Upgrade UT to AP price difference

[Splashboat]

Two years ago I went to guest relations to upgrade tickets we bought on UT to AP with the DVC discount (I believe it was the offer for the premium annual pass at the time). It was a fiasco. Supervisors were involved and it took forever.

I was told that I bought discounted tickets and I had to pay the difference. I wouldn't have minded if it was accurate but they were insisting I paid $50 less per ticket then I would have paid if I bought directly through Disney.

It seemed like because they couldn't find our tickets purchased in the system they decided to make up a price difference. I don't know anywhere you can buy a ticket with that much of a discount.
Nobody, including the Supervisor, could explain how they came up with the price.

After a lot of persistence on my part they finally gave me the price difference from the Disney base ticket to the DVC premium annual pass discount offered at the time.

Unfortunately I am finding myself in a similar situation and I want to avoid the same problem at guest relations. I have 8 day base tickets that I bought through UT. Now we decided to upgrade and go again within the year.

I called member services to try and get a price. The CM said she couldn't give me a price until I arrive because the 'system knows' what I paid and it will calculate the difference at that time. I told her I didn't buy them through Disney and she was insisting the 'system knows'.

Anybody have experience with upgrading UT tickets lately?
I don't mind paying the real price difference but I don't even remember exactly what I paid (I didn't by all the tickets at the same time). Should I go through my old credit card statements and try to find the prices?

 

[automaticsoap]

In May, I upgraded from a UT ticket to a DVC AP. You need to make sure that you enter a park at least once using the UT ticket first -- this will "bridge" your ticket to the current gate price. Then when you go to upgrade, you pay the difference between the bridged ticket (current value of the ticket, not what you paid before) and the AP amount.

 

[Splashboat]

We did use the tickets last time. This happened at the guest service location inside Epcot.

 

[erionm]

If the CM gives you an upgrade price that's different that what you are expecting, ask them if they price bridged the tickets. If they say they can't, cancel the transaction and go to a different location and try the upgrade again.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Disney's policy is still to price bridge so as was said if they aren't quoting you the difference between what you see as the gate price for the ticket you have and the AP then try somewhere else or ask for a supervisor.

You need to use the ticket first. We've done this more than once both at the IG at Epcot and the GS outside the front of the park at Epcot. The last time we needed an upgrade was May although that wasn't to an AP, it was adding days and hopping to a ticket we had purchased a couple of years prior from UT. Luckily we've never had an issue doing this.

 

[Splashboat]

Thanks, just want to make sure it didn't change.
Doesn't sound like this happened to anyone else so hopefully it won't be a problem. I will try another guest service location if it happens again.

 

[cvjw]

Upgrading has been a fiasco for me twice so far this year. In March, I tried to upgrade three 7 day base tickets from UT to DVC AP's. I tried inside EPCOT, and the CM would only credit the amount originally paid for the tickets several years ago. I asked her to get a supervisor to verify that, and he backed her up. Since they would not price-bridge, it would have cost us almost $300 more to upgrade. The supervisor told me that Disney had just changed their policy to no longer price bridge.

I politely took back my tickets, and tried again at guest services at the IG on the way back to BWV. That lovely CM did the upgrade and price bridged without me even asking.


Fast forward to this July. I needed to upgrade one more 7 day base ticket to another DVC AP for my 18 year old. I tried this time at the guest services inside MK. This CM told me that Disney had just changed their policy and no ticket purchased more than 2 months ago would be allowed to be upgraded. She then smiled and handed me back my tickets

Fortunately, I handed her my AP and told her to do the same upgrade that had been done on that ticket. She grumbled, but reluctantly did the upgrade because she could see in the system that the same type of UT ticket had been used to upgrade to my AP. She even charged me the right amount.

Bottom line - hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst. I have had the worst the last two times I have tried to upgrade this year.

 

[Splashboat]

This is what is frustrating. There doesn't seem to be any written policy that is consistent. It appears to depend on who you get.

When it happened to me I was shocked because I read everything I could and I thought I knew exactly what they would charge.

I did end up getting the price I expected but it felt like a long battle to get there.

 

[BillPA]

I plan to upgrade 3 UT ticket to AP on the next trip. What do you need to show the CM, along with you member card and photo ID. Just your Magic Band or the original tickets?
Thanks

 

[keishashadow]

I plan to upgrade 3 UT ticket to AP on the next trip. What do you need to show the CM, along with you member card and photo ID. Just your Magic Band or the original tickets?
Thanks

Despite magic bands we still take whatever park tickets with us. Have read several reports of bands not having tix registered properly. when buying thru UT or AAA I always keep the receipt & have it on hand jik

haven't had any issues when bridging, would hate to see that loophole close.

 

[cvjw]

I plan to upgrade 3 UT ticket to AP on the next trip. What do you need to show the CM, along with you member card and photo ID. Just your Magic Band or the original tickets?
Thanks

I always take the actual ticket - don't know if you have to, but I have it there just in case.

 

[erionm]

Disney did make one change to their price bridging policy. They will no longer price bridge tickets purchased at gate prices. Some CMs take this one change to mean no more price bridging.

Tickets purchased at a discount continue to be eligible for price bridging.

NOTE: tickets purchased as part of a package are actually discounted and are eligible for price bridging.

 

[Splashboat]

Disney did make one change to their price bridging policy. They will no longer price bridge tickets purchase at gate prices. Some CMs take this one change to mean no more price bridging.

Tickets purchased at a discount continue to be eligible for price bridging.

NOTE: tickets purchased as part of a package are actually discounted and are eligible for price bridging.

Can you clarify? How do they know what I paid (I don't even remember what I paid)? If they aren't using the gate price, what price are they using?

 

[supersnoop]

Can you clarify? How do they know what I paid (I don't even remember what I paid)? If they aren't using the gate price, what price are they using?

Disney knows how much THEY sold the ticket for. And, if they sold it to YOU, then that's the value they use. If they sold it to a third party, and you bought it through that reseller, then they will bridge it to current value and apply that amount to the upgrade.

 

[Splashboat]

If they sold it to a third party, and you bought it through that reseller, then they will bridge it to current value and apply that amount to the upgrade.

That's my question. I bought them from UT at different times over the last couple of years because I didn't want to pay all at once. The tickets don't say what I paid or when they were purchased so how do they know what I paid to bridge it to current value when I don't know.

Last time they wanted to charge me $50 per ticket and I wasn't going to do it because I knew I didn't pay they much less than Disney's price.
That is why I am wondering if I should go back through my old credit card receipts to see what I paid for each ticket.

BTW, when I say $50 per ticket I don't mean to get the annual pass price. I mean the difference they wanted to charge me to get current value at that time and then, in addition, charge me the difference to get the annual pass.

 

[vicki_c]

Splash boat, what YOU paid doesn't matter to Disney and they don't know that information.

Without bridging, they would charge you the difference between what they sold it to UT for (and that info they know for all tickets by the bar code or ticket #s) and the ticket you want to purchase. Depending on how discounted those tickets were when sold to UT, that could be a large difference.

With bridging, they will only charge you the difference between the current value of the ticket you have (meaning its Disney retail price on the day you are upgrading) and the ticket you want to purchase.

 

[Splashboat]

Without bridging, they would charge you the difference between what they sold it to UT for (and that info they know for all tickets by the bar code or ticket #s) and the ticket you want to purchase. Depending on how discounted those tickets were when sold to UT, that could be a large difference.

That must be what they wanted to do last time. The CM and Supervisor said it was $50 per ticket.
That also sounds like what the CM was telling me on the phone today because she said you will not know what you are going to pay for the upgrade until they check your tickets.

 

[BillPA]

Despite magic bands we still take whatever park tickets with us. Have read several reports of bands not having tix registered properly. when buying thru UT or AAA I always keep the receipt & have it on hand jik

haven't had any issues when bridging, would hate to see that loophole close.

Thanks for the response.

Also thanks to cvjw

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

That's my question. I bought them from UT at different times over the last couple of years because I didn't want to pay all at once. The tickets don't say what I paid or when they were purchased so how do they know what I paid to bridge it to current value when I don't know.

Last time they wanted to charge me $50 per ticket and I wasn't going to do it because I knew I didn't pay they much less than Disney's price.
That is why I am wondering if I should go back through my old credit card receipts to see what I paid for each ticket.

BTW, when I say $50 per ticket I don't mean to get the annual pass price. I mean the difference they wanted to charge me to get current value at that time and then, in addition, charge me the difference to get the annual pass.

As I mentioned above they don't need to know what you paid in order to bridge. The "bridging" is simply giving it the current gate value. So you can figure out exactly what amount they should charge you prior to trying to upgrade the ticket.

 

[disBOBney]

UT? please describe