Ticket purchase and upgrading to annual pass

[DisneyDeb83]

We are going to Disney in September. I already have one 5 day hopper and need to purchase two more tickets. I want to pay cash but money is a bit tight right now. I was thinking of just ordering 6 day base tickets now so I will have them in time to pick our fastpasses. The plan is to upgrade all three tickets on our first day to an annual pass since we will be going again in January for a family wedding.
I'm guessing that it doesn't matter if I purchase a base ticket or a hopper, the final price I pay for the upgrade would work out to be the same, correct? Or is there a better way to do this? Any help would be appreciated!

Deb

 

[Wood Nymph]

We are going to Disney in September. I already have one 5 day hopper and need to purchase two more tickets. I want to pay cash but money is a bit tight right now. I was thinking of just ordering 6 day base tickets now so I will have them in time to pick our fastpasses. The plan is to upgrade all three tickets on our first day to an annual pass since we will be going again in January for a family wedding.
I'm guessing that it doesn't matter if I purchase a base ticket or a hopper, the final price I pay for the upgrade would work out to be the same, correct? Or is there a better way to do this? Any help would be appreciated!

Deb

If you plan to upgrade to an annual pass then you wouldn't need to get the park hopper to the six day tickets. I would just buy as many days of tickets as I wanted to get fastpasses for. That is what we did.

 

[Robo]

1. I'm guessing that it doesn't matter if I purchase a base ticket or a hopper, the final price I pay for the upgrade would work out to be the same, correct?

2. Or is there a better way to do this?

1. Correct.
2. You can buy your tickets from a discounter like UndercoverTourist.com and save money...
and that savings will hold through your AP upgrade.
It's one of the very few ways to buy a "discounted" AP.

Yes, you can make your FP+ using the discounted tickets.

 

[DisneyDeb83]

Thanks, I was thinking of doing Undercover Tourist, but I may just get them at AAA. Just have to compare prices, I'm guessing UT will be a little cheaper.

 

[Robo]

Thanks, I was thinking of doing Undercover Tourist, but I may just get them at AAA. Just have to compare prices, I'm guessing UT will be a little cheaper.

Quite often the prices from the various ticket discounters is quite similar.
It can also matter as to exactly which tickets a given discounter has on-hand.
It can certainly be worth it to do a bit of research when you're ready to buy, but you likely
won't find a lot of difference.

 

[Robo]

And, if you are intending to upgrade from a discount ticket…
be sure to actually USE the original ticket to enter a theme park at least once BEFORE you do the upgrade.

That will allow the discounted ticket's value to be calculated the same as a new full-priced ticket in the upgrade transaction.

 

[ready2cmickeymouse]

Know exactly how much the upgrade should cost before going to do the upgrade.Last week we went to guest services at the back gate of Epcot to upgrade our tickets, the price should have been $100.22 they tried to charge me $178. I said no thanks and got my ticket back. Went to MK the next day and was charged the correct price. I told the CM about my experience at Epcot. His response was that they weren't bridging my tickets. The amount they were giving me for the tickets at Epcot was less than what I paid for them. Know your numbers.

 

[Robo]

Know exactly how much the upgrade should cost before going to do the upgrade.Last week we went to guest services at the back gate of Epcot to upgrade our tickets, the price should have been $100.22 they tried to charge me $178. I said no thanks and got my ticket back. Went to MK the next day and was charged the correct price. I told the CM about my experience at Epcot. His response was that they weren't bridging my tickets. The amount they were giving me for the tickets at Epcot was less than what I paid for them. Know your numbers.

Ditto.

 

[DisneyDeb83]

Thanks so much. I don't think I would have been prepared with what my upgrade fee would be to make sure I wasn't overcharged. Now I just have to figure that out!

 

[AngiTN]

We recently bought tickets from UTT to use as upgrades to AP.
If you look at their site (be sure to click through the newsletter link) it shows you the ticket savings cost
The ticket that gave us the greatest savings (which was only about $35) was a 6 (or 7, I forget) day WP&M PH ticket. We were able to upgrade that to an AP, keeping the $30 odd dollar discount, by using it to enter a park first. As long as you don't use it for a WP you can upgrade it to a regular AP.
The day I did the upgrade we entered the park then came right back out to the Guest Services counter and I converted them to AP and got a TiW card.

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

As long as you don't use it for a WP you can upgrade it to a regular AP.

Thank you for this info.

I bought a four day wp&m w/hopper for my upcoming trip. Since purchasing this ticket, I have two more trips planned. I will use the ticket on the first day and then upgrade to a DVC AP. Are you saying if we go to a waterpark, the ticket would have to be upgraded to a premium AP? Also, I already linked the ticket to MDE. Will this be a problem? I will bring the ticket with me to guest services.

Anything else I should do or know?

Thank you.

 

[Robo]

1. if we go to a waterpark, the ticket would have to be upgraded to a premium AP?
I already linked the ticket to MDE.
2. Will this be a problem?

1. Yes.
2. No.

 

[Andyman33]

how long can I wait to upgrade a ticket to annual pass? the 14 day expiration window?

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

how long can I wait to upgrade a ticket to annual pass? the 14 day expiration window?

I believe you have to upgrade before using the last day.

 

[Robo]

I believe you have to upgrade before using the last day.

Nope. Not quite true.

You can upgrade as late as close-of-business on the same day that you use a ticket's last asset.

So, if you use the "last day" on the ticket on a Thursday, you can upgrade any time on that same Thursday.

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

Thanks for the correction. I appreciate all the information that you share.

 

[Robo]

Thanks for the correction. I appreciate all the information that you share.

Thanks for the kind words. I'm happy to try to keep the often complex ticket "rules" straight.

It's a minor point about being able to upgrade a ticket even after using the last "day,"
but it does enable guests who originally only had a one-day ticket to upgrade and add a day or more...
after they have used their single ticket at one of the parks.