Upgrading to an AP

[Minnie Loves Mickey]

We booked our trip thru Costco with a 5 day Park Hopper ticket, does anyone know how to find out how much the ticket is worth? I can see at the DL website how much but am curious if this is what we would get towards an upgrade to an AP.

 

[Disney Dreams]

You will be given credit for the amount you paid for it. How much did you pay Costco for your 5 day PH? That's your answer.

- Dreams

 

[gokdog]

Funny thing I am in the exact same sitation.

First everyone said that the printed price on our tickets would be what we got credit for, but then our tickets came and have no amount listed.

Then lots of post and info like the poster above, who said we would get the exact price credit, but no itemization on the bill or in the reservation, so hard to know what that price is.

We called Disney and have gotten a few answers, I think ultimately it it will be some number between the old price and the new price as discounted by the Costo package. The good news is that I am doing mine this Saturday after magic morning and will be able to post the exact number.


Dave

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

It's the online prepurchase price typically. But if you purchased your package before the price increase it'll be the old prices.

 

[aribelle]

Does Disneyland not work the same way as WDW for upgrading? I thought they did?

If they do...then you want to ENTER the park with your discounted ticket BEFORE you upgrade. Then your ticket becomes encoded with the CURRENT gate price and you'll get credit for that amount. I've done this loads of times at WDW....if you have an AP then with their free dining you have to purchase at least a 1 day ticket (ok, I think this year it's a minimum of 2 days)...so we always have a 1 day ticket the following year to upgrade to our next AP. But by using the ticket to enter we get the raised ticket price...in other words, we purchased it at the old rate, but every summer they raise the rates and by using it first we get the new year's rate as a direct credit towards the cost of the AP. Of course, it's kinda offset by the fact that the AP goes up every year too, but it's better than nothing.

I know the conventional wisdom is to buy the 10 day hopper no expiration at undercovertourist.com who usually has the largest discount (it's currently about $37).....use that ticket to enter, and then upgrade it to the AP and they give you the full value of the ticket, so you get a $37 discount on an AP (AP's are never discounted, except for military and DVC).

If I was OP, I'd use the ticket to enter the park first....just in case Disneyland is the same as WDW about upgrades. Best case scenario you get a little more credit over what you paid....worst case....well, there is none, because you still get to upgrade and at the very least you'll get the value you paid for it (which may not be printed on it, but Disney has computers that can see the encoding that answers it for them).

Enjoy that AP!

 

[sonnyjane]

Does Disneyland not work the same way as WDW for upgrading? I thought they did?

If they do...then you want to ENTER the park with your discounted ticket BEFORE you upgrade. Then your ticket becomes encoded with the CURRENT gate price and you'll get credit for that amount. I've done this loads of times at WDW....if you have an AP then with their free dining you have to purchase at least a 1 day ticket (ok, I think this year it's a minimum of 2 days)...so we always have a 1 day ticket the following year to upgrade to our next AP. But by using the ticket to enter we get the raised ticket price...in other words, we purchased it at the old rate, but every summer they raise the rates and by using it first we get the new year's rate as a direct credit towards the cost of the AP. Of course, it's kinda offset by the fact that the AP goes up every year too, but it's better than nothing.

I know the conventional wisdom is to buy the 10 day hopper no expiration at undercovertourist.com who usually has the largest discount (it's currently about $37).....use that ticket to enter, and then upgrade it to the AP and they give you the full value of the ticket, so you get a $37 discount on an AP (AP's are never discounted, except for military and DVC).

Disneyland doesn't have non-expiring tickets the way WDW does, so the fact that your non-expiring WDW's retain their relative value the following year after a price increase is unique to WDW. At Disneyland, the price that you PAID is encoded on the ticket, and most of the time, that is the value that goes toward your upgrade. I have read on these boards about exceptions when upgrading, but the price difference between the two was something less than $10, so they may have just had a nice CM.

 

[starshine514]

When we did ours in May, we bought 4-day parkhoppers from getawaytoday for $197. When I picked up the tickets at the park, they said $201 (the then-current pre-purchase price on the Disneyland website). They gave us the value printed on the tickets towards the upgrade, so we got to keep our $4 discount. We had already used our tickets before we upgraded, and they did not jump up to the gate price in value.

 

[disneyrand]

IIRC you get in the neighborhood of $155.00 credit when upgrading the Costco passes. The information is linked to the Costco site before you purchase. It was determined in another thread that I had read (don't remember if it was here or another Disney board) that you were better off buying a Hopper Pass at Disneyland.com and upgrading from there IIRC.

Edit: Disregard all of that. I had misread your post thinking that you were getting the 4 day hoppers from Costco. I hadn't realized you had booked your entire vacation through Costco. My bad.

 

[Minnie Loves Mickey]

Yes we purchased the whole package through Costco so there is no breakdown of price given. Thanks for all the input. If anyone does upgrade a Costco package park hopper please let me know your results.

 

[bumbershoot]

When we upgraded a few years ago, the amount they used was the prepurchase price of the tickets. Not full price, but the discounted prepurchase price. Many have had the same experience.

Does Disneyland not work the same way as WDW for upgrading? I thought they did?

Nope. Official policy is entirely different between the two parks. (it's why I always tried to explain to WDW people that it isn't a *loophole* that you can buy a discounted ticket, use it, and get a higher value, but actually a *policy*, a policy that differs at the Anaheim parks)

Sometimes people get pixie dust at DLR, but not often by a long shot. You can expect to pay the difference between the cost of what you want and what you paid for what you have.