AP Holders: Should Disney "Stop the Clock" on passes until there is a Vaccine for COVID-19 ?

[J-BOY]

I'm not sure how number 1 would work, i dont think they can do that. thats basically giving people non expiring tickets that can be spread out over time, possibly even years.

I would say thats not fair to others.

I might be able to get on board with moving the window (equal to whatever the amount of time the parks are closed during the time period of your ap), but that window should be used within the next year.

However being an AP holder shouldn't give you non expiring tickets or a non expiring window.

We have memberships and passes to other things, they seem to be doing the same Disney is right now, without the option for a refund. It just is what it is, now to be fair, i dont have to travel overnight to those places and i did not pay a thousand dollars for them, so there are differences in that aspect.

The issue with a lot of these requests is that they're asking for a blanket policy, which would be fraught with people abusing it. If people are allowed to "freeze" their passes, they could all just do so until their next trip, even if they wouldn't normally have been able to visit during this time, COVID or not. I don't disagree that it's an unfortunate circumstance, and those that will have their trips affected should be able to get an alternative option, but asking for a catch-all is just asking for abuse.

 

[ChipnDale79]

The issue with a lot of these requests is that they're asking for a blanket policy, which would be fraught with people abusing it. If people are allowed to "freeze" their passes, they could all just do so until their next trip, even if they wouldn't normally have been able to visit during this time, COVID or not. I don't disagree that it's an unfortunate circumstance, and those that will have their trips affected should be able to get an alternative option, but asking for a catch-all is just asking for abuse.

I agree, no matter what the decision is, someone isn’t going to be happy with it. Disney can’t win here.

 

[Disney Bobby]

what do you suggest they do? honest question.

1. Freeze on annual pass until the individual feels safe going into the park. Max expiration date 1 year from when the parks reopen.
2. Keep current expiration date and get a certain number of days pass that expire in a year from when the parks reopen.

Not sure how that is such a burden on Disney. Certainly better than give money back right now, and it will likely get people back sooner. They are going to need to get people spending money in the parks on food and merchandising and buying resort rooms. I wouldn't think customers getting their money back, letting their passes expire, and possibly staying away for a while is in Disney best interest.

Give money back and no visitor
vs
Not giving money back and getting a visitor likely buying a room/food/merchandise.

Don't see how that is even a choice from a business perspective. Seems like a home run for everyone involved.

 

[ChipnDale79]

1. Freeze on annual pass until the individual feels safe going into the park. Max expiration date 1 year from when the parks reopen.
2. Keep current expiration date and get a certain number of days pass that expire in a year from when the parks reopen.

Not sure how that is such a burden on Disney. Certainly better than give money back right now, and it will likely get people back sooner. They are going to need to get people spending money in the parks on food and merchandising and buying resort rooms. I wouldn't think customers getting their money back, letting their passes expire, and possibly staying away for a while is in Disney best interest.

Give money back and no visitor
vs
Not giving money back and getting a visitor likely buying a room/food/merchandise.

Don't see how that is even a choice from a business perspective. Seems like a home run for everyone involved.

yeah but you assume disney really does care about their AP holders, entirely different argument, but they simply dont.

if they were to give a certain number of days, i cant see them giving out more passes that would go over the cost of the AP, so you'd probably only get like 10 days worth of tickets.

 

[Disney Bobby]

yeah but you assume disney really does care about their AP holders, entirely different argument, but they simply dont.

if they were to give a certain number of days, i cant see them giving out more passes that would go over the cost of the AP, so you'd probably only get like 10 days worth of tickets.

That would probably be fair.

And what makes you think they don't care about annual pass holders? I've never gotten that feeling.

 

[ChipnDale79]

That would probably be fair.

And what makes you think they don't care about annual pass holders? I've never gotten that feeling.

its personal feelings. ive been a passholder a couple of times and didnt renew this last time because of the price hikes.

i'll just give you an example of a major thing i had a problem with about it.

The last passes we had went from August of 2018-2019, we went on a total of 5 trips, we're in NC so every trip require a hotel stay. of those trips, all but one were on property. last summer we had a short weekend trip for easter and then a full week trip less than 30 days after that one. Because our trips were within 30 days of each other, we werent able to get fast passes for every day of our week long trip until we were back from our Easter trip. the reason why, and i get this, is so AP holders wont just book fastpasses and hog them all the time. The issue i had was that I had room reservations for both of those trips and it was clear i was going to use them. In other words, i wasnt just booking APs to book them, and i was spending a lot of money on hotel rooms and food. I called the AP number and got the "well thats the breaks, no way around it." So i left that conversation thinking, wow, they've got thousands of my dollars this year, and they really dont give a crap about me. It played a part in us not renewing.

That last trip ended on the day our passes expired, and it was also the day disney announced the price increase for the passes, they told me they didnt care about me when the price of my family of 4s APs would have gone up by $1k if i chose to renew. they made it easy to say no.

they dont care if you walk away from them, or at least they didnt 6 months ago.

 

[only hope]

Mom asked about a deadline for calling to change the default option for what happens with your annual pass, and the cm said there isn’t one right now. The cm expects that once an opening date is announced, a deadline will be and changes will need to be made before the opening day. She called the number provided in the email but was rerouted to resorts...they said it happens all the time and transferred her. She only waited a few minutes though. The cm also confirmed that people who paid in full and just want the extension do not need to call.

 

[Disney Bobby]

its personal feelings. ive been a passholder a couple of times and didnt renew this last time because of the price hikes.

i'll just give you an example of a major thing i had a problem with about it.

The last passes we had went from August of 2018-2019, we went on a total of 5 trips, we're in NC so every trip require a hotel stay. of those trips, all but one were on property. last summer we had a short weekend trip for easter and then a full week trip less than 30 days after that one. Because our trips were within 30 days of each other, we werent able to get fast passes for every day of our week long trip until we were back from our Easter trip. the reason why, and i get this, is so AP holders wont just book fastpasses and hog them all the time. The issue i had was that I had room reservations for both of those trips and it was clear i was going to use them. In other words, i wasnt just booking APs to book them, and i was spending a lot of money on hotel rooms and food. I called the AP number and got the "well thats the breaks, no way around it." So i left that conversation thinking, wow, they've got thousands of my dollars this year, and they really dont give a crap about me. It played a part in us not renewing.

That last trip ended on the day our passes expired, and it was also the day disney announced the price increase for the passes, they told me they didnt care about me when the price of my family of 4s APs would have gone up by $1k if i chose to renew. they made it easy to say no.

they dont care if you walk away from them, or at least they didnt 6 months ago.

Well, they obviously didn't do what they could do for you. That and the price increase kinda goes back to what I was talking about before. Companies are only going to do the minimum they feel they need to do to keep customers happy. All about maximizing profit margins. If they think they can get by with charging more and giving less, they are going to do it until it negatively affects the bottom line. You were justified in your annoyance. Enough people do what you did, and they will change.

But, I think things will likely have changed now. Disney will need to work harder for customers if they want to save that bottom line. Might not seem far, but that's the free market circle of life. Disney had no problem pricing people out and taking customer who could pay more over people who couldn't. Now when the supply of customers is no longer what it was, the remaining customer should have no problem asked for more while paying less. Nobody like to think of it that way when it comes to something special like Disney, but it's business.

 

[ChipnDale79]

Well, they obviously didn't do what they could do for you. That and the price increase kinda goes back to what I was talking about before. Companies are only going to do the minimum they feel they need to do to keep customers happy. All about maximizing profit margins. If they think they can get by with charging more and giving less, they are going to do it until it negatively affects the bottom line. You were justified in your annoyance. Enough people do what you did, and they will change.

But, I think things will likely have changed now. Disney will need to work harder for customers if they want to save that bottom line. Might not seem far, but that's the free market circle of life. Disney had no problem pricing people out and taking customer who could pay more over people who couldn't. Now when the supply of customers is no longer what it was, the remaining customer should have no problem asked for more while paying less. Nobody like to think of it that way when it comes to something special like Disney, but it's business.

It’s gonna be a whole different ballgame for them now.

 

[Disney Bobby]

It’s gonna be a whole different ballgame for them now.

Customers. Do them a favor, and it will keep them happy for a while. Make them angry, and they will remember it forever.

 

[keishashadow]

You are right. They will work with people because their lawyers will think it is a good idea. Probably on an individual basis. And they will likely make exceptions for scheduling conflicts too, also on an individual basis. There are always exceptions for a host of reasons.

The way they tend to roll in general. Problem is they aren’t exactly known for being consistent across the board

all it will take is a few of the ‘lucky’ recipients crowing about the level of pixie dust vs the standard accommodation to Trigger a backlash

Yeah, you might even get the "let's work something out" opportunity also if you refuse to extend the pass. Cash out the door is definitely FAR WORSE right now for them than being flexible on the annual pass makeup time. FAR, FAR WORSE.

And, no, you won't be a terrible entitled person for making some other arrangement with them.

very smart to institute the default/extending days on pass. big fan base here but majority of population, even if Disney PH, have bigger fish to fry

I think what the people who don't like the current options want are either (don't have an AP so don't have a dog in the fight)

I'm just not sure there is a way to make everybody happy

some people are never happy. Disney wisely isn’t swinging for the fences here

Mom asked about a deadline for calling to change the default option for what happens with your annual pass, and the cm said there isn’t one right now. The cm expects that once an opening date is announced, a deadline will be and changes will need to be made before the opening day. She called the number provided in the email but was rerouted to resorts...they said it happens all the time and transferred her. She only waited a few minutes though. The cm also confirmed that people who paid in full and just want the extension do not need to call.

Ok, this sounds as tho PH may not have to opt out of them settlement’ right now. This would be very beneficial to current PH. I vote for this option

 

[Eric Smith]

I didn't buy 365 days of Disney's choosing. I bought a year of park entry starting in August and ending in August. The way I see it, they should give me a ticket for every day they are closed that is valid for the next year. I'm missing at least 2 trips and maybe 3, including a trip for my 50th Bday. Mid-August thru Mid-November is useless for me due to kids in school and college football tickets I've already paid for. I was fine paying for it and not using it for 3 months last year, but I never expected to have to pay for 6 months I didn't plan to use.

And I understand it's not their fault, but it's not mine either, and I'm the one paying And I know a lot of good people work for Disney, but their leadership hasn't bought a lot of good will with me in recent years. They consider their product a premium product and charge premium prices for it. They need to come up with some premium solutions for annual pass holders instead of the two simple, lazy options that you would expect from a $20 a month gym membership.

You bought 365 days of continuous access to the parks. Because of COVID, that is not possible. Disney has offered to extend the pass for the amount of time that the parks are closed or refund you for the portion of time that the parks are closed. That is totally fair. They can't just give you 60-90 days worth of tickets to use on the days that you wish. You'd be getting way more than you paid for.

 

[Eric Smith]

\

I never said I wanted a refund. I want to get some flexibility. And it absolutely makes sense to anybody that plans vacations.

That's not "entitlement" or "egregious". It's common for a company with good customer service to do in extraordinary situations. They should be bending over backwards for annual pass holders. No way should they hid behind fine print like you suggest.

You want a ticket that costs about $600 for compensation because you weren't fully able to use your annual pass. In what world does that make sense?

 

[Eric Smith]

Same here.... if they’d allow us and my parents to freeze our passes until there’s a vaccine or a treatment or basically zero cases, they earn a ton of money off of us. We live in San Diego and come 1-2 times a month. We stay overnight and eat at TS and QS restaurants. Sometimes we stay on property. Very rarely do we leave without buying something we don’t need! My parents visit multiple times a year and we were planning on doing overnight trips with them at least three times, including one stay at the Disneyland Hotel. They’ll end up losing money on our family without a pass freeze, and like you said two families are a drop in the bucket, but there are more people who feel like we do.

Would you go back anyways after the virus has passed? If your family would go back anyways, then Disney didn't lose any money.

 

[Aurora0427]

Would you go back anyways after the virus has passed? If your family would go back anyways, then Disney didn't lose any money.

Nope, not without a freeze. My parents are on a fixed income starting in June, and this year with the annual passes was their last hurrah. We also won’t be renewing our passes after that last price increase, especially given current economic conditions. We’ll do other things here in Southern California.

We feel like we made our money’s worth on our passes.... we’ve had them since June and made lots of trips. We broke more than even and made tons of memories. Every penny we spent was more than worth it! I feel like my parents really should be eligible for some type of freeze.... they just got their passes at the end of January. Both are in high risk categories due to age and even though my dad is healthy, he will always be considered high risk due to cardiovascular disease. He had triple bypass surgery three summers ago.... genetics. He also has asthma. My mom has a history of pneumonia and bronchitis. So they really have no business going to Disney until there’s either a vaccine or we have this virus managed really well with a treatment other than oxygen and a ventilator. So it would be nice if Disney could provide an option for people like my parents to return when it’s safer. If you disagree, that’s fine, but quite frankly I don’t have any interest in arguing with you or discussing it further.

 

[Eric Smith]

Nope, not without a freeze. My parents are on a fixed income starting in June, and this year with the annual passes was their last hurrah. We also won’t be renewing our passes after that last price increase, especially given current economic conditions. We’ll do other things here in Southern California.

We feel like we made our money’s worth on our passes.... we’ve had them since June and made lots of trips. We broke more than even and made tons of memories. Every penny we spent was more than worth it! I feel like my parents really should be eligible for some type of freeze.... they just got their passes at the end of January. Both are in high risk categories due to age and even though my dad is healthy, he will always be considered high risk due to cardiovascular disease. He had triple bypass surgery three summers ago.... genetics. He also has asthma. My mom has a history of pneumonia and bronchitis. So they really have no business going to Disney until there’s either a vaccine or we have this virus managed really well with a treatment other than oxygen and a ventilator. So it would be nice if Disney could provide an option for people like my parents to return when it’s safer. If you disagree, that’s fine, but quite frankly I don’t have any interest in arguing with you or discussing it further.

Unfortunately some people will lose out in this situation. I agree that your parents shouldn't go back with the virus going around, but I don't agree that it's Disney's job to compensate them.

 

[Aurora0427]

Unfortunately some people will lose out in this situation. I agree that your parents shouldn't go back with the virus going around, but I don't agree that it's Disney's job to compensate them.

Like I said I’m my post, I’m not interested in hearing your opinion. If you don’t agree with me, just scroll on.

 

[Eric Smith]

Like I said I’m my post, I’m not interested in hearing your opinion. If you don’t agree with me, just scroll on. ✌

That's very open minded of you. Why did you bother replying in the first place.

There are a lot of entitled people in this thread who expect that Disney should make them whole for this epidemic. There's risk in life and sometimes you lose out, that's just how things work.

 

[elaine amj]

Yeah, sometimes u lose out. In our case, we have decided we would rather lose out on our AP than risk our health since we have underlying factors. Really hope we can work something else out with Disney eventually though. A freeze would be the ideal solution so I am really hoping they end up offering it.

Oh well, I figure I will hang on to my AP and be patient for now. Nobody knows anything about how all this will play out, not even Disney.

 

[Eric Smith]

Yeah, sometimes u lose out. In our case, we have decided we would rather lose out on our AP than risk our health since we have underlying factors. Really hope we can work something else out with Disney eventually though. A freeze would be the ideal solution so I am really hoping they end up offering it.

Oh well, I figure I will hang on to my AP and be patient for now. Nobody knows anything about how all this will play out, not even Disney.

I don't think Disney will offer a freeze just because the logistics of offering that are complicated. I think you may eventually see Disney give people the option to just get a prorated portion of the rest of the AP, not just the closure timeframe.