Hopper to AP Upgrade Questions

[Badge]

Hi guys! I am going down to Orlando for 18 nights the end of Sept, mostly for HHN, but am planning on doing quite a few mornings at Disney. I remember that I have an unused, 9 day Park Hopper ticket from 2015 linked to my Disney account under my name. I have heard that you can upgrade unused tickets to AP's but I have a few questions about it.

1) Do you get the full value of the ticket? It was booked during the "Free Dining" promotion 2 years ago. My friend backed out last minute leaving me with her ticket that never got used and I have transferred it to my name on the website.

2) What will be the final cost (roughly) for the basic AP without water parks?

3) One reason I want the AP is for the free parking. Can you upgrade the ticket to an AP at say Disney Springs to avoid having to pay parking the first day? If so, where is the best place?

4) How will FP+ work? Since I have a valid ticket right now on my account, I can book my FP+ 30 days in advance. If I book them and they remove the 9 day ticket to give me the AP, do I lose my FP+ reservations? If I have active FP+ reservations attached to that ticket, will it be considered "used" and unable to upgrade to an AP?

 

[Dean1953]

You can upgrade at Disney Springs but, if you pay for parking, keep the receipt and go into guest service INSIDE the park. They will reimburse you for the parking cost. To get the full value of the upgrade, you need to enter any Park first with your ticket. You won't lose your FP's when you upgrade.

 

[Marionnette]

Hi guys! I am going down to Orlando for 18 nights the end of Sept, mostly for HHN, but am planning on doing quite a few mornings at Disney. I remember that I have an unused, 9 day Park Hopper ticket from 2015 linked to my Disney account under my name. I have heard that you can upgrade unused tickets to AP's but I have a few questions about it.

1) Do you get the full value of the ticket? It was booked during the "Free Dining" promotion 2 years ago. My friend backed out last minute leaving me with her ticket that never got used and I have transferred it to my name on the website.

2) What will be the final cost (roughly) for the basic AP without water parks?

3) One reason I want the AP is for the free parking. Can you upgrade the ticket to an AP at say Disney Springs to avoid having to pay parking the first day? If so, where is the best place?

4) How will FP+ work? Since I have a valid ticket right now on my account, I can book my FP+ 30 days in advance. If I book them and they remove the 9 day ticket to give me the AP, do I lose my FP+ reservations? If I have active FP+ reservations attached to that ticket, will it be considered "used" and unable to upgrade to an AP?

1. Do you get the full value of the ticket? It was booked during the "Free Dining" promotion 2 years ago. My friend backed out last minute leaving me with her ticket that never got used and I have transferred it to my name on the website.

You will get whatever the gate value was for the ticket on Feb. 11, 2017. The most recent change in ticket policy occurred on 2/12/2017 and you no longer get the current gate value applied to an upgrade if the ticket was minted on or before that date.​

2. What will be the final cost (roughly) for the basic AP without water parks?

Current cost of a Platinum AP is $829.64 (tax incl.). You can find the value of your old ticket here, it's an archived page from allears.net: https://web.archive.org/web/20161222132652/http://allears.net/pl/ticketchart.htm Subtract the value of the ticket from the price of the AP and you'll have what you can expect to pay OOP.​

3.One reason I want the AP is for the free parking. Can you upgrade the ticket to an AP at say Disney Springs to avoid having to pay parking the first day? If so, where is the best place?

There are two GS locations in DS. The one near WoD has been pretty efficient for my family in the past.​

4. How will FP+ work? Since I have a valid ticket right now on my account, I can book my FP+ 30 days in advance. If I book them and they remove the 9 day ticket to give me the AP, do I lose my FP+ reservations? If I have active FP+ reservations attached to that ticket, will it be considered "used" and unable to upgrade to an AP?

It won't affect your existing FP+ unless you have more than 7 days of FPs. AP holders cannot book more than 7 days of FP+ in advance. Having FP+ attached to a ticket does not make it "used". A ticket is not considered "used" until you use it for entry into a park.​

 

[Badge]

1. Do you get the full value of the ticket? It was booked during the "Free Dining" promotion 2 years ago. My friend backed out last minute leaving me with her ticket that never got used and I have transferred it to my name on the website.

You will get whatever the gate value was for the ticket on Feb. 11, 2017. The most recent change in ticket policy occurred on 2/12/2017 and you no longer get the current gate value applied to an upgrade if the ticket was minted on or before that date.​

2. What will be the final cost (roughly) for the basic AP without water parks?

Current cost of a Platinum AP is $829.64 (tax incl.). You can find the value of your old ticket here, it's an archived page from allears.net: https://web.archive.org/web/20161222132652/http://allears.net/pl/ticketchart.htm Subtract the value of the ticket from the price of the AP and you'll have what you can expect to pay OOP.​

3.One reason I want the AP is for the free parking. Can you upgrade the ticket to an AP at say Disney Springs to avoid having to pay parking the first day? If so, where is the best place?

There are two GS locations in DS. The one near WoD has been pretty efficient for my family in the past.​

4. How will FP+ work? Since I have a valid ticket right now on my account, I can book my FP+ 30 days in advance. If I book them and they remove the 9 day ticket to give me the AP, do I lose my FP+ reservations? If I have active FP+ reservations attached to that ticket, will it be considered "used" and unable to upgrade to an AP?

It won't affect your existing FP+ unless you have more than 7 days of FPs. AP holders cannot book more than 7 days of FP+ in advance. Having FP+ attached to a ticket does not make it "used". A ticket is not considered "used" until you use it for entry into a park.​

Thank you so much!! So as long as I don't have more than 7 days of FP+ booked I will be fine then. Lets say I book 7 straight days of FP+ from Sept 30th-Oct 6th. Once Oct 1st rolls around, I will be able to book FP+ for Oct 7th then?

 

[Marionnette]

Thank you so much!! So as long as I don't have more than 7 days of FP+ booked I will be fine then. Lets say I book 7 straight days of FP+ from Sept 30th-Oct 6th. Once Oct 1st rolls around, I will be able to book FP+ for Oct 7th then?

That's right. AP holders cannot have more than 7 days of FP+ scheduled if they are staying offsite. You could book 9 days when your30-day window opens because you have a 9-day pass in MDE. Once it becomes an AP, I don't know if the system is smart enough to drop those two extra days. Go ahead and book them when your 30-day window opens and then if they don't drop off after the upgrade, you will be one step ahead of the game.

 

[Dean1953]

The last 3 FP's on my daughter's 10 day ticket didn't drop off when we upgraded to AP on May 25.

 

[Dean1953]

Like I said, unless you want to make a trip to Disney Springs, you can do it at any park and get reimbursed for that day's parking. I'm not sure if you have magic bands but you will receive them with your AP's. Once you upgrade, you can go on MDE and choose the color and order them and they will be mailed to your house. So, if you have existing MB's, take them or use the AP card that you will receive at the time of the upgrade. You will need the AP card for discounts on some restaurants and most merchandise at Disney.