Update on annual pass upgrade from 7-day hopper

[cigar95]

Today I did an annual pass upgrade on the first full day of my trip. Had some free time at Epcot when the line to Sum of All Thrills got unusually long for a while, so I went to Guest Relations near Spaceship Earth.

This is the third or fourth time I've upgraded a regular ticket to an annual, and this was the first time I encountered a CM who was unaware of ticket bridging - in this case, *completely* unaware. So I asked for a manager, and while he was aware, it was clear he didn't really want to. So he offered to "accommodate me", since it was just the first day I had used the ticket. Since I was getting what I needed, I wasn't going to debate his misunderstanding of policy, the number of days being used having nothing to do with whether or not tickets are bridged. (Apart from a ticket that is fully used, of course.)

Two thoughts on this one - first, though there seem to have been fewer reports of bridging problems recently, there's clearly still misunderstanding out there. I fear as time goes on, it may become increasingly difficult to find cast members who know the process, if management isn't clear.

And second, although the general understanding is that the location of the upgrade likely has little or nothing to do with your chances of handling an upgrade smoothly, I think Future World Guest Relations may be an exception to that rule - because many of the CMs at this location are international program students who are here for a year or so, they may be less experienced than the usual guest relations CM.

To be clear, I'm not complaining about the service I got - eventually I got what I needed. But there's still an issue out there that anyone doing an upgrade needs to be aware of.

 

[Laketravis]

FYI, we had the same issue in December. We went to upgrade our 10 Day PH'ers to AP's at Epcot and the first time around the CM quoted us almost full price for the AP's. I had to break it down for him and even show him what options to select on his HUB screen. After 30 minutes and much back and forth we paid the $751 to upgrade to 3 AP's. We left EP and went to HS. We couldn't get in, all of our bands read blue. We were "escorted" to GS and explained what happened at Epcot. They pulled it up and realized that the previous CM had put all the AP's in DS9's name. They fixed that, and then realized that we weren't issued the plastic cards either so they made us three new AP cards.

So yeah, this is definitely an area where the guest can often know more about what they need and how it's done then the CM does.

 

[drea21]

When we upgraded last month we noticed after the upgrade that they had set the expiration date to May (when we bought the tickets) not Jan. (when we used them). Went back and she told us that she was right, that the annual pass starts dorm the day you purchase the original tickets. Thankfully, I had researched the process and knew she was wrong, I insisted she get another CM, who finally came over and corrected her. She still came up with some kind of "well, I guess we were both right" Ummm, no, you were completely wrong. We did get a bonus FP for the trouble

 

[Robo]

This is the third or fourth time I've upgraded a regular ticket to an annual, and this was the first time I encountered a CM who was unaware of ticket bridging - in this case, *completely* unaware. So I asked for a manager, and while he was aware, it was clear he didn't really want to. So he offered to "accommodate me", since it was just the first day I had used the ticket. Since I was getting what I needed, I wasn't going to debate his misunderstanding of policy, the number of days being used having nothing to do with whether or not tickets are bridged. (Apart from a ticket that is fully used, of course.)

Thanks for the very thorough report.
Glad you stuck to your guns and got the correct outcome!

 

[magnusx1]

So, I'll go ahead and ask...

If I want to upgrade my 5-day PH tickets for my upcoming trip into APs, are you supposed to do it before you use any of the tickets, or can you do it at anytime while you're there? Is the policy that you can only use "unused" days to upgrade them?

 

[Hootch]

Use the ticket at least once before upgrading. That ensures the ticket value is set to the gate price.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

So, I'll go ahead and ask...

If I want to upgrade my 5-day PH tickets for my upcoming trip into APs, are you supposed to do it before you use any of the tickets, or can you do it at anytime while you're there? Is the policy that you can only use "unused" days to upgrade them?

If you want to price bridge, you have to do the upgrade after you've entered a park for the first time, but before you use the last entitlement on the ticket. In other words, don't do it before you've been to at least one park, but also don't wait until you've used the last admission.

FWIW, I had problems upgrading at the same location as the OP a couple of years ago. I asked for a manager and she even wouldn't allow the price bridging. So I did it at the ticket window outside Epcot instead with no issues.

 

[Candleshoe]

I've had the least issues at DTD Guest Services. (Beyond parking, that is.)

 

[scm200]

agree with DTD guest services, they were great when we did our last upgrades

 

[magnusx1]

If you want to price bridge, you have to do the upgrade after you've entered a park for the first time, but before you use the last entitlement on the ticket. In other words, don't do it before you've been to at least one park, but also don't wait until you've used the last admission.

So, whatever price I paid for the 5 day PH ticket get's deducted from the cost of the AP, correct? Meaning it should be about ~$250 per ticket extra to make it an AP, right?

 

[vicki_c]

No, not what price you PAID. You will credit for the current(meaning on upgrade day) gate price of the ticket you are upgrading provided you have used it at least once.

 

[jennab113]

I upgraded my 6 day base ticket to an AP in November at the same location as the OP and didn't have any problems at all. The CM knew exactly what to do, so I guess it just depends on what CM you get.

 

[POOHsie]

So, whatever price I paid for the 5 day PH ticket get's deducted from the cost of the AP, correct? Meaning it should be about ~$250 per ticket extra to make it an AP, right?

Depends on where you bought your ticket. If it's from Disney online or a Disney ticket booth, separate from a resort package, you get what you paid for the ticket.

If it's from a 3rd party discount reseller like AAA or UT, and you use the ticket to enter a park first before doing the upgrade, you get Disney's gate price ticket credit, which is higher than what you paid.

If there's a price increase between the time you purchased your ticket and the time you do your upgrade, Disney's online and ticket booth tickets will still only be worth what you paid. But Disney resort package tickets, The Disney Store tickets, and 3rd party tickets (AAA, UT, etc.) will be given the current gate price credit as long as you use the ticket first to enter a park before doing your upgrade.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

So, whatever price I paid for the 5 day PH ticket get's deducted from the cost of the AP, correct? Meaning it should be about ~$250 per ticket extra to make it an AP, right?

No.

No, not what price you PAID. You will credit for the current(meaning on upgrade day) gate price of the ticket you are upgrading provided you have used it at least once.

Yes.

So if you paid $200 for a 5 day ticket and Disney raises its price for a 5 day ticket to $220, and the cost of an AP is $500, then you pay $500-220=280, not $500-200=$300. Price bridging allows you to "lock in" pricing protection from ticket price increases. It helps even more when you buy from a ticket discounter, like Undercover Tourist. If you pay $180 for your UT ticket, and then Disney raises its price to $220 by the time of your trip, then your cost to upgrade to an AP is still $500-220=280, not $500-180=$220. So you just saved yourself $40/ticket. But the key to all this is getting a CM who actually knows how to price bridge, which is a hit-or-miss experience.

 

[vicki_c]

Poohsie good point on noting that it depends on where you bought your ticket. Since we were talking about bridging (so 3rd party ticket purchases), mentioning Disney tickets hadn't occurred to me.

 

[Robo]

There is NO price bridging on tickets bought at the Disney gates or ordered on-line or over the phone directly from Disney.

-------------------------------------------
There IS price bridging on tickets bought as part of a Disney Resort Package, or from the Disney Store, of from any of the authorized Disney ticket resellers/discounters.

 

[EJM]

Does anyone have ideas how they might bridge non-experation tickets in the future? (If Disney decides to stop offering the option)

 

[FidlMom]

Has anyone been able to upgrade an AFS (Armed Forces Salute) ticket to an AP with price bridging? I tried to do it last month and was told I would only get credited what I PAID for the ticket.

 

[Robo]

Has anyone been able to upgrade an AFS (Armed Forces Salute) ticket to an AP with price bridging? I tried to do it last month and was told I would only get credited what I PAID for the ticket.

Although AFS tickets can be upgraded, price bridging is not allowed on upgrades of AFS tickets.

 

[Robo]

Does anyone have ideas how they might bridge non-experation tickets in the future? (If Disney decides to stop offering the option)

We can only guess at this point.

(But, I don't think the transaction would lose guests any money.)