Disney Made BIG Changes to Ticket Upgrade Policy! *UPDATE* - post #19

[Marionnette]

This was posted on allears.net. It could have a huge impact on those who bought tickets from UT, or any other ticket discounter, with the hope of being able to upgrade to more days or options.

http://allears.net/pl/ticket.htm#credpass

Effective with the price increase of February 23, 2014 Disney has changed it's policy on upgrading tickets. They will no longer add additional days, new options like Park Hopper or Water Parks Fun & More or No expiration to tickets that were not purchased from Disney.

As of 13:39 EST on 03/03/14, Allears has removed the wording from their website. A representative from Allears posted the following statement on the TPAS thread:

My name is Gloria and I answer some of the questions that come in to the All Ears website. Obviously there has been a lot of discussion about the new policy change re tickets purchased from outside agencies.

Late last night I received two questions about the new policy and I responded to those questions as best as I could at the time. Apparently my responses (quoted in this thread) have caused some concern about the accuracy of the website.

I apologize if I have caused more confusion about the new policy. My response was my personal response. Below is the "official" reply from the All Ears website. I hope it clears up some of the confusion.

...Last week, after the All Ears Newsletter had been mailed, we became aware of an unannounced change in Disney's policy regarding tickets that were purchased from non-Disney sources. Several guests reported that when they attempted to add a day to their Magic your Way ticket that was purchased from a non-Disney source, they were refused and told that they would have to spend more than $100 for a single day ticket. Several tried at both their resort concierge and at a guest relations window and were told the same thing.

We called the Disney Ticketing office and and spoke to a supervisor. We were told that commencing with last week's price increase "3rd party tickets can no longer be upgraded to passes at a pro-rated rate, have days added, or have options added at a discount." A different call to a second Disney source confirmed it but added that this does not affect AAA.

On the basis of that, we changed our ticket FAQ to reflect the new policy. More refinement of the policy will likely become known as time passes. We will keep watching the situation and listening to our readers' comments about any problems or successes they have had in this area.

 

[Wishes Count]

This was posted on allears.net. It could have a huge impact on those who bought tickets from UT, or any other ticket discounter, with the hope of being able to upgrade to more days or options. http://allears.net/pl/ticket.htm#credpass

I'm sorry but I work in Guest Relations and I have not been told this is the case or been notified. And this is something that would have been communicated to us directly. I do not think this is correct information.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[pigletto]

WOW. That is going to catch a lot of people unaware.
We have 2 day tickets from February 2013 that we plan to upgrade on our next trip (if there is a next trip). They are still on KTTW cards. It's bad enough that there is no way to do this until we are on property, therefore leaving us unable to pre-book fastpass+. I feel badly for people who bought UT tickets recently at the old prices who planned to upgrade when they got there.

 

[Marionnette]

I'm sorry but I work in Guest Relations and I have not been told this is the case or been notified. And this is something that would have been communicated to us directly. I do not think this is correct information.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

I appreciate the inside track from someone who works at Disney. Allears is usually very reliable with their information. They reiterate the statement multiple times within the ticket upgrade FAQ on their website. I don't know where Deb Wills got her information.

 

[ddawg]

Are there any other people on this board who would know if this is true or not? It doesn't mention any of this on the official Disney Web site. If it were true no one would want to purchase a ticket from anywhere else and no company would want to sell such a ticket.

Effective with the price increase of February 23, 2014 Disney has changed it's policy on upgrading tickets. They will no longer add additional days, new options like Park Hopper or Water Parks Fun & More or No expiration to tickets that were not purchased from Disney.

 

[JanaDee]

Are there any other people on this board who would know if this is true or not? It doesn't mention any of this on the official Disney Web site. If it were true no one would want to purchase a ticket from anywhere else and no company would want to sell such a ticket.

Effective with the price increase of February 23, 2014 Disney has changed it's policy on upgrading tickets. They will no longer add additional days, new options like Park Hopper or Water Parks Fun & More or No expiration to tickets that were not purchased from Disney.

The official Disney World site is the last place you want to go for accurate, up to date info.

 

[crisi]

Give it a few days - sometimes rumors leak and turn out to be true - often rumors leak and aren't. Unless you need to buy tickets TODAY, just wait and see.

 

[SUSIEQ]

Are there any other people on this board who would know if this is true or not? It doesn't mention any of this on the official Disney Web site. If it were true no one would want to purchase a ticket from anywhere else and no company would want to sell such a ticket.

Robo or Cheshire Figment are the only 2 that I can think of.

 

[wiigirl]

Give it a few days - sometimes rumors leak and turn out to be true - often rumors leak and aren't. Unless you need to buy tickets TODAY, just wait and see.

 

[ddawg]

I just bought my tickets from Orbitz. I am sure millions of people buy from Undercover tourist, AAA, Orbitz, and other places. Disney has authorized these places to sell their tickets. There has never been any mention of tickets being non upgradeable if you purchase from any place other than Disney. This will make for a lot of unhappy visitors if it is true.

 

[erin1715]

We bought 5-day magic your way tickets from UT and on Monday 2/24 I was able to add park hoppers at Guest Relations in the MK with no problems.

 

[Marionnette]

We bought 5-day magic your way tickets from UT and on Monday 2/24 I was able to add park hoppers at Guest Relations in the MK with no problems.

Glad to hear that it worked for you. Now I'm really wondering where Allears sourced their info? It doesn't seem as if any other website is reporting this and other posters are saying that their own experience is counter to what Allears is reporting.

 

[Lewisc]

How much credit should Disney offer guests who want to upgrade tickets not purchased from Disney? Full (gate) price? Price guest paid vendor? Price vendor paid Disney for the ticket?

Not allowing guests to upgrade is probably easier to explain then only offering what UT paid Disney for the ticket. Offering a credit in excess of what the guest paid for the ticket didn't make any sense.

 

[smitch425]

Glad to hear that it worked for you. Now I'm really wondering where Allears sourced their info? It doesn't seem as if any other website is reporting this and other posters are saying that their own experience is counter to what Allears is reporting.

In one of my Disney Facebook groups, a trusted friend confirmed with Disney that it is true. I read it on Facebook before it being posted here, so not sure if it was posted there before allears posted it or not.

 

[elgerber]

We bought 5-day magic your way tickets from UT and on Monday 2/24 I was able to add park hoppers at Guest Relations in the MK with no problems.

I was reading it to mean tickets purchased from UT on or after Feb 24th not upgraded on or after the 24th.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Haven't we all seen things like this happen at work? A new policy goes into effect rather suddenly but communication and training hasn't occurred yet, etc.

OP thanks for posting,. It gives people a head's up for what may well be on the horizon in the near future, if not now. People will absolutely want to consider if it's really worth saving a few bucks buying elsewhere if they might want to upgrade their tickets. I'm sure many will be surprised and disappointed if they get there thinking one thing and find out it's another.

 

[SUSIEQ]

How much credit should Disney offer guests who want to upgrade tickets not purchased from Disney? Full (gate) price? Price guest paid vendor? Price vendor paid Disney for the ticket?

Not allowing guests to upgrade is probably easier to explain then only offering what UT paid Disney for the ticket. Offering a credit in excess of what the guest paid for the ticket didn't make any sense.

Since Deb says you can still upgrade to an AP, wonder what credit WDW will give toward that upgrade?

 

[Marionnette]

I can't believe that this could all be based on conjecture! A diser who contacted Allears has posted this on the the TPAS Board thread:

Interestingly, the All ears team isn't sure about it either and will be checking into it with their "Ticket Guru". WTH?

OK, so I will never look at All Ears the same again. It's a rumor and a guess on All Ears part. The short, summarized version.

Carry on.

If it's true that it was posted on AllEars as a result of of "a rumor and a guess", then it's pretty shoddy journalism. It also makes them look very unreliable as legitimate source of information about any of the changes going on at Disney.

 

[Marionnette]

Someone on the TPAS got a response from Mousesavers today:

We have heard from Undercover Tourist, and we have a clearer understanding. Everyone we and they have spoken to has said that upgrading tickets is still allowed, and bridging still exists.

There is a small change to bridging policy - they will no longer bridge a ticket to the current gate price. They will bridge the price to the gate price as of the date you bought the ticket. This is the same policy they've had for years for tickets purchased directly from Disney Ticketing. See Cheshire Figment's "all about WDW tickets" sticky post #22, here:

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=48592501&postcount=22

Basically this makes everything more harmonious. All "normal" Magic Your Way tickets, whether purchased from Disney or from any other source, are worth the gate price on the date they were purchased.

So if you buy a discounted ticket, you "lock in" that discount, but you will not get an extra benefit if the gate price goes up between the time you bought the ticket and when you want to do the upgrade.

Otherwise, as far as we can tell at this time, there has been no change to the policy on upgrading an existing ticket.

--
Don - MouseSavers.com

So, the changes are not as sweeping as they were first thought, but there will be changes to the way tickets are bridged.

 

[digiMom]

Sorry, still confused. I've been trying to figure this out today looking at various threads..

I bought 5 day park hoppers from UT the day before the ticket price went up. So if I use them one day and then add 3 more days on them, which of the following should take place:

1- I pay the difference between the current 5 day and the current 8 day gate price.

2- I pay the difference between the pre-increase 5 day gate price (ie-what I paid) and the current 8 day gate price.

3- pay the difference between what UT paid for the ticket and the current 8 day gate price.

4- something else.

Thanks for your help!