Upgrading tickets

[MeggP]

We were planning on buying our tickets in advance. If we decide to stay additional days can we upgrade to extra days and just pay the difference?
MeggP

 

[allysmom1218]

WDW is about making magic happen but it is also in it for the money. You can usually upgrade your tickets at any of the theme parks guest services and all you have to do is pay the difference, which you already knew.

 

[kimberh]

Why don't you buy more days up front and get the no expiration and get the days at a cheaper price? They may charge you at the daily rate and that is much more expensive. If you have the Disney card you have 6 months to pay with no interest if you have a package.

 

[seashoreCM]

You really need to cast your schedule in stone before you buy tickets if you want the absolute best bargain, although adding more days to an existing ticket will cost less than buying an additional ticket.

Non-expiration is not worth it if you use up the ticket all in one sitting.

For tickets bought from some sources including AAA you in effect lose the advance purchase discount if you add days to the ticket at WDW later. The fundamental rule is that you pay the difference between wholesale price of what you have and gate price of what you want. There are probably some exceptions here and there which I don't know precisely although I think wholesale price equals gate price for tickets ordered or purchased directly from Disney. But tickets that came with a package that in turn came with free hopping were treated as non-hopping tickets (base; basic tickets) when figuring the cost of upgrading later.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[kimberh]

Explanation of my previous post:
If you know for example; that you are going to Disney 2or 3 times over the next few years then why are you paying $60 plus per day to go? Buy a 10 day non expiration ticket and pay $30 some and get the park at half price. The next few times you come back you will have your ticket and then a much cheaper trip. By all means don't buy a non- expiration it you are going to use it in one stay. This is what we do and we get 3 trips out of a 10 day ticket. That's us, We get one annual pass and get the room discount (hopefully) and try to get the best trip for the least amount of money. We have just became DVC owners and now we can get the DDP so that will be an added boost. The dining free special that just came out requires that only a one day ticket be bought and from what I have been reading that ticket can be used toward the pruchase price to renew the annual pass. The point I am making is we don't miss out on all the specials. Just a thought for those that make a lot of trips, plus Disney is raising rates and your ticket is still good.

 

[KJHawley]

Please correct me if I'm wrong-

When upgrading tickets, you pay the difference between the GATE PRICE of the ticket you have, and the GATE PRICE of the ticket you want. Your wholesale price or discount does NOT enter into it.

For example, let's say you're upgrading a 5 day, park hopper, expiring ticket to a 6 day, park hopper, expiring ticket (you're just adding one day). The gate price for the 5 day ticket (including tax) is $211.94. The gate price for the 6 day ticket is $215.13. So, the cost to upgrade the ticket is $215.13 - $211.94 = $3.19. it doesn't matter whether you paid the full $211.94, or $202, or $50 on eBay- you will always pay $3.19 for the upgrade at the gate.

If you think about it, how would Disney ever how how much you actually paid for your ticket? Whether you bought them at the gate, or from a discount company, or from your Uncle Bob, there's no way Disney can track down every single ticket transaction!