Tickets and Annual Pass Questions - Please add your ticket questions to this thread

[erionm]

Is there a predictable frequency at which Disney increases the prices of an AP? Booked a cheap flight during Prime Day yesterday, so now I am thinking about when is the right time to buy my next AP. I’d rather not spend the money quite yet, but I could to save myself from a price increase, That flight I bought might be used on a rare Universal trip instead as I might want to do that before their new park opens.

Typically, only once a year. There has been a time or two when there were 2 increases within 12 months, but it's rare. The last AP rate increase was in Oct 2023.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Is there a predictable frequency at which Disney increases the prices of an AP? Booked a cheap flight during Prime Day yesterday, so now I am thinking about when is the right time to buy my next AP. I’d rather not spend the money quite yet, but I could to save myself from a price increase, That flight I bought might be used on a rare Universal trip instead as I might want to do that before their new park opens.

if you've already booked a flight and know when you're going, when you purchase the AP you have 1 year in which to activate it, and then it's good for 1 year after activation. So it probably wouldn't hurt to purchase now or soon, if you're sure that's the ticket you want to purchase for upcoming Disney trips.

 

[ericbansemer]

We currently have a booking where we rented points for a 2 bedroom at Copper Creek for 1/2-1/6. I saw today that it’s cheaper to fly down on 1/1 so we were thinking about adding 1 night somewhere just to add an extra day. There seems to be no DVC available so we were going to book a room through Disney.

Our original plan with tickets since we rented DVC was to purchase them separately, but if I book 1 night on 1/1 through Disney would it be all good to add on a 6 day ticket to that booking then have it last through our 1/2-1/6 Copper Creek stay? My thought is it would be fine but I’ve never done that before so wanted to make sure.

 

[kwdw]

if you've already booked a flight and know when you're going, when you purchase the AP you have 1 year in which to activate it, and then it's good for 1 year after activation. So it probably wouldn't hurt to purchase now or soon, if you're sure that's the ticket you want to purchase for upcoming Disney trips.

Yeah.. that's the debate. I KNOW I will be back to Disney - and I will buy another AP and use it alot. The question is the timing I want. Yes - I can buy and its good for a year before I activate - that's an argument to buy now. But - I want to get "two" later fall use years out of it. and I'd love to buy before the price goes up again. The more I process it - I think I just need to wait until I really am confident when I want my first trip to be since I'm not 100% sure its this fall....

 

[bigmochick]

So I’ve browsed the first and last part of this thread and can’t find my answer. In the early days (2017) it said that you do not get a AP discount buying tickets for another member of your party. But I read a more recent post that says you can, you just have to pick them up in person. If this is correct, my daughter is flying in 2 days after us. Would she need to be present or can I buy them for her at the gate prior to her arrival? I apologize in advance if this addressed in this thread, again it is massive and hopefully there’s an expert who can kindly inform me.

 

[lanejudy]

I'm not aware of a standard discount for AP holders to buy discounted park tickets. There may occasionally be a special offer. There may also be discounted party tickets. You can call the passholder line to ask: (407) WDW-PASS or (407) 939-7277*

Depending on your dates, there are a couple of special ticket offers (available to anyone) for 3-day and 4-day one-park-per-day tickets, for visits through Sept. 24th. The 3-day is only valid at EP, DHS and AK; the 4-day is good for 1 day at each of the 4 parks.

 

[tnkrbell13]

Are non expired WDW tickets still good at Disneyland? I know once upon a time they were, anyone have experience with this?

 

[bigmochick]

I'm not aware of a standard discount for AP holders to buy discounted park tickets. There may occasionally be a special offer. There may also be discounted party tickets. You can call the passholder line to ask: (407) WDW-PASS or (407) 939-7277*

Depending on your dates, there are a couple of special ticket offers (available to anyone) for 3-day and 4-day one-park-per-day tickets, for visits through Sept. 24th. The 3-day is only valid at EP, DHS and AK; the 4-day is good for 1 day at each of the 4 parks.

Thanks so much! The thread in question that gave me the answer I was searching for was a Universal AP thread. My mistake!! Thanks again for your reply. Off to search best 3 day hopper deals! We’re staying on the skyliner so definitely want to get her a hopper.

 

[erionm]

Are non expired WDW tickets still good at Disneyland? I know once upon a time they were, anyone have experience with this?

AFAIK, that ended many years ago.

 

[disland7]

I know you can upgrade tickets to annual passes when you are at Disney world. But I just read that you can’t upgrade if you used your tickets on a blocked out date. So here is the scenario- going to Disney world Dec 31-Jan 12 for race weekend. Planning on getting a 10 day park hopper (maybe plus option) and planning to upgrade to sorcerer pass with dvc discount. Dec 31-Jan 3 or 4th are block out dates, does that mean I can’t upgrade? If so, is this new? I had a client use tickets on block out dates in March and then upgrade to a Florida resident pass afterwards.

 

[lanejudy]

Dec 31-Jan 3 or 4th are block out dates, does that mean I can’t upgrade? If so, is this new?

Correct. You cannot upgrade a regular ticket that has been used to enter a park on a date that the AP would be blocked out. I think that's been the rule since APs were brought back -- so a couple years maybe?

ETA: I don't know what happened with your client in March. They either upgraded to a different AP that didn't have the block-out or maybe they were pixie-dusted.

 

[disland7]

Correct. You cannot upgrade a regular ticket that has been used to enter a park on a date that the AP would be blocked out. I think that's been the rule since APs were brought back -- so a couple years maybe?

ETA: I don't know what happened with your client in March. They either upgraded to a different AP that didn't have the block-out or maybe they were pixie-dusted.

So people have been turned away/made to get a higher annual pass?

 

[lanejudy]

So people have been turned away/made to get a higher annual pass?

If they upgrade at the beginning of their trip, they then have an AP and cannot enter a park on a blockout date. That would be the same as anyone with that AP attempting to enter the park on the blockout date -- turned away.

If they wait and upgrade at the end of their trip and they had already entered a park on a blockout date, they can only upgrade to an AP that doesn't have the blockout. Upgrading to the AP with a blockout is not an option. The other option is to not upgrade to AP.

 

[NicoleLarson]

We bought the special 4 day, park passes that WDW is offering for $399. Can we add on the park hopping option once we get to WDW or can these tickets not be upgraded in any way?

 

[erionm]

We bought the special 4 day, park passes that WDW is offering for $399. Can we add on the park hopping option once we get to WDW or can these tickets not be upgraded in any way?

You can't add park hopping to that specific ticket.

 

[jmasgat]

Searched the thread and read the stickies, but still have a question regarding upgrading a flexible date ticket to an annual pass, Wondering if anyone has experience with the following.....

As a GM retiree, I can buy a 5 day FLEXIBLE DATE PH for $619 (i.e. there is no start date associated with the ticket) This would work for my W&D race weekend when the Disney advance price for a 5 day PH starting on Oct 31 is ~$764. But I am also going in January (Marathon weekend) and so have decided to buy an AP. I called to ask about what value would apply to an upgrade (the $618 I paid or the $764 equivalent if starting on Oct 31)and got a rather vague answer of "we need to see the ticket in your account". Anyone have experience with Flexible Date tickets that might be relevant? Or are they uncommon?

I expect I would only get credit for the $619 if I upgraded before I went (worried about price hikes that seem to come in October). But am really curious what would happen if I upgraded after swiping in on Oct 31. Would it dynamically "re-value" the ticket to gate price? It would be a nice savings if it did, but not sure if it's worth the risk of waiting to see.

 

[Disneydawg74]

Booked a last minute trip for August including Not So Scary and After Hours tickets. Life changed dramatically in 48 hours and now things are not looking good. I have read that if you give Disney a call they can change the special event tickets to ones further down the line but is this true. I am not sure this is going to make much of a difference for me but at least I might be able to kick the can down the road. I know I can just change the dates of the package to get around the change/cancel policy.

Sorry you’re experiencing this. Last November my husband had to go to the emergency room on the night we were supposed to go to the Jollywood party. Although they wouldn’t offer a refund, they did keep the ticket value in my account (although only they could see it) and I was able to use that value this year to get tickets this year. When I got tickets for this year, I had to call because the credit doesn’t show up anywhere except for where they can see it. I hope everything works out for you.

 

[subtchr]

Searched the thread and read the stickies, but still have a question regarding upgrading a flexible date ticket to an annual pass, Wondering if anyone has experience with the following.....

As a GM retiree, I can buy a 5 day FLEXIBLE DATE PH for $619 (i.e. there is no start date associated with the ticket) This would work for my W&D race weekend when the Disney advance price for a 5 day PH starting on Oct 31 is ~$764. But I am also going in January (Marathon weekend) and so have decided to buy an AP. I called to ask about what value would apply to an upgrade (the $618 I paid or the $764 equivalent if starting on Oct 31)and got a rather vague answer of "we need to see the ticket in your account". Anyone have experience with Flexible Date tickets that might be relevant? Or are they uncommon?

I expect I would only get credit for the $619 if I upgraded before I went (worried about price hikes that seem to come in October). But am really curious what would happen if I upgraded after swiping in on Oct 31. Would it dynamically "re-value" the ticket to gate price? It would be a nice savings if it did, but not sure if it's worth the risk of waiting to see.

I've never heard of these tickets, but they sound like Magic Your Way military tickets. They are the same price all year, which works out to a small savings during low demand times of year, and a more significant discount at holiday or other high demand times.

In the case of the military tickets, if you used them to upgrade to an AP, you would only get what you paid for them. Disney can see that in the system. I suspect it would be the same with the tickets you can get. They are not the same as regular tickets, so you would not get the value of what regular tickets would cost.

 

[lanejudy]

We bought the special 4 day, park passes that WDW is offering for $399. Can we add on the park hopping option once we get to WDW or can these tickets not be upgraded in any way?

You can upgrade but hopping cannot be added. If you want hoppers, you will need to upgrade to regular date-based tickets. That would lose the special discount of the 4-park Magic ticket.

 

[lanejudy]

I expect I would only get credit for the $619

I am not familiar with that ticket but I agree that you will likely only get credit for what you paid regardless of upgrading in advance or after using the ticket.