already been discussed and I also apologize for bringing this thread alive again but our Annual Passes are about to expire and with the new tiered APs, we wanted to know more about the passes, what it would cost us and whether or not we want to pay the extra huge increase to what is now the Platinum AP. Remember, the increase to the Platinum AP was at least 27% or more. We were considering dropping the "all year" pass down to the Gold or even maybe the Silver pass to help offset the cost of the large increase. What we had found is that if we renew to our equivalent, the Platinum, which will include the renewal discount rate, the cost is $584.69 (we believe this is including tax). Our old rate last year was 435.60 which was the renewal rate. So we thought...WOW!, maybe we should consider dropping down to the Gold AP which is when we were stunned and could no longer think. The cost for us to get the Gold AP for next year when we renew is going to be $584.69...the exact same price as the Platinum renewal price. This is because you can stay the same or upgrade, but not downgrade and get the renewal discount! Basically, the evil side of Disney is sticking it to you as a loyal customer. What I can say is that we still don't know what we're going to do but Universal Studios and Sea World are definitely on the table for consideration which was NEVER the case for us in the past. We have lived in Orlando for 13 years now and we've had Annual Passes for all 13 years and this is the first time we are considering it to NOT be worth it anymore. We have a couple of months to chew on this and decide what we're going to do but we thought if none of you had heard about the "you can upgrade but not downgrade" and get the renewal rate, it was worth mentioning. Especially if you upgrade this year, thinking that you might downgrade the following year.

 

[rucifee]

I apologize if this has already been discussed and I also apologize for bringing this thread alive again but our Annual Passes are about to expire and with the new tiered APs, we wanted to know more about the passes, what it would cost us and whether or not we want to pay the extra huge increase to what is now the Platinum AP. Remember, the increase to the Platinum AP was at least 27% or more. We were considering dropping the "all year" pass down to the Gold or even maybe the Silver pass to help offset the cost of the large increase. What we had found is that if we renew to our equivalent, the Platinum, which will include the renewal discount rate, the cost is $584.69 (we believe this is including tax). Our old rate last year was 435.60 which was the renewal rate. So we thought...WOW!, maybe we should consider dropping down to the Gold AP which is when we were stunned and could no longer think. The cost for us to get the Gold AP for next year when we renew is going to be $584.69...the exact same price as the Platinum renewal price. This is because you can stay the same or upgrade, but not downgrade and get the renewal discount! Basically, the evil side of Disney is sticking it to you as a loyal customer. What I can say is that we still don't know what we're going to do but Universal Studios and Sea World are definitely on the table for consideration which was NEVER the case for us in the past. We have lived in Orlando for 13 years now and we've had Annual Passes for all 13 years and this is the first time we are considering it to NOT be worth it anymore. We have a couple of months to chew on this and decide what we're going to do but we thought if none of you had heard about the "you can upgrade but not downgrade" and get the renewal rate, it was worth mentioning. Especially if you upgrade this year, thinking that you might downgrade the following year.

Alternate plan, just say no to Disney and give some money to Universal instead. We're not renewing, the Disney parks are so crowded now, discounts so sparse, and the magic so faded that it's not worth the price jump. They claim it's to thin the herd, but I promise you that this time next year the crowd levels will still be the same or even worse.

Universal is doing all sorts of awesome stuff for locals, please support them instead.

This loyal Disney fan had never thought to speak out against Disney before, I'm telling everyone I know to just stop giving them money. Word of mouth, that's how you stop this madness.

 

[Sonconato]

Alternate plan, just say no to Disney and give some money to Universal instead. We're not renewing, the Disney parks are so crowded now, discounts so sparse, and the magic so faded that it's not worth the price jump. They claim it's to thin the herd, but I promise you that this time next year the crowd levels will still be the same or even worse.

Universal is doing all sorts of awesome stuff for locals, please support them instead.

This loyal Disney fan had never thought to speak out against Disney before, I'm telling everyone I know to just stop giving them money. Word of mouth, that's how you stop this madness.

I agree with you...the crowds are going to be much, much worse and basically, they are forcing you to buy the Photopass which APs really don't need or want. Then, the Platinum level AP was substantially increased so they could squeeze in that extra Gold tier.

 

[rucifee]

I agree with you...the crowds are going to be much, much worse and basically, they are forcing you to buy the Photopass which APs really don't need or want. Then, the Platinum level AP was substantially increased so they could squeeze in that extra tier.

We've been passholders for years ourselves, like you. It's disheartening. If you think back over the years though, it makes sense. They've whittled away our benefits (and subsequently the value) of our APs for a long time now. Tables in Wonderland is another example of value lost. I think they'll retire that soon personally. We wouldn't mind having Photopass on one or even two APs, but we don't need it on all of them. I would have much preferred better access to same week FP+, guaranteed ADRs, the return of decent discounts, or even a 4th or 5th FP+ option but we can't have that.

 

[Sonconato]

We've been passholders for years ourselves, like you. It's disheartening. If you think back over the years though, it makes sense. They've whittled away our benefits (and subsequently the value) of our APs for a long time now. Tables in Wonderland is another example of value lost. I think they'll retire that soon personally. We wouldn't mind having Photopass on one or even two APs, but we don't need it on all of them. I would have much preferred better access to same week FP+, guaranteed ADRs, the return of decent discounts, or even a 4th or 5th FP+ option but we can't have that.

Agreed. If you remember, back around 2008/2009, they even had promotions such as, where they gave a gift card for your birthday, trading pins they were giving out to APs only and the extra 3 months for AP renewals as a "perk". All of that was great and it at least gave the sense of appreciation for the loyal guest. Now it seems like they are punishing you for being a loyal guest.

And as for the Photopass, it should be offered as an "add-on". What is the benefit of a family paying for it multiple times. The way I see it, since we're a family of 3 and I'm paying for it 3 times over, then I'm going to want individual photos plus couple photos and family photos too. My husband is from a family of 10 kids and I can't imagine how long photos would take with a group like that!

The bottom line is that this sucks! The more I have to spend up front, the less I spend in the parks. I used to spend tons in the parks and through the years, I continually spend less, partly due to the pass increases, partly due to the fact that the product you get in the parks you can pretty much get anywhere and, in many ways, the biggest reason is the quality of what is offered has diminished dramatically.

You also mentioned word of mouth. As I mentioned, my husband is from a large family and they are peppered all over the country and we also have friends all over the country too. It used to be that we always pushed for them to take a magical trip, but now, I think they would be disappointed and in many ways be angered by our recommendation. The way I see it, if they are discouraging APs from coming to the parks, then they are also discouraging the friends and families of those APs from getting excited to bring them to the parks. It's a snowball effect in a negative way for Disney.