Question about upgrading tickets

[mike28j]

I have a question about upgrading tickets. I've read that when you upgrade a ticket you essentially sell your current ticket back to Disney, and then buy the new tickets that you want, which is easy to calculate if I use their website to purchase the tickets.

Example, if I bought a 10 day park hopper & W+ pass, but want to upgrade to the no expiry option.
Old pass: 468.60
New pass: $830.70
Difference: $362.10

Seems simple enough to me. What if I buy the tickets from a legitimate Disney wholesaler for $442.03? When I check into the resort and want to upgrade my ticket, am I paying $362.10 (the difference between the gate price of the ticket I originally had vs the gate price for the ticket I want, or am I paying $388.67 (the difference between the price I actually paid for the ticket vs the price of the ticket I want).

The simplest way is to buy it all at once, however I don't have $1539.06 right now, but want to be able to book my fast pass plus options when my 60 day window opens.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Mike

 

[siskaren]

Seems simple enough to me. What if I buy the tickets from a legitimate Disney wholesaler for $442.03? When I check into the resort and want to upgrade my ticket, am I paying $362.10 (the difference between the gate price of the ticket I originally had vs the gate price for the ticket I want, or am I paying $388.67 (the difference between the price I actually paid for the ticket vs the price of the ticket I want).

You need to actually use the ticket at least once before upgrading it, because that will bridge the price up to the gate price of $468.60, which will then mean that you'll pay $362.10 to upgrade.

 

[POOHsie]

If you bought a ticket from an authorized third-party, at a discount price, that ticket was sold by Disney to the reseller at a wholesale price. The reseller then sold the ticket to you at a retail price. Disney knows the wholesale price of that ticket, but doesn't know the retail price the seller sold the ticket for, since they no longer owned the ticket.

As PP described, you will get full gate price credit for your ticket if you use it first to enter a WDW theme park at least once before doing your upgrade. If you upgrade the ticket first before using it, you won't get the price you paid for it (since Disney doesn't know the price). You'll get the wholesale price for that ticket, which would be even less.

 

[mike28j]

Good thing I asked, so the ticket converts from Wholesale to Retail after the first use, as long as I purchased it from a third party.

Great, thank you for clearing that up for me.

One last question, I can upgrade these tickets at the Disney resort when I check out assuming I am still withing the 14 day window correct?

 

[POOHsie]

Good thing I asked, so the ticket converts from Wholesale to Retail after the first use, as long as I purchased it from a third party.

Great, thank you for clearing that up for me.

One last question, I can upgrade these tickets at the Disney resort when I check out assuming I am still withing the 14 day window correct?

Tickets from third party resellers, The Disney Store, and Disney Resort Package tickets, are converted from wholesale to current Disney Gate Price after first use.

Frankly, I recommend that you have this transaction handled by Guest Relations. These people are trained to deal with advanced ticket transactions and are the most likely to handle your situation quickly and correctly. Guest Relations facilities are are located inside and outside the gate of each theme park, and 2 outlets at DTD. At the resorts, those folks handle simple ticketing, and might not be versed in how to handle your type of transaction correctly. Result: you're charged too much and the situation goes sour.

You need to know beforehand how much you'll owe. If you're told a higher amount, the upgrade wasn't done right. If the CM won't give your tickets gate price value, take your tickets back and find another CM to help you, or go to another Guest Relations facility.

Gate price of 10-day PH WPF&M $468.60
Add Non-Expire Option $362.10
You will owe $362.10 (includes 6.5% tax)

Our Ticketing Guru, Cheshire Figment, wrote extensively about this situation. He hasn't posted in almost a year, but his info is still helpful. His Ticket Sticky, "Everything About WDW Tickets," appears at the top of this forum. Refer to Post 6, Upgrading MYW Tickets (Not to Annual Passes) and especially Post 22, All About Price-Bridging (Or Not).
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1452684