DVC Gold Annual Pass

[Meredith71]

If my family is planning to go to Walt Disney World right after Christmas through New Years, would I be able to use park tickets and then upgrade those tickets to GOLD APs once the blackout dates are over?

 

[The Jackal]

My understanding is no, if you are trying to use the tickets as an upgrade when they were used for a blackout date on the gold pass.

 

[Meredith71]

Thank you! What if I upgraded to premium dance it does not have blackouts?

 

[Maistre Gracey]

If my family is planning to go to Walt Disney World right after Christmas through New Years, would I be able to use park tickets and then upgrade those tickets to GOLD APs once the blackout dates are over?

I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure YES you can.
It’s one of the huge loopholes Disney hasn’t closed.... yet.

That said, it doesn’t work if you have a ticket that includes water parks. You would need to get a Plus if you used the water parks.

Again, not positive on anything I just wrote, but pretty sure.

 

[Marionnette]

If my family is planning to go to Walt Disney World right after Christmas through New Years, would I be able to use park tickets and then upgrade those tickets to GOLD APs once the blackout dates are over?

From @Robo in the ticket sticky:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/tickets-upgrades-prices-and-how-to.3570721/page-311#post-60104776

Blackout dates and gold AP question. If I purchase muiti day park hoppers from undercover tourist to use during the 2019 Christmas blackout period, can I upgrade these tickets on my last day to DVC gold passes?

Will I get the undercover tourist price for the tickets or the Disney price for the tickets towards my gold AP?

Where do I do this? I’ve read on the last day of the ticket, before exiting the park. True?

1. Yes.
2. Disney price.
3. Any Guest Relations at WDW.
4. Does not have to be before exiting (but that's fine.)
Just needs to be by close-of-business that last day.

​

 

[The Jackal]

I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure YES you can.
It’s one of the huge loopholes Disney hasn’t closed.... yet.

That said, it doesn’t work if you have a ticket that includes water parks. You would need to get a Plus if you used the water parks.

Again, not positive on anything I just wrote, but pretty sure.

I thought they closed that loophole. They seem to be cracking down lately closing them all. I guess it doesn’t hurt to try.

 

[Madame]

If my family is planning to go to Walt Disney World right after Christmas through New Years, would I be able to use park tickets and then upgrade those tickets to GOLD APs once the blackout dates are over?

You absolutely can do this. We have 7 day hoppers bought at a discount from UCT and will use them this Dec 30-Jan 5, upgrading to a Gold AP when the blackout dates end Jan 3rd I believe.

 

[Meredith71]

Great! Thank you so much!

 

[quandrea]

You absolutely can do this. We have 7 day hoppers bought at a discount from UCT and will use them this Dec 30-Jan 5, upgrading to a Gold AP when the blackout dates end Jan 3rd I believe.

That’s my plan too!

 

[Jiminy76]

I just upgraded my 10 day park hoper plus water park ticket to a annual gold pass yesterday at guest relations in the park by Spaceship Earth. Initially I tried this at the guest relations outside the gates and the cast member only gave me the option to upgrade to the Platinum Plus annual pass. The cast member in guest relations had no issues upgrading me to the gold annual pass. This saved me a considerable amount of money on the 3 tickets I was upgrading to the gold pass intead of the Playinum Plus pass that was originally offered to me as my only choice of an upgrade option.
If you don’t get the result you want sometimes it’s worth trying another cast member when it comes to upgrading to an annual pass.

 

[Meredith71]

I just upgraded my 10 day park hoper plus water park ticket to a annual gold pass yesterday at guest relations in the park by Spaceship Earth. Initially I tried this at the guest relations outside the gates and the cast member only gave me the option to upgrade to the Platinum Plus annual pass. The cast member in guest relations had no issues upgrading me to the gold annual pass. This saved me a considerable amount of money on the 3 tickets I was upgrading to the gold pass intead of the Playinum Plus pass that was originally offered to me as my only choice of an upgrade option.
If you don’t get the result you want sometimes it’s worth trying another cast member when it comes to upgrading to an annual pass.

Thanks! I've upgraded to DVC Gold AP before so I've gone through that craziness of guest services I am worried because I will be trying to upgrade them after the blackout time expires on Jan. 3. I wasn't sure if I could upgrade to Gold since it would have been blacked out.

 

[CMNJ]

I just upgraded my 10 day park hoper plus water park ticket to a annual gold pass yesterday at guest relations in the park by Spaceship Earth. Initially I tried this at the guest relations outside the gates and the cast member only gave me the option to upgrade to the Platinum Plus annual pass. The cast member in guest relations had no issues upgrading me to the gold annual pass. This saved me a considerable amount of money on the 3 tickets I was upgrading to the gold pass intead of the Playinum Plus pass that was originally offered to me as my only choice of an upgrade option.
If you don’t get the result you want sometimes it’s worth trying another cast member when it comes to upgrading to an annual pass.

Had you gone actually gone to the water park? My understanding was that you could upgrade to a gold AP if you hadn’t visited a water park but had to upgrade to platinum plus if you had

 

[cw62803]

I've heard of people doing this. I suggest contacting guest services by phone or chat and asking if it's possible.

 

[Jiminy76]

Had you gone actually gone to the water park? My understanding was that you could upgrade to a gold AP if you hadn’t visited a water park but had to upgrade to platinum plus if you had

Yes I had already went to a water park and it was the last day of my 10 day ticket when I converted to the Gold Pass.

 

[CMNJ]

Yes I had already went to a water park and it was the last day of my 10 day ticket when I converted to the Gold Pass.

Interesting-the general consensus I’ve always seen is you can’t get a gold pass if you’ve used the water parks-wonder if that’s wrong or you just got really lucky

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Yes I had already went to a water park and it was the last day of my 10 day ticket when I converted to the Gold Pass.

Interesting-the general consensus I’ve always seen is you can’t get a gold pass if you’ve used the water parks-wonder if that’s wrong or you just got really lucky

Yup.... I think you got away with one there.

 

[Jiminy76]

Yes I probably was lucky. But I do find it odd that the system will allow the CM to make the upgrade without blocking the upgrade or providing the CM a warning, so it appears it is left solely up to the CM to determine.

 

[Lehuaann]

You absolutely can do this. We have 7 day hoppers bought at a discount from UCT and will use them this Dec 30-Jan 5, upgrading to a Gold AP when the blackout dates end Jan 3rd I believe.

There’s no rule that I’m aware of that prohibits the purchase/upgrade/renewal of a gold pass on a blackout date?

I hope that’s not the excuse they give me, because we are planning to upgrade/renew on Jan 2.

 

[Madame]

There’s no rule that I’m aware of that prohibits the purchase/upgrade/renewal of a gold pass on a blackout date?

I hope that’s not the excuse they give me, because we are planning to upgrade/renew on Jan 2.

No rule I’ve ever heard of that prohibits it. I go into each ticket situation willing to tell the CM I’ve changed my mind and walk away & try elsewhere. If I got that excuse, I’d try elsewhere.

 

[CarolynFH]

There’s no rule that I’m aware of that prohibits the purchase/upgrade/renewal of a gold pass on a blackout date?

I hope that’s not the excuse they give me, because we are planning to upgrade/renew on Jan 2.

The issue with PP that caused surprise was upgrading a park hopper plus to Gold AP after using a water park admission. The general understanding here & on the Ticket sticky is that if a water park admission has been used, the ticket can only be upgraded to a higher level AP that includes water park admission. Had nothing to do with upgrading on a blackout date.