DVC Annual Pass gurus, please help!

[dddisrunner]

June 09 will be our first DVC trip and the first time we will be purchasing annual passes. I am trying to get the most bang for my buck and thus these questions. Can I buy a 10 day park hopper pass through a discount ticket broker (undercover tourist) use it one day and then upgrade it to a DVC discounted annual pass? Has anyone ever done this? I am not trying to "cheat" just trying to save as much as possible and I am unsure of what the rules are. Also, if this is not allowed, what is the best way to go about buying our annual passes? Can we wait until we arrive or will this take up too much time? Lastly, can you purchase 2 annual passes and then a few weeks or months later buy 2 more? Any guidance would be very helpful! Thank you

 

[cherylp3]

Once you use a ticket its value becomes less. Check the ticket faq in theme parks and strategies.

You can purchase an Annual pass voucher now, that you can turn in the parks whenever. It does not take that long to buy an AP at the gate or at downtown disney.

I'm not sure why you want the additional passes. Again you can buy vouchers. Just be aware if you are buying a "renewal" it has to be used so many days before or after your AP expires. I don't recall the difference from the dvc ap price and the dvc ap renewal price. It is not much if I remember correctly.

 

[ilovefh]

June 09 will be our first DVC trip and the first time we will be purchasing annual passes. I am trying to get the most bang for my buck and thus these questions. Can I buy a 10 day park hopper pass through a discount ticket broker (undercover tourist) use it one day and then upgrade it to a DVC discounted annual pass? Has anyone ever done this? I am not trying to "cheat" just trying to save as much as possible and I am unsure of what the rules are. Also, if this is not allowed, what is the best way to go about buying our annual passes? Can we wait until we arrive or will this take up too much time? Lastly, can you purchase 2 annual passes and then a few weeks or months later buy 2 more? Any guidance would be very helpful! Thank you

There is another post somewhere on here about this. I can't find it but I believe you can. I think the message was that if you used it to upgrade before using it at the parks the discounted amount would be applied, but if you used it to upgrade after you used it one day then the gate price would be applied.

 

[dddisrunner]

Once you use a ticket its value becomes less. Check the ticket faq in theme parks and strategies.

You can purchase an Annual pass voucher now, that you can turn in the parks whenever. It does not take that long to buy an AP at the gate or at downtown disney.

I'm not sure why you want the additional passes. Again you can buy vouchers. Just be aware if you are buying a "renewal" it has to be used so many days before or after your AP expires. I don't recall the difference from the dvc ap price and the dvc ap renewal price. It is not much if I remember correctly.

Thank you for your help. We have a family of 4 and I was was trying to spread the cost out over time instead of one lump sum thus the need to purchase 2 at a time. I realize that once you use a pass the value becomes less but I also know from reading the "sticky" on the FAQ about tickets that if you buy from a discount broker and use one day on it Disney only charges you the difference between their gate price for 10 day PH (or any length ticket) and the AP which means that they don't care that you paid less for the intial ticket, you get the value of their gate price (hope that makes sense). I need to know if I can get the DVC discount on the AP if I purchase it this way. Glad to here that vouchers are easy to deal with.

 

[dddisrunner]

There is another post somewhere on here about this. I can't find it but I believe you can. I think the message was that if you used it to upgrade before using it at the parks the discounted amount would be applied, but if you used it to upgrade after you used it one day then the gate price would be applied.

Thanks, I tried searching for it, but can't find anything. I was hoping that someone could tell me that they had done it!

 

[kristenrice]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2025263

Here's the link to the question I posted. Wow, I couldn't believe all the responses. The conclusion I came to is that the 6-Day with park hopping and no-expiration pass bought from undercovertourist.com is the closest in price (without going over) to the DVC AP. It also gives the biggest discount ($30) per ticket. By using it once and upgrading it to a DVC AP, I can save $120 for my family of 4. I haven't done it yet, but I plan on doing it in June! HTH!

 

[Ronald Duck]

There is another post somewhere on here about this. I can't find it but I believe you can. I think the message was that if you used it to upgrade before using it at the parks the discounted amount would be applied, but if you used it to upgrade after you used it one day then the gate price would be applied.

I tried this last month and it didn't work . I got a discounted 6-day park hopper (no expiration) from Undercover Tourist, entered a park with it, and then went to Guest Services to upgrade to a DVC-discounted AP. When I checked the amount I had to add, however, it was clear that somehow the computer had "known" the discounted price I had paid for it...don't ask me how, but I also read one post on another board where a person had the same experience.

It still might be worth a try, though.

 

[roadtripper]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2025263

Here's the link to the question I posted. Wow, I couldn't believe all the responses. The conclusion I came to is that the 6-Day with park hopping and no-expiration pass bought from undercovertourist.com is the closest in price (without going over) to the DVC AP. It also gives the biggest discount ($30) per ticket. By using it once and upgrading it to a DVC AP, I can save $120 for my family of 4. I haven't done it yet, but I plan on doing it in June! HTH!

Please post back and let us know how it worked out. I am very curious about this, too!

 

[dddisrunner]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2025263

Here's the link to the question I posted. Wow, I couldn't believe all the responses. The conclusion I came to is that the 6-Day with park hopping and no-expiration pass bought from undercovertourist.com is the closest in price (without going over) to the DVC AP. It also gives the biggest discount ($30) per ticket. By using it once and upgrading it to a DVC AP, I can save $120 for my family of 4. I haven't done it yet, but I plan on doing it in June! HTH!

Thank you SO much for posting that link! Great info on there AND confirmation that someone was actually able to do it successfully! We are going in June too! I am still a little nervous about doing it, but hopefully more people will report back their successes!

 

[MrToady]

I had purchased a 6 day park hopper from Undercover tourist. On our second day, we decided that we were not going to use the PH option after all, so I went to guest services to see if we could get the money we paid for the PH option back as credit or cash. The CM was ready to refund us for the PH, but when she scanned our tickets, she said that she could not see the price we paid for the tickets since we had bought it thru a secondary reseller. I would worry that you could run into the same problem.

 

[keishashadow]

I had purchased a 6 day park hopper from Undercover tourist. On our second day, we decided that we were not going to use the PH option after all, so I went to guest services to see if we could get the money we paid for the PH option back as credit or cash. The CM was ready to refund us for the PH, but when she scanned our tickets, she said that she could not see the price we paid for the tickets since we had bought it thru a secondary reseller. I would worry that you could run into the same problem.

i never heard u could get a refund for unused 'upgrade' PH or non expiry

i also plan on (again) purchasing my MYW tix thru UT as soon as possible (never know when a tix price increase might come kwim?)

if i decide to upgrade to APs I do expect to get the full value of the tix as explained above after utilizing one day...

if not, at least i have the discounted tix in hand...i have waited a long time in tix lines, course even 10 or 15 minutes seems like an eternity when u r eager to hit the parks

 

[MrToady]

I had heard about getting a refund for the PH option on a DIS unplugged podcast. The CM was ready to give us a refund since we had only used 2 of our 6 days of entry and had not used the PH option at all (she checked). She did say that if we tried for a refund on a later day, they would probably not be able to give us a refund.

 

[CarolA]

June 09 will be our first DVC trip and the first time we will be purchasing annual passes. I am trying to get the most bang for my buck and thus these questions. Can I buy a 10 day park hopper pass through a discount ticket broker (undercover tourist) use it one day and then upgrade it to a DVC discounted annual pass? Has anyone ever done this? I am not trying to "cheat" just trying to save as much as possible and I am unsure of what the rules are. Also, if this is not allowed, what is the best way to go about buying our annual passes? Can we wait until we arrive or will this take up too much time? Lastly, can you purchase 2 annual passes and then a few weeks or months later buy 2 more? Any guidance would be very helpful! Thank you

I did this... I hope you have better luck then I did.

First trip to Guest Relations they gave me the "new" AP which was effective a MONTH before I used the original ticket. Back in line, got that fixed. They used the "print date" which was the day Undercover tourist bought the tickets.

Got to room, looked at receipt, did math. I have now paid MORE for the NEW AP then if I had bought it outright. Back to Guest Services. CM tells me that I owe difference between what Undercover Tourist paid and the cost of a DVC AP. I pushed back and another CM heard this nightmare. She got it fixed.

So three trips to Guest Services for this. Not doing it again! Savings weren't worth it!

 

[kristenrice]

Thank you SO much for posting that link! Great info on there AND confirmation that someone was actually able to do it successfully! We are going in June too! I am still a little nervous about doing it, but hopefully more people will report back their successes!

I just want to clarify...I have NOT done this yet. CarolA has and she ran into some problems. Technically, this is a legitimate procedure, however, not all CM's are "in the know" and it may not go as planned.

Since we are going for 5 days (and might not even go to the parks) and then again the following year, it is not a huge risk that I am taking since I will be using the tickets anyways.

I will be sure to post back about my experience but our trip isn't until the first week of June. Hopefully, if anyone else tries this (like CarolA...thanks again!) they will post their experience.

 

[dddisrunner]

I just want to clarify...I have NOT done this yet. CarolA has and she ran into some problems. Technically, this is a legitimate procedure, however, not all CM's are "in the know" and it may not go as planned.

Since we are going for 5 days (and might not even go to the parks) and then again the following year, it is not a huge risk that I am taking since I will be using the tickets anyways.

I will be sure to post back about my experience but our trip isn't until the first week of June. Hopefully, if anyone else tries this (like CarolA...thanks again!) they will post their experience.

I saw in your original post that your trip was in June but there was a poster on your original thread that did have success doing exactly what you are proposing to do!!

 

[horselover]

While I haven't done it myself I know someone who did it in Oct. '08. They purchased a 7 day ticket from undercover tourist & upgraded it to an AP on the last day of their trip. They received full gate price credit for the ticket with no problems at all. I hope things haven't changed because I plan on doing the same thing in 2 wks. I purchased a 7 day PH ticket from UC & will upgrade it after the 1st day of use. I hope it works. I'm a little nervous now based on others responses. Fingers crossed.

 

[tink_2007]

We just did this in Dec. I had purchased ticket from UnderCover tourist and then we used them for 2 days and then I upgraded them to APs. We were given the current gate price of the tickets when we upgraded them. They were able to tell that they were bought at a discounted price and the CM even commented that we saved money by doing it that way. I think i was $30 a ticket that we saved.

 

[tiggerrr]

We have also done this (last May) and received the full value of the current gate price and NOT the UC price. The best advice I heard from some of the threads is to know exactly what you should be paying between the current gate price and the AP, so that if you are quoted a different price you can say something right away.

The biggest trap that Guest Relations cast members fall into is that they do not realize that they must do an extra step for a discounted AND used ticket. They must first create an "interim" ticket for the difference between current gate price and the UC discounted ticket, and then create your ticket from there. This is how I understand the process from Cheshire Figment (the CM who wrote the ticket FAQ).

 

[HayGan]

I did this in August for 3 people in our party and had absolutely no problems at all! I will be doing it again next week for DS#2's AP.

In order to avoid any problems like CarolA had. Do your math ahead of time. Know what your new total should be (DVC AP price minus gate price of your ticket). Review your pass before you leave the window.

There is no way Disney knows what price you paid for your ticket! They know what UT or whoever paid for it. If you do not use it first, then you will only get credit for what the reseller paid for it - not even what you paid for it.

 

[inky dinky doo]

Just to be sure I understand . . .

To figure out the amount you'll be charged for the upgrade, you take the full gate price of the MYW ticket, divide by the total number of days on the ticket, subtract the one day that was used (to get the value left on the ticket) . . . and then subtract that number from the gate price of the annual pass (less the DVC discount). The difference is the amount you would pay.

Correct?