Ticket upgrade to AP About This Page:

[MorenaSangre]

Most folk probably know this, but I certainly didn't, so I wanted to share.

My DH and I have vacationed at WDW in Florida for 2 years now. This Christmas trip, we decided to go for annual passes; we're FL residents living about 1.5 hours from Orlando anyway, so what the heck. Since our birthdays fall in January, we decided to purchase our passes in January as birthday presents. We had an un-used day on a no-expiration ticket from our vacation Dec. 18-21, so we went to DHS on Friday, Jan 4.

At the end of the day, I suggested stopping in at Guest Services and picking up our annual passes instead of buying the tickets online. Boy, was I glad we did.

Because our vacation was within 14 days (barely, the wonderful CM Mary made things work for us), we could upgrade our tickets rather than purchasing an annual pass. Considering that we were purchasing FL Resident Premium Annual Passes, that took our cost from $460 each to $203 each. My jaw dropped, and then I got excited. In essence, because we had already taken (and paid for) our vacation, my APs cost me about 40% of what I was expecting.

I've read a lot of schtuff about Disney and ticketing, etc., but I hadn't seen anything about the ticket-to-annual pass upgrade. I wanted to share that tidbit in case anyone else was as ignorant as I. My thanks to the CM; I would have blindly paid the full price for the Annual Passes, and thanks to her, my 3-day park hopper turned into a 60% discount!

[WillCAD]

Actually, upgrading passes is a fairly common topic on the boards, but it's one that bears repeating over and over again for those who haven't seen it.

One thing you forgot to mention is that when you upgraded those partially-used MYW passes to APs (or in your case, FL resident APs, which have blackout dates on discounts and such), the APs were backdated to begin on the day that you first used the MYW passes. In other words, if you first used the MYW pass on Jan 1, you could upgrade them to APs any time before Jan 14. But if you upgrade them on Jan 14, the AP's expiration date will still be Jan 1 of next year, because that's the first day that you used the MYW pass.

Another rule to keep in mind is that if you have a MYW pass with the Water Parks and More option, it can only be upgraded to a Premium AP (which includes the water parks.) MYW passes that do not have the Water Parks and More option can be upgraded to a standard AP (which does not include water parks) or to a Premium AP (which does), and all you pay is the difference in price.

But again, all these upgrades must take place either before you use the ticket, or within the 14-day window after you first use it. Even if you have the no-expiry option, you cannot upgrade a ticket after the 14-day window has passed.

One more qualifier - One MYW ticket gets upgraded to One AP. You can't take MYW tickets (used or not used) and combine them to get one AP.

Enjoy those APs! I haven't had an AP myself since 2005, and I miss it, but with only going once a year now, it's just not cost-effective for me these days. If only MouseFest's dates were staggered by a week each year to allow two of them to take place within the same AP period, I could get an AP every two years and save myself a bundle on park passes, room rates, dining, shopping...

[DrDolphin]

Thanks for reminding us about this wonderful opportunity that Disney gives us!

[MorenaSangre]

Originally Posted by WillCAD

Actually, upgrading passes is a fairly common topic on the boards, but it's one that bears repeating over and over again for those who haven't seen it.

Enjoy those APs! I haven't had an AP myself since 2005, and I miss it, but with only going once a year now, it's just not cost-effective for me these days.

I knew that I could upgrade my tickets within my vacation; I added the no-expiration option to MYW tickets last year, but I was not aware that the tickets could be rolled into annual passes. When we first spoke to the CM, she told us that we could get a discount by upgrading, but that our renewal date would be Dec. 18, the first day of the vacation. I figured the discount would be $50-100, and told her we'd just buy the APs. The thing that surprised me was how BIG the discount was. I had no clue that a leetle 3-day-park hopper would give me over $230 worth of savings.

I admit that I am extremely excited to have APs again. My DH and I had APs from 1997-2000 and dropped them because we felt that the customer service we had received in our last year was no "Disney experience," and we weren't getting much more than admission with the pass. Recently, whether it's an actual change or a case of "absence makes the heart grow fonder," we've felt that the magic has returned. We have repeatedly encountered CMs who go out of their way to do special things and create the glorious illusion that Disney really is a magical place where people are treated as people, not just as "customers." And, of course, the perks are, as you said, quite wonderful. Again, I don't know if it's older-and-wiser perception or an actual change, but it seems that post-9/11 Disney has been focusing on its Florida and domestic markets more, offering discounts and benefits to lure us in. (In our case, it's working). We're intending on picking up DDE (and, yes, I know about the gratuity change for 2008 and am fine with it) and eating our way around the World. And, since we upgraded to a premium AP, I'm planning on going to my first water park. I've lived in Florida 12 years, and I've never been to a water park, which is pretty sad.

All right, I'll be quiet now; I'm excited, and I'm burbling. But the thing that surprised me most was the AMOUNT of discount from the tickets...I had no idea that upgrading rather than buying would be that nice to my wallet (actually, to my Disney Visa). 3 days paid for 60% of a year...wow....

[Sue M.]

I am so envious of Florida residents that can get these wonderful rates.
Sue