Upgrade Ultimate Ticket to Annual Pass?

[lush]

I felt bad just dumping extra questions into the other poster's thread so thought I should just start my own!

I've just been looking at buying an annual pass for our trip in May. When I go through the US website it won't accept my order with my UK address, it will if I put in the address of the villa we're staying in. Will this be ok? I've selected willcall so there should be nothing posted to the address. Right?

After having a little search through previous threads on here I have noticed that it might be possible to upgrade an Ultimate ticket to an annual pass while I'm there. Although from what I can see the chance you take is the cm you get on the day and how generous they feel?

I can get 12% cashback buying the Ultimate ticket via my husband's work which is about £35. Potentially saving me a bit of money by just upgrading the ticket. However, if there is going to be a lot of messing about and hassle I'd rather just buy before we go as I will be doing it at the start of the two holiday to make the most of the discounts.

Also do I have to have used the Ultimate ticket before I can upgrade it or can I just upgrade it upon arrival?

Am I better off just forgoing the bit of saving (it's not a massive amount off in the scheme of things) and purchase my AP before we go or is it easy enough to upgrade?

I feel like my head is going to explode thinking about it! The things we do to save a few quid!

 

[flortlebap]

I don't know the definite answer here but I'd be inclined just to upgrade at the parks (but make sure they bridge prices correctly)! It would always worry me having an AP sent to a U.S. address - Id panic they'd send the Florida discount pass! If you can't ship to a UK address (which seems daft!) then personally I'd just upgrade the ticket on arrival, but I don't know for sure whether that's the best answer - just my gut feeling

 

[skedinger]

I bought an annual pass through the US website for my trip a few weeks ago. My UK address was not a problem. Since the ticket is will call, nothing is coming in the mail anyway. The problem may be with your credit card rather than your UK address. I had to call to get my credit card transaction to go through to purchase the annual pass. The CM said that sometimes there are issues in verifying foreign credit cards on the website, and that success using them is hit or miss.

At will call, I was asked for ID to pick up my annual pass. I don't know if it would be a problem if you used your hotel's address for the pass, and then your ID didn't match that address. I wouldn't chance it myself. Also, I have found upgrading to be a hassle in the past. It very much depends on the CM working at the time you approach the window. If the person you get doesn't know how to do an upgrade, or wants to charge you too much for it, then you will have to come back and try another CM. Unless I am saving a lot of money, I think it's too much hassle while on holiday. JMHO, though. Others are happy to put up with the inconvenience.

 

[Elise79]

From my experience I would not willing upgrade an Ultimate ticket if I have a choice.

If you want to save a bit on the AP with minimal hassle then buy a MYW ticket to upgrade.

In July it took us well over an hour and a lot of stress to upgrade our Ulimate tickets to APs and that to me would not be worth £35. We had no choice as we had the tickets as part of our free dining package but I wouldn't willing do it.

 

[lush]

Thanks for all the replies.

I think I'll just buy the AP. Don't want to waste time on my holiday and potentially ruin a day, just not worth the money.

Flortlebap - the AP won't be sent anywhere, I will be collecting it at will call when we get there.

I'll try my other credit card and hope for the best! ��

 

[saintrob]

I've upgraded to an AP but using a MYW two day ticket. I had the ticket as part of the USA free dining package and upgraded at the International gateway guest services. Personally I wouldn't think the hassle of an unlimited pass would be worth it.

 

[Elise79]

Thanks for all the replies.

I think I'll just buy the AP. Don't want to waste time on my holiday and potentially ruin a day, just not worth the money.

Flortlebap - the AP won't be sent anywhere, I will be collecting it at will call when we get there.

I'll try my other credit card and hope for the best! ��

If you can't do it online just give them a call and they sort it over the phone for you

 

[zavandor]

I'm not sure if you can upgrade an Ultimate tiket, otherwise the best strategy would be to purchase a ticket from Undercover Tourist and then bridge it to an AP. When bridging a ticket purchased from a third party, Disney considers the gate cost of the ticket and not the discounted one.
So if you purchase a 4-Day Park Hopper® + Water Park Fun & More that costs $367.43, with a discount of $35, would save you 35$ overall (not £35, but still not bad).

 

[wayneg]

I'm not sure if you can upgrade an Ultimate tiket

Yes you can upgrade UK tickets but as Tracy has said it can be a lot of hassle and time consuming.
I did it about 2 years ago, tried about 5 or 6 different guest services (each park & DTD)

I got 1 response saying it wasn't possible, all the others varying prices, there is no fixed way for them to quote, its all down to how they enter the details into the computer and what discounts code they work on, I found GS at DHS the cheapest of them all, asked them to write it down. 2-3 days went back to buy and they could not get the low price again with different staff, I asked her to get the manager, she went in the back a few minutes and came back and said they could do the price plus tax (my quote was marked incl tax) I accepted it as it was still the cheapest but overall probably 70-90 mins of my holiday wasted sorting the upgrade.

I did get a little bonus though, they started the AP from the day I upgraded rather than the day I started using the Ultimate ticket. It meant we squeezed this July's trip in before they expired.