quick question on AP renewal

[martin33]

Hi there - my AP expires March 16 2018, and we are heading to WDW again March 13, 2018. I need to either renew my AP or buy a new AP. I f I renew today (and save $ due to renewal rate) does the AP become effective today or can I defer its activation till our March 13 arrival? I have to make a decision soon as the DVC AP promo ends Jan 3rd, and also my FP booking window begins in about two weeks
Any suggestions appreciated- and Happy New Year
Martin

 

[miTnosnhoJ]

You can buy a full price AP and activate it anytime before the end of the 2018. (Can't remember the specific date)

OR

You can renew, and the renewal takes effect the day after your current pass expires.

You would have to do the math to see which way is better, but I generally try to get 2 or 3 trips our of an AP. I was able to get 4 trips this last time by not renewing and just getting the full price gold pass.

 

[drusba]

When you renew an AP, the beginning date for the new pass is when your current pass expires (in your case that would be March 16). However, I do not believe you can renew now. The usual renewal rule is that you can buy a renewal only between 60 days before expiration and 30 days after expiration of the existing pass, meaning you cannot renew until mid-January, after the expiration of the existing special 25%-off deal on the premium plus pass. Nevertheless, you should still call and ask if you can purchase the renewal using the special deal. If you buy a new AP now (not a renewal), then it will not activate until you actually do so at Disney World and thus you will use your current AP until March 16 and then activate the new AP thereafter as long as it is done in 2018 (it has to be activated before the end of 2018).

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Renewal is close to $90 cheaper than a new pass on the DVC special. Assuming they allow you to renew outside of the renewal window. Might be still worth it to buy a new pass if you prefer a platinum at the discount, if they don't allow you to renew at the sale price.

 

[supersnoop]

Renewal is close to $90 cheaper than a new pass on the DVC special. Assuming they allow you to renew outside of the renewal window. Might be still worth it to buy a new pass if you prefer a platinum at the discount, if they don't allow you to renew at the sale price.

You always get the renewal price when renewing, even if you renew to a different level pass. I’m not sure they the window would affect that, but maybe I didn’t understand your point.

 

[n2mm]

You can’t renew until 60 days out, so if you wait you will renew at the gold level since you can’t renew until January 16th. If you buy a new voucher today it will be a platinum pass with no black outs and includes water parks. If those are important to you, buy a new pass. I was in the same situation. I expire the end of May and can downgrade and renew at the gold rate then since we have a trip the beginning of May but my family all have the plat plus and we will go to the water park. By the time I add on the water park ticket, there is not much of a savings, so I bought a new ticket that I’ll activate on june 2nd.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

point was, if your pass expires in January but you are not going to use it again until June, don't renew, buy a new pass. Unless of course all your trips will be completed before the following January.

 

[martin33]

Thanks everyone for the info. I ended up buying a new pass(platinum plus) during the promo, and at the same time I was able to upgrade my wife's unused gold pass certificate to the platinum pass as well, at no charge. All in all I'm pretty happy having been able to do that. We too go to the water parks so upgrade will help as now all 4 of us have the new plat plus passes (something I would never do without the discount as we usually do the gold pass, and adjust our swimming (resort vs water park) based on this. FYI I found a great resource on all the AP issues (a question/answer type summary) at Allears.net. Not sure if i'ma allowed to mention another site so apologies in advance if I shouldn't be.
Cheers
Martin

P.S. Added by CarolMN:
As long as you post a link, no problem, unless the link appears with *****
Here's the link for AllEarsNet
www.allearsnet.com

 

[SomDayMyPrnceWillCom]

Grrrrr... I tried to upgrade my gold pass to platinum over the phone and was told it had to be done in person. I called several different times to get different CM's and it never worked.

 

[rlduvall]

Grrrrr... I tried to upgrade my gold pass to platinum over the phone and was told it had to be done in person. I called several different times to get different CM's and it never worked.

Was it an unused Gold Pass or were you just trying to upgrade your existing "used" Gold Pass? If you had already activated your Gold Pass but you are not within your renewal period, that is probably why. If not, you got the Disney shaft.

 

[SomDayMyPrnceWillCom]

It was already used. So that makes sense then. I'll just have to pay the upgrade fee at Easter when we go since that's a black out period.

 

[ScubaCat]

Grrrrr... I tried to upgrade my gold pass to platinum over the phone and was told it had to be done in person. I called several different times to get different CM's and it never worked.

You have to call the ticketing number and get a supervisor with the appropriate magical powers. DVC member services can't do that unfortunately.

 

[SomDayMyPrnceWillCom]

Actually, I did call the ticketing number a couple of times but never got the fairy dust unfortunately. Would've saved me a few hundred buck I think.

 

[WDW_Ding]

Renewal is close to $90 cheaper than a new pass on the DVC special. Assuming they allow you to renew outside of the renewal window. Might be still worth it to buy a new pass if you prefer a platinum at the discount, if they don't allow you to renew at the sale price.

So, the renewal is 190 dollars cheaper than the normal rate?