Can you upgrade a ticket bought from an autorized seller at the gate?

[luckygirl539]

My husband and I want to purchase annual passes for Disney. We have never been! We want to go at least twice this year, so we think this would save us the most money. Plus, we get 40% off our room this time as passholders. My question is this: We are trying to save some money on our annual pass. I know you can upgrade tickets at the gate when you arrive, but can you upgrade tickets that have been sold at an authorized dealer (Undercovertourist.com)?? I can get a 7 DAY MYW park hopper for about $30 cheaper, than pay the difference at the gate to buy an annual pass. I think. . .I am worried that I will buy the ticket and disney will not let me upgrade, since they did not sell it to me. Or maybe they know I got it for cheaper. I don't know! Help! Has anyone upgrades tickets at the gate???

[WizardLarz]

Yes, you can upgrade a UCT ticket. But do it after you've entered the Park at guest services.

Check ou this thread.http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1452684
It is by someone who works in Disney ticketing!

[luckygirl539]

I am still lost. . .It looks like I have to turn my ticket into an intermediate ticket? But does that mean I have to pay the difference? And it made it sound like I had to use it at least once before I upgrade it? Help?

[seashoreCM]

A Magic Your Way ticket will still upgrade without intermediate paperwork if you don't use it first but it might cost you a little more.

After slight* usage the upgrade value is the price for that kind of ticket posted at the ticket booths (gate price).

Prior to any usage the trade in value is what Disney sold the ticket for which is generally about what you paid for it.

In both cases you have to add more money (you cannot add more tickets to one upgrade transaction) to arrive at the price of the upgraded ticket you want to end up with.

* Actually you can even use it up before upgrading but if any usage occurred more than 13 days ago then the ticket can no longer be upgraded.

[luckygirl539]

Ok, lets use an example. Lets say I bought a discouted ticket for 100 and it sells at Disney for 125. I want to upgrade to a 200 annual pass at the gate. Is it going to be just 75 to upgrade, or do they know how much I bought it for, and they are going to make me pay 100 or any other fees?

[Sammy]

OP: DH and I just did this in November. I had purchased 7 day hoppers with no expiration through Undercover Tourist at a $36 discount for each ticket. Once we got to Disney and used the passes at Epcot, we realized that we should upgrade to APs because we were coming back again in April. We went to the Guest Services window, explained what we wanted to do, and the CM took care of it without a problem. He applied the full gate value of the 7-day pass to our APs. It did take about 20 minutes to do two tickets.

You can do the upgrade at Guest Services at any park.

[seashoreCM]

Originally Posted by luckygirl539

Ok, lets use an example. Lets say I bought a discouted ticket for 100 and it sells at Disney for 125. I want to upgrade to a 200 annual pass at the gate. Is it going to be just 75 to upgrade, or do they know how much I bought it for, and they are going to make me pay 100 or any other fees?

Assuming you started to use your discounted ticket, the correct answer is 75.

Occasionally the CM behind the counter doesn't know that and tries to collect $100. though.

While we are on the subject of mistakes, check your AP to be sure the date is a year from "today" if you just started using the ticket. Correctly the start date of the AP is the first usage date of the ticket you submitted.

[luckygirl539]

Thanks Sammy,
Everything I have read makes it look like they will only give you the value of the remaining six days?! I hope this has happened to others, because I am afraid that my luck will not be as good as yours.

[Sammy]

Originally Posted by luckygirl539

Thanks Sammy,
Everything I have read makes it look like they will only give you the value of the remaining six days?! I hope this has happened to others, because I am afraid that my luck will not be as good as yours.

Hmmm...I've never heard of that happening. As long as you upgrade your ticket within 14 days of first use, they will apply the full price of all days (in your case, a 7-day pass) to your AP. Even if you use your MYW pass for the entire 7 days of vacation, then decide on the very last day to upgrade, they should still apply the entire price of the MYW to your upgrade.

Maybe Seashore can confirm all of this for me, but I'm positive this is the case.

PS: I never even mentioned to the CM that the tickets had been purchased through a broker....they were exactly the same ones sold at the gate, so I don't think there's any way for them to tell.

[seashoreCM]

1. (After some usage) the full gate price of the ticket you submitted, as if the ticket were new, is credited towards the ticket you want to end up with.

2. The usage history of the ticket you submitted is taken out of the ticket you end up with. For example if you used one day of your 7 day ticket and came back the next day to do the upgrade to 10 days, you receive a 10 day ticket with one day already used.

2a. More complex example. You use your 7 day non-hopping ticket at Magic Kingdom and later in the day go to Epcot and upgrade it to 10 days still non-hopping. The Epcot turnstiles recognize the usage history at MK that day and deny you entrance until you go back to the ticket booth and upgrade it again, this time adding hopping. Or you can go back to MK and it will not cost you another day for same day re-entry.

[dopeynme]

Hi! DH and I did exactly what you are suggesting in Feb. We purchased 7-day tickets thru Undercover tourist, for a discount. We used them to enter DHS. We went to Guest Services and upgraded to APs. We paid the difference between the gate price and the AP (minus the DVC discount of $100 each).

Then, whenever we bought anything, we asked if there were any discounts for AP, DVC, Disney Visa, D23, TIW........sheesh! Maybe they will start paying us next!

Good luck and enjoy your trip!

[luckygirl539]

Thanks everyone. It makes me feel a little better to know that others have done this successfully!