Upgrading Tickets
An
"upgrade" is defined by WDW as
adding one or more days to any base ticket,
and/or adding one or both of the other options, Park Hopper or Water Park Fun & More (WPF&M) to an existing ticket.
Or, upgrading a standard ticket to an Annual Pass (AP) is other popular option.
The basic rule for the cost of upgrading a ticket is to
subtract the cost of the ticket that you HAVE from the cost of the ticket that you WANT.
That difference in cost is how much the upgrade will cost (plus 6.5% tax on that difference amount.)
A ticket can be upgraded more than once, if needed,
even during the time the guest is using the ticket's assets, with no restrictions,
except for the maximum number of days allowed per ticket
and the "14 days from first use rule."
Note that in order to qualify as an "upgrade" the transaction requires a payment (not a refund,)
and can only be done on a one-to-one basis.
Guests cannot combine the value of more than one ticket.
In other words, if you own two different tickets (say, a 3-day ticket -and- a 1-day ticket,)
you could not add the value of both tickets to end up with a single new ticket of four or more days.
Where to do the Upgrade
An upgrade can be done at any WDW theme park or water park ticket window or Guest Relations, or at the Disney Springs Guest Relations office.
The Concierge staff at WDW resorts can do many standard ticket upgrade transactions,
but they cannot do any transactions regarding Annual Passes.
Upgrading BEFORE arriving at WDW.
•If you bought tickets as part of a WDW Resort package, you can usually call WDW and have your package tickets upgraded before you arrive.
However, in many cases, it is not possible to upgrade a stand-alone ticket (one NOT purchased as part of a WDW resort package.)
•If you bought tickets from one of the many authorized WDW ticket resellers/discounters
those tickets cannot be upgraded by Disney until you arrive at WDW.
It is occasionally possible to contact the original authorized reseller and that seller
MIGHT be able to take back the tickets in exchange for longer/larger tickets.
•If you bought stand-alone tickets directly from WDW, on-line or over the phone,
those tickets can
sometimes be upgraded in advance of your trip by Disney via a phone call.
Call (407) 939-7523 in the US.
Call 0800 16 90 730 in the UK.
Any MYW ticket must be upgraded within 14 days of first use.
If the first day of use is a Sunday, the last time an upgrade or modification may be done before close-of-business of the second Saturday which follows.
Also, tickets cannot be upgraded after out-of-town guests have retuned home.
If you use up all of your entitlements on a ticket, the LATEST that you can do any sort of upgrade or modification
is before close-of-business on the day that you use that ticket's last asset.
This means that if you had (as example) a four day ticket and your fourth day of use was a Friday,
from Saturday onward you cannot do any upgrade, even though it is within the 14 day period.
Note this does not apply to Florida Resident Tickets, in which case the Guest name is preprinted on the ticket...
and they may add days after the last entitlement is used
as long as they have a photo ID that matches the name preprinted on the ticket.
Note that you can add major theme park days and/or the WPF&M option
to any ticket even after all of the original major theme park days have been used,
provided it meets the requirements of the previous paragraph.
You can not exceed the maximum of ten days of total major theme park entitlements.
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Cost to Upgrade:
"Price bridging" for Upgrading Tickets has changed in some cases.
As it stands now, tickets purchased from stock issued before the
price increase of Feb. 12, 2017 (this is NOT necessarily related to the date that YOU purchased your tickets)
will be bridged only to the pre-increase price that Disney sold these tickets to the public.
That means:
There are currently
two different ticket upgrade scenarios:
1. To upgrade an "
Old Price" Ticket:
If the ticket that you have, and want to upgrade, was purchased from an authorized ticket reseller from "old stock" or "leftover tickets" (a ticket minted BEFORE the Feb. 12 price increase,) THAT ticket will be price-bridged up to the full WDW gate price that was in place BEFORE Feb. 12, 2017. Even if you actually purchased your tickets after Feb. 12, if you bought
"leftover tickets" from the resellers older stock of tickets, they are considered to be tickets
minted before Feb. 12.
The price at which Disney sold these tickets to the public "before Feb. 12" will be the price subtracted from the CURRENT gate price of the new ticket to which you are upgrading.
That difference price will be the cost to upgrade.
2. To upgrade a "
New Price" Ticket:
If the ticket that you have, and want to upgrade, was purchased from an authorized ticket reseller from "current stock" (a ticket minted AFTER the Feb. 12 price increase,) THAT ticket will be price-bridged up to the full CURRENT WDW gate price.
That "current price" of your original ticket will be subtracted from the CURRENT gate price of the new ticket to which you are upgrading.
That difference price will be the cost to upgrade.
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Ticket PRICES-CURRENT-Since Feb. 12, 2017 can be found on the WDW website HERE.
Ticket PRICES-PREVIOUS to Feb. 12, 2017 from an archived Allears page HERE.
For the transaction of a ticket upgrade: a ticketing CM can manually raise the price of a guest's ticket that was purchased at a discount (or purchased before a WDW price increase) up to the current (that day) gate price of that same kind of ticket.
This procedure is often called "Price Bridging" on these boards.
Price bridging allows guests to upgrade a ticket and still "keep the savings" that they got when they bought a discounted ticket.
Price bridging is NOT done for tickets purchased "directly from Disney" (at the gates, by mail, on line, on the phone.)
Price bridging IS done for upgrading tickets purchased from authorized WDW ticket resellers (discounters,)
Price bridging IS done for upgrading tickets purchased as part of a WDW Resort package (room -and- tickets,)
Price bridging IS done for upgrading tickets purchased at any retail
Disney Store.
The best way that a guest is sure to get the correct price when upgrading a ticket
that qualifies the the "price bridge" is first "do the math" and KNOW exactly how much the ticket upgrade should cost BEFORE going to the booth to get the upgrade.
Current Ticket PRICES can be found on the WDW website
HERE.
If the ticket CM offers an unexpected (incorrect) upgrade price, the guest can nicely ask the CM to "check again, please, as the price should be lower on these kind of tickets."
If that doesn't net the correct price, nicely ask to speak with a ticket supervisor.
If that doesn't net the correct price, nicely decline the upgrade, i.e., "I've decided not to do this."
Then, the guest can go to another ticket/Guest Relations booth (at another park) or do the upgrade at a different time.
There is no "best location/worst location" to get a correct ticket upgrade transaction, as the skill-level, training-level, experience-level of any CMs at any particular location can change with the date, the time, and any other scheduling situation.
"Luck-of-the-draw" is fully in play, here.
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Which discounted ticket to buy for use in an Upgrade.
Don't worry about the LENGTH of the discounted ticket
intended for upgrade.
You want to do the math to see which of the tickets offer the best SAVINGS over the full-gate cost.
That way, when you do the upgrade the price-bridge will allow you to "keep the savings"
while getting to buy the AP.
The other side of this is that if the advance-purchased intended-for-upgrade discount ticket is the only ticket that you have in your
MDE account, you will only be able to advance-book FP+ for the number of days on your ticket, even if your trip will be longer than that.
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More upgrading details:
If you originally purchased stand-alone tickets directly from the WDW website or via a phone call to WDW,
or at a WDW ticket or Guest Relations window:
If you want to upgrade,
you must pay the difference between what you originally paid Disney for the original ticket,
and the current gate price of the ticket to which you are upgrading,
plus 6.5% tax on the difference price.
If you originally purchased stand-alone tickets from an Authorized Retailer (reseller) of WDW tickets (this DOES include purchase from The Disney Store)
If you want to upgrade, your cost will be the difference between the current gate price of the original ticket that you HAVE,
and the current gate price of the ticket that you WANT (the ticket to which you are upgrading,)
plus 6.5% tax on the difference price.
If you originally purchased WDW Resort Package tickets
(as part of a "room -and- tickets" reservation)
If you want to upgrade, your cost will be the difference between the current gate price of the original ticket that you HAVE,
and the current gate price of the ticket that you WANT (the ticket to which you are upgrading,)
plus 6.5% tax on the difference price.
(Just below is a rare situation when 2 tickets can be combined for an upgrade.)
At the Water Parks and Disney Quest only,
if you have a 1-day water park or 1-day Disney Quest ticket that is unused (or has been used that same day)
you can combine that ticket with a MYW ticket to add the WPF&M option to the MYW ticket,
and just pay the difference between what was paid for the water park or Disney Quest ticket
and the current price of the MYW option (plus 6.5% tax on the difference price.)
This will not generally work if the MYW ticket is already a Hopper, as the cost to upgrade would be less than the price of a one day water park or DQ ticket, because, officially, WDW does not give refunds on tickets.
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Upgrading to an Annual Pass (AP)
An upgrade to any level of Annual Pass follows basically the same rules as any other upgrade of MYW tickets.
You cannot combine the value of more than one ticket in order to upgrade to a singe new ticket or AP.
The notable exception to this is if you have both a MYW ticket and a used water park or Disney Quest ticket,
these can be combined, along with additional money, for upgrading to a Platinum Plus AP.
If the current gate value of the ticket from which you want to upgrade is higher than the full price of the AP,
"officially," you would not be able to do an upgrade.
(If an exception is made, "officially," you will not receive a refund of the difference price.)
Any upgrade must be done at WDW at a location with access to the Automated Ticketing System (ATS).
Basically this is any park (including water park) ticket window or Guest Relations location,
or at the Disney Springs Guest Relations.
The Concierge staff at the resorts are not able to handle any type of AP transaction.
Cost of Upgrading to an AP:
If you originally purchased stand-alone tickets directly from the WDW website,
or via a phone call to WDW,
or at a WDW ticket or Guest Relations window:
If you want to upgrade, your cost will be the difference between what you originally paid Disney for the original ticket,
and the current gate price of the ticket that you WANT (the ticket to which you are upgrading,)
plus 6.5% tax on the difference price.
If you originally purchased stand-alone tickets from an Authorized Retailer (reseller) of WDW tickets:
If you want to upgrade, your cost will be the difference between the current gate price of the original ticket that you HAVE,
and the current gate price of the ticket that you WANT (the ticket to which you are upgrading,)
plus 6.5% tax on the difference price.
If you originally purchased WDW Resort Package tickets
(as part of a "room -and- tickets" reservation)
If you want to upgrade, your cost will be the difference between the current gate price of the original ticket that you HAVE,
and the current gate price of the ticket that you WANT (the ticket to which you are upgrading,)
plus 6.5% tax on the difference price.
If you are an Annual Passholder
and you are renewing your AP within the renewal window (up to 60 days before or 30 days after your AP anniversary date)
you may upgrade a MYW ticket to the Pass using the renewal rate.
All other upgrade rules apply, except the expiration date will be one year from the expiration date of the original AP.
If upgrading from a MYW ticket, and the MYW ticket has been partially (or fully) used,
the expiration date of the new AP will be set to one year from the date of first use of the original MYW ticket being upgraded.
If the MYW ticket has not been used, the expiration date will be one year from the date of the AP upgrade.
NOTE:
When upgrading to Annual Pass,
if the Guest's original ticket included Water Park Fun & More Option,
and any part of that option was used,
then the Guest may only upgrade to the Platinum Plus AP or Premier AP.
If none of the WPF&M options were used prior to upgrading,
then the guest may choose the kind of AP (Platinum, Platinum Plus, or Premier AP)
to which the guest will be upgrading.
If the guest purchased the
Memory Maker photo service, in some cases, it is possible that the Memory Maker purchase cost can be refunded -or- deducted from the cost of purchasing, or upgrading to, an AP (since APs now
include the Memory Maker photo service.)
When
parking at a theme park, if the guest has paid for parking and wants to purchase, or upgrade to, an AP that day,
if the guest takes the parking receipt to the booth where the AP transaction takes place, the parking cost can be refunded -or- deducted from the cost of purchasing, or upgrading to, an AP (since APs
include free Theme Park parking.)
A Florida Resident who is upgrading a 3-day or 4-day ticket may do the upgrade any time within six months of the date of first use of the original ticket.
The Florida Resident will also have the option of a Weekday Select Pass or Seasonal Pass, as well as an AP, PAP or DPP.
Note that the Florida Resident six month rules do
not apply if upgrading to any Annual Pass using the Monthly Payment Plan.
If the Florida Resident intends to use the Monthly Payment Plan, the upgrade may only be done within 14 days of first use.
The UK 14-day and 21-day Ultimate Tickets may be upgraded to Platinum or Platinum Plus Annual Passes.
The ATS system will give a current value in US$ which is considered the base for upgrading.
Note: If any of the minor park entries have been used, the upgrade may only be to the Platinum Plus Annual Pass.
If none of the WPF&M options were used prior to upgrading,
the guest may choose the kind of AP (Platinum or Platinum Plus Annual Pass) to which their ticket will be upgraded.
