If I go ahead now and buy our five day hoppers for next summer, will I be able to trade one of these, plus more $ of course, for an AP if special rates come out for my timeframe?
Yes, you can. If you have not yet used any of the days, you will get the full value of what you paid applied to your AP. You can do this at Guest Services at any of the theme parks.
If you buy the pass direct from Disney (Disney Store, disneworld.com, etc.) then you should get the full value of the pass applied toward an upgrade.
However, if you buy the pass from a third-party vendor (Ticketmania, Hotwire, Paramount, etc.) you will NOT get full value. These vendors buy passes at wholesale rates and then apply their own mark-up to turn a profit. The markup is typically in the 10-15% range.
Disney can scan the ticket and immediately tell the exact wholesale value at which they originally sold the pass. That is the amount they will credit toward an upgrade. Makes sense--Disney shouldn't have to honor a markup amount applied by another vendor.
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