Important bit of info could cost me big bucks!

[TWIRLYWIG]

In all the posts that I've reviewed about exchanging a 7 day hopper for an AP, no one mentioned (that I saw) that there is a penalty for using a discounted hopper from one of the wholesalers, until now. Is this correct?

If you exchange a discounted hopper for an AP, you will only be credited for the wholesale price of the hopper, not what you paid.
I thought I'd pay the difference between actual cost and AP cost.
So, I guess, the only way to upgrade without paying a big penalty is to buy through Disney.

Please help. I just ordered 2 (A) and 2(C) 7 day php's from Paramount, not knowing for sure that we'd want the AP's. Anyway I can change this situation? Rosa at Paramount said that the passes would not be mailed until Monday. However, I think their office closes after 5 pm. Don't know if they are opened on Sat and Sun.

Thanks for any input.

Twirly

 

[BethR]

I am so sorry that this happened to you Twirly.

Here's what I would do, I would contact Paramount IMMEDIATELY! You can leave a message on their answering machine. Ask them if it is possible for you to cancel your order - that if so, you need to do so.

I would also send an e-mail as well.

Then call them tomorrow morning. I do believe that they are open on Saturday mornings. I am almost certain that I spoke with someone there on a Saturday morning.

If they are NOT open tomorrow, I would call them at 9 AM on Monday. (I know that that will be early for you.) Tell them that you would like to cancel your order.

I may be incorrect, but I think that they will cooperate with you.

I hope so...

Good Luck!

 

[TWIRLYWIG]

You are very kind Beth. I am going to exactly as you've suggested. All is not lost, even if Paramount doesn't let me back out of the deal. Hey! As Goldenoldie pointed out in another thread, at least I got a great deal on a 7 day park hopper and I'll just stick with that.

Twirly

 

[poober25]

They should upgrade you from the price YOU paid. If there is a discrepancy and you have a receipt showing the price you paid, there shouldn't be a problem. It may also depend on the CM who does it. When we upgraded ours last Oct. we came out really well.

We had purchased from Connections, and went to the ticket counter our first day there to find out the difference in cost to upgrade. The CM there that day quoted a price (don't remember what) and we decided to think about it. 2 days later when we actually upgraded, the CM that was there that day, upgraded our pass to a Disney issued pass at no cost to us, and then scanned those to upgrade them to the AP. I don't remember the exact costs now, but if search is ever up, you can do a search under my name and look for an upgrade thread from about a yr. ago.

We wound up coming out better than if we had bought them from Disney, but I'm sure that doesn't happen often. HTH.

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by poober25
They should upgrade you from the price YOU paid. If there is a discrepancy and you have a receipt showing the price you paid, there shouldn't be a problem.

Not true. Disney sells the passes at a wholesale rate to vendors like Ticketmania and Paramount. Those vendors then upcharge a small percent, which represents their only income on the sales of the pass.

Disney CMs can tell the exact wholesale rate at which any pass is sold, and only that amount should be credited toward the purchase price of another pass. Makes sense--why should WDW absorb the profit realized by another party.

Sounds like you might have encountered a CM that didn't know exactly what he/she was doing. I certainly wouldn't bet on that happening again.

If the pass was purchased direct from WDW, you should receive the full value in a trade-up within 7 days of first use. But if it was purchased elsewhere, it is their standard policy that only the wholesale rate will be applied toward an upgrade.

 

[TWIRLYWIG]

Well, Paramount does not appear to be open on Sat. and Sun., so I've left my message and sent my e-mail. We'll see what happens Monday morning.

Thanks Everyone.

Twirly

 

[Mic]

I had a bad experience trying to upgrade an unused 5-day hopper plus purchased at wal-mart in Kissimee this past June. Even though I paid $250-something, I was only credited $222. At the same time, I was trying to upgrade my daughters' regular AP to a premium AP, and lost a lot of money on that transaction as well. I was very disappointed with how Disney handled it, and it put a big dent in my budget. I think we have agreed to let our AP's expire next June, and spend a few days at SeaWorld and (gasp) Universal the following trip.

 

[GoldenOldie]

Originally posted by Mic
I had a bad experience trying to upgrade an unused 5-day hopper plus purchased at wal-mart in Kissimee this past June. Even though I paid $150-something, I was only credited $122.

You encountered exactly what I described above. You were given credit for the wholesale price of the ticket that Disney sold it to the Walmart travel agency for.


At the same time, I was trying to upgrade my daughters' regular AP to a premium AP, and lost a lot of money on that transaction as well. I was very disappointed with how Disney handled it, and it put a big dent in my budget.

Sounds like you were hit by the new AP-to-PAP upgrade policy that they are now using. In the past, you could upgrade from a valid AP to a PAP simply by paying the price difference between the two passes ($127 and change) times the prorated number of months remaining on the AP. So if you had two months left, you could pay around $21 to get it upgraded for those two months.

This has been changed. Now in order to do this upgrade, you will be charged the full price difference regardless of the amount of time remaining on the AP.

If I'm reading your situation incorrectly and you were trying to upgrade an AP to a PAP at renewal last June, you should have been charged the PAP renewal price.

 

[TWIRLYWIG]

Well! Looks like no AP's for us this year. I got in touch with Rosa this morning, and the 7 day PHP's passes were sent Friday. She was very nice and I can't fault Paramount a bit. They did a great job of getting the passes out fast. According to the UPS tracking system, they'll be here tomorrow. I guess we won't be making an extra trip to Disney this year and so, I've saved some money in more than one way. And that is the end of that.

Twirly

 

[BethR]

I am sorry that things did not work out like you wanted, Twirly.

I can't recall if you said how long your upcoming trip is going to be, but believe me, that 7 day hopper can be stretched to last 2 trips! Or at least 1 and a 1/2.

We bought those 7 day hoppers for our trip this past summer. We had 1 day and 3 plusses left on our old passes. We stayed at WDW for 7 nights/8 days in August and came home with 4 days and a LOT of plusses left. That is definately enough for us to go back for another week someday in the future.

Don't be too sad. You have a free breakfast awaiting you. We ate at the Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club. It was a character meal in a very nice setting and the food was VERY good! I highly recommend it.

 

[TWIRLYWIG]

Thanks Beth,

My family is going to have a great time, and I suspect with just a little planning we may be able to stretch the life of those passes. We are going for 9 days. Oh, and thank you so much for the character breakfast recommendation! There are s-o-o-o-o many places from which to choose, this helps narrow it down a bit.

Twirly

 

[klh999]

Just a suggestion..

People are buying park hoppers on ebay like crazy. Why dont you try posting them on ebay with a buy-it-now auction for the price you paid. Someone might buy them.. Sometimes, I see people buying park hoppers for more than you pay at places like paramount. Its amazing.