If you’re an Annual Passholder and a local (including “3-hour drive” locals like myself) or planning on staying offsite for your next Walt Disney World trip, and your Annual Pass is expiring at some point during the COVID-19 closure period, you may be in for a rude awakening if you try to book FastPasses for June onward.
Guests eager to return to the parks can of course book reservations for hotels, FastPasses, dining reservations and more for June 1st and beyond still, even though a reopening date hasn’t been formally announced as of yet for the Walt Disney World Resort. If your Annual Pass hasn’t expired yet, you’re good to go:
However, here’s the screen I was met with when I attempted to make FastPass+ selections for June 1st or later:
The main difference? My Annual Pass expired on April 29.
As an Annual Passholder who has paid in full, my current pass will be extended for the number of days the parks are closed. The new expiration date will be reflected on My Disney Experience prior to the reopening of the parks, according to Disney’s latest communication on extensions and refunds. However, I still can’t make FastPasses within the 30-day window allotted for Annual Passholders.
Assuming that my pass had been automatically extended (or was at least flagged for future extension), I called the VIPassholder line to inquire as to why I couldn’t make FastPass+ selections. According to the FastPass help desk, extensions for Annual Passholders whose passes expired during the span of the COVID-19 closure won’t be fully processed until a reopening date is announced. Annual Passholders with on-site resort reservations however, can be granted a temporary extension on their account, and therefore allowed to make FastPass+ reservations throughout the 60-day window. This still leaves Annual Passholders whose expiration dates lapsed over the course of the closure at a disadvantage in terms of FastPass+ selections, at least without paying a premium in the form of a room booking (which is what Cast Members suggested I do.) Even if a member of your Friends & Family group want to add you to their existing FastPass+ selections, they can’t––you’ve been essentially booted from the system automatically and the only way to get back in is to either book a room or wait until the official reopening announcement.
Regardless of whether the parks actually reopen on June 1, having to jump these kinds of hoops is a headache for those Annual Passholders who, in thinking their passes were automatically extended, are now attempting to plan their possible trips. While there are certainly more important things to deal with right now, it could be emotionally comforting to know you have a vacation a few months down the road planned out that you might be able to enjoy.
This problem can only become more abundant as the closure rages on and more passes expire. Hopefully Disney will just correct the system in the coming days so everyone will be ready when the reopening announcement does happen.
Has your Annual Pass expired over the course of the closure? Have you been able to book FastPass+ selections? Let us know in the comments.
My AP expires Tuesday. I’m also unable to make fast passes and my “expiration date” is still showing as May 5th.
Jessica, an interesting point you raise. I think if you look a little deeper into the issue, Disney might be giving everyone a hint that they are going to give MORE than a 30 day notice as to when they are opening. Given that Disney can ONLY extend your expired annual pass once they announce a reopening date and not before, it seems reasonable to conclude that a 30 day notice will be given to allow all passholders whose passes have expired at least 30 days notice so they can plan future vacations and not be put at a disadvantage. After all, passholders are some of Disney’s most loyal fans and biggest spenders…
My annual pass expired on 3/17, a couple days before closure. For obvious reasons I was reluctant to renew. Plus I was aware there is a 30 day grace period. So in essence 3 days of my 30 were consumed by the closure date. Now my pass is gone from the app. Hoping I get the 27 days back at reopen.
3/17 is a couple of days AFTER the March 15 closure of the parks.
I couldn’t even make fast passes with a resort reservation since my pass has expired. Had to book a package that included tickets in order to be able to book them. Also by the time we were able to book (about 58 days out) the only fast passes available at Hollywood studios for rides were tower of terror and star tours. Also nothing left for big thunder mountain on a magic kingdom day. Looks like they’re planning on drastically lower capacity.
My Fastpass dates don’t extend past May. No option to move to June to select a date there. My pass is active until end of December.
There’s not an easy way to address this. The actual coding in FastPass+ required valid admission entitlements in order to create a reservation.
The ticketing system isn’t capable of producing bulk-batch entitlements with no expiration date. The modifications for AP’s expiration has to be done largely manually, as there’s no automated process inside ATS that permits a bulk modification of passes on an IF/ELSE basis (IF [pass_exprired_during_closure] THEN [++days_to_expiration_date] ELSE [do_nothing]).
Essentially, ATS can’t really modify expiration dates on a bulk query like that.
Neither ATS nor FP+ were ever designed with the expectation that the parks would undergo an indefinite closure.
To modify the code of each component to allow for such behavior would require support staff and beta testing that, frankly, requires staffing they don’t have right now.
Sorry… I wish I had a better answer. But Ticketing Services isn’t is going to manually adjust all expired AP’s perpetually until the parks reopen; and they can’t set an indefinite date. The entitlement *has* to expire at some point.
Interesting. We had a trip scheduled for May 15 through May 21. Of course, it’s cancelled. We rescheduled a trip for July 11 through July 16. Our annual passes expire on JUNE 21. We were told that we have to renew our annual passes…like now…in order to set up fast passes for a July 11 trip (assuming we would start selecting fast passes starting May 11). We were further told that however many days the parks are closed, that number of days would be added to our annual passes…on the back end.
Don’t you have better things to worry about ?
We knew this was coming, and we answer your question in the final paragraph :)
Our AP’s ended late April too. We have a resort reservation on site for late June. When it came time to make FP’s, we had to renew or AP’s before we could make the FP’s even though we too elected to extend our 2019-20 AP’s. As it stands now, with the extension, our 2019-20 AP’s that were originally set to expire in late April will extend past the June arrival date.
Ours expire in September and we are thrilled to get out. Enough of Disney and their BS. This is proof that AP don’t mean anything except guaranteed income to the mouse. Been to the parks 100’s of time. Prior to COVID our 5 minute trek wasn’t even worth the time. Overcrowded, rides down, rude visitors and excessive litter. Taking a much needed break. Way too many bad experiences in 2019 and up to March 2020.
We ran into the same issue with Resort reservations in late June and an AP that expires in April. I had to call the AP helpline at the 60 day window and they basically issued a length of stay pass on top of my AP to cover my visit. I can’t make fast passes for any other dates. It also complicated things because I also cannot look for and change FP reservations without giving up the ones I made which is different than what is normally available (look for new one and give up old one after)
I get why they’re doing this though. They have to be able to control how many guests are visiting and the really can’t do that with APs. At least with resort guests they have a good handle on how many people are on property and parks they will go to. APs can show up whenever/wherever and they probably want to stop that for the time being to control crowds. That’s just my theory anyway. No one will know anything until they tell us of course.
THIS 👉🏻 !!!
Is why I will never ever invest in a Disney Theme Parks passport (they need to communicate with their customers better – give you more options to either cancel and refund, or a discounted new passport!)
I’m actually having better communication and customer service with Knott’s Berry Farm (Cedar Fair). They can’t guarantee when they will be open again, but they will guarantee me everything my passport will offer regardless of end date.
Is that so difficult to do Disney?
I am a Pasdholder from Missouri and my full paid annual pass will expire this month and we are coming in June. No I cannot get fast passes for myself and yes I do have reservations on property
call them it’s easy process
I really don’t understand why you and other annual pass holders should be upset. I’m annual pass holder and have been for 8 years since leaving WDW. We are so much more fortunate to be able to go to the parks than others. WDW doesn’t charge for fast pass, like Universal Studios. Enjoy the parks and go to attractions during slow times.
Yes, I am one of those that has a room reservation. All I had to do was call and they got me squared away for booking my fastpasses. Very easy process
While our passes wouldn’t have normally expired until January, not including COVID-19 extensions. I am curious to see how the blackout dates are going to be affected, if at all. I’m guessing not, but as much as one pays for AP’s I think ANY blackout dates are ridiculous. I don’t think I would be going to the parks frequently in the 1000 degree sun of a Florida summer anyway, but as an APH I should be ABLE to if I want. But, I digress…I haven’t tried the fast pass thing yet, but after reading this article, I will.
I don’t think a fastpass will be needed until the parks open at full capacity. The idea of a fastpass when there is a very limited amount of guests allowed is incongruous.
Any news on the updating of the expiration dates ???? I can’t reserve any dates as an annual pass holder whose tickets expired during the closures.