AP upgrade problem

[Brier Rose]

Last October we upgraded park hoppers to annual passes. I never paid attention to the expiration date, assuming it was 12 months from the day we completed the upgrade. As it turns out, they are dated to expire two months early! The hoppers were part of a pkg that was booked and paid for in Aug, but never used or activated until we upgraded in October. They have the original Aug purchase date as our expiration date.

I've tried to get it straight over the phone with no luck. I was told we'd have to go to guest services at GF where we did the upgrade. We're not that far away..about 7 hours..but didn't want to make the trip down only to be told that backdating to the purchase date was the correct way to do it, and we're just out of luck.

Can anyone help with info on which would be the correct expiration date?

 

[mountdew1]

The expiration date should be the first date the tickets were used for admission as far as I know. Not the day you upgraded, but the first time you used the ticket to enter a park. At least that is what it has been when I have done it in the past.

 

[Brier Rose]

We never used the tickets at all. We upgraded as soon as we got there, before we went to any parks.

 

[bumbershoot]

Date of first use. This is an annoyingly common error, but also something easily fixed in person.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

date should be the day you upgraded - no question about it. We have tickets that are several years old that we have never used (part of a free dining promo when we had annual passes so we saved the tickets) - and we have upgraded them without problem to APs. I sometimes find that e-mailing in a question / query is more efficient as it is written down and someone is checking into it.

Do you have your AP upgrade receipt? Not necessary but it might be handy.

 

[Brier Rose]

Nope, no receipt unfortunately! I will definitely try the email route. Thanks!

 

[bumbershoot]

We never used the tickets at all. We upgraded as soon as we got there, before we went to any parks.

You used the tickets by doing that.

Upgrading is never from initial purchase date. Why their systems default to that is silly. Some cms miss the step of changing it.

But in the future if you upgrade from a package ticket or one purchased from a ace like undercover tourist, use the ticket to enter and then upgrade inside the park. Assuming they do it correctly (always know the price it should be) you can save a little money on the upgrade. (They are supposed to bridge the price gap between what you paid for the ticket and what the ticket price is at the gate on that day. If you bought at a discount or there has been a ticket price increase between booking your package and using/upgrading the ticket, that small difference should be comped, basically.)

 

[POOHsie]

Last October we upgraded park hoppers to annual passes. I never paid attention to the expiration date, assuming it was 12 months from the day we completed the upgrade. As it turns out, they are dated to expire two months early! The hoppers were part of a pkg that was booked and paid for in Aug, but never used or activated until we upgraded in October. They have the original Aug purchase date as our expiration date.

I've tried to get it straight over the phone with no luck. I was told we'd have to go to guest services at GF where we did the upgrade. We're not that far away..about 7 hours..but didn't want to make the trip down only to be told that backdating to the purchase date was the correct way to do it, and we're just out of luck.

Can anyone help with info on which would be the correct expiration date?

Disney will correct your APs. When you upgrade from MYW tickets to APs, the AP start date will be the same date as the first time you used your MYW tickets to enter the parks. This is in exchange for full credit for your MYW ticket. I've read a few posts about guests having their APs dated to the date the tickets were purchased. This is just plain wrong, and each poster had their APs corrected. For instance, I have some leftover 2-day resort package tickets (unused) from a stay in 2011. If I arrive at WDW in 2015 and want to upgrade them to APs, does that mean they would expire in one year from purchase date -- 2012? See, that's not how the upgrade process works.

Whoever you spoke to on the phone was misinformed, or you mis-understood, in one regard. You will have to go to Guest Relations -- NOT at GF -- but at any of the theme parks, TTC or DTD. Hotel personnel aren't trained in advanced ticketing, and resort computers aren't equipped to handle advanced ticketing issues. You posted that you did your upgrade at GF. That's a clue about why they're wrong. The CM was trying to be helpful, probably based on some previous experience, but ultimately, didn't know the procedures thoroughly.

 

[bumbershoot]

They can't fix this from afar. Emailing might make you happy but it's not going to change things. When you get there go to guest services and it will be changed there. This can't be done by phone or email. It's not an exception. They can look up the transaction with your ap and can see the problem and fix it.

I wouldn't make a special trip for this, I'd just go when you planned to go and do it then.


I'm typing too slowly!


Et: nice catch, poohsie, that they upgraded at GF!
Errors can happen at the parks, too, but they are especially common at the resorts. The cms think they are helping but they aren't sometimes.

 

[Brier Rose]

I was just trying to figure out who to email, guess I won't waste my time! lol It's very frustrating trying to get accurate info on the phone. I knew I could get it here! I'll definitely remember in the future!
Thanks everybody!!

 

[POOHsie]

I was just trying to figure out who to email, guess I won't waste my time! lol It's very frustrating trying to get accurate info on the phone. I knew I could get it here! I'll definitely remember in the future!
Thanks everybody!!

Email to:

guest.services@disneyworld.com​

You will receive a prompt reply.

 

[Fire14]

I'm trying to figure out she was even able to do original upgrade at resort. Last I knew resorts couldn't do anything related to ap's. We had a minor oops on my hubs Ap ourselves. his is dated to expire 2 days AFTER it techinally should, the lady doing upgrade is a friend and we waited to have her do it as we knew she would do it correctly without a 30 min disagreement I guess I gave her to much credit, it won't really matter as we are renewing and 2 extra days cost Disney so little I'm sure we have " bought" it back six times over.

 

[Accident]

I'm trying to figure out she was even able to do original upgrade at resort. Last I knew resorts couldn't do anything related to ap's. We had a minor oops on my hubs Ap ourselves. his is dated to expire 2 days AFTER it techinally should, the lady doing upgrade is a friend and we waited to have her do it as we knew she would do it correctly without a 30 min disagreement I guess I gave her to much credit, it won't really matter as we are renewing and 2 extra days cost Disney so little I'm sure we have " bought" it back six times over.

They said guest relations (services) in the post, I think resort meant on site, not literally at the resort.

There's been a few threads lately about this issue and the others all said they had to wait until their next visit to fix the expiration date in person. Some mentioned their success was based on how well trained the person helping them was or if they had a manager help them and override the expiration date. My recommendation is if oyu have to do it with guest relations, that's who you need to call if there is any chance to do this without being there.

Please let us know how this turns out, I happen to be doing a similar upgrade to AP in a couple weeks and taking notes on what I need to do/say to get it to expire the same day I upgraded and not when I booked my initial tickets.

 

[Brier Rose]

We actually did upgrade at Grand Floridian. The concierge did it in the computer, and they were just added to our magic bands. I wish we had just gone to the park and done it there. I just asked about it as we were checking in and was told no problem. Ha..ha...ha!

 

[Accident]

We actually did upgrade at Grand Floridian. The concierge did it in the computer, and they were just added to our magic bands. I wish we had just gone to the park and done it there. I just asked about it as we were checking in and was told no problem. Ha..ha...ha!

Call them up and let them know they made a mistake when upgrading you on your previous trip

 

[POOHsie]

They said guest relations (services) in the post, I think resort meant on site, not literally at the resort.

There's been a few threads lately about this issue and the others all said they had to wait until their next visit to fix the expiration date in person. Some mentioned their success was based on how well trained the person helping them was or if they had a manager help them and override the expiration date. My recommendation is if oyu have to do it with guest relations, that's who you need to call if there is any chance to do this without being there.

Please let us know how this turns out, I happen to be doing a similar upgrade to AP in a couple weeks and taking notes on what I need to do/say to get it to expire the same day I upgraded and not when I booked my initial tickets.

Again, if you are upgrading from MYW tickets that you have begun to use, the AP will be dated to first use of your MYW tickets, not the date of the actual upgrade procedure. This is b/c you get full credit for your MYW tickets. Other words, you can't use your tickets for 5 days, then upgrade to AP on the sixth day before you enter the parks again and have the AP dated that sixth day. The AP will be dated 6 days prior, when you first used your MYW tickets.

If you have MYW tickets but have not begun using them, the AP will dated the day you present the MYW tickets. But how much credit you receive for the MYW tickets will depend on how current your MYW tickets are, and where you bought them.

 

[Accident]

Again, if you are upgrading from MYW tickets that you have begun to use, the AP will be dated to first use of your MYW tickets, not the date of the actual upgrade procedure.

She said she did it during check in, while I guess you could have hit the park first it sounds unlikely. There's a dozen threads in the last week of this same problem.

 

[cutigerlady]

I had this happen to me. We upgraded my sons' 7 day park hoppers to annual passes and the expiration date was a year from the date I bought the park hoppers. I did this at Guest Relations. I didn't catch mistake until we got home. You need to talk to Ticketing to get this fixed. I called the Annual Passholder line and they gave me the phone number. They were able to correct it over the phone. They won't send you a replacement discount card though.

 

[Brier Rose]

Yay!! We got it fixed! After getting bounced around a bit, ended up with a super nice CM..in Seattle, Washington actually..and she was able to correct expiration date on there for us. I already checked my account on My Disney Experience, and everything is as it should be. I have no doubt it would have been corrected for us in person on our next planned trip, in October, but we wouldn't have been able to make FP+'s, so this worked out great!
Thanks again for all of your help!