AP Only Info Thread Reservation System /Extensions / Refunds

[sara_s]

Just got an "We're sorry" email lol

The most pathetic "sorry" email I've ever seen - how many days late?

ETA: I've considered writing an email to them saying that I feel like I'm intentionally being treated poorly in order to deter me from renewing my pass or returning to the parks, but the idea of doing it just to get smoke blown up my you-know-what (or even worse, ignored) is too exhausting to draft it.

 

[dlavender]

They have given up on AP holders. I say this as their dismissive attitude about this ordeal has really ticked me off.

“Call your bank” that’s what I finally got today. Yeah, it’s my banks fault that you took $500 out....

“We processed the refund” for the March payment. I didn’t get it...”Check with your bank”. Oh, I’m a moron and didn’t think to look there first....

I’m not expecting fast passes, we aren’t going back for at least a year. Just perhaps a more coordinated response and effective resolution. I’ll just keep emailing I guess or see if I can dispute the March payment. Probably past my limit on that.

Or maybe I just keep wasting my time on the phone? Or I just eat it and hope tinker bell drops it off in my mail box one misty night...

 

[emilymad]

The most pathetic "sorry" email I've ever seen - how many days late?

ETA: I've considered writing an email to them saying that I feel like I'm intentionally being treated poorly in order to deter me from renewing my pass or returning to the parks, but the idea of doing it just to get smoke blown up my you-know-what (or even worse, ignored) is too exhausting to draft it.

I agree with you that I think this whole mess is somewhat intentional to deter people from renewing or going to the parks. They have raised the prices is Disneyland for years trying the same thing. Disney would love it if the AP base got so low that they could then reintroduce a "new" AP for more money and less benefits. I think Disney is using the "new normal" to reset a lot of their policies.

 

[twinklebug]

Disney has broken the trust on too many levels here (across the board with all people) and it is time for them to pull one of their magic acts to appease the masses and make them fall back in love with the company, buying them more time.

 

[kelpricer]

I’m seeing a few posts that are saying Disney took money out this morning.....again. I feel horrible for everyone this is happening to

 

[dachsie]

They have given up on AP holders. I say this as their dismissive attitude about this ordeal has really ticked me off.

“Call your bank” that’s what I finally got today. Yeah, it’s my banks fault that you took $500 out....

“We processed the refund” for the March payment. I didn’t get it...”Check with your bank”. Oh, I’m a moron and didn’t think to look there first....

I’m not expecting fast passes, we aren’t going back for at least a year. Just perhaps a more coordinated response and effective resolution. I’ll just keep emailing I guess or see if I can dispute the March payment. Probably past my limit on that.

Or maybe I just keep wasting my time on the phone? Or I just eat it and hope tinker bell drops it off in my mail box one misty night...

Since they were still open in March, I am not sure you can dispute it. All you can do is try I guess

 

[disneygrandma]

I think pretty much all AP holders are very unhappy with Disney right now. I've been posting for AP holders to email Disney about how they feel, and tell them what you would want. I thought a pause or freeze on the AP's would be a good idea, and then when guests are ready to return to WDW, their AP's would start counting down again when they were scanned in to that 1st park. An even easier option.... give everyone a new voucher to activate when you're ready to return.

My emails had stated that I wasn't happy with their extension because it wouldn't cover our rescheduled family trip for June 2021, or the other rescheduled trip for Dec 2021. I also told them that I didn't want a refund. What I wanted was to be able to use our AP's on our 2 trips we planned to take in 2021. Well, while they didn't agree to my suggestions for all AP holders, they did agree to extending our AP's out to cover our 2021 trips. Very thankful for that. When I told the CM that so many AP holders were unhappy about what was happening with their AP's, the CM said to tell them to email Disney and they would see how they could help them on an individual basis. So please, put it all down in writing as to how you feel and what you want. The email address is:

wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

Oh, also wanted to add that I received an email from them confirming what our phone conversation had been.

 

[WRLeGrand]

Is the offered refund on AP continual until your expiration, or is it a use it and lose it type situation?

To clarify, we have a Park Reservation for next week which we are debating on using. Our AP expires in November (thanks to the extension). If we went to the park one day, would that automatically kick out opportunity for requesting a refund? Just trying to decide what our family should do!
Thanks in advance!

 

[hertamaniac]

Are most people calling to request the cancellation/refund (rather than waiting for the “mystery” email)? We’ve been waiting, but with the opening fast approaching I’m starting to think that we should call.

I decided to follow-up with an e-mail this AM outlining our decision for a full AP refund. In that regard, it is now documented and since I got an immediate canned and generic response, it shows my e-mail was sent successfully.

Nothing like taking it right up to edge to hold our monies.

 

[MeridaAnn]

The parks open in 4 days and we still haven't been formally asked about what options we want. That's not enough time. Even if they sent us our choices a minute from now, that's not time for us to make our selections and get them processed. Disney needs to make an announcement. They need to acknowledge that we exist and that we're in the dark. They told us we would get to choose before the parks opened and I just don't see any way for that to happen at this point, so they just need to SAY that and let us know that there will be a new deadline and which actions (making park reservations, going to the preview days, entering the park, etc.), if any, will restrict what choices we'll be able to make. And they need to tell us what those choices will be, even if they don't have the infrastructure ready yet to actually process our choices!

It's just frustrating. I've never thought that APs entitled us to the world by any means, but it's a program that's mutually beneficial to both passholders and to Disney (obviously they wouldn't offer it if it didn't still give them a profit) and they're instead just ignoring us completely, like they gave us the APs as a gift instead of it being a fair deal that they need to treat at least as well as any other customers. Taking several days to even (barely) apologize for a *really big deal* financial mistake on their end - so not okay!

They've just been handling everything so poorly with the APs. My opinion of the company is really dropping rapidly, which is so frustrating because I love the parks so much.

 

[OKW Lover]

I think pretty much all AP holders are very unhappy with Disney right now.

I don't think so. The DIS is a very small part of the whole AP ecosystem. And even here on the DIS there are plenty that aren't unhappy.

 

[zebrastreyepz]

I don't think so. The DIS is a very small part of the whole AP ecosystem. And even here on the DIS there are plenty that aren't unhappy.

Anyone who got charged for 4 months of charges right before a holiday weekend with no warning is going to be unhappy. Even if they weren't before, they would be after that.

I'm unhappy. Right before SW:GE opened, they jacked up the price of renewal and APs by something around 20% I think it was. They figured that anyone who wanted to use AP as a way to preview was going to pay for the experience one way or another.

My AP renewed on June 12th and I got bit by that increase even though I had no intention of attending the preview. And against my better judgement, I paid the over $1000 for a renewal.

Now, a year later, and this mess in, they wanted me to pay for my renewal in order to receive extension benefits. I should get whether I renew or not and I haven't. That is not a good way to treat people.

 

[PrincessV]

What a mess.

I've been lucky so far - no charges for me yet.

Honestly, I've only ever viewed my almost-30 years of AP as dollars and cents: I get an AP because I visit often enough that it's more cost effective than tickets. Any discounts, offers, etc. are nice bonuses, but have nothing to do with my decision to get an AP. And I've never viewed the AP program as any kind of loyalty program, unlike the old Magic Kingdom Club, which was a real loyalty program apart from APs. So I'm neither happy nor unhappy: an AP still seems to make the most financial sense for me, so I'm good for now.

That said, I completely understand why so many feel otherwise. Disney really marketed APs as a loyalty program and now it's biting them in the rear. I've had weird issues with monthly payments for other parks' APs in the past, so this one isn't a big shock to me, but the difference is the COST of this mistake, simply because WDW APs are a lot more expensive than others. The radio silence from WDW on APs while every other thing rolls out and parks are about to reopen is just really bad PR. Even though I'm not personally impacted by most of this, I get it and feel for the many who are impacted.

 

[zebrastreyepz]

What a mess.

I've been lucky so far - no charges for me yet.

Honestly, I've only ever viewed my almost-30 years of AP as dollars and cents: I get an AP because I visit often enough that it's more cost effective than tickets. Any discounts, offers, etc. are nice bonuses, but have nothing to do with my decision to get an AP. And I've never viewed the AP program as any kind of loyalty program, unlike the old Magic Kingdom Club, which was a real loyalty program apart from APs. So I'm neither happy nor unhappy: an AP still seems to make the most financial sense for me, so I'm good for now.

That said, I completely understand why so many feel otherwise. Disney really marketed APs as a loyalty program and now it's biting them in the rear. I've had weird issues with monthly payments for other parks' APs in the past, so this one isn't a big shock to me, but the difference is the COST of this mistake, simply because WDW APs are a lot more expensive than others. The radio silence from WDW on Aps while every other ting rolls out and parks are about to reopen is just really bad PR. Even though I'm not personally impacted by most of this, I get it and feel for the many who are impacted.

An AP still makes financial sense for my goals if I were going to continue to go to Disney twice a year and things were as before.

But I'm not paying the same price for half the vacation.

I don't see how we can say that a day ticket preCOVID has the the same value now. We are paying the same for much, much less.

 

[dlavender]

Since they were still open in March, I am not sure you can dispute it. All you can do is try I guess

They stated they were refunding the March payment, since you pay for the month ahead. For example the March 15 payment gets you in from March 16-April 15. Since they were closed then, yes, I could dispute it, especially since they are the ones who stated they would automatically refund those payments I believe....

 

[lorenae]

An AP still makes financial sense for my goals if I were going to continue to go to Disney twice a year and things were as before.

But I'm not paying the same price for half the vacation.

I don't see how we can say that a day ticket preCOVID has the the same value now. We are paying the same for much, much less.

My AP started 12/4/19. I went one night (two days) at that time.
I went in January for 5 days. I was booked in March and the park was closed by my date. I was booked in May, and the park was still closed. I had to cancel the August trip for myself and my grandsons due to restrictions (no way the one child would wear a mask with his autism).

So, I have gone 7 days with my AP. MDE still shows the expiration date as 12/4/20.

I realize that they should/will be open in August but without the full park experience, even IF the 6 year old could wear a mask, it would be a very expensive visit for what we'd be able to do with the restrictions since the kids need tickets.

I feel ripped off, since the park has been closed longer than open during my AP time so far.

 

[dlavender]

I realize they are in a tough spot. But as Rhino pointed out, they are a corp. Everyone is in a tough spot. For them to leave AP's in limbo for this long is just wrong. It's showing where we are on their list of priorities. It's a "we'll get to it when we can" scenario. They aren't going to get a pass on this from me. I'll let them know my frustrations one more time, get my generic "we always try our best" email, and just move on from it, knowing this was our last AP.

 

[disneygrandma]

There are a lot of AP holders that are talking refunds on here because they are unhappy about not being able to use their AP's on rescheduled trips. Others want refunds because they can't go or don't want to go to the parks for a while due to the Corona virus. Others are unhappy about the loss of benefits, mainly no park hopping. Many local AP holders are unhappy because they can only schedule 3 park reservations at a time, and the week-end availability calendars fill up quickly. Those AP holders that have resort stays but want to go on day trips are unhappy because they can only schedule park reservations for one or the other, but not both. Other AP holders are unhappy about having to pay full price for renewals when Disney is not offering all of the AP features. I would say that takes in quite a few unhappy AP holder groups.

If you're local, or even if you're out of state but can go to WDW frequently, then yes, you are getting your money's worth compared to one trip tickets prices. But still, when the parks open, you will be getting less for your money than before. Disney says that AP holders are their most loyal customers, but right now they're not really acting like it. If you had multi-day date based tickets for one single trip, then those are being extended out until Sept 26, 2021. That's a long time for those ticket holders to decide when they would feel comfortable going again. But AP's were only given the 4 mo extension for the time the park was closed, which was only right, plus another one month extension that won't be added until October. One month extension to make up for all that the AP holder has lost doesn't seem like much. But as so many on here have complained, Disney isn't even communicating with the AP holders right now to let them know what their options will be, and how that will be handled. 4 days before the parks open, and still nothing. But the one trip ticket holders found out how long ago that their tickets were extended until Sept 26, 2021? Plus they still have the options of full refunds, or keep the tickets and use the value on a later trip after Sept 26, 2021. So yes, I still say that there are a lot of unhappy AP holders

 

[JayMunOne]

Someone from Disney just called me and said they have to get back to me. I explained the issue regarding the APs and the four possible options and that I want a full refund of the remaining time on my pass (about 288 days). They said they are going to call me back. We'll see what happens here.

 

[kbelle8995]

Trying to get on the phone with Disney to get my postponed pass updated. And every time it's a two hour wait. They still haven't fixed it. They stated they are doing this in batches. I say bull