Can I use the gift cards to upgrade to annual pass?

[kstinw19]

We are traveling to the World in April and staying in 2 deluxe rooms due to the size of our family. As a result, we have received 2 $750 gift cards. I know that we won't spend that much during our stay b/c our dining, room and park tickets are paid for already.

So I had a thought. Can I pay to upgrade our park tickets to annual passes using the gift cards? We are probably going back again this Fall and could use the passes then.

Does anyone know if I can do this?

Thanks!

 

[Cmbar]

I think Cheshire will answer you to be sure, but we did that last year. We used our GC promotion card
to upgrade our tickets to Annual passes. It was awesome! I think that is an awesome idea! Just know that the passes will be dated from the time you use the MYW tickets from your current package. We used our passes first and then did the upgrade (paying with our gift cards) inside at Guest Relations. Cheshire always tells you to use your pass first so that the passes are made current in value( I think that is why, anyways!) So you will get full value for your MYW tickets and then you can use your GC to pay the upgrade difference.

Good luck and have an awesome trip!

 

[Cmbar]

Oh by the way, if you do upgrade to Annual passes be sure to use them when buying things at Disney. They give great discounts on merchandise. We always asked everytime we paid for something. We were even able to get 20% off at the store in the Airport! Also, if you feel so inclined to do for your next trip you can buy the Tables in Wonderland card with an annual pass. It really pays if you are not on the dining plan on your future trip! Have fun!

 

[kstinw19]

Thanks for the info. So just to clarify...we should use your 9 day park hopper MYW tickets and then at the END of the trip we can upgrade to annual pass? Even though we have used the tickets?

Or do I have this all wrong? Thanks for the help!

 

[Cmbar]

Well I would feel better if Cheshire answered this for you since they are the experts on all things tickets!

For the gift card offer you have to buy a certain number of days ticket, correct? What I would do is change that offer to the minimum number of days required for the package offer. I would remove the hopper option and make it a base ticket (number of days you have to buy is based on your stay), because you are paying for that out of pocket. Then I would take those base tickets and upgrade them to an annual pass because the annual pass includes the hopper. Now you are paying for the upgrades of hopper with Disney's gift card money.

No matter which day you upgrade your tickets to an AP the annual pass will be back dated to the date you first used those tickets.

So let say you go to Disney on June 1st and have a 5 day base ticket. You should use this ticket on June 1st and go to guest relations. They will take the ticket and exchange it for an annual pass and give you the value of the 5day base ticket you paid with your package and then you pay the upgrade difference with your gift cards. Your annual pass will be dated June 1 to June 1 of next year but now you have hopping options for this trip.

Just to clarify if you go to the parks and use the base passes a few more days and went to guest relations on say, June 4th and then used the tickets to upgrade to AP then the AP would STILL be dated June1 to June 1st. Am I making sense.

So the cheapest out of pocket expense for you is to make your package have a base ticket with minimum days and then on your first day of using the MYW tickets take them to GR and upgrade them to the AP with the Gift Cards.

Again I think your best bet is to have your package be the minimum ticket and then use the gift cards to upgrade to the AP's. Otherwise you are paying out of pocket the upfront costs of a nine day PH ticket $310.98 vs paying for a 5 day base 242.82 in your original purchase price. Yes the AP will still be the same cost in the end but now you have used Disney's money to pay for the full upgrade. Does this make any sense?? I hope so!

Hope that helps.

 

[kstinw19]

I do understand it. Thanks for explaining all of that for me. Now to get back on the phone with Disney...I have lost 3 hours of my life so far setting all of this up