Upgrading discounted tickets

[TexasTerri]

Hi All, DH & I are planning to take the 3 grand kids to Disneyland this summer. I can get discounted tickets through my employer cheaper than I've found them anywhere else, but I can only get 3 day hoppers. I would prefer at least 4 days.

I've read on the WDW forums that you can upgrade discounted tickets at the park and retain the discount as long as you've used it at least once to enter a park before doing the upgrade. Does this apply to Disneyland as well?

To clarify my question, the full price difference in an adult 3D vs 4D hopper is $25.00.
I can get a 3 day adult hopper with my discount for $259.60. If I upgrade after using the ticket, would I pay the $25.00 difference, or would I lose my discount completely.

Thanks.

 

[Winnowill]

There's no good answer for that. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Officially, Disney does not "bridge" discounted tickets - you pay for the upgrade, plus the difference between what gate price and your discount was. However, if the CM at the ticket booth doesn't realize that your tickets were discounted to begin with (and there's really nothing on them that indicates that they were), they'll give you full value for them. Don't count on this, just be happy if it works out for you. It did for us when we upgrade five-day hoppers to APs, saving us about $100. But we considered ourselves lucky there.

 

[Aladora]

To echo the previous poster: We have upgraded discounted tickets a number of times and we have always had the full gate value of the ticket applied to the upgrade so have never lost the discount. A couple of the times we have upgraded tickets that we got through Airmiles so the ticket looked identical to the paper ticket you would get at the ticket booth so there was nothing to indicate that it was a discounted ticket. The last time we were there, we upgraded two ticket vouchers that we got through LMTClub and once again we retained the discount. One time we upgraded from a 3 day to a 4 day after the ticket had been used but the other times we went right to the ticket booth and upgraded before going into the park on the first day.

 

[TexasTerri]

Thanks so much. I've read bridging can be iffy at WDW, but should work if the CM does it correctly. I couldn't find anything specific to DL. I may purchase from LMTClub as an option. That site doesn't get any love on TA forums so it's good to know that a DIS Veteran has used it.

 

[Aladora]

Thanks so much. I've read bridging can be iffy at WDW, but should work if the CM does it correctly. I couldn't find anything specific to DL. I may purchase from LMTClub as an option. That site doesn't get any love on TA forums so it's good to know that a DIS Veteran has used it.

I had zero problems with LMTClub. Ordered the tickets on July 24, received an email confirmation almost immediately. Ticket voucher was emailed 4 days later. Used the vouchers in September and upgraded to Annual Passes before first use. Only thing that took a while was the actual upgrading but it always seems to be a long process! Paid $277.75 for 4 day hoppers, gate value of $320.00

 

[SMD]

Thanks so much. I've read bridging can be iffy at WDW, but should work if the CM does it correctly. I couldn't find anything specific to DL. I may purchase from LMTClub as an option. That site doesn't get any love on TA forums so it's good to know that a DIS Veteran has used it.

DLR officially does not price bridge. The tickets are supposed to be coded with the price the reseller agreed with Disney to sell them for, but that doesn't mean they sell them at that price. You should always go in expecting to pay the full difference, and any retained discount is pixie dust. If you want 4 day tickets, look for a good deal on 4 day tickets and avoid having to visit the ticket booth at all.

 

[TexasTerri]

I agree. If I decide on 4 days I'll shop around for the best value. We did 3 days (my 2 grandsons 1st trip) in 2014. That wasn't long enough for any of us, so we did 5 days in 2015, then 8 days at WDW in June. It will hurt with only 3 or 4 days this year but we're bringing my soon to be 5YO granddaughter for her 1st time this summer. I'm not sure how she'll do away from her parents for that long. The 2 boys did fine with daily Facetime, but she's a lot more clingy. Hopefully BBB and meeting her princesses will get her through it.

I'm getting excited just thinking about all the girly stuff I'll get to do this year. I had to bribe the boys to eat at CRT. They agreed only after they found out they got a sword. They'd never admit it, but they had a great time. And I got a great photo of my 10YO making goo-goo eyes at Ariel. Oh, I can't wait to get back!!!

 

[sleepymouse]

I bought discounted hoppers 2 years ago and upgraded to APs. Price was bridged.