Ticket Upgrade / Annual Pass Question(s)

[mbrittb00]

My apologies if this has been asked/answered somewhere else, but I've spent some time searching and have yet to find an answer to my questions.

We are planning a trip for our family for this coming may. My wife and I will probably be traveling back the following April (2018) for the Dark Side Challenge and we may just turn that into a 2nd family trip as well. As a side note we are also planning to do the Light Side Challenge in Anaheim in January '18. Obviously if we do make that April trip a family trip, then annual passes would make sense.

From what I've been able to gather we would be able to upgrade any purchased tickets to add days or even to an annual pass within 14 days of first using the tickets. Such upgrades would need to be made at one of the guest relations centers inside/outside each park (or Downtown Disney?), so we would need to make the decision before we left during our May trip.

I have access to discounted tickets via the US Army MWR. I'm not talking about the "Military Salute" tickets which are heavily discounted, the ones I'm talking about are discounted similar (but a little better) to what you could get from Maple Leaf, etc.? I'm almost certain I have upgraded these in the past (from 5 days to add extra days) but it has been a while and wasn't sure if anything had changed. In order to get these you have to be associated with the military in some way so they aren't "available to the general public", but are NOT the heavily discounted "Military Salute" tickets.

1) Are these tickets upgradable?

In the past 3rd party tickets needed to be used prior to upgrading in order to get the face ticket value. If you upgraded them prior to using them you only got credit for the purchased price thus eliminating any discount you had gotten?

2) Do they need to be used before upgrading to maintain the discount?

3) I know that WDW AP holders get early registration for WDW RunDisney events, but do they also get the same early registration for DL RunDisney events? The following page would seem to indicate the answer is yes, but it is not definitive, and I’ve seen some deceptive/inaccurate webpages from Disney before. This probably won't weight into our decision, but it is a nice to know.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/passholder-program/passholder-benefits-and-discounts/rundisney/


4) Are there any other AP / Ticket Upgrade details I may be missing?

 

[Robo]

My apologies if this has been asked/answered somewhere else, but I've spent some time searching and have yet to find an answer to my questions.

We are planning a trip for our family for this coming may. My wife and I will probably be traveling back the following April (2018) for the Dark Side Challenge and we may just turn that into a 2nd family trip as well. As a side note we are also planning to do the Light Side Challenge in Anaheim in January '18. Obviously if we do make that April trip a family trip, then annual passes would make sense.

A. From what I've been able to gather we would be able to upgrade any purchased tickets to add days or even to an annual pass within 14 days of first using the tickets.
B. Such upgrades would need to be made at one of the guest relations centers inside/outside each park (or Downtown Disney?), so we would need to make the decision before we left during our May trip.

I have access to discounted tickets via the US Army MWR. I'm not talking about the "Military Salute" tickets which are heavily discounted, the ones I'm talking about are discounted similar (but a little better) to what you could get from Maple Leaf, etc.? I'm almost certain I have upgraded these in the past (from 5 days to add extra days) but it has been a while and wasn't sure if anything had changed. In order to get these you have to be associated with the military in some way so they aren't "available to the general public", but are NOT the heavily discounted "Military Salute" tickets.

1) Are these tickets upgradable?

In the past 3rd party tickets needed to be used prior to upgrading in order to get the face ticket value. If you upgraded them prior to using them you only got credit for the purchased price thus eliminating any discount you had gotten?

2) Do they need to be used before upgrading to maintain the discount?

3) I know that WDW AP holders get early registration for WDW RunDisney events, but do they also get the same early registration for DL RunDisney events? The following page would seem to indicate the answer is yes, but it is not definitive, and I’ve seen some deceptive/inaccurate webpages from Disney before. This probably won't weight into our decision, but it is a nice to know.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/passholder-program/passholder-benefits-and-discounts/rundisney/


4) Are there any other AP / Ticket Upgrade details I may be missing?

A. Not "any purchased tickets," but many. The 14 day rule applies, but it also is limited in that
you must upgrade NO LATER than on the same day that you use the last asset ("day") on your ticket.
B. Yup.
1) I don't know, because I don't know what tickets you will buy.
But, it is likely that you can upgrade them.
2) No. No tickets need to be used before upgrading to maintain the discount, but you CAN if you like.

Also, some tickets can be upgraded, but you must pay the difference between what you originally paid
(or what the discounter paid Disney) for those tickets. In other words, no advantage in buying those
tickets for the purpose of upgrading to save money.

I simply don't know if the tickets about which you are asking will qualify for the "price bridging" procedure or not.

 

[mbrittb00]

One thing I had forgotten to ask. Through the MWR the I have the option of 2,3,4,5, or 7 day tickets. No 6 day option which is what we are really needing. Part of what was behind #2 was because of this. I know that we can "add" that extra day at any time, but trying to make FP+ reservations we would be limited to 5 days until we upgraded to the 6th day. My hope would be that we could by the 5 day tickets apply them to our account then add a day (paying the difference) and be set to make 6 days of FP+ reservations.

In a follow up to #1. Is there anyway to find out if tickets are upgradable prior to purchasing? I would hate to buy them only later to find out I can't upgrade them (even credited for purchased price) to APs if we decide to go that route.

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

Non-Salute military tickets can be price bridged to their gate priced equivalent and upgraded to add days or options as well as going to annual passes.

Salute tickets can only be upgraded to annual passes and don't get price bridged except to the gate price of the Salute ticket (which includes tax, even though bases and SoG don't charge it).

 

[mbrittb00]

Non-Salute military tickets can be price bridged to their gate priced equivalent and upgraded to add days or options as well as going to annual passes.

Salute tickets can only be upgraded to annual passes and don't get price bridged except to the gate price of the Salute ticket (which includes tax, even though bases and SoG don't charge it).

That was what I was thinking/expecting the answer to be.

The last time we went was after they started using the Magic Bands, but we ended up purchasing tickets directly from WDW as part of the hotel/ticket/free-dining package. When you buy 3rd party tickets how/when do you "apply" them to your account? Also, once applied can you then upgrade them before you travel? If so how? Call Disney and say you want to add a day?

 

[TinkLoverSam]

That was what I was thinking/expecting the answer to be.

The last time we went was after they started using the Magic Bands, but we ended up purchasing tickets directly from WDW as part of the hotel/ticket/free-dining package. When you buy 3rd party tickets how/when do you "apply" them to your account? Also, once applied can you then upgrade them before you travel? If so how? Call Disney and say you want to add a day?

You "apply" them to your account by adding the ticket number to your MDE account.

Tickets can only be upgraded in person at the parks.

To get 6 days of fp+ (if you are sure you will upgrade to APs) I would buy the 7 day tickets