While Disney World has launched a new Annual Passholder webpage with its updated policies, there are still a lot of questions left unanswered.
Walt Disney World Annual Passholder
And thanks to one of our readers, we’re now aware of a potentially problematic situation regarding Annual Passes that were originally set to expire during Disney World’s temporary closure period.
A reader reached out to us today to let us know about a tricky problem she ran into and was unable to get resolved regarding her Annual Passholder status. AP’s are allowed to sign up early for runDisney events so, she called guest relations to inquire about the AP registry for the Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend even though her annual pass had technically expired during the temporary closure.
Spaceship Earth
Keep in mind, Disney World has stated they would automatically be extending the AP passes of members who had already paid in full or were keeping up with their monthly payments. But at this time, Disney World has yet to extend the expiration dates which means if your Annual Pass was originally set to expire between March 18th and July 11th, the system Disney uses won’t be able to recognize your membership is still valid until it’s reset. As far as the computer will see, you don’t HAVE a valid Annual Pass (even though you technically DO!).
MMRR Annual Passholder MagicBand
Our reader told us the Cast Member she spoke with said an internal team will be working on resetting the expiration dates around the time the parks reopen. Annual Passes cannot be reset by the guest services or management team at this time.
Cinderella Castle
This created a major roadblock for our reader who needed a valid Annual Pass for her early runDisney sign-up. But this issue, if left unresolved, could also cause major headaches for APs who are trying to attend Disney World’s Annual Passholder preview days, if their pass expired during the lengthy closure. The system must recognize your Annual Pass is still valid in order to get a reservation, so until Disney World gives its out new expiration dates, some APs might be out of luck.
Magic Kingdom Sign
This also means APs whose Annual Passes expired during the temporary closure will most likely be blocked from early registry to the Princess Half Marathon Weekend — which, as we saw with Walt Disney World’s 2021 Marathon Weekend, can sell out VERY quickly.
We’ll keep an eye on this issue and let you know if there’s any way APs whose passes expired during the closure can resolve this issue. We’ll keep you updated as soon as we learn any new details.
Click here to read all of our answers to your annual passholder questions regarding Disney World’s new AP payment policies!
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Did your Disney World annual pass expire during the theme parks’ temporary closure? Let us know if this glitch impacts your plans in the comments below.
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Had a similar problem and went ahead and renewed. Our new expiration date will be 1 year after the extension on our current one. Our passes currently expire 6/5/2021 but will change to sometime around the end of September 2021 once they add the extended date.
THIS IS AN ISSUE FOR ME??♀️ I called and tried to have them reset or just to renew my pass and they told me I can’t. I have a reservation at the hotels in August and some of my family is expired and some are active. I am hoping this is resolved before the reservation system opens or only half of our party will be able to get in. Ugh I will be so upset if it is not resolved before the reservation system opens. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Yes, it’s a glitch, but it has been put out several times that the APs expiration dates will be reset when the parks open again, so they know how many days to extend everyone’s AP.
That said, proper planning would remove the “confusion” of the person who didn’t do their homework.
My case is slightly different because we didn’t take the extension option and just postponed our monthly payments, so I was told to renew in May when my pass expired and that it would renew but no monthly payments would be taken until the parks opened. So far that has been true and our pass expiration date was adjusted to May 2021. Obviously this does not help those that have payed in full or opted to extend their pass dates, but I thought I’d share my experience with this. 🙂 Thanks!
I was so confused and worried about this for the longest time. My pass was set to expire June 4th but they couldn’t give me details on if I could extend it due to the closure AND still get the renewal discount. So I just renewed it the other day because that renewal deal is good and I was concerned they were going to stop the sale of annual passes as well. I talked to Disney yesterday to confirm I was all squared away on their end and they said the extension will go on the end of my new pass, set to expire in June of 2021. So I won’t have to renew next year till almost September. So it might be a good idea to just renew it if you were waiting, so you’re fresh in their system and let them add in the left over time in 2021!
Our AP expired April 6 but I had renewed them in February. What I have been told is the new pass will have the days added, so instead of expiring in April 2021 it will go until probably July 2021
Thanks for the insight, Brittany!
This is our experience exactly. Our APs were set to expire in April (and we aren’t able to renew). They recently disappeared from MDE and a cast member indicated they weren’t sure if we’d be able to take advantage of perks like the rundisney signup.
I talked to Disney in the phone and they told me that my pass will expire on the original date. So, I have 30 days from that original date to get the discount for the upcoming year. They told me that if I renew my ticket, the 4 months due to being closed will be added to the end of next year. That is kinda messed up, they should allow the 30 day renew discount be after the 4 months they owe me. I mean dang, I usually go a couple times a week, they should at least do that for me.
Ahhh so frustrated. Our pass expired April 15th. Was told today by a cast member that the days we missed were added onto April 15 and therefore our pass expired around May 15. I thought our pass would be extended those some on 30 days that we missed starting July 11. But he said no that is incorrect. I don’t know what to believe.
MY AP expired on 5/16, so Disney made me get a refund for 3/14 (or whenever the parks closed) – 5/16, then I have until June 14th to renew. I think I’m going to hold off on renewing just b/c of the NYC self quarantining rules and we don’t really get all of our benefits of being an AP.
That’s the problem we all get different answers. My expired April 14. It disappeared. I called and said it will reappear and have the 28 days I am owed. So it should reappear and be good until August. But I am not sure what I believe anymore. If it reappears I will renew using my two day ticket from my resort stay if not two days in the park and I won’t renew for now.
Sorry forgot to mention that when I renew my AP I will get the days back from 5/16 to when the parks reopen.
Wouldn’t anyone tickets that expired between March 16th – July 11th be eligible to have their tickets extended? They closed the parks at the end of business on 3/15 so I’d hope they’d start with 3/16.
I think some of the confusion here is due to the fact that Disney will only add extended days to a current valid and “paid In full” Annual Pass. (I’m not sure about the Florida passes since we were platinum a AP holders and had to pay for our passes in full at the time of purchase.) I think that some readers thought the extension was going to start on the day of their expiration date, therefore allowing them extra time on their APs after they expire. I don’t think that is the case. Our APs expired on May 14, 2020. We were told by Disney that we have until June 14, 2020 to renew our passes and still get the discount. AFTER we renew our passes the extension would go into effect in May 2021 – extending our passes in 2021 for the number of days the parks were closed. If you don’t renew your AP within the 30 day grace period that they give you, you are out of luck for any extensions! You must have a valid and “paid for“ in full AP in order to receive the extension at the end of your “new” renewal year. Right now we have until June 14, 2020 to make up our minds if we want to renew our passes or not. If we don’t do so by June 14th then, that’s it, We will not be eligible for any extensions from the closure. We most likely will not renew and just take a refund against the days that the park was closed. For us, with so many changes at Disney right now it does not pay to invest that kind of money to receive less.
If you happen to have a Premier Passport, you may not be able to use it at WDW until DLR opens, so says AP services. Big issue if you have plans at WDW any time soon. Lack of a solution is disappointing given the cost of these passes.
I had this same issue happen to me!! I spoke with a cast member on the VIPassholder desk and she told me that there was nothing they could do about our passes. She then went on to say that since our passes expired during the closure, we were no longer passholders (even when I questioned her on this using my pass holder email from WDW), and would have to wait until the parks reopen to speak with someone in ticketing. BTW, this call was probably the worst guest service call I have ever had with Disney! I then called back and spoke to a different cast member who told me: 1) our passes are still valid but will not show up until the reopen dates and procedures are100% certain and 2) yes, expiration dates would be changed/ extended. So I agree — there is a potential big issue here — never have I had 2 cast members with such different answers and guest services skills.
My AP is set to expire July 18, and we rescheduled our trip in May to July 17-24 before Disney announced the parks were reopening right before that. If they can’t extend our passes before we are able to make online reservations to get into the parks, we will be so disappointed. We weren’t going to renew our passes this year (something we had discussed prior to covid due to my school and work schedule this year) so I really don’t want to pay $2000+ for mine and my husband’s pass renewals if we won’t even be able to go again until next summer (we are out-of-state AP’s). All of this is such a disappointing mess 🙁
I have an AP expiring 6/18. Was told so many conflicting things, I bought a new AP but obviously have not been able to activate it. Was told the newly purchased one should work for runDisney and reservations, but at this point, I have no idea.
So we haven’t gotten our renewal information at all. We expire next week. We have emails saying no worries we are extending the days to your passes like everyone else, but concerned about not getting anything if we don’t renew now.
Robyn – if I were you I would call the AP telephone number at Disney and ask them how long you have to renew your AP. That’s what we did. We never received any emails from Disney about our AP expiring, and have never received any phone calls from them either. When I called the AP desk before our passes expired on May 14, I was told by the person I spoke to that we have 30 days (until June 14, 2020) to renew our passes. He said that we would receive a phone call from Disney as a reminder before that. So far, no phone call. We are just deciding for ourselves not to renew based on all the information we have and seeing that Disney will be offering much less in the parks this year. So we don’t feel it’s a good value right now for us. But if I do get a telephone call by 6/14 from Disney, I will be sure to post what they tell me here at DFB.
Thanks, Arlene!
My annual pass expired in early April. However I renewed it during the extended closure. Have not had any problems.
Here’s another question: Suppose you or your spouse (or both of you) are AP’s, but your two children ages 10 and 12 traveling with you are not, but you all are booked together as a party of four in the same Disney resort room. Will you be able to do “priority“ Park reservations for your children too when the reservation system opens up for AP’s first? Will Disney take into consideration the fact that you are all one travel party staying in the same Disney Resort room together so that you can make your “priority” park reservations together when the Reservations system opens up even the others in your party staying in the same room are not APs? The same question could apply if only one spouse is an AP, but not the other, and they are traveling together. Just curious if anybody knows the answer to that?
Arlene, no word on this yet. Hopefully when the system goes live, we can get more clarity.
My pass was due to expire 6/12 (FL resident silver pass that was paid in full). I chatted with a cast member and she confirmed what everyone else said- I could let it expire and then get things worked out after the fact or go ahead and renew and the extension would be added to the new pass once the parks reopen. Even though we’re in blackout dates right now, I know I’ll be renewing anyway, so I went ahead and did it just to save the hassle.
Y’all don’t even want to hear about my crazy experience. So, we had originally booked to go to WDW in early May because our AP’s expired in early June and we wanted to make one more trip. Side note: we got a great rate at Riviera and were so excited to see it! With the park closure at this point just announced, we rescheduled for late June (at the time, wishfully thinking the parks would be open by then). Well… begin the saga… because our AP’s weren’t yet extended for closure, we couldn’t make Fastpass reservations because the new trip was after our AP expiration date (even though with the extension they would have been valid)… hence began a two hour call with customer service. First I was told that the fix for this glitch was that I needed to go through the process of renewing my AP online but that I wouldn’t be charged… “I could just click through the process”. I told the cast member that sounded fishy but he assured me that’s what I needed to do per IT. He stayed on the phone with me while I did it, and sure enough, it charged me! He was so apologetic and embarrassed and escalated me to another cast member to try to help. After another hour, she manually extended our APs through the end of June to cover the days of our rescheduled trip which then allowed me to make Fastpasses, and was able to refund the charge for the renewed AP! Thank goodness. Still quite the ordeal. Unfortunately… the continuation of closure has now forced us to cancel the already once rescheduled trip. Ugh. Can’t wait for those additional days to be added and try again a third time!!! Morale of the story: no one knows what’s going on!!
Our Platinum Passes expired in April. In previous years, we always received an attractive renewal reminder from Disney in USMail. That didn’t happen this year. With everything that was going on with the pandemic, we completely forgot about our passes expiring.
When I tried to make reservations for the passholder preview days, I sadly realized we were no longer passholders. I’ve logged about eight hours on the phone with Disney trying to get some type of resolution. I even offered to just buy new annual passes and forego any renewal discounts. They told me that new APs are not currently available.
After being long term annual pass holders, I am very disappointed that Disney is so unwilling to accommodate its loyal guests. I’ve been visiting regularly since the park opened in 1971! Granted, not reviewing was my mistake, but Disney has always prided itself on its magical customer service.
It seems that Disney no longer wants annual passholders.
What are the options for renewing annual passes now? Are they still offering gold passes for dvc members? What are the types and prices now?