Anyone Actually use GAD Vouchers

[tinkerbell615]

to upgrade to a multi-day pass?

I have read on the threads what I need to do and I am all ready, but now I am worried.

We are taking DD's friend and her mother says it states right on the Give A Day Get A Day website that a credit will not be given for multi-day passes. You can use the GAD voucher for one day, a fastpass or a pin.

Has anyone actually used the one day, then entered the park and upgraded to the multi-day? We are leaving in a few days and I would be so upset if we can't do this.

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[pixarmom]

My family upgraded GAD vouchers to APs, and my friend's family upgraded to multi-day passes. Neither of us had to get a one-day ticket and enter the park. The CM at the International Gateway in EPCOT handled the entire process on the spot for us - he simply redeemed the vouchers and then upgraded them to APs immediately. The CM outside the turnstiles at MK handled the entire process on the spot for our friends - he redeemed the vouchers then upgraded them to multi-day passes.

We were so pleased at how quickly and efficiently the entire process worked! Hope it goes as smoothly for you, OP!

P.S. I have a feeling I know what the "no credit for multi-day passes" means on the voucher - but I'm not a ticket expert - just sharing our personal experiences - so I'll leave the rest to Cheshire, Doconeill, Robo, etc. . . .

 

[tinkerbell615]

Thanks "Pixarmom" for sharing. Just what you have said makes me feel so much better. I am an extreme worrier and I always feel better after getting the answers from all of you here.

 

[Pembo]

We're just back and I upgraded our GAD one day to a 4 day with no problem. We went to the MK on our first day. I stopped at the TTC Will Call and did the redemption and upgrade all at once. Very easy.

 

[doconeill]

What they are saying is that you will not be given a credit back on a multi-day ticket you have already purchased. Nor can it be redeemed directly for a multi-day pass.

If what you want is a multi-day pass, you have to redeem it for the 1-day pass, and then any time after you have used it, within the next 13 days, you can upgrade it to the ticket you want.

One exception to cut out some steps is if you are upgrading to any type of annual pass, which they can do at the time of redemption. They still have to redeem it for the 1-day ticket, but they can then turn around and issue the pass.

 

[momof2disprincesses]

We had 2 families who also upgraded our GAD vouchers for 6 day one-day, on-park tickets. We also did it at MK. We simply went up to the will call area just to the right of the main turnstiles. There were dozens of people there the day we did it (June 8, 2010) doing the exact same thing.

We paid "the difference" between what a 6 day and a 1 day costs per person. We also received our volunteer "buttons" as did lot of others. CM's all day were saying "thank you for volunteering" to us.

It was awesome!

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

We upgraded DD8's GAD to a 8 day park hopper on 5/22 with no issues. I told the CM exactly what I wanted to do, handed her the voucher, DD's birth cirtificate. She gave DD a button for volunteering, showed me DD's 1 day GAD ticket (plastic purple Minnie), ran it thru and upgraded to a multi day ticket (paper ticket, green, had goofy on it). She held up the Minnie GAD ticket and said this is now all used up do you want to keep it, it makes a great souvineer and gave it back to DD. She gave me the total to upgrade I handed her my credit card and signed the slip and we were on our way. Easy and whole process took less than 5 minutes.

 

[doconeill]

We upgraded DD8's GAD to a 8 day park hopper on 5/22 with no issues. I told the CM exactly what I wanted to do, handed her the voucher, DD's birth cirtificate. She gave DD a button for volunteering, showed me DD's 1 day GAD ticket (plastic purple Minnie), ran it thru and upgraded to a multi day ticket (paper ticket, green, had goofy on it). She held up the Minnie GAD ticket and said this is now all used up do you want to keep it, it makes a great souvineer and gave it back to DD. She gave me the total to upgrade I handed her my credit card and signed the slip and we were on our way. Easy and whole process took less than 5 minutes.

You do seem to be an exception to the "rule" By rule, you need to use the ticket first. But there are some CMs who appear willing to short-circuit the steps and is willing to upgrade to a non-AP at the booth. It is certainly worth asking. In the immortal words of Bawb (RIP), "They can't hit ya."

We will certainly ask when we do it in December, but I expect to spend time on day 2 at the booth...

 

[tinkerbell615]

So we just returned from our trip and had no problem with the upgrade. We thought we would have to use the ticket to enter the park first, but the CM asked what we needed at the window outside MK and he did everything right there. I was actually surprised just how easy it all was.

We then took the ticket that he gave us back to Pop later that evening and they added the ticket to our room key. They allowed us to keep the old paper tickets as a souvenir.

 

[SDSorority]

You do seem to be an exception to the "rule" By rule, you need to use the ticket first. But there are some CMs who appear willing to short-circuit the steps and is willing to upgrade to a non-AP at the booth. It is certainly worth asking. In the immortal words of Bawb (RIP), "They can't hit ya."

We will certainly ask when we do it in December, but I expect to spend time on day 2 at the booth...

I had a CM (on the phone) tell me that you shouldn't use your ticket first, then upgrade because you wouldn't have anything up upgrade, if that makes sense? You'd use up your day and that would be that. He said to go to the window, show the voucher, and upgrade right there before going into the parks. I was told this by two different CM's on the phone- one at Disney reservatons and one at the GADGADD promotion line.

 

[doconeill]

I had a CM (on the phone) tell me that you shouldn't use your ticket first, then upgrade because you wouldn't have anything up upgrade, if that makes sense? You'd use up your day and that would be that. He said to go to the window, show the voucher, and upgrade right there before going into the parks. I was told this by two different CM's on the phone- one at Disney reservatons and one at the GADGADD promotion line.

NEVER ask a question about ticket upgrades to the CMs on the phones. Even the ones who sell tickets. They don't do ticket upgrades, and don't know how they are done.

Cheshire Figment IS a ticketing CM, and he'll tell you not to ask them either...

You don't lose what is on the ticket just because you used it. It is still a 1-day ticket - that day is marked used, nothing more. You can still upgrade it perfectly fine. Your upgraded ticket's expiration is still based on the day you first used the ticket, though - that's how Disney deals with the fact that it is used...so if you use it on the 1st, and then on the 14th you decide you want to upgrade it to a 3-day ticket, you can, and use it that day - but the 3rd day will expire before you can use it (hopefully the ticketing CM would notice and stop you from doing it...)

I find it funny that the two CMs you talked to actually 100% contradicted the actual rule in place...

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

NEVER ask a question about ticket upgrades to the CMs on the phones. Even the ones who sell tickets. They don't do ticket upgrades, and don't know how they are done.

Isn't that the truth?!?!

Guaranteed that you will get more accurate info on the DIS about ticket matters!

 

[pixarmom]

NEVER ask a question about ticket upgrades to the CMs on the phones. Even the ones who sell tickets.

For example, I mentioned the Premier AP to a phone CM during an attempt to get information about AP resort rates at DL. The CM I spoke with on the phone told me that the Premier AP does not exist. She said that you can't buy any kind of AP that admits you to both WDW and DL. Of course, that's not accurate. Because it wasn't necessary to continue that conversation to get the resort rates, I just gave up on that and asked what the rates would be if I bought a DL AP. But thanks to the boards, I knew not to ask a question about tickets or rely on those comments!

In any event, it does seem like an awful lot of people are reporting the same experience with GAD upgrades. Based on our upgrade experience (which is not entirely relevant because it was to an AP) and our friends' experience (to a multi-day pass) and many posters here, I'd follow doconeill's plan and ask the CM at the ticket window if you can upgrade to multi-day.

 

[stitchfan18]

Since we're staying at the BW, do you think it would be possible to head to the ticket window at the IG the night we get there to get our tickets and upgrade? I would love to avoid the ticket line at HS the next morning if we could get this done the night before....

 

[doconeill]

Since we're staying at the BW, do you think it would be possible to head to the ticket window at the IG the night we get there to get our tickets and upgrade? I would love to avoid the ticket line at HS the next morning if we could get this done the night before....

As long as Epcot is still open, you should be able to do this. If you are upgrading to a non-annual pass ticket though (like a standard MYW ticket) you will likely have to enter the park after getting the 1-day ticket before you upgrade. You could just enter, exit and then upgrade though if you didn't want to stay there. You can also ask to upgrade at the window - they may let you.