Annual Pass Question

[GORGON]

I am planning to go early december 2009. My family definitely want to stay at the Disneyland Hotel.
1) If i buy an Annual Pass over the phone say in April, May am i issued a Pass # at that time so i could book the Hotel early? I would be using the pass only at that early december time.

2) when is the best time to book DLH for early December?

3) If i have booked the hotel in May and those great deals pop up in Sept would i get those prices if i stay on top of it.


Any help would be great, Never to early to plan ahead.

[MoKat72]

I just booked a room for December 2008 over the phone today.

1. You don't need a pass number to reserve the hotel over the phone. You will be asked to show your pass when you check in, so make sure you have it before that time.

2. Not sure of the answer to this one. For 2008, it appears that most dates except the 3rd are available in December. However, if you're certain of your dates and certain you want DLH, the sooner the better, I'd say.

3. I booked at the regular AP rate today (10% off rack) and paid the first night's stay as a deposit. The CM I spoke to (Michelle, very friendly lady), said that if a lower rate comes up, I can call back and they will "re-rate" the room. She said that I can either request a refund for the difference or use it for incidentals. No word specifically on how long a refund would take or if I could apply the difference to the rest of the stay.

One last tip: The past few times I've called and pushed #1 for the AP line, it hasn't registered correctly on their end. When you call, you may want to specifically mention that you're a passholder so they pull up the correct rates.
Hope that helps! Congratulations on your trip next year!

[ssturgeo]

And...you can purchase your AP via the hotel reservation desk over the phone and they will have the paperwork waiting for you at the check-in desk, then you will just need to go have your picture taken and get your plastic card. And, you can add the purchase price to your hotel bill.

An aside...you can also puchase blockout day tickets the same way when necessary and not have to get up early, stand in line, etc., to get them.

[GORGON]

Great Info. Thanks

[Katran]

I have a related question: when you buy your AP, do you have a certain amount of time to "complete" it (i.e. get your photo taken, etc.) before it drops out of the system? So if I buy it over the phone but can't get to Disneyland for a month, does it cancel out? I'm assuming you pay for it at time of purchase, so I would think it would be good for a year after that even if you don't actually physically finish it up, or am I wrong?

[Matterhorn Yodeler]

I have a related question: when you buy your AP, do you have a certain amount of time to "complete" it (i.e. get your photo taken, etc.) before it drops out of the system? So if I buy it over the phone but can't get to Disneyland for a month, does it cancel out? I'm assuming you pay for it at time of purchase, so I would think it would be good for a year after that even if you don't actually physically finish it up, or am I wrong?

I'm not the AP expert, but my understanding is that they have a "valid" date by which time you must activate your pass. So, for instance, if you purchase it now, it might read that you must activate the AP by January 2009. This is to prevent you from buying an AP now, holding onto it for a long time, and then activating it when prices are much higher.

However, I think that you don't lose the value of your AP, should you not activate it on time. In other words, using the above example, if you finally activate your AP in March 2009 and a price increase has occurred, you will have to pay the difference.

Hope this is helpful. There are others here who are very savvy of the ins and outs of AP's. Maybe they'll chime in!

[GORGON]

Another question, i've been hearing AP7 RATES What does the 7 stand for?

[Katran]

I'm not the AP expert, but my understanding is that they have a "valid" date by which time you must activate your pass. So, for instance, if you purchase it now, it might read that you must activate the AP by January 2009. This is to prevent you from buying an AP now, holding onto it for a long time, and then activating it when prices are much higher.

However, I think that you don't lose the value of your AP, should you not activate it on time. In other words, using the above example, if you finally activate your AP in March 2009 and a price increase has occurred, you will have to pay the difference.

Hope this is helpful. There are others here who are very savvy of the ins and outs of AP's. Maybe they'll chime in!

Thanks! That all makes sense. I had a feeling that one would have to validate it (that's the word I was looking for in my post and couldn't think of, so thanks again!) within a certain time frame.

[Drince88]

Another question, i've been hearing AP7 RATES What does the 7 stand for?

I don't know for sure, but on the WDW side Disney issues different 3 character 'codes' for different discounts, and I assumed they were just being consise by using AP as the first two characters, and 7, since it was the 7th similar discount? It may not 'mean' anything at all, it's just the code the reservation system needs to go retrieve that set of rates/availability.