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Boo's Mommy
09-12-2007, 06:40 PM
I recieved our family's AP renewal notice and form in the mail today and I notice it gives an option of "special" or "standard" card design. What's the "special" design, is it the one of Goofy and Mickey in blue outfits?

Also, I recall in an old thread (though I can't find it) that some people had problems when renewing?

Edubz
09-12-2007, 07:01 PM
i got the special and it is the one with goofy and mickey in the blue outfits. but i renewed in may, not sure when they change them again. i think the normal one is a small drawing of the castle with a banner underneath or something and a solid background.

i had no problems renewing mine or my gfs passes. mailed it in and got it back all in like a week.

cstephens
09-12-2007, 09:15 PM
What's the "special" design, is it the one of Goofy and Mickey in blue outfits?

That's correct.


Also, I recall in an old thread (though I can't find it) that some people had problems when renewing?

The problem arises if you submit your renewal and then use your existing pass before the new one arrives. Once they process your renewal, they deactivate your current pass and activate your new one. So if you try to go through the turnstiles with your "old" pass, it will be rejected. If you explain the situation, that should be fine as I expect many of the CMs or at least leads will have already encountered this problem. We usually get around the problem by submitting our renewal on Sunday so that it will be waiting for them when they get to work on Monday morning. It has usually only taken a couple days for our renewal to get processed, so we get the new pass well in time before the weekend arises when we might be using them.

If your timetable doesn't work like that, then it shouldn't be a problem.

Boo's Mommy
09-13-2007, 07:53 AM
Great, we will be renewing them in lots of time!

gtpinoy
09-13-2007, 08:03 AM
The problem arises if you submit your renewal and then use your existing pass before the new one arrives. Once they process your renewal, they deactivate your current pass and activate your new one. So if you try to go through the turnstiles with your "old" pass, it will be rejected. If you explain the situation, that should be fine as I expect many of the CMs or at least leads will have already encountered this problem. We usually get around the problem by submitting our renewal on Sunday so that it will be waiting for them when they get to work on Monday morning. It has usually only taken a couple days for our renewal to get processed, so we get the new pass well in time before the weekend arises when we might be using them.

If your timetable doesn't work like that, then it shouldn't be a problem.

I didn't know this ahead of time and renewed my AP online. We went the next day to Disneyland and it was rejected. We explained the situation and the CM just looked on the expiration date printed and let us in. As far as I can recall, it didn't take too long for our new APs to arrive.

DizneyMommy
09-13-2007, 11:29 AM
Those of you who were allowed in with passes who were deactivated got lucky, but the "official" policy is that you are not permitted to use the pass after it is deactivated and before the new one arrives. I was going to renew mine online this time and I called to ask how long turnaround was taking because we had plans to take friends to the park the next week. She told me at least 10 days and she said that once it has been deactivated you are not permitted to use it for admission. I asked her why because that seemed unfair, I am losing admission days that way, and she said the CMs at the gate do not have access to why it was deactivated and would not know if it was intentionally done for some other reason by Disney (what reasons that could be she did not explain).

So basically it sounded like they did not want me to slow up the admission line by using a pass that had to be looked up, but it also sounds like that rule is not often enforced. I guess it's one of those situations where if you ask what the rule is ahead of time you get the official answer, but then if you just try and do it anyways you can get away with it pretty easily. I did not want to take the chance that they would let everyone in but me, so I renewed in person.

Boo's Mommy
09-13-2007, 11:33 AM
That seems silly, like you said DizneyMommy, you would loose days of use on that pass! I would think that if you had your deactivated pass, plus the receipt of your online renewal, they should allow you in - and that be "official".

adriennek
09-13-2007, 11:38 AM
I was going to renew mine online this time and I called to ask how long turnaround was taking because we had plans to take friends to the park the next week. She told me at least 10 days and she said that once it has been deactivated you are not permitted to use it for admission.

All of us have different renewal dates in my family. The turnaround time in July and August was 3 days. Seriously. They had to have printed them and mailed them within 24 ours of our submitting them. It was really fast.


I asked her why because that seemed unfair, I am losing admission days that way, and she said the CMs at the gate do not have access to why it was deactivated and would not know if it was intentionally done for some other reason by Disney (what reasons that could be she did not explain).

So basically it sounded like they did not want me to slow up the admission line by using a pass that had to be looked up, but it also sounds like that rule is not often enforced. I guess it's one of those situations where if you ask what the rule is ahead of time you get the official answer, but then if you just try and do it anyways you can get away with it pretty easily. I did not want to take the chance that they would let everyone in but me, so I renewed in person.

But but, this is DISNEYLAND. Nothing is EVER consistent. The policies are NEVER uniformly enforced let alone the way they're "Supposed to be" :rolleyes: Heck, this sounds fishy enough that I wouldn't be surprised if the CM that gave you this information was wrong.

I would HOPE that if you took a screenshot and printed it up to prove to them that you renewed, you could use it.

Frankly, that makes NO sense at all. There's no way they can "refuse" your entry and make your pass not work. If it didn't work and the CMs refused to let me in, I'd walk over to Guest Relations by the DL side lockers and (politely) ask for a "get out of jail free" card. They should be able to look up your expiration date on their computers and issue you a pass that would let you in.

Disney gets to be a ridiculous bully at times but I just can't believe they could get away with it.

Adrienne

Edubz
09-13-2007, 02:17 PM
Frankly, that makes NO sense at all. There's no way they can "refuse" your entry and make your pass not work. If it didn't work and the CMs refused to let me in, I'd walk over to Guest Relations by the DL side lockers and (politely) ask for a "get out of jail free" card. They should be able to look up your expiration date on their computers and issue you a pass that would let you in.

Disney gets to be a ridiculous bully at times but I just can't believe they could get away with it.

Adrienne

i tried to surprise my gf by renewing her pass for her and not telling her, but it got ruined when she wanted to go the next day because her pass was gonna run out soon. they stopped us at the gate, had us stand to the side and the manager came by and asked if we had renewed it recently, my gf said no. i kinda looked back and forth and said yes. it sorta ruined the surprise but it was ok. they let us right in.

on a sorta off topic side story, i have had my pass taken away before. i went to the park when i was like 19 or 20 with some friends. they decided they wanted to drink in the car before going in. i was over my drinking phase by then(at 19 thats sorta horrible, i know, but i still don't drink anything) so i didn't drink at all. they had the car on camera and called the cops. they took all our wallets, searched them, the car, took our ids and handed my pass over to a cm who said i was banned. i was so pissed that i wasn't really involved and i am still getting banned. the cm left, the cops actually arrested the driver because she had drugs on her(which i was not aware of, didn't know she was into that scene at all) and ticketed the other guy with us. he let me and the other dude go, gave me the keys to her car and told me to drive it home for her, she is going with them. i got in no trouble from the police but i was still way upset i got banned from Disneyland. i understood its my fault for the company i keep, didn't make it feel any better though.

i went to the park like a week later after my pass was actually supposed to expire and asked if i could buy a new one, i explained the situation, talked to several people. they actually had some sort of report on the incident and saw that i wasn't cited or mentioned negatively in it. they un-banned me after about a half an hour with a stern warning not to mess around like that again. i have had my annual pass ever since.

Bytebear
09-13-2007, 02:44 PM
Seems to me given all the technology, they could keep the old one active until the day the new one is used (or until it expires). Let the computer figure it out.

DizneyMommy
09-13-2007, 02:56 PM
I agree, it sounded ridiculous, but that was just the information offered by the annual pass renewal line CM who answered when I called. For all I know, she made it up. Had I not had other people counting on us to go with them, I probably would have just tried it, I mean I only live 15 minutes away so it's not exactly a trek if I get turned away.

I can see them telling people who ask that it is not allowed to prevent people from holing up the line while a CM figures out if they can go in or not. Sorta like, if you ask, we're gonna say no, but if you show up, we're just gonna let you in?

I can't believe the turnaround time was so fast for you, I could have easily done mine online and gotten the neat-o design! She was obviously giving me the standard script answer.

gtpinoy
09-14-2007, 03:51 PM
It sounds like a script answer. Maybe what they should start doing is finding a way to renew your pass online and then providing a "temporary pass" (one where you'd print out, like print-at-home tickets) that you would use to either 1) get your pass at the park or 2) use until the permanent one arrives.

Malcon10t
09-14-2007, 05:31 PM
Those of you who were allowed in with passes who were deactivated got lucky, but the "official" policy is that you are not permitted to use the pass after it is deactivated and before the new one arrives. I was going to renew mine online this time and I called to ask how long turnaround was taking because we had plans to take friends to the park the next week. She told me at least 10 days and she said that once it has been deactivated you are not permitted to use it for admission. I asked her why because that seemed unfair, I am losing admission days that way, and she said the CMs at the gate do not have access to why it was deactivated and would not know if it was intentionally done for some other reason by Disney (what reasons that could be she did not explain).

So basically it sounded like they did not want me to slow up the admission line by using a pass that had to be looked up, but it also sounds like that rule is not often enforced. I guess it's one of those situations where if you ask what the rule is ahead of time you get the official answer, but then if you just try and do it anyways you can get away with it pretty easily. I did not want to take the chance that they would let everyone in but me, so I renewed in person.
I had no problem with it. We were there when our passes were in the mail, and every time, the CM simply looked at the date and said "You must have renewed lately." It was the last week of our passes.

Tinkermommy
09-14-2007, 07:37 PM
We've gone several times between our pass renewal and the actual expiration date. When the machine makes the rejection sound (is anything more heartbreaking? lol), the CM has always looked at our dates, asked us if we've renewed, and let us in.