Are you considering not renewing your Annual Pass?

[Marionnette]

DVC owner. Absolutely renewing.

maybe if a Large number of people don’t renew, they will start Selling passes to those people who have never had a pass and Who enjoy WDW and who don’t gripe about the “magic” being gone.

 

[rstamm]

The parks are packed everyday no need to sell AP anymore.
Bob will make more money with tickets.
Maybe someday if the numbers fall but it sure doesn’t look like that will be anytime soon.
Probably another huge hike if they do.

 

[karen4546]

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

We live in GA.

Used to go about 5 times a year by car.

Due to the high prices, crowds, reduced park hopping, pathetic performance of G+ and ILL compared to FP+, and the fact that those staying offsite have no choice but to visit a park that has already been "filling up" for half an hour before we can enter...........we will let out our AP expire.

All this makes me sad, but the enjoyment/flexibility/value reductions have turned us off.

All that money will be spent somewhere else now.

I think even an "annual" trip for us is not something we will plan on.

For us, they have ruined the experience and since we have no little ones in the family, there is no reason for us to return for quite a while.

 

[Delaterrealalune]

We (Orlando-area) are holding onto our passes. We didn't renew during the pandemic, got caught when they weren't issuing new passes, and then jumped back in last March after they started allowing some prior APs to come back. I'm reluctant to let them lapse again because it's now clear that Disney is watching the number of APs, and future openings--if they happen--are likely to be limited (maybe only Incredi-Pass, or DVC members) rather than throwing the doors open.

 

[Akck]

We purchased our first DVC Gold APs in February 2020. We had a family trip planned for December 2020 and figured we’d make another the following April. With Covid, our planned Disneyland trip was canceled, so we activated our Gold passes in September for a WDW replacement trip. We debated about not renewing just before our April trip, but we scheduled a January 2022 trip for the Arts Festival, so we renewed during that April trip (to make park reservations).

Now, we’ve planned a June 2023 family trip. That plus an after cruise stay this October, makes renewing a cheaper option than buying day tickets. So, 2024 will likely be our first time not to renew, but we haven’t planned out that far.

 

[Boomatt]

We usually do a year on and a year off but, since they’re not selling them anymore I am considering renewing. Is the renewal expiration date determined by when you first use the renewal or does the clock start ticking as soon as your old pass expires?

 

[Marionnette]

We usually do a year on and a year off but, since they’re not selling them anymore I am considering renewing. Is the renewal expiration date determined by when you first use the renewal or does the clock start ticking as soon as your old pass expires?

The clock starts ticking as soon as your old pass expires.

 

[gharter]

We have done APs for years as we traveled there twice a year. We just sold one of our DVC contracts and now will be traveling there only once a year. So, now its going to be a simple cost analysis. If renewing the AP is less than the daily passes, we will be renewing.

 

[miamimama]

We will probably renew (DVC Sorcerer Pass)- we are in our mid 60's and want to enjoy our DVC stays as long as we can. We got caught when we did not renew in 2019 since we were following our past strategy of buying a new AP and going several times every other year We do not like genie+ and some of the other changes, but still enjoyed our recent trips after grabbing an AP when they became available again.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

DVC owner. Absolutely renewing.

maybe if a Large number of people don’t renew, they will start Selling passes to those people who have never had a pass and Who enjoy WDW and who don’t gripe about the “magic” being gone.

You can still enjoy going to Disney World while also recognizing that magic is mostly gone and it is a shell of it’s former self. The two positions are not incongruous.

 

[jimmytammy]

We let ours drop through Covid closures, not expecting that APs would be so hard to acquire again. We too are DVC owners with at least 2-3 trips planned. We were hard pressed to hold onto them though we did get 2 trips in with our last ones. We would have had them an entire year without ever visiting so I dont regret dropping them, but do regret maybe not being able to get them again. Tough decision from your standpoint.

 

[karen4546]

You can still enjoy going to Disney World while also recognizing that magic is mostly gone and it is a shell of it’s former self. The two positions are not incongruous.

i don’t know why you quoted my post but since you did….

WDW is not a shell of its former self. 50 years of continuous innovation, renovation, and imagination is how I like to look at it.

I know things have changed but not just at WDW. All we can do is adapt or not go.

Everything has changed since the pandemic. We have changed.

I am neither defending Disney or disparaging Disney. But, at this time, we are vested in Disney and our entertainment dollars are allocated mostly for flights, annual passes, DVC dues, hotel stays when not using DVC and other travel expenses.

Bottom line is I enjoy our Disney vacations and will continue to research so that I am best prepared for whatever changes have occurred since the last time we visited.

have a magical day and enjoy your vacation.

 

[Carol_]

Strongly considering letting our APs expire. We’re DVC but after our last trip, my desire to fight the crowds while corporate and I disagree on whether or not they should be doing some *things* makes me want to spend our time in other locations.
We’ve been meaning to hit up Universal and the Space Coast, so not having APs will be fine.

 

[tofubeast]

Ironically, I got a survey about APs a couple of weeks ago. It asked if I was going to renew, why I wasn't going to renew, if I felt Disney valued me as a passholder, why I did not feel valued, etc. I kind of unloaded a lot of my frustration on them and was brutally honest about the reservation system, 2 PM park hopping, G+/ILL$, no TiW, a pitiful discount on the after-hour Christmas event, removing Memory Maker and charging extra to add it back, and a lot more that I can't recall. It was a long survey but there were opportunities to give detailed explanations as to why I felt the way that I do.

I just got the same survey and was brutally honest. I hadn’t activated my silver APs for a few years, and each year I was shocked just how much the prices rose. We finally activated them late last summer just before the new APs came out. Looking at the currrent APs, I feel priced out. The only one I could really consider is the weekday pass. But still…. I mean that pretty much what I paid for silver a few years ago. It’s so disheartening just how much Disney has been hiking prices on top of the nickel and dining.

I went to town on the price hikes, Genie, park ressies, and parkhopping in the survey.

For those curious, it was a very long survey. Here’s some screenshots.

 

[Cr8tive]

I did consider not renewing. As others have shared, the price increases are hard to swallow.

Ultimately decided it was worth renewing because:

1. Given current leadership and their transparent motives, does not look like it will be coming back anytime soon.
2. I visit WDW frequently, purchase merchandise in parks, and dine at table service enough that it does offer a break-even/savings to me.

I feel fortunate that I was in a position to make an informed choice with knowledge that they are not currently being offered.

My heart goes out to the loyal WDW customers/families that did not renew as we came out of the pandemic - wether because financial situations did not allow at the time, or they had no way of knowing APs wouldn't be returning anytime soon.

It's disheartening.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

i don’t know why you quoted my post but since you did….

I didn’t mean to quote yours, I was responding to the poster who made the comment about how everything in DIsney is currently great and those of us pointing out the issues were (paraphrasing) exaggerating. Disney just had to put a caveat on it’s heavily advertised line-skip system advising people not to buy it because in actuality it’s terrible. Things are not great in Disney right now.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

The DVC owners are in a tough spot.

I see many of them indicate that they will renew.

They have tens of thousands of dollars tied up in their points... ....they have a thousand or two that has to be paid in annual dues, and therefore many are kind of obligated to "use" the time they paid for in order to get any value from the expenses and capital required to be a member.

The linkage to the park experience allowed Disney to charge a premium for their timeshare system....... but now the park experience has been negatively impacted by the decisions made by management.

Thus the DVC experience is now also impacted by all this.

I am so glad I do not own.

Yes, I realize someone can sell right now and get a good price on the resale market.....but the decision to do so may have been influenced by the park experience factor and may not have been a "natural" choice.

......and many people would not have decided on a partial or full Disney Divorce if the park experience had not gotten so bad.

Disney has messed up a very good thing and I do not know if, or when, they can do a course correction.

 

[Yoshi]

I'm likely to renew (Pirate Pass). I live in the Tampa area so it's a day trip for me and I visit the parks around 3-4 days a month. I moved from PA to FL last year and one of the things that helped make the move more tolerable was knowing I could go to the parks often and I don't want to give that up.

 

[Eastern]

I feel fortunate that I was in a position to make an informed choice with knowledge that they are not currently being offered.

Very true. I expected the APs to be back by now.