Park Hopper Plus Upgrade???

[madge]

we have 7 day PHP purchased for our upcoming trip....we just learned of the possibility that we might return to Orlando in June 2004...is it feasible to upgrade the passes? Do we have to upgrade to a Premium AP?

Thanks for any tips!

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Golden Oldie will have my head if I don't do this right.
If you do not use them first then you can upgrade them. If you use them and then decide to upgrade them within 7 days of first use, you will get the pass value applied to an annual pass, but, it has to be a PAP. Anytime after 7 days, the remaining amount will be credited, but, not the plusses if any are left, towards an AP.

Well, let's see how I am graded on this answer.

 

[billybaruch1]

That seems like an A+ to me. At this site: http://www.wdwig.com/ticket.htm it says

It may now be more advantageous for you to use up your leftover park days on old tickets rather than using them towards an upgrade. The reason is the increases in gate prices that Disney has done. Keep in mind that all upgrades are charged at current gate prices.

Example: You have two left over park days from a 7 day PHP ticket you purchased in February 2001 for $325.44. That made your cost per day $46.49 (cost divided by 7). You want to upgrade the two remaining days to a new 7 day PHP which now costs $350.40 or $50.05 per day. Disney will give you a credit of $92.98 for your old ticket but will charge you the full $50.05 per day for the new ticket. So you are actually going to pay $7.12 more to use the two days you already had! And if you are upgrading four of these for your family, you are looking at paying an extra $28.28 to Disney for the privilege of using the old days on the tickets. This dollar figure will be higher if you purchased the old ticket prior to 2001. The older it is, the less financially advantageous it will be to you to upgrade them.

A second scenario to consider comes when you want to upgrade your old PHP's to Annual Passes (AP's). The upgrade will be handled the same way as above but with two important differences. First, the unused plus options carry no dollar value towards the upgrade. Second, any unused plus options will be lost when upgrading to an AP. Now this may sound like a bad thing since you'll be getting an AP for a whole year's admissions but what should give you pause to think is that turning in two, three or four unused plus options means that you will have to now pay $33.00 for each water park admission you do. That alone could mean you'd be paying another $66, $99, or $132 for water park admissions during the year that you gave away for free when you upgraded the original ticket.

Further down that lengthy page is

For all other tickets (4 & 5 day PH's, 5, 6, & 7 day PHP's, etc), you must upgrade it before 7 days from first use of the ticket have elapsed in order to credit the entire price you paid for a pass to a new one. You may only upgrade it to a higher pass, not a lesser one. (Example: You can upgrade a 5 day park hopper to a 7 day park hopper plus but you can't use it to get a new 4 day park hopper). After the 7 day window has passed, you will only be able to apply the unused portion of your pass to a new one. Once your last day of admission has passed and your ticket is no longer valid, you will not be able to upgrade. So be sure to do it on or before your last ticketed park day or 7 days from first use, whichever come first!

Keep in mind, too, that if you have unused plus options remaining on any PHP you upgrade, you will lose those unused options by upgrading.

Your answer was just a bit more concise, I'd say!

Edit: I think the writer wanted to say "NOT sound like a bad thing." Also, PHP can only upgrade to PAP? I'm sure you're right, but the above quotes do not address that.

 

[GoldenOldie]

Originally posted by GAIL HAYDEN
Golden Oldie will have my head if I don't do this right.
Why Gail, I would never... Well, maybe I'd just point out where you erred if you err.

If you do not use them first then you can upgrade them. If you use them and then decide to upgrade them within 7 days of first use, you will get the pass value applied to an annual pass, but, it has to be a PAP. Anytime after 7 days, the remaining amount will be credited, but, not the plusses if any are left, towards an AP.
*sigh*
You were correct up to "but, it has to be a PAP" part. That is only true if you used one or more of the plus options during the 7 day window before you upgrade. If none of the pluses have been used then it can be applied to a regular AP.

Well, let's see how I am graded on this answer.
I'm not a teacher and I don't play one on TV so I don't grade. You were very close. There's hope for you yet.

 

[madge]

you all answered that perfectly for me--I understood each of the explanations!

I was most curious about what would happen if we used a plus option--I didn't think I could upgrade to a regular AP after a plus use, but wanted to be sure.

Does anyone know about the credit the PHP passes from Paramount? I assume their value is similar to Disney's, but since they are a little bit cheaper (I think).....just trying to get a rough estimate in my head.

I can use my DC discount to upgrade to the AP, right?

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

I am trying, honest.

 

[GoldenOldie]

Originally posted by madge
...Does anyone know about the credit the PHP passes from Paramount? I assume their value is similar to Disney's, but since they are a little bit cheaper (I think).....just trying to get a rough estimate in my head.
Tickets purchased from a wholesaler work a little differently. You will not get back the entire amount you paid for the ticket even if you upgrade a completely unused ticket. That is because Disney will only give you credit for the wholesale price that they originally sold the ticket to the wholesaler. Disney will not credit you for any shipping and handling or added profit margin that the wholesaler added into that price.

So as an example, if you bought a ticket from Paramount for say $250 + shipping and you went to upgrade it (still unused), Disney would only give you a credit for the wholesale price (say $230) of the ticket. Upgrading a ticket purchased from a wholesaler completely wipes out any savings you had.

I can use my DC discount to upgrade to the AP, right?
Yes, as long as you have a currently valid DC card and you do the upgrade by December 31, 2003.

 

[madge]

thanks for the help! I appreciate it