When we go to WDW in May 2020, I plan to get myself an AP since I’ll use it again in December 2020, plus it gives me, then, free parking for the May 2020 trip (offsite stay).
But, we are now toying with the possibility that my son and daughter-in-law could join us if we rent a house that as 5 BR instead of 4 BR. In such a case, they might have an additional vehicle. My AP wouldn’t cover their parking, so then I COULD get my wife an AP as well. Generally, that is a break-even proposition, but her pass would then cover parking for an additional vehicle, wouldn’t it?
How does the AP work when it actually comes to parking? I mean, my wife would technically be in the vehicle with me. Do they make you show ID at the parking booths? Could my wife hand over the AP for the purpose of parking only?
It might not make sense to do it…and depending on how things play out, we might just all squeeze into our van anyhow. But they might not want to be tied to us in terms of arrival/leaving times.
But this does lead to another question…how does your FIRST day work with the AP and parking? If the AP isn’t yet activated, do they charge you for parking and then refund it at activation?
Some booths, simply flashing the card was enough. Some booths, they wanted to look at the back to see the year. Once, they scanned my MagicBand to ensure I was the right person. Any of these could happen when you try to park at the theme park with your Annual Pass.
As for the first time, IDK. I activated and picked up my card on a trip when I was using DisneyTransportation the whole way.
Okay. Well, it becomes risky if they want I’d or something. Probably not worth it. With parking now $25 a day, I thought maybe it could save some money.
I am still curious about first day though, in case anyone else knows since I will still have the AP for myself.
I upgraded a PH to an AP last October, on the first day of use. I showed the CM my parking receipt from that morning and asked if they would credit the parking fee ($20 at that time) towards my upgrade and they happily did.
As for using an AP for another vehicle, my guess is you will have issues. I have used my AP on 4 trips in total. The most recent trip was last month and I definitely noticed they were more strict about confirming that I was the actual AP holder this time than they were on previous trips … maybe because I was nearing the end of my AP year?
I had to hand in my ID along with my pass almost every single time I entered a lot. I think they may have waved me through after I flashed my card on one entry, late in the day, but every other time they wanted ID. I even had one CM instruct me on the best method for handing in the pass and the ID at the same time to streamline the process. Once I got the hang of it, another CM complimented me on my efficiency.
On the one hand, if I did get my wife an AP as well, then we are paying for it to have free parking. We don’t need free parking twice for the car, so being able to use it to pay for our son’s car (potentially) seems reasonable.
On the other hand, I can see how they need to prevent folks from avoiding paying for parking simply because some friend lent them an AP just to park.
Well, if they are going to tour with us, then they don’t need to bring a separate car. We have room in our van for 7 people. Without them, we have 5, so we can squeeze them in. But I was figuring that they might not ALWAYS want to go in when we do.
(Okay, truth be told, we might not want to wait for them to be READY to go. I love my daughter-in-law to pieces…but she is NOT one known for being on time for things…particularly when they are early! So, I’d hate to miss RD at HS, for example, because we’re waiting for them!)
Well. It just comes down to the fact that if they want to go in separately, they’ll have to deal with paying for parking!
