Annual pass help!

[cmorris303]

We have just decided last minute to by annual passes while we're there later this week. We are going again this summer and would like to take advantage of the discounts on both trips. Anyway, do I need to buy tickets now and then upgrade to an annual pass when we get there? Can I just buy annual passes without having existing tickets? Are there any advantages/disadvantages to buying tickets ahead or doing it all when we get there?
Also, will I be able to take advantage of the AP perks immediately?

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[Klayfish]

I'm sure you can buy annual passes when you get there, they'll be happy to sell them to you.

Yes, you'll be able to use the perks immediately. We upgraded from regular tickets to AP in the middle of a trip and when we walked out of Guest Relations from the upgrade, we were able to start using the perks.

Congrats on the decision!!!!

 

[Accident]

Anyway, do I need to buy tickets now and then upgrade to an annual pass when we get there? Can I just buy annual passes without having existing tickets? Are there any advantages/disadvantages to buying tickets ahead or doing it all when we get there?

1. If there is a discount you really like that requires a ticket, you can get that discount and then upgrade the tickets to the AP. General discounts have more resort and room options than ap discounts so while you might save a few more dollars, you might not get the resort or type of room you want. You would need to call up to find out the current AP discount since you can't see it on the website without having an AP. Upgrades cost the difference from ticket to the AP of your choice. Just make sure if you go the ticket route you have enough ticket days to get all the fastpass+ you want ahead of time.

2. If you use a ticket reseller, you can save a little bit of money or a lot of money depending on how many days you planned to get a ticket for. Disney will charge you the difference from disney's price of the ticket to the current AP price when you upgrade. A disclaimer though, the forums have had a lot of threads of useless cast memebers who don' tknow how to correct do this so make sure you know the price the upgrade should be and you may need to try several different guest relations until you find someone that is good at their job.

Also, will I be able to take advantage of the AP perks immediately?

I think so but I'm not actually sure. The only perks you could use before you get there would be discounts on parties, tours and other hard ticket events including a current cirque promotion they have going on. For room discounts you can actually get them without having an AP, the only requirement is you need to have an ap without 24 hours of check in or they will auto-charge you the full price of the room with no discount. To get that discount without the ap or to find out what they are you need to call.

 

[cmorris303]

Thanks for the help!

 

[DVCkidsMOM]

One concern that we had about upgrading our APs is that you must have tickets to cover the days in the park for which you want to make FPP rezzies. We had gold passes that have blackout dates and decided to go during some blackout dates - we upgraded to platinum passes without blackout dates.
If we had waited until the blackout date trip to upgrade, we would not have been able to make FPP rezzies during our FPP window for the blackout trip. We have a resort rezzie for the blackout dates; but unless we also have passes that are valid for the blackout dates, the system won't let us make FPP rezzies. At least that's my understanding... So we upgraded our APs while at WDW on the last trip so we could make FPP rezzies for a future blackout date trip.

 

[disneywithfive]

If you use a ticket reseller, you can save a little bit of money or a lot of money depending on how many days you planned to get a ticket for. Disney will charge you the difference from disney's price of the ticket to the current AP price when you upgrade. A disclaimer though, the forums have had a lot of threads of useless cast memebers who don' tknow how to correct do this so make sure you know the price the upgrade should be and you may need to try several different guest relations until you find someone that is good at their job..

Can you upgrade these types of tickets and get the 13 month AP promotion if we go before the promotion ends?