Leveraging DVC purchase to get new AP

[jmurray2446]

I know they aren't selling new AP's, I am just curious if anyone has been able to leverage a direct DVC purchase to get the opportunity to buy new AP's?

 

[princesscinderella]

I know they aren't selling new AP's, I am just curious if anyone has been able to leverage a direct DVC purchase to get the opportunity to buy new AP's?

I don’t think anyone has been successful. Maybe one person on the DIS has if I remember correctly. The only way to get your answer is to ask your guide.

 

[Brian Noble]

That's an awfully expensive way to save money on admission.

 

[Sandisw]

Unfortunately, it’s out of DVDs control and given the safety and capacity restrictions in the park, that division has indicated that can’t sell again to new people until the product can be used closer to its interned use.

Yes, many DVC owners would buy regardless but we are a small section of Disney guests.

There has only been one report here about someone who had bought just before the pandemic and somehow talked them into making the exception..not DVC either. It was the AP division.

From some of the information I have heard, including from DVC people here on site, it’s extremely frustrating and if they could find a way, they would.

 

[gskywalker]

That's an awfully expensive way to save money on admission.

No it's not. I spent 12k for a direct contract(2019) to get the discounted annual passes. I saved 3k in the first year and the 2nd year on annual passes. Ie you could look at it as half the contract was free(saved 6k) in less than a year and a half, plus I actually got to use the points. It depends on running the numbers.

 

[Theta]

No it's not. I spent 12k for a direct contract(2019) to get the discounted annual passes. I saved 3k in the first year and the 2nd year on annual passes. Ie you could look at it as half the contract was free(saved 6k) in less than a year and a half, plus I actually got to use the points. It depends on running the numbers.

You saved 3K EACH year? How does that math work? I though an annual pass discount was only a couple hundred dollars in savings per ticket.

 

[TEM1234]

We have to buy 6 annual passes per year. We bought when minimum was 75 points. We paid about 12k for our purchase. we saved over $300 per pass (almost 2k per year) every year since. Our savings are substantial.

 

[Sandisw]

You saved 3K EACH year? How does that math work? I though an annual pass discount was only a couple hundred dollars in savings per ticket.

It all depends on family size. You can make up that difference in about 5 years or less with a family of 4 or more.

 

[Theta]

And the names on the contract and their dependent children can take advantage of the reduced AP price?

As soon as a dependent turns 18, are they no longer eligible to get the discount (assuming they are not on put the title but still live at home)?

 

[gskywalker]

You saved 3K EACH year? How does that math work? I though an annual pass discount was only a couple hundred dollars in savings per ticket.

Looked up pricing. $765.74 per gold AP, compared to $1272.68 per platinum AP, using last available pricing. 7 annual passes is $3548.58 per year saved. First year savings was a little lower. Either way. Over half the contract saved in 2 annual passes.

 

[gskywalker]

And the names on the contract and their dependent children can take advantage of the reduced AP price?

As soon as a dependent turns 18, are they no longer eligible to get the discount (assuming they are not on put the title but still live at home)?

It doesn't matter whether they are dependent. It applies to any family members in the same household(address). So we get it for our family of 6 plus my mother who lives in our basement.

 

[Sandisw]

It doesn't matter whether they are dependent. It applies to any family members in the same household(address). So we get it for our family of 6 plus my mother who lives in our basement.

I am going to add that all deeded owners and their households can get as well,, up to 8 at each household.

We have 5 owners now,, DH, myself, and 3 adult children. Three households. All of use can get them. Currently comprises of 9 people!

 

[eandt]

I know they aren't selling new AP's, I am just curious if anyone has been able to leverage a direct DVC purchase to get the opportunity to buy new AP's?

I have tried since about the first of the year, at first I would check every few days with my guide, then weekly, bi-weekly and now I don't even check with him but do check in on chat every so often to see if they can be purchased. Once we decided on direct we were ready to pay cash and this literally is the only thing that held us back .............. funny thing is I have lost some interest now and am looking at some other options.

 

[Brian Noble]

You can make up that difference in about 5 years or less with a family of 4 or more.

...assuming you would be buying full-freight passes and going at least 2x/year without owning DVC.

I suspect a lot of people "save" money by taking more trips than they would have. Did they save money compared to what those trips would have cost? They sure did. Did they spend less on Disney vacations than they would have had they not been owners? No.

That's not to say it's a bad thing. It's perfectly fine to take something that would otherwise be out of reach and make it affordable.

 

[TEM1234]

For us ( a family of 6) we were already buying annual passes (we had a non-Disney timeshare that we used 2-3 times a year for short/medium length trips) and we would stay on property (art of animation family suite) for 2-3 nights once per year. For our situation it truly saved us money without a huge change in our habits as we can now stay 2 nights at a deluxe, and still use our other timeshare for our other trips and make use of the annual pass discount. We have already saved almost 5k on annual passes alone in the 3 years we have owned. For other families with different habits I could see why it wouldn’t be as much of a benefit.

 

[Grumpy Mouse]

As I posted in another thread, I wouldn't count on EVER being able to purchase a new AP again and receive the corresponding DVC discount. I would love if Disney made a liar out of me - but there is growing evidence that the current AP program is dead - not the least of which is a letter I received from senior DVC management regarding a complaint I filed with the Florida AG's office on this very issue.

And Disney could EASILY make a liar out of me - by simply communicating that the program is temporarily suspended BUT will be returning at some point in the future - they don't even need to indicate a timeline - just that it will be returning. But that's not happening; can ANYONE point to an official statement by Disney that the AP program will be resuming at some point?

Aside from the unequal application of benefits to blue-card members (complicated to explain), here's one sentence from our recent contract that I've been thinking a lot about - and I suspect Disney legal is spending time pouring over it too:

"In the event any incidental benefit described in this Statement becomes unavailable as a result of events beyond the control of the developer, the developer reserves the right to substitute a replacement incidental benefit of a type, quality, value, and term reasonably similar to the unavailable incidental benefit."

This PERFECTLY describes the AP issue for new DVC members - and I have pointed to it in my latest response to DVC management. Crickets chirping so far...

 

[wvujeb]

Disney is allowing those that canceled during the pandemic and those whose passes expired during the pandemic to purchase new passes. If they were planning to scrap the current AP program, I don't see why they would make this exception. I think it is solely a way to manage the availability of park passes to passholders during the decreased capacity. I think once capacity increases enough, new AP sales will resume. I could also see them reworking the tiers or adding additional tiers, but I don't think that they eliminate the AP program in the same way that they did at Disneyland.

 

[Grumpy Mouse]

Disney is allowing those that canceled during the pandemic and those whose passes expired during the pandemic to purchase new passes. If they were planning to scrap the current AP program, I don't see why they would make this exception. I think it is solely a way to manage the availability of park passes to passholders during the decreased capacity. I think once capacity increases enough, new AP sales will resume. I could also see them reworking the tiers or adding additional tiers, but I don't think that they eliminate the AP program in the same way that they did at Disneyland.

No offense, but I grow tired of this particular speculation. Again, waiting for something official from Disney; ANYTHING that indicates THEY plan on bringing back the program sometime in the future. Seen any communication like that? I personally can think of about a million reasons to not abruptly terminate the program. You would first prohibit new sales - but it would be hard to shut out those affected by the pandemic - so you make an exception for them. Then next year you grandfather or attach 'legacy' status to the existing AP's - but phasing them out in favor of some new program - which we all know will cost more money. Or heck, just phasing them out - like they did with DME and Extra Magic Hours. An abrupt termination will cause chaos - so you do it slowly - just like they're doing.

And it still leaves the pesky issue of terminating a benefit for new blue-card members without offering an "equivalent" alternative....

 

[DL1WDW2]

Actually describes the different Pass currently being Sold.
Everybody thinks they want the to buy this instead of Tickets. It does feel like a benefit until I realize I can only make 3 park entrances at a time and then hope something is available eventually . I currently have it reserved for Easter Sunday, July 4 , and Halloween. I am local and can’t use the Pass in the same way Suddenly doesn’t feel so much like a perk anymore.
I keep thinking wow the weather is great I should go Oh wait I can’t I don’t have a park pass . It really decreases the value .
So now it has already changed for all guests making plans to visit.

 

[wvujeb]

No offense, but I grow tired of this particular speculation. Again, waiting for something official from Disney; ANYTHING that indicates THEY plan on bringing back the program sometime in the future. Seen any communication like that? I personally can think of about a million reasons to not abruptly terminate the program. You would first prohibit new sales - but it would be hard to shut out those affected by the pandemic - so you make an exception for them. Then next year you grandfather or attach 'legacy' status to the existing AP's - but phasing them out in favor of some new program - which we all know will cost more money. Or heck, just phasing them out - like they did with DME and Extra Magic Hours. An abrupt termination will cause chaos - so you do it slowly - just like they're doing.

And it still leaves the pesky issue of terminating a benefit for new blue-card members without offering an "equivalent" alternative....

All of this is speculation at this point. Disney isn't the greatest at communication. They like to keep their lips sealed until they are ready, so I'm not terribly surprised by the lack of communication. The exception for those affected by the pandemic was not made when the parks opened up. When the parks opened, they were still working out the details with people canceling their pass and getting refunds. They continued to do that for a couple of months. It's only been more recently that they allowed the exception. When they first opened, there was a lot of complaining from passholders about not being able to get park passes. They appear to have shifted their allocation of park passes or maybe it's due to the increased capacity, but recently passholder availability has been better than ticketed and resort guests. Nobody knows what their plan. I'm not even sure that Disney knows for sure at this point.