New Ticket Upgrade Policy?

[BuckeyeBama]

And, as has been the policy for years, regardless of where guests first bought their valid Magic Your Way tickets, Disney has been very happy for guests to decide to extend their stays, add park days, and/or upgrade to Annual Passes… all of which generate more revenue to the bottom line.

Agreed - seems like Disney now wants patrons to over-purchase when buying through a discount broker. If a patron feels the need to buy a ticket in this manner, they will need to buy as much as they could possibly need, including hoppers, in advance. If they fail to us the extra days or hopper, Disney is just as happy.

It will force people who cannot or will not plan in advance to buy directly from Disney - and Disney makes more money on these tickets, so (again) Disney is happy.

I generally purchase through UT (mousesavers link) before we renew our APs - saves us money. Looks like that is not going to happen any more. But I am okay with that. I am just glad that I didn't rush out and buy tickets last week before the price increase.

 

[Robo]

I generally purchase through UT (mousesavers link) before we renew our APs - saves us money. Looks like that is not going to happen any more.

To be clear, we have no concrete info that this has actually changed.

 

[MamaBear58]

Which is why this potential policy change seems so unbelievable..

It seems perfectly believable if Disney wants to reduce (and maybe even end) its relationship with 3rd party sellers. Maybe it was a good deal originally--maybe the 3rd party sellers buy in bulk so it was worth it for Disney at some point in the past to be able to sell that many tickets at once. But based on everyone's reports as to how crowded it is, and the recent price increase, it doesn't seem that Disney is hurting for ticket sales. So why let someone else sell your same product at a lower price? Now the 3rd party's cheaper product is a different product--it's not the flexible ticket that you buy directly from Disney.

 

[MamaBear58]

Was just considering upgrading my 7 day hopper to an Annual Pass so I could get the Tables of Wonderland card. I'm still trying to decide if this makes more sense over going with the deluxe dining plan.

Disney told me this morning I could do it over the phone without a problem but I did not mention I purchased my ticket third party. If I decide to got this route I will let you guys know what happens.

Would like to know as well, as this is my plan. Now, I was going to buy from Disney anyway (using a travel agent and want it to get the discount), but I am curious how things turn out for you.

 

[msdaisy]

Ah, but they didn't change the ticket that you bought. You will still get all of the entitlements that you were promised on the ticket when you purchased it. Your McCardiacArrest Sandwich has not been altered. They are now changing the rules for adding fries and a Diet Coke to your McCardiacArrest Sandwich. I'm not crazy about the changes, if they do turn out to be true. But I also thought that it was very generous of Disney to permit bridging in the first place. I have a few tickets which were purchased from 3rd party sellers. I'll use them for what's on them and be happy with it. If Disney thinks that I'm going to shell out an additional $100+ for one more day during my vacation, they are mistaken. I will end up sitting by the pool, shopping in DtD or {{gasp}} wander over to Universal to check things out there.

True! But it was always comforting to know that I could add fries and a diet coke!

 

[freediverdude]

So we still don't know for sure if/what policy has changed on the third party tickets? I thought UT was going to call Disney this morning.

 

[EPCOTatNight]

Do you mind saying (approximately) when and where you purchased your tickets, just as a reference point? Also, did you upgrade them at guest relations in a park or at a resort concierge desk? Had you used them once prior to conversion? Did you have to ask for them to be bridged, or did the CM just do it?

Sorry for the delay; we were in the Parks. I bought the tickets from UT about 3 weeks ago. They were upgraded at guest relations in Epcot. Yes, we used them first. No, didn't have to ask for them to be bridged, BUT another CM instructed him to do so in front of us.

Sent from my IPad using DisBoards.

 

[oliviaik]

The McDonald's example is not even close to what I was talking about. In my post, I talked about people who had already purchased tickets. People bought these tickets under the impression that they could be upgraded with price bridging. I bought mine through Orbitz. It DOES say under the redemption instructions that the tickets can be upgraded or have options added at the gate. It does not talk about price bridging. However, considering that the policy has always been to price-bridge, people bought these tickets under the assumption that, if they did upgrade, it would be for approximately $10 per person per day.

In the McDonald's example, the people had not yet bought their sandwiches. A better example would be people who pre-ordered a new sandwich coming out through a local charity group selling the sandwiches at a discount. The policy at McDonald's at the time had been that people could add fries and a drink to their sandwich for only the difference between the normal priced sandwich and the upgraded sandwich. So, the people bought the sandwich from the charity group under that assumption. Then, McDonalds comes back and says that you cannot upgrade those charity-bought sandwiches for that same price that you used to be able to. Instead, you have to pay the difference between what you payed to the charity and the upgraded price, thus negating any discount you had received.

I am not saying that Disney is not legally able to do this. I am saying that it is terrible customer service and shows no courtesy. They should allow anyone who bought their tickets before the price increase to upgrade using price bridging. They should have announced the policy change when they made the price change. I am fine with this new policy going forward, but I am not fine with them applying this retroactively.

 

[cheesemouse]

Looking for some advice, which I know is difficult when the real facts are not known. We leave in 10 days and have 5 day base tickets purchased through UT. We need 6 day tickets (because we ended up only being able to get a very late flight home and thus have an additional day to spend at WDW). I was planning to add 1 day after using the tickets at a price ~$10. But, I am not willing to pay for new 1 day tickets if we are not allowed to add on a day.

Should I just return the 3 tickets to UT and eat the 5% cost + shipping and then buy new 6 day tickets from Disney (and also eat the cost of the price difference)? The added costs are definitely less than the $300 it would cost for new 1 day tickets. Arghh... not sure what to do. We already have the UT linked on MDE and our FP+ booked. ???

This is really stressing me out since we leave so soon!

 

[BuckeyeBama]

To be clear, we have no concrete info that this has actually changed.

Thank you - with the thread this long, I had not read through all of the posts.

 

[dmunsil]

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 since June 2012 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

 

[Robo]

Looking for some advice, which I know is difficult when the real facts are not known. We leave in 10 days and have 5 day base tickets purchased through UT. We need 6 day tickets (because we ended up only being able to get a very late flight home and thus have an additional day to spend at WDW). I was planning to add 1 day after using the tickets at a price ~$10. But, I am not willing to pay for new 1 day tickets if we are not allowed to add on a day.

Should I just return the 3 tickets to UT and eat the 5% cost + shipping and then buy new 6 day tickets from Disney (and also eat the cost of the price difference)? The added costs are definitely less than the $300 it would cost for new 1 day tickets. Arghh... not sure what to do. We already have the UT linked on MDE and our FP+ booked. ???

This is really stressing me out since we leave so soon!

Based on the info in the post above, you'll be fine with upgrading your discounted ticket.

 

[oliviaik]

That makes much more sense! So. . .does anybody have the pre-price-increase prices available? I bought the 3 days + 2 days free option from Orbitz, so I technically have a 5 day MYW with PH and WPM ticket. What would it cost to upgrade to a 7 day PH WPM ticket?

 

[Robo]

That makes much more sense! So. . .does anybody have the pre-price-increase prices available? I bought the 3 days + 2 days free option from Orbitz, so I technically have a 5 day MYW with PH and WPM ticket. What would it cost to upgrade to a 7 day PH WPM ticket?

2013 ticket prices are still listed in Cheshire Figment's Ticket Sticky at the top of this forum. (Click HERE.)

He has not updated that sticky to the current ticket price list.

Nobody here indicates that they know where Cheshire Figment is at the present time.
He has not posted here in about 2 months.

 

[MamaBear58]

The McDonald's example is not even close to what I was talking about. In my post, I talked about people who had already purchased tickets. People bought these tickets under the impression that they could be upgraded with price bridging. I bought mine through Orbitz. It DOES say under the redemption instructions that the tickets can be upgraded or have options added at the gate. It does not talk about price bridging. However, considering that the policy has always been to price-bridge, people bought these tickets under the assumption that, if they did upgrade, it would be for approximately $10 per person per day.

In the McDonald's example, the people had not yet bought their sandwiches. A better example would be people who pre-ordered a new sandwich coming out through a local charity group selling the sandwiches at a discount. The policy at McDonald's at the time had been that people could add fries and a drink to their sandwich for only the difference between the normal priced sandwich and the upgraded sandwich. So, the people bought the sandwich from the charity group under that assumption. Then, McDonalds comes back and says that you cannot upgrade those charity-bought sandwiches for that same price that you used to be able to. Instead, you have to pay the difference between what you payed to the charity and the upgraded price, thus negating any discount you had received.

I am not saying that Disney is not legally able to do this. I am saying that it is terrible customer service and shows no courtesy. They should allow anyone who bought their tickets before the price increase to upgrade using price bridging. They should have announced the policy change when they made the price change. I am fine with this new policy going forward, but I am not fine with them applying this retroactively.

I highly doubt that it will be applied retroactively, but if it does, as the first bold shows, you have a claim against Orbitz if you can't upgrade. If you can't bridge, you have no claim.

And yes, if applied retroactively it's a bad service to Disney's customer--Orbitz-which now has you making a claim against Orbitz. But you aren't Disney's customer until you walk through the gate and spend money. Until then, you're Orbitz's customer.

 

[oliviaik]

2013 ticket prices are still listed in Cheshire Figment's Ticket Sticky at the top of this forum. (Click HERE.)

He has not updated that sticky to the current ticket price list.

Nobody here indicates that they know where Cheshire Figment is at the present time.
He has not posted here in about 2 months.

Thank you! It would appear that I would need to pay about $110 for the upgrade I am considering. So, that works out to about $18 per person per day.

 

[POOHsie]

That makes much more sense! So. . .does anybody have the pre-price-increase prices available? I bought the 3 days + 2 days free option from Orbitz, so I technically have a 5 day MYW with PH and WPM ticket. What would it cost to upgrade to a 7 day PH WPM ticket?

5 day MYW from June 3, 2013 price list
Base $289 + PH/WP Combo $84 = $373 + tax = $397.25

7 day MYW from Feb 23, 2014 price list
Base $324 + PH/WP Combo $86 = $410 + tax = $436.65

Difference you will owe: $436.65 - $397.25 = $39.40

Anybody agree/disagree?

 

[damo]

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

I'm fine with that.

 

[vicki_c]

Ok, so who knows the gate prices of tickets prior to the June 2012 price increase? I'm thinking this change will cost me around $150-160 more than I had budgeted for our four PAP upgrades, since I bought my tickets quite a while ago.

 

[irishdancemomma]

For what it's worth, here is the reply I got from disney when I asked about this "new policy":

Thank you for contacting the Walt Disney World® Resort.

We apologize for any confusion or frustration this has caused! You may
be happy to know that if it is within 14 days of a Magic Your Way theme
park ticket's first use and the ticket has remaining admissions, you are
able to upgrade the ticket. If it is more than 14 days after first use
or if no admissions remain, then a ticket may not be modified or
upgraded.

Upgrades may include adding more days or adding any combination of
options, including:

Park Hopper Option
Water Park Fun & More Option
No Expiration Option

Ticket upgrades must be made in person at any of the following locations
at Walt Disney World Resort:

Ticket windows at theme parks and water parks
Concierge desks at Disney Resort hotels
Guest Relations at the Downtown Disney Area

We look forward to seeing you soon!

If you have questions or need further assistance, feel free to contact
us.

Have a magical day!


Sincerely,

Lee Hampton
eCommerce Sales and Service Team