Upgrading to Annual Pass and FP+?

[Maddie's Daddy]

Hi all! We are heading to WDW next week and have 5 day park hopper tickets. We originally planned on checking in on Friday, treating it as a pool day, and starting our park hoppers on Saturday. We have fast passes set up from Saturday through Wednesday. So far so good.

We recently made the decision to go back to the World next January, and are now planning on upgrading to annual passes. I've read the posts on using a park day and then bridging to an AP as we exit the park, so we thought we could try this on Friday and get one extra park day out of this trip. I'm concerned, though, that this might somehow screw up our fast passes for the remainder of the week, since those don't begin until Saturday and are linked in the system to the exact number of days on our PH tickets. Has anyone tried this before and were your FPs for subsequent days affected? We have both 7DMT and A&E so want to avoid any chance of losing these. I appreciate any insight!

 

[Pygmypuff07]

We did this last year when we decided to upgrade to annual passes. Although, I am pretty sure we called the week before our trip to get the park hoppers changed to annual passes. By calling and getting the tickets changed ahead of time, our fast passes were not affected. Although, if you called and did it this way I would let them know ahead of time you have some very important fast passes that you cannot replace so that way they can be extra careful. I don't know about getting the tickets changed while you are there but i would guess it would be the same.

 

[Maddie's Daddy]

Thank you, Pygmypuff07. We bought our tickets through Undercover Tourist - do you think that would make a difference?

 

[Pygmypuff07]

I have never bought any tickets through undercover tourist but I would think that if it links up with your MDE account like a ticket you would buy through Disney, you should be fine.

 

[izzylovesmickey]

I did this in September for DH & myself. Bought passes from AAA. Went to guest services at Animal Kingdom on the day we arrived. It took a little bit (they were having issues there that day) but did not lose any fast passes for the week. Did it again in December for the kids. Bought tickets from Disney on the website. Went to guest services at MK and had no problems. No lost fast passes again. So purchased from 2 different places and upgraded in 2 different parks with no problems. You should be fine.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

Thank you, Pygmypuff07. We bought our tickets through Undercover Tourist - do you think that would make a difference?

You will not be able to call and upgrade a ticket not purchased through disney... And even if it was purchased through disney it may have to be part of a package for you to be able to change the # of days on the ticket.

 

[staceyeileen]

Since you bought it through UT at a discounted price you definitely want to wait until you've used it once for admission before doing the upgrade. Your FPs should not be affected.

 

[Robo]

Since you bought it through UT at a discounted price you definitely want to wait until you've used it once for admission before doing the upgrade.

Your FPs should not be affected.

Ditto
and
Ditto.

 

[purple figment]

We bought 5 day MYW PH tickets from UCT last year and had no problem upgrading them to APs after entering a park. Our FPs were fine. You will not be able to upgrade prior to arriving at DW, but you would want to wait until then anyway and use them once to bring them up to the current value.

 

[gracielou]

You will not be able to call and upgrade a ticket not purchased through disney... And even if it was purchased through disney it may have to be part of a package for you to be able to change the # of days on the ticket.

I know you're not supposed to be able to upgrade over the phone and get the bridged price on an unused ticket, but it is possible if you get the right CM and a little magic.

I purchased 2 UT tickets last year just before the price increase with the intention of upgrading them at the park to renew my AP and save some money. Once my 60-day mark came and it hit me that I would only be able to make FP+ reservations for 7 days out of my 16 day stay (my AP expired 4 days before my trip began, but I had 2 party tickets and my 5-day UT tickets), I decided to take a hit on the cost and see if there was any way I could upgrade over the phone.

The first CM I spoke to gave me a flat out no. I called back immediately afterwards and explained the situation to a new CM I also figured it wouldn't hurt to mention that DH's birthday was the first day of our trip and our anniversary was the 3rd and played the "silly me, he's going to be so disappointed" card. She took my ticket numbers and said she'd see what she could do. 5 minutes later she not only upgraded both tickets to AP renewals, but also told me I had $70 something left and she couldn't issue a credit, were there any other tickets I needed. Turns out I thought the after-tax renewal rate was the pre-tax figure so my 5-day, non-expire tickets were bridged to a higher price than the renewal. She ran though MNSSHP and MVMPC tickets as options but I had already purchased both. After paying $20 and some change, I had 2 DisneyQuest ticlets appearing in my MDE account along with the AP renewals.

I wasn't brave enough to risk it again this year, but it never hurts to call a time or two and see if an awesome CM will sprinkle some pixie dust on you!

 

[Fantaluminishes]

I'd like to ask my AP question here. I have a Premium DLR AP. I want to upgrade to Premier before my July trip to WDW, but my current AP will expire while I'm at WDW. So I guess I'll be purchasing a new AP beforehand. So here are my questions:
1. If I purchase the Premier AP at Disneyland, will I be able to link it to MDE before I travel to Florida?
2. How soon do I need to have the Premier AP before I can make FP+ reservations?
3. When I link the AP, will it automatically link to my Magic Band?

Speaking of Magic Bands. I have a MB from 2 years ago that still shows up on my MDE account. Can I use that, or do I need a new one?

I live in California, and want to buy my new AP as late as possible so I have minimal overlap on the payment plan. I'll be arriving at WDW on July 7.

 

[Maddie's Daddy]

Thank you all for your responses and sorry for my late reply - buried at work this week! So to make certain I understand correctly, we should be fine using our current 5 day park hoppers to enter on Friday (and then upgrade to an AP), even though we have fast passes booked for Saturday through Wednesday? I was just concerned about the system "seeing" that we are using 1 of 5 days early, and then knocking us out of another day. I'm sorry to make this so complicated, but trying to avoid losing my kids' 7DMT passes

 

[Robo]

Thank you all for your responses and sorry for my late reply - buried at work this week! So to make certain I understand correctly, we should be fine using our current 5 day park hoppers to enter on Friday (and then upgrade to an AP), even though we have fast passes booked for Saturday through Wednesday? I was just concerned about the system "seeing" that we are using 1 of 5 days early, and then knocking us out of another day. I'm sorry to make this so complicated, but trying to avoid losing my kids' 7DMT passes

To be certain, cancel the FP+ on the day that will be least difficult to rebook.
(Like DAK or Epcot.)
Then, right after you upgrade, rebook for that day.

 

[Maddie's Daddy]

Thanks, Robo, I'll try that!