Am I understanding about upgrading to an annual pass correctly?

eargal

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jun 28, 2005
Messages
323
So, if we buy park hoppers and then decide to upgrade them, we will pay the difference between what we paid and the cost of the AP. It doesn't benefit us at all in this case to pre-purchase the park hoppers since any savings we get there will be accounted for when we upgrade.

Do I have this right? Am I even making sense?:goodvibes
 
As far as cost savings goes, you're right. There is no cost benefit in upgrading from a hopper to an AP. However, one nice benefit is that if you are staying off-site, you can get one MM entry with a parkhopper, and you can upgrade after you take advantage of that MM entry. If you buy the AP up front, you won't get MM privileges unless you stay on-site. Also, prepurchasing from disneyland.com (instead of buying at the gate) saves you time on your first day in the parks since you can go directly to the turnstiles with your eticket.
 
I bought the Costco 4 day pass intending to use it 3 times and upgrade. Why I did that is so that I get the three extra uses for the same cost as a 12 month pass. Stretching that dollar just a little bit more.
 
I bought the Costco 4 day pass intending to use it 3 times and upgrade. Why I did that is so that I get the three extra uses for the same cost as a 12 month pass. Stretching that dollar just a little bit more.

Does that work? I know that if you upgrade a park hopper they start your AP on the first day of use of your PH. I'm curious how they work that with the Costco 4 day passes?
 

Does that work? I know that if you upgrade a park hopper they start your AP on the first day of use of your PH. I'm curious how they work that with the Costco 4 day passes?

I don't think it does....I think they will back date your pass to 1st use. Didn't they do that with the last socal passes?
 
I bought the Costco 4 day pass intending to use it 3 times and upgrade. Why I did that is so that I get the three extra uses for the same cost as a 12 month pass. Stretching that dollar just a little bit more.

Does that work? I know that if you upgrade a park hopper they start your AP on the first day of use of your PH. I'm curious how they work that with the Costco 4 day passes?

If you upgrade to an AP from any ticket / pass, they date your AP to the first use of your original pass.
 
I called Disneyland's ticket line and they said that the AP start begins on the day that you upgrade to the AP. It must be done when there is one day unused on the passes though. So, for example I have a four day pass and plan to use the third day in January. I have to upgrade that day some time and then my AP will start and end in January. I hope I got good information.
 
I called Disneyland's ticket line and they said that the AP start begins on the day that you upgrade to the AP. It must be done when there is one day unused on the passes though. So, for example I have a four day pass and plan to use the third day in January. I have to upgrade that day some time and then my AP will start and end in January. I hope I got good information.

I hope so too. With a PH it is backdated to the first day the PH is used, not the day it is upgraded!
 
I really don't think that's correct information.

But the so cal Costco 4 day tix might be a very different thing.

there are many more locals on mouseplanet and micechat...you might go to their planning forums (at micechat it's under southern ca trip planning) and look around or maybe ask...
 
I sent an email with situation so I get the response in writing from them. cross my fingers.
 
I bought the Costco 4 day pass intending to use it 3 times and upgrade. Why I did that is so that I get the three extra uses for the same cost as a 12 month pass. Stretching that dollar just a little bit more.

Does that work? I know that if you upgrade a park hopper they start your AP on the first day of use of your PH. I'm curious how they work that with the Costco 4 day passes?

If you upgrade to an AP from any ticket / pass, they date your AP to the first use of your original pass.

I called Disneyland's ticket line and they said that the AP start begins on the day that you upgrade to the AP..... I hope I got good information.

I would call back and ask again. This is directly from Disneyland.com:
"If an upgrade to an Annual Passport is made from a multi-day ticket, the Annual Passport will be backdated to begin on the first day that the multi day ticket was used."

- Dreams
 
I hope so too. With a PH it is backdated to the first day the PH is used, not the day it is upgraded!
But...I had used a PH on a AP blackout day, so I got to get in on that day, and then upgraded. So it's a good deal if you happen to be there on a Blackout day and want to get in before you upgrade.
 
So, if we buy park hoppers and then decide to upgrade them, we will pay the difference between what we paid and the cost of the AP. It doesn't benefit us at all in this case to pre-purchase the park hoppers since any savings we get there will be accounted for when we upgrade.

Do I have this right? Am I even making sense?:goodvibes

You don't necessarily pay the difference from what you PAID and the cost of the AP. This might be an extreme case (it happened with me), but if you got your ticket at a discounted price (I got a group discount through a corporate thing), then you pay the difference between the VALUE of the ticket and the cost of the AP.

What I mean is, I got a 5-day parkhopper (valued at $204) for $184. I upgraded to a Deluxe pass and I did NOT pay the difference between what I paid and the cost of the AP - I paid the difference between $289 and $204 ($85 paid).
 
But...I had used a PH on a AP blackout day, so I got to get in on that day, and then upgraded. So it's a good deal if you happen to be there on a Blackout day and want to get in before you upgrade.
ITA! We upgraded our PH after we used our MM.

You don't necessarily pay the difference from what you PAID and the cost of the AP. This might be an extreme case (it happened with me), but if you got your ticket at a discounted price (I got a group discount through a corporate thing), then you pay the difference between the VALUE of the ticket and the cost of the AP.

What I mean is, I got a 5-day parkhopper (valued at $204) for $184. I upgraded to a Deluxe pass and I did NOT pay the difference between what I paid and the cost of the AP - I paid the difference between $289 and $204 ($85 paid).
This is a rare occasion. Normally the price you pay is encoded in your ticket.
 
So I am very confused:confused3 We are going to purchase our 6 day park hoppers online before we go and then when we are there (before we have used all our days) we are thinking about upgrading to an annual pass so we can go down again sometime this spring. When I pay the difference to upgrade am I paying the difference from what I payed to order them before hand online or the difference from what they charge at the gate? Does this make any sense? I see the previous posts but am so confused. Will they see I bought them for a cheaper price online and I have to make up the difference and them save no money or will I just upgrade from their price of a 6 day park hopper at the gate? No matter what I do I will still buy the 6 day because I want to get the early morning entry. Thanks in advance and I know this has been explained but I'm just a little blonde:lmao: And does anyone know what the price of a 6 day adult hopper is and an annual pass for an adult as well at the gate?
 
So I am very confused:confused3 We are going to purchase our 6 day park hoppers online before we go and then when we are there (before we have used all our days) we are thinking about upgrading to an annual pass.... When I pay the difference to upgrade am I paying the difference from what I payed to order them before hand online or the difference from what they charge at the gate?...
Upgrading is very simple, with the ability to make it much more complicated than need be.

Price of annual pass - price you paid for your ticket or PH = price to upgrade

- Dreams
 
Thanks so much for your help:thumbsup2 That's what I thought but was over thinking it and not understanding the previous posts.
 
Sorry, forgot the pricing.

A six day hopper at the gate would cost $254/adult at the gate. A premium annual pass costs $429 :scared1:. A deluxe annual pass costs $289.

To truly compare apples to apples, add the cost of a parking add-on to the deluxe pass, since premium includes parking. Also remember there are additional discounts with the premium that are not with the deluxe.
 
..and be careful the CM applies the proper price to your tickets.. He tried to give us credit on So CA ticket, when we had a regular PH (buy3 get 5). I don't get how this happened if they scan your ticket, but that's what was going on while I was trying to figure out why he wanted me to pay so much for the upgrade. Finally figured it out and all was well :)
Yes, Premium AP gets better discounts but DVC gets pretty good ones too. I think the only one I'd really like is the shopping discount..doesn't Disney Visa get a discount for shopping also?
 

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