My recent Experience linking OLD DVC-AP Vouchers to MDE

[peabody58]

So I have 2 old DVC AP Vouchers with 2 AP's on each that have not yet been linked to my MDE. One set was from 11/2011 and the other set from 12/2012. I have the original email confirmation as well as the bar coded official Will Call Confirmation.

1. Tried on-line, but the system would not recognize the Confirmation #. Not surprised considering how old these were.

2. Emailed WDW Passholder Program for help. Received a reply to call Passholder Services (PASS) directly for resolution.

3. Called PASS. The set of DVC AP's purchased in 2012 were able to be linked right away. They show up as 'Disney Annual Pass - DVC' in my MDE. No Gold/Platinum designation.

4. PASS was unable to do anything with the 2011 voucher. After 40 minutes the Escalation Team got involved and another 20 min later they were able to confirm that my Confirmation # was valid. However, they said there was some kind on Encoding problem which was on DVC's end and that I would need to call DVC Member services.

5. FYI: The Confirmation #'s for 2011 was THON#######, 4 letters - 7 numbers. 2012 was THON########, 4 letters - 8 numbers. PASS said they don't know how to handle anything less than a 12 character Confirmation #'s.

6. Called DVC MS. 15 minutes later, they confirmed the same thing - correct # (11 characters) but still some kind of Encoding issue. While I was patiently talking with MS about my options, frustration, future need to get bounced between ticketing/Guest Services, no A/C in the gondolas, etc., etc., she suddenly said "WAIT don't hang up" as her supervision was frantically waving from across the room. Apparently the Supervisor found out what needed to be done (sadly she did share the secret handshake with me), and my 2011 DVC AP voucher was added to my MDE. They also went ahead and linked one of the vouchers AP's to my DW's MDE.

7. While this was going on, I had my MDE open and transferred one of the 2012 DVC AP's to my DW. The AP now showed as 'non-transferable'. No big deal. But when I closed out my MDE and reopened it a couple hours later, all the AP's now show that I can transfer them if desired. Good to know in case DW leaves me after 37 years!

8. I inquired and received confirmation that the DVC-APs are NOT activated and that I still need to go to Guest Services to prove we're DVC and who we are. MS also confirmed that the linked old DVC AP's will be activated as Platinum.

9. So in summary, except for the momentary challenge of linking the 2011 voucher, the process worked exactly as other's had previously noted. I am relieved to have these dinosaur vouchers brought into the current technology and I won't have to waste a couple hours at Guest Services in Oct when we start our AP year.

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

Thanks for telling your story. I have some AP vouchers from 2009 & 2010. I bought several when the APs started going up so much in price, actually should have started sooner. Anyway, my point is I don't think that is so old. I think Disney should have people who know how to link them without it turning into a 3 hour to 12 day mess. 10 years is not so long ago. I know WDW has to update its programming, and it makes sense to remove the older, less common ones from the site for us to link ourselves. Nevertheless, there should be people always who know how to make them usable APs. I still have 5 left. Paid around $500, so not really that big of a savings compared to what they cost now and the money being already spent these last 10 years. They are still in their original envelopes with letter stating price paid and shopping cost.
I get 2 years out of one AP by staggering 11 months apart trips. So I fully expect to get 10 more years worth of park visits from these vouchers. We bought in good faith, knowing they were good for 365 days from activiation date, and expect that to remain.
That may be why Disney went to expiring tickets---to clear old inventory, but these should be good until 2060.
As I said, 10 years is not so long. You must be very young to refer to those as dinosaur vouchers.

Edit: Reread your post. Married 37 years, you know 10 years is not so long.