Upgrading to annual pass ?

[3littlecuties]

The last time that we bought annual passes, we bought discounted regular multi-day tickets from an outside vendor (I want to say we used Undercover Tourist) and then after we entered the park on the first day, we went and upgraded to annual passes. This was before tickets were priced depending on the time of year that you visit. We are planning to get passes again beginning with our spring break trip. Does this trick to save a little money still work with the new price structure?

 

[Fangorn]

Short answer, yes, you can do that, but it hasn't been necessary to do that for several years. Upgrading at any Guest Relations (in our ot of the Park) or park ticket booth should result in the same price to upgrade - the difference between what the ticket was worth when it was purchased (what you paid for it is irrelevant) and the price of the AP.

See the Ticket "stickie" at the top of this forum for all the details associated with upgrading tickets

Steve

 

[CarolynFH]

The last time that we bought annual passes, we bought discounted regular multi-day tickets from an outside vendor (I want to say we used Undercover Tourist) and then after we entered the park on the first day, we went and upgraded to annual passes. This was before tickets were priced depending on the time of year that you visit. We are planning to get passes again beginning with our spring break trip. Does this trick to save a little money still work with the new price structure?

Yes, you can still save money by buying base or hopper tickets from an outside vendor (buy the one that's the most savings compared to Disney's online price) then upgrading to an AP when you arrive. And as Fangorn says above, you don't have to enter a park first - you can go to Guest Services or a ticket booth, upgrade and then enter the park! I too suggest reading the Ticket sticky.

 

[3littlecuties]

Yes, you can still save money by buying base or hopper tickets from an outside vendor (buy the one that's the most savings compared to Disney's online price) then upgrading to an AP when you arrive. And as Fangorn says above, you don't have to enter a park first - you can go to Guest Services or a ticket booth, upgrade and then enter the park! I too suggest reading the Ticket sticky.

Interesting. I was told the last time that if you upgrade before entering the park, you only get the value of what you paid. If you enter the park first, you get the value of the ticket as stated by Disney...thus the savings. Was I told incorrectly? I thought I read that online too.

 

[Robo]

Interesting.
1. I was told the last time that if you upgrade before entering the park, you only get the value of what you paid. If you enter the park first, you get the value of the ticket as stated by Disney...thus the savings.
2. Was I told incorrectly?
3. I thought I read that online too.

1. You can ignore that.
2. Yes.
3. I'm quite certain that you DID read it online.
You can ignore it.
Use the ticket first... or not... it's up to you.
Won't affect the upgrde cost.

The cost and procedure for upgrading tickets is found in post #5 and #6 in the
"All About Tickets & Upgrades" found >HERE<
and it's always near the top of this forum.

 

[luckyman_apd]

Okay so help me understand this better than I'm getting it because I was referred to that same sticki link. I have read it twice, but I guess something just isn't clicking with me....or my brain is stuck in the past. Like the PP said in the past you had to enter the gate to essentially "bridge" the price you paid for the ticket and bring it up to actual gate price of the same type of ticket. So hypothetical UT price was $450, but disney gate price was $500...you now held a $500 ticket that you could upgrade to an AP for hypothetical $600......so you pay the $100 at guest services and got a $600 AP for $550....hypothetically speaking as I don't remember what my actual costs were in the past.

I'm confused as to where the savings are now.....when you purchase the UT ticket the max saving on the UT website says $75 on a 10 day park hopper, my selected start day and the price is $569.22. When I go to disney website, a 10 day park hopper ticket costs $624.62. These are both AFTER tax prices. So first....this is a $55.40 savings not $75 as UT is advertising.

Now.....Forget the difference is advertised price on UT vs disney site for 1 second.......Are you saying that as soon as I get the ticket it's valued at $624.62? So when I go to the ticket booth or customer service to upgrade to a gold DVC AP.....priced at $744.44......I will have to pay the difference from $624.62 to $744.44.....which is $119.82......and that's WITHOUT having to enter the park first? I guess that's what I'm missing, or misread, or didn't see.

Side note......I am arriving 2 days after my family due to work......and on the disney site my ticket start date would be $4.96 cheaper....and on the UT site it's $4.53 cheaper than their start date, yet still advertised at $75 savings...but really only @$55.

 

[luckyman_apd]

Okay so help me understand this better than I'm getting it because I was referred to that same sticki link. I have read it twice, but I guess something just isn't clicking with me....or my brain is stuck in the past. Like the PP said in the past you had to enter the gate to essentially "bridge" the price you paid for the ticket and bring it up to actual gate price of the same type of ticket. So hypothetical UT price was $450, but disney gate price was $500...you now held a $500 ticket that you could upgrade to an AP for hypothetical $600......so you pay the $100 at guest services and got a $600 AP for $550....hypothetically speaking as I don't remember what my actual costs were in the past.

I'm confused as to where the savings are now.....when you purchase the UT ticket the max saving on the UT website says $75 on a 10 day park hopper, my selected start day and the price is $569.22. When I go to disney website, a 10 day park hopper ticket costs $624.62. These are both AFTER tax prices. So first....this is a $55.40 savings not $75 as UT is advertising.

Now.....Forget the difference is advertised price on UT vs disney site for 1 second.......Are you saying that as soon as I get the ticket it's valued at $624.62? So when I go to the ticket booth or customer service to upgrade to a gold DVC AP.....priced at $744.44......I will have to pay the difference from $624.62 to $744.44.....which is $119.82......and that's WITHOUT having to enter the park first? I guess that's what I'm missing, or misread, or didn't see.

Side note......I am arriving 2 days after my family due to work......and on the disney site my ticket start date would be $4.96 cheaper....and on the UT site it's $4.53 cheaper than their start date, yet still advertised at $75 savings...but really only @$55.

Ok....so apparently the links to the price lists were not opening......but that leaves me with a question......How would one find out what date the tickets UT is selling are from to do the math to upgrade? Is that only possible after buying the ticket? And I'm still confused about the $75 gate savings when I compare today's price is only a difference of @$75.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

Gate prices are higher than online prices (either UT’s or Disney’s) that’s where the $75 savings is coming in. Unless advertised otherwise (usually only for a few days after a price increase) all tickets sold by UT (or other ticket retailers) are current gate tickets so the date the ticket is from is essentially today’s.

 

[Robo]

1. So hypothetical UT price was $450, but disney gate price was $500...you now held a $500 ticket that you could upgrade to an AP for hypothetical $600......so you pay the $100 at guest services and got a $600 AP for $550....hypothetically speaking as I don't remember what my actual costs were in the past.

2. I'm confused as to where the savings are now.....when you purchase the UT ticket the max saving on the UT website says $75 on a 10 day park hopper, my selected start day and the price is $569.22. When I go to disney website, a 10 day park hopper ticket costs $624.62. These are both AFTER tax prices. So first....this is a $55.40 savings not $75 as UT is advertising.

1. Yes.
2. I'd not bother consulting the "sales pitch" "daily prices" shown on the Disney site.
They may or may not be highly accurate... and it really doesn't matter what the so-called "daily cost" is.
( You can certainly do that math yourself after you look at the total WDW price for the ticket.)
To keep things clearer, only look at the "bottom line" full ticket price on the WDW site
and include the tax -(which IS provided on the WDW ticket site if you click through far enough)- to make things easier to compare.)

If the quoted savings from UT doesn't seem to your liking, you can check some of the other authorized ticket discounters.
(Click HERE for the TouringPlans.com "Discount Ticket Search.")

Then, INCLUDE the tax from the discounter's tickets.
Subtract the discounted ticket price (with tax) from the full quoted WDW price (with tax.)
That's what the upgrade will cost you in real dollars (and it doesn't matter a bit whether you DO or DON'T go into a park using your original ticket before you upgrade.)

 

[Robo]

How would one find out what date the tickets UT is selling are from to do the math to upgrade?

Ask the discounter before you buy the ticket.

 

[Robo]

Gate prices are higher than online prices (either UT’s or Disney’s) that’s where the $75 savings is coming in. Unless advertised otherwise (usually only for a few days after a price increase) all tickets sold by UT (or other ticket retailers) are current gate tickets so the date the ticket is from is essentially today’s.

Yup.
Just compute using the listed "on line" WDW prices.

 

[DavidNYC]

That's what the upgrade will cost you in real dollars (and it doesn't matter a bit whether you DO or DON'T go into a park using your original ticket before you upgrade.)

LOL - I've been driving myself crazy the last couple weeks planning on how to do my upgrade because I must have missed that you don't need to use the ticket first anymore to have it bridged! When did they make this change? Was it with the date based tickets? And just to beat a dead horse and make sure I understand, the UT ticket will have a value towards an upgrade using the website price the day I purchase it compared to the website price of whatever ticket I want when I want to upgrade. (If I understand correctly technically it's gate price to gate price but the math works out exactly the same using the website prices which will be much more accessible when looking everything up).

 

[luckyman_apd]

Ok....so if gate prices are more than disney online prices......I should just go by the disney online price vs UT price (or other discounter....I'll have to check those links as I've only know of UT) and calculate what is the highest savings then?

I've always known that disney gate prices were higher than purchasing ahead of time through disney....just didn't click in my head that was a bit of marketing on UT's part. That's my bad. I should have known better on that one (facepalm).

I think I got it now. Basically whatever ticket I buy from UT, I can just take the value of what is on Disney's website and that's what it's value is. The biggest thing is I want to be sure I know exactly what the upgrade price should be when I get to WDW to upgrade to the AP. Last time I did it years ago under the old setup...the CM was pricing it wrong charging me more than what I knew it should be....had to get another CM to come examine what her mistake was. In the end...the price I was expecting was what I ended up being charged....but if I hadn't know...I would have paid more than I needed to.

Much appreciated everyone!

 

[starry_solo]

LOL - I've been driving myself crazy the last couple weeks planning on how to do my upgrade because I must have missed that you don't need to use the ticket first anymore to have it bridged! When did they make this change? Was it with the date based tickets? And just to beat a dead horse and make sure I understand, the UT ticket will have a value towards an upgrade using the website price the day I purchase it compared to the website price of whatever ticket I want when I want to upgrade. (If I understand correctly technically it's gate price to gate price but the math works out exactly the same using the website prices which will be much more accessible when looking everything up).

They made the change back in late 2016/early 2017. Back when they added expiration dates to them (where the ticket is only good til the end of the year or the end of the next year)

 

[Robo]

1. I should just go by the disney online price vs UT price (or other discounter....I'll have to check those links as I've only know of UT) and calculate what is the highest savings then?

2. Basically whatever ticket I buy from UT, I can just take the value of what is on Disney's website and that's what it's value is.
3. The biggest thing is I want to be sure I know exactly what the upgrade price should be when I get to WDW to upgrade to the AP.
4. Last time I did it years ago...
the CM was pricing it wrong charging me more than what I knew it should be....had to get another CM to come examine what her mistake was. In the end...the price I was expecting was what I ended up being charged....but if I hadn't know...I would have paid more than I needed to.

Much appreciated everyone!

1. Yup.
2. Yes. (Unless there has been an interim price increase... but let's not get into THAT right now.)
3. Agreed.
4. For SURE!!

 

[luckyman_apd]

Since I've spent the evening doing the math on multiple ticket scenarios.......UT posts the most savings over the "gate price" as the 10 day park hopper ticket.....and comparing various tickets to disney's website price.....whatever the highest "gate price" savings was is the biggest savings vs web price. Of course prices change everyday....but for tonight....that was the biggest savings of @$55

 

[luckyman_apd]

Since I've spent the evening doing the math on multiple ticket scenarios.......UT posts the most savings over the "gate price" as the 10 day park hopper ticket.....and comparing various tickets to disney's website price.....whatever the highest "gate price" savings was is the biggest savings vs web price. Of course prices change everyday....but for tonight....that was the biggest savings of @$55

 

[Robo]

Since I've spent the evening doing the math on multiple ticket scenarios.......UT posts the most savings over the "gate price" as the 10 day park hopper ticket.....and comparing various tickets to disney's website price.....whatever the highest "gate price" savings was is the biggest savings vs web price. Of course prices change everyday....but for tonight....that was the biggest savings of @$55

They likely won't change "every" day, but they can change regularly.
Regardless, the differences between vendors will generally not be too great, at the most.
Just check on the day you're ready to buy and know that you are saving some over just
buying directly at "full Disney price."

 

[3littlecuties]

OK...one more question related to this....since I apparently don't have to go through the gate on the first day before upgrading to an annual pass, can I upgrade ahead of time over the phone? Or does it have to be done on-site? So for example, can I purchase a discounted ticket from a 3rd party vendor and link that ticket to my account and then call Disney and upgrade it to an annual pass? If so, can I have it so it's not activated yet? We're going in April, can I buy the tickets here soon, upgrade to AP, and then not activate the AP until our 1st day in April?

 

[Robo]

OK...one more question related to this....
1. since I apparently don't have to go through the gate on the first day before upgrading to an annual pass,
2. can I upgrade ahead of time over the phone?
3. Or does it have to be done on-site?
4. So for example, can I purchase a discounted ticket from a 3rd party vendor and link that ticket to my account and then call Disney and upgrade it to an annual pass?
5. If so, can I have it so it's not activated yet? We're going in April,
6. can I buy the tickets here soon, upgrade to AP, and then not activate the AP until our 1st day in April?

1. Don't make me say it again.
2. Over the phone... maybe.
3. Actually, recent posts say that if you link the ticket from an authorized discounter to your MDX account, you can upgrade it before arrival directly from your MDX account.
4. Maybe on the phone. More likely, it could be done directly on-line.
5. It is actually NOT POSSIBLE to activate an AP unless it is done in-person while at WDW.
6. Yes, and you can make FP+ in advance using your (as yet) unactivated AP certificate.