Passholder rant

[Epcotfan21]

Wife and I have been passholders for 15 years now and currently have the FL resident pirate pass, which is not available for sale at the moment. We have a 4 year old son and when we inquired about adding a pass for him, were told at some point during our renewal process during covid that when the time came when we wanted to purchase a annual pass for him, we could do so as long as we’d be adding him to the same pass type we have.

I called yesterday to purchase his pass before a upcoming spring break trip in a few weeks and was told because he’s currently 4, he’s not eligible for pirate and and we needed to purchase and add a pass for him when he turned 3 and there’s no exceptions to this rule. I told the Disney cast member the reason we never purchased a pass for him at the time he turned 3 was because we only had an adults trip planned for last year and didn’t need to purchase one for him because he wouldn’t be going at all during the 2022 calendar year. Too bad, so sad. Only option presented was to purchase the pixie pass (weekday only), which I advised her that it wouldn’t work because as already know that we have another trip scheduled for 2023, which overlaps on a weekend. Wouldn’t budge and kept repeating the pixie option.

Tried to call again today and speak to a manager/supervisor and was placed on hold for 4 hours! I finally surrendered and hung up. The fact that Disney doesn’t have a callback queue in this day and age is ludicrous.

Does anyone have a suggestion on an email I can reach out to aside from the generic customer service mailbox?

TLDR: I’m trying to give Disney $700 and they won’t take it because he’s 4 and being told I needed to purchase the annual pass the moment he turned 3 according to Disney and currently hoping someone has a contact/suggestion.

 

[Riviera Rita]

Wife and I have been passholders for 15 years now and currently have the FL resident pirate pass, which is not available for sale at the moment. We have a 4 year old son and when we inquired about adding a pass for him, were told at some point during our renewal process during covid that when the time came when we wanted to purchase a annual pass for him, we could do so as long as we’d be adding him to the same pass type we have.

I called yesterday to purchase his pass before a upcoming spring break trip in a few weeks and was told because he’s currently 4, he’s not eligible for pirate and and we needed to purchase and add a pass for him when he turned 3 and there’s no exceptions to this rule. I told the Disney cast member the reason we never purchased a pass for him at the time he turned 3 was because we only had an adults trip planned for last year and didn’t need to purchase one for him because he wouldn’t be going at all during the 2022 calendar year. Too bad, so sad. Only option presented was to purchase the pixie pass (weekday only), which I advised her that it wouldn’t work because as already know that we have another trip scheduled for 2023, which overlaps on a weekend. Wouldn’t budge and kept repeating the pixie option.

Tried to call again today and speak to a manager/supervisor and was placed on hold for 4 hours! I finally surrendered and hung up. The fact that Disney doesn’t have a callback queue in this day and age is ludicrous.

Does anyone have a suggestion on an email I can reach out to aside from the generic customer service mailbox?

TLDR: I’m trying to give Disney $700 and they won’t take it because he’s 4 and being told I needed to purchase the annual pass the moment he turned 3 according to Disney and currently hoping someone has a contact/suggestion.

Channel your inner Karen and ask to speak to someone higher up.

 

[drizgirl]

Would they let you sit out a year right now if you didn't have a trip planned? It sucks, but I sort of get it.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Sometimes (not always), if you call one of the telephone numbers for booking a vacation (which, naturally, get prioritized and answered more quickly), they can route you to the correct department in a way that is more direct, and doesn't dump you back at the end of the general phone queue. At least, it worked for me a couple of times when I had an issue activating complimentary tickets. Obviously, your mileage may vary.

 

[lewisc]

TLDR: I’m trying to give Disney $700 and they won’t take it because he’s 4 and being told I needed to purchase the annual pass the moment he turned 3 according to Disney and currently hoping someone has a contact/suggestion.

Hopefully you can get an exception. Conceptionally your son had a free AP which.expired when he aged out. Very similar to guests who let their AP expire. These guests are willing to give thousands of dollars but are out of luck.

 

[ppete1975]

Did you research this last year when he was 3? They have to have rules or theyd be making exceptions for everyone.

 

[RememberWhen]

While I 100% understand your frustration, I get the policy. They have said that people can buy a pass for kids who turn 3, it makes sense that they won’t just let you buy them for any of your kids who don’t already have them. I mean, where’s the line? My 10yo at old usually goes to summer camp. What if this year he doesn’t and will need a pass like the rest of us? I wouldn’t be surprised when they say no.
That being said, call again. Keep asking for someone higher up who might be able to help you. It’s worth the hours on hold if you actually end up with someone who can bend the rules. Is there a chance your kiddo just turned 4? It would help if they’re closer to 3 than 5, I would think.

 

[jloucks]

Channel your inner Karen and ask to speak to someone higher up.

Indefinite hold....

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

Indefinite hold....

Yes

We’ve held for 6-8 hours before

Price you’ll pay to get resolved

 

[Laura]

We were in the same boat a few months ago but had a different result. I think you need to try another cast member.

Our whole family has had APs for over a decade. When our daughter turned 3, we were temporarily living out of state, plus she turned 3 in 2020 when life was kind of crazy, so we didn’t get her a pass, but we kept all of ours active. By the time we moved back to Florida this past summer (2022) she was already 4. My husband called and there was no problem getting her the pirate pass like the rest of us.

Basically they had us pay the down payment on a pixie pass, then we had to pay the full upgrade charge to a pirate pass. So even though she has the pirate pass, her monthly payment is $18 something like the pixie passes since we had to pay so much up front.

 

[Animal_Kingdom_09]

I think you have three options here. First, you can keep calling back until three different people say no. Second, you can write a nice letter to Jeff Vahle explaining why it makes sense to waive the rule for you. He probably won't read it, but his secretary will, and that person will probably pass it to Guest Experiences and they will make a decision. I have done this before, back when Kalogridis was head of Florida Operations, but my situation and ask were different than yours.

Last, just call back and tell them your kid is three. This is the best option and will cause the least amount of stress. Since you are only off by one year, nobody is going to care.

 

[Riviera Rita]

To be honest I never call them, I prefer to email and consider carefully what I want them to read. With phone calls it's easy to forget major points, especially when you start hearing the old 'I'm sorry to hear that' or 'I'm sorry you feel that way'. That insincere platitude throws out you train of thought.

By the way, my ticket on MDE says I'm an 'Affiliated Annual Passholder' and the cards I can customise are all annual pass designs and when I swipe it it says I'm an AP Holder when I haven't been since 2020. What's that about?

 

[scoobygirl39541]

I'm somewhat in the same boat as you except we didn't go for nearly a year because we were expecting another baby. Our first child "aged out" as well and we're equally as screwed. I called and it went through some levels of higher ups who all agreed that we deserved one but the system wouldn't let them issue one and they couldn't get any workarounds to work. Literally getting punished for having a baby (a very legit reason not to go to a theme park for nearly a year!). We're also DVC members, but who cares about us right (we should have our own AP's but I digress).

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Would they let you sit out a year right now if you didn't have a trip planned? It sucks, but I sort of get it.

Lemme get this straight…

…are you actually advocating a “policy” that requires a person to pay for amusement park passes all the time without break? Whether you’re gonna use them or not?

There’s a term for that? It’s called “property taxes”

When the British Army surrendered to George Washington at Yorktown (he deferred to Benjamin Lincoln)…the band played a song called “The World Turned Upside Down”

…I can hear that tune in my head now.

 

[drizgirl]

Lemme get this straight…

…are you actually advocating a “policy” that requires a person to pay for amusement park passes all the time without break? Whether you’re gonna use them or not?

There’s a term for that? It’s called “property taxes”

When the British Army surrendered to George Washington at Yorktown (he deferred to Benjamin Lincoln)…the band played called a song called “The World Turned Upside Down”

…I can hear that tune in my head now.

Calm down. I'm not advocating for anything. And I am no Disney apologist.

APs are not available to the general public right now. Just renewals. They aren't selling them to people who sit out a year right now. It's not a renewal if you sit out a year.

That changes the metrics on this.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Calm down. I'm not advocating for anything. And I am no Disney apologist.

APs are not available to the general public right now. Just renewals. They aren't selling them to people who sit out a year right now. It's not a renewal if you sit out a year.

That changes the metrics on this.

Sell them or don’t. Pretty simple.

I’m gonna say the same thing as I have for 3 years and nobody wants to hear it:
The longer this goes on…the more likely it is all get the plug pulled.
Disney isn’t interested in longterm “grandfathering”. It doesn’t make sense for them.

…watch it play

 

[drizgirl]

Sell them or don’t. Pretty simple.

I’m gonna say the same thing as I have for 3 years and nobody wants to hear it:
The longer this goes on…the more likely it is all get the plug pulled.
Disney isn’t interested in longterm “grandfathering”. It doesn’t make sense for them.

…watch it play

Which changes nothing on the ground for the OP. It is what it is at this point.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Which changes nothing on the ground for the OP. It is what it is at this point.

…it’s a bad look. Is what it is. I’m kinda with the OP on this. They really have made an absolute mess of that compound on so many levels

 

[Minthorne]

I have a feeling as long as park reservations are sticking around then Annual Passes won’t come back as regular sales like before.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I have a feeling as long as park reservations are sticking around then Annual Passes won’t come back as regular sales like before.

You’re probably right…and they’re never giving those up.

By my estimation…the only reason they even still have them is they’ve been on recession watch for years.

Travel recession hits: they can (and will) sell passes and dump the reservations…

If that doesn’t happen? Maximum yield on everyone entering the turnstile

The mistake people are making on this is to believe that CHAPEK was somehow “the problem”…

…nope.
Know a stool pigeon when you see one