Ultimate Hopper passes, RIP-OFF

[BruTamUK]

Hi there,
We have booked with virgin for Dec 04 stopping at the Grand floridian for the first 9 nights. My question is, does anybody know if virgin charge to delete park passes from our booking. We have worked out that the Ultimate Hopper Pass that is included is a rip-off compared to the 5,7 day hopper or the 10 day pass.

Ultimate Hopper- £260
10 Day Pass- £226
7 Day Hooper- £219
5 Day Hopper- £170

I know that the Ultimate Hopper allows access to the parks one hour early, other than that I cant see any other benefits.
We will be there for a total of 8 full days, one of which will be our wedding. Therefore, we have 7 days to do the four main parks and waterparks. A 5 Day Hopper will easily cover these days.

The Ultimate Hoppers are included in the price of the holiday (but you do pay £260 for them). We were hoping to delete them from the booking and buy a 5 Day Hopper seperately.
Many thanks,
Bruce & Tammy

 

[uktigger]

hi bruce & tammy
i can't answer your question directly but virgin will charge you for deleting something off you booking,my cousin was charged £125 for taking her daughter off the booking and we were charged £100 for changing our dates even though the holiday was £915 more it seems to me the tour companies are out to flecce customers lately
anyway good luck you might not get any admin charges

eve

 

[Penny12]

Actually, the Ultimate Hoppers don't even give you access to the parks one hour early - that's a perk of staying onsite, irrespective of what ticket media you hold.

It does give you unlimited entry in to the Water parks, PI and DQ though, whereas if you have Hopper pluses those are limited, so if your focus is that - then they are good, otherwise though....

Good luck with trying to change it, I'd be interested to hear how it goes.

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Don't Virgin insist that you take the Ultimate Hopper passes if you stay on-site with them? That's one of the reasons we've always booked DIY as it gives greater flexibility in choice of ticket.

Regards

Rob

 

[marlouwrig]

2004 Virgin brochure shows two sets of prices now.

One with and one without UPH

I believe this is the first year they have done this

 

[kazzie]

Eve, Virgin have in the past waived my ammendment fee if the changes take the booking up in value as yours was?I think it is down to the discretion of the consultant maybe?

I don't know about the ticket thing.The being ale to book Disney hotels with or without tickets is in the new brochure,not sure if they would allow it because you booked before.

You've got nothing to lose to try though,very persisantly!

 

[uktigger]

hi karen
i have emailed virgin to try and get them to waiver the admin fee and am awaiting their reply fingers crossed maybe lucky
eve

 

[SimonV]

This will be the first time TO's are allowed to offer Disney accommodation without the UMPs. It has always been a stipulation of TO packages in the past, but Disney were getting a lot of criticism for this, both from the TO's and their customers, so they have now given the likes of Virgin the option. IMHO, the Unlimited passes are worthwhile only if you are staying on site for the duration of your stay and not planning to do Universal, etc.

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Glad to hear that Disney have eased up this requirement. This was the main reason why we did not consider booking an on-site holiday with a tour operator (we usually buy annual passes). In future we will now be able to compare the cost of on-site holidays with TOs against a DIY route.

Regards

Rob

 

[vernon]

I agree with Simon that the UMP has limited value in many cases. I'm sure there are some where they do work out a "viable option" but in my own case I've never found them to be useful. While they are the more expensive option, they do offer the greatest flexibility and access to Disney parks, as Simon says if you're not planning to visit off site and you do need that flexibility then I think saying they are a "rip off" is a touch unfair, although limited value wouldn't be an unfair accusation.