My experience upgrading tickets to Sorcerer pass w/price bridge

[Gizmo74]

I called yesterday to upgrade my 8-day non park hopper ticket to the Sorcerer annual pass. I reached an overflow cast member that was not able to help but took down my information and said I would get a call back in an hour. I received a call back from Disney in about an hour.

I originally bought my 4 tickets from a reseller. I paid $588.07 each totaling $2,352.28. The cast member said, I see your tickets and you paid $2,214. I told her the price that I paid and asked if Disney was still bridging tickets. I said if they were not going to use the bridge price we would have to figure out why there was a price difference of what I actually paid and what she sees I paid for the tickets. Thankfully, they were able to bridge my tickets so it didn't really matter the difference between what I paid and what Disney saw on their end.

I was able to upgrade all four tickets and add memory maker to my ticket. I paid a total of $1,388.96 which was less then I thought I should have paid for the upgrade. With the bridge price, I only had to pay $301.30 each for the three tickets and $400.30 for the ticket that had the photo pass. My calculation, I thought I should have paid $342.18 for each upgrade, so I am not complaining.

Since this was an upgrade, I did not lose my park reservations nor did I have to re-link the annual pass to My Disney Experience. It all updated itself and it is correct in my account. Unfortunately, I still have to go to guest relations to show my DVC membership card to have them activate the passes. It was an easy process once you got a hold of a cast member.

 

[Brian Noble]

we would have to figure out why there was a price difference of what I actually paid and what she sees I paid for the tickets

Disney only knows what the reseller paid them for the tickets, not the price you pay to the reseller.

 

[BillPA]

Looks like they did not add tax until you did the upgrade. $2214 + tax $2357.91

 

[borgthe]

OP, when you upgraded the tickets, did that start the annual pass date, or will it start when you first use them at the park? Also, what phone number did you call? Thanks!

 

[Gizmo74]

OP, when you upgraded the tickets, did that start the annual pass date, or will it start when you first use them at the park? Also, what phone number did you call? Thanks!

The annual pass will start the first day we enter into the park. I called 407-560-2428.

 

[BillPA]

Did you call the DVC number and talk with a DVC CM or a regular Disney ticketing CM?

 

[Gizmo74]

Did you call the DVC number and talk with a DVC CM or a regular Disney ticketing CM?

I am not sure who I spoke to. The first person told me she was in over flow but really couldn't do anything except take down information and give to right area for a call back. When Disney called me back, the lady mentioned it had been a while since she did ticketing. I am sure she was just helping out. She did good job but had to put me on hold to reach out to someone on Bridging steps. But I don't think either of them were with DVC. I did have to give my DVC member ID number.

 

[momoftwins]

Same for me. I spent countless hours last week, trying to understand this price alignment between reseller tickets and Sorcerer's Pass. When we arrived Saturday, we went to Guest Relations and same thing. They DID NOT bridge tickets prices. They used the price they sold to the reseller, not the price I paid for the tickets. I asked to speak to a Manager and said no bridging. We had to activate passes at Guest Relations. When I checked the MDE app, it said activated on that day. They did tell us it would actually activate the first day we actually entered a park. When we checked the app, the date changed to the actual day we entered the park

 

[Gizmo74]

Same for me. I spent countless hours last week, trying to understand this price alignment between reseller tickets and Sorcerer's Pass. When we arrived Saturday, we went to Guest Relations and same thing. They DID NOT bridge tickets prices. They used the price they sold to the reseller, not the price I paid for the tickets. I asked to speak to a Manager and said no bridging. We had to activate passes at Guest Relations. When I checked the MDE app, it said activated on that day. They did tell us it would actually activate the first day we actually entered a park. When we checked the app, the date changed to the actual day we entered the park

Sorry they did not bridge your ticket. I am glad I was able to get mine down over the phone. I would not have been happy if they used what realer paid for the tickets. At first she told me about $139 less then I actually paid for the four ticket.

did you show guest relations your receipt of what you paid for the tickets?

 

[DonMacGregor]

Sorry they did not bridge your ticket. I am glad I was able to get mine down over the phone. I would not have been happy if they used what realer paid for the tickets. At first she told me about $139 less then I actually paid for the four ticket.

did you show guest relations your receipt of what you paid for the tickets?

I'm honestly not understanding why you would be upset at Disney for only offering to credit the amount they sold the tickets for, regardless of who that was. That's what they sold them for, that's what they are worth. They have no control over what a reseller changed or what you were willing to pay the reseller.

If I buy tickets to a concert and the lead singer gets laryngitis and the band cancels and offers to refund tickets, they are going to refund at the face price, not the price I paid to TicketMaster or Stubhub (including their commission and fees) or the scalper I met in the parking lot.

I'm asking honestly.

 

[Gizmo74]

I'm honestly not understanding why you would be upset at Disney for only offering to credit the amount they sold the tickets for, regardless of who that was. That's what they sold them for, that's what they are worth. They have no control over what a reseller changed or what you were willing to pay the reseller.

If I buy tickets to a concert and the lead singer gets laryngitis and the band cancels and offers to refund tickets, they are going to refund at the face price, not the price I paid to TicketMaster or Stubhub (including their commission and fees) or the scalper I met in the parking lot.

I'm asking honestly.

Maybe "upset" wasn't the right word. more of a disappointment because as far as I can remember, Disney has always bridge the tickets. They had a procedure in place and if they change it, fine but they have made so many changes in the last few months everyone is still figuring it out. I was just reporting my experience with the price bridge and sadly they might be doing away with it. I find no harm if folks take advantage of upgrading tickets loop holes if Disney is allowing/honoring it.

Just like there are reports that if you use regular tickets during an annual pass black out day, you can not upgrade those tickets to an annual pass after the black out days end. Again, it might have been something Disney should have change long ago.

It was my first and last time buying tickets from a reseller. Not that it was a bad experience, but for me I find it's best to buy direct from merchants because they would be more willing to work with refunds/exchange. I mainly upgraded because my husband is not going on the trip and I didn't want any issue later to activate his ticket from a reseller. So now with an annual pass, it looks like there will be another trip within the year for the me and kids.

 

[CarolynFH]

Maybe "upset" wasn't the right word. more of a disappointment because as far as I can remember, Disney has always bridge the tickets. They had a procedure in place and if they change it, fine but they have made so many changes in the last few months everyone is still figuring it out. I was just reporting my experience with the price bridge and sadly they might be doing away with it. I find no harm if folks take advantage of upgrading tickets loop holes if Disney is allowing/honoring it.

Just like there are reports that if you use regular tickets during an annual pass black out day, you can not upgrade those tickets to an annual pass after the black out days end. Again, it might have been something Disney should have change long ago.

It was my first and last time buying tickets from a reseller. Not that it was a bad experience, but for me I find it's best to buy direct from merchants because they would be more willing to work with refunds/exchange. I mainly upgraded because my husband is not going on the trip and I didn't want any issue later to activate his ticket from a reseller. So now with an annual pass, it looks like there will be another trip within the year for the me and kids.

Per the TPAS Ticket sticky https://www.disboards.com/threads/tickets-how-to-upgrade.3570721/, tickets bought from an authorized reseller should be valued at the online Disney price for that ticket when it was “minted,” not what the reseller paid Disney. So you did not receive the proper credit for your ticket. Also, “bridging” isn’t in Disney’s vocabulary, you simply wanted to upgrade your existing tickets. You should call Ticketing, because you were charged too much. Post your experience on that Ticket thread for more expert advice.

 

[Jwaire]

I'm honestly not understanding why you would be upset at Disney for only offering to credit the amount they sold the tickets for, regardless of who that was. That's what they sold them for, that's what they are worth. They have no control over what a reseller changed or what you were willing to pay the reseller.

Maybe but Disney has obviously allowed bridging to happen for years and still allows "authorized resellers" to purchase discounted tickets in bundles and resell them at a higher cost. There's going to be a lot of people that don't even know that resellers get a considerable discount on each ticket sold. They're going to assume that the $10 or $15 they're saving on their "reseller" ticket is the price that should will used in the upgrade, only to find out that $10 they were saving is now a loss of $50, etc.

I do wonder what happens if you take a reseller ticket and upgrade it using MDE? What happens if you buy a base ticket at a reseller, add another day onto it in MDE and then upgrade it to an annual pass at Ticketing/Guest Relations. How much credit do you receive? Is it now a retail ticket?

 

[Sandisw]

Maybe but Disney has obviously allowed bridging to happen for years and still allows "authorized resellers" to purchase discounted tickets in bundles and resell them at a higher cost. There's going to be a lot of people that don't even know that resellers get a considerable discount on each ticket sold. They're going to assume that the $10 or $15 they're saving on their "reseller" ticket is the price that should will used in the upgrade, only to find out that $10 they were saving is now a loss of $50, etc.

I do wonder what happens if you take a reseller ticket and upgrade it using MDE? What happens if you buy a base ticket at a reseller, add another day onto it in MDE and then upgrade it to an annual pass at Ticketing/Guest Relations. How much credit do you receive? Is it now a retail ticket?

I have never been able to upgrade a ticket bought through a third party on MDE. I haven’t even had luck over the phone a few times.

The time they did change it over the phone I was given the credit for what I paid, the new ticket was then a Disney ticket in MDE, with me having paid the difference to Disney price.

It is hard for me to believe many assume the discounted price they are paying isn’t more than what that company got it for but I agree, it no longer makes sense if you could lose out if you need to change or upgrade.

It was nice being able to keep the savings when upgrading as we did it a lot.

 

[momoftwins]

We paid $534 a ticket and received $501 per ticket.

 

[CarolynFH]

The time they did change it over the phone I was given the credit for what I paid, the new ticket was then a Disney ticket in MDE, with me having paid the difference to Disney price.

Yes, the trouble is that the Ticketing CM can't see what you paid but can see what the authorized reseller paid, so in the past tickets were valued at the online Disney price when they were "minted," per @Robo in the Ticket sticky. In the past, including prepandemic, there were instances when the CM wanted to value tickets at what the authorized reseller paid, but asking for a supervisor or politely declining the upgrade and trying at a different location usually resulted in having the proper Disney value applied to the upgrade transaction. If indeed it is now policy not to value tickets bought from authorized resellers any higher than the wholesale price, that's a major change in policy and of concern not just to the guests who purchased those tickets (and may only want to add hopping or add a day, etc., not convert to APs) but also to the authorized resellers themselves. That's why I think that @momoftwins should contact Ticketing again to make sure she received the proper value for her tickets. She certainly shouldn't have been penalized for buying from an authorized reseller - that's my opinion, and if Disney's policy has changed, I'm more than disappointed.

 

[Sandisw]

Yes, the trouble is that the Ticketing CM can't see what you paid but can see what the authorized reseller paid, so in the past tickets were valued at the online Disney price when they were "minted," per @Robo in the Ticket sticky. In the past, including prepandemic, there were instances when the CM wanted to value tickets at what the authorized reseller paid, but asking for a supervisor or politely declining the upgrade and trying at a different location usually resulted in having the proper Disney value applied to the upgrade transaction. If indeed it is now policy not to value tickets bought from authorized resellers any higher than the wholesale price, that's a major change in policy and of concern not just to the guests who purchased those tickets (and may only want to add hopping or add a day, etc., not convert to APs) but also to the authorized resellers themselves. That's why I think that @momoftwins should contact Ticketing again to make sure she received the proper value for her tickets. She certainly shouldn't have been penalized for buying from an authorized reseller - that's my opinion, and if Disney's policy has changed, I'm more than disappointed.

I posted in the other thread, but I just tried to upgrade my ticket online...first time I have been given that option...and it did indeed say the difference would be based on current Disney pricing. So, it appears we have another instance of complete inconsistency between online system, CMs' on the phone lines, and CM's in the park...just like the inconsistency with who is able to get the Sorcerer Pass.

 

[Robo]

What happens if you buy a base ticket at a reseller, add another day onto it in MDE and then upgrade it to an annual pass at Ticketing/Guest Relations. How much credit do you receive? Is it now a retail ticket?

When a guest upgrades a (authorized seller) discounted ticket with the process done at WDW (or via MDX,) the newly-upgraded ticket "becomes" a standard "full price Disney ticket."
And, tickets can be upgraded as many times as a guest wants (as long as there is a higher level of ticket to which to upgrade.)

 

[momoftwins]

At one time, they would apply the gate price when upgrading tickets from other sources.

However, I have read that the price that Disney now uses is the gate price when that ticket was actually minted…so it may not be the same as what you currently see.

I don’t have any first hand knowledge of it though. It is also possible that they are no longer going to “bridge” tickets and one will only get what they paid.

When a guest upgrades a (authorized seller) discounted ticket with the process done at WDW (or via MDX,) the newly-upgraded ticket "becomes" a standard "full price Disney ticket."
And, tickets can be upgraded as many times as a guest wants (as long as there is a higher level of ticket to which to upgrade.)

Someone better tell Disney that. I have spoken to 2 people at 407 566 4598 - which I think is ticketing. When we arrived Saturday, we went to Guest Services, and was told the same thing by the regular cast member and her supervisor.

 

[Jwaire]

Someone better tell Disney that. I have spoken to 2 people at 407 566 4598 - which I think is ticketing. When we arrived Saturday, we went to Guest Services, and was told the same thing by the regular cast member and her supervisor.

Did you upgrade your ticket already once using My Disney Experience before upgrading to an annual pass? Or did you upgrade a plain reseller ticket to an annual pass?