Upgrade from Discover Disney to Annual Pass

[Yogi76]

This is a repost from a thread I accidentally started in "WDW Parks News, Rumors and Current Events." I don't see any way for me to move or even delete that thread...

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can upgrade a Discover Disney 4-Day Ticket to an Annual Pass? Last January, I renewed my Annual Pass for myself and purchased a Discover Disney 4-Day for my 3 children and my wife. This January, I intended to renew my Annual Pass and buy my wife and 2 older children Discover Disney 4-Day Tickets again, but I wanted to upgrade my daughter, to an Annual Pass.

While I was able to renew my Annual Pass, they would not allow me to purchase one for my daughter. Instead, I just bought them all Discover Disney 4-Day Tickets again, with the intention of upgrading my daughter's ticket to an Annual Pass when they became available. Unfortunately, they still aren't available and, with my Siver Pass summer blackout about to begin, we plan to use the last of their Discover Disney 4-Day Tickets this Sunday at Hollywood Studios.

I called Passholder Services and, after waiting over an hour, was told that there is no current way to override it and upgrade her ticket to an Annual Pass. I was told that Annual Passes could be available anytime now, but after doing some research online it looks like people aren't anticipating that happening until at least August. I asked them if I would at least be able to upgrade her ticket later once the Annual Pass is available. Since she would only be upgrading, to a Siver Pass, she would be about to go on the summer blackout, anyway. However, I was told that the upgrade can only be done by the use of the last day of the Discover Disney ticket.

It seems like right now I'm stuck in an odd spot. I can only upgrade her ticket from a Discover Disney 4-Day to an Annual Pass by the day we use her last ticket, but that isn't possible because Annual Passes aren't available for purchase and won't be until after the end of the Discover Disney 4-Day. I must say that with all the great customer service I've had over the years from Disney, I'm quite surprised that they are being so rigid about allowing me to upgrade one single 4-year-old's Discover Disney 4-day ticket to an Annual Pass, especially since I'm in a fairly unique situation.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Mrs Potato Head]

I don't see this as being rigid - they have a policy in place that new annual passes are not being issued period. If they over rode it for you then they've have to do it for others and that just opens the flood gates. And I couldn't see them extending the period to upgrade after last use because then people could dig out old tickets and use that value.

If you don't want to use the last day of your daughter's 4 day discovery ticket can you just buy a one day ticket for the upcoming trip?

 

[Yogi76]

I don't see this as being rigid - they have a policy in place that new annual passes are not being issued period. If they over rode it for you then they've have to do it for others and that just opens the flood gates.

This doesn't make sense to me. Why would overriding their policy on a few select cases require them to then "have to do it for others." For their policies to not be able to be flexible on an individual basis for select exceptional cases is the definition of rigid. I'm just very surprised.

And I couldn't see them extending the period to upgrade after last use because then people could dig out old tickets and use that value.

Again, this doesn't make sense to me. I'm not saying that people could just pull out any old Disney World ticket they ever purchased and ask for value toward a new Annual Pass from that date forward. I'm suggesting that they should use the same rule that Annual Pass upgrades start backdated from the use of the start of the original ticket. In my case, my daughter's annual pass would be good starting from early January when we first used her Discover Disney ticket. The only difference is that they could allow you to do that upgrade even if you used the final ticket since they don't currently have Annual Passes available. I simply don't see there being some big rush of people pulling out their tickets that have been purchased since the reopening on July 11, 2020 only to buy a half used Annual Pass because it is backdated to their original ticket's first use. Again, not looking at each case individually to work out the best solution is simply being more rigid with their policies than I'm used to seeing from Disney.

If you don't want to use the last day of your daughter's 4 day discovery ticket can you just buy a one day ticket for the upcoming trip?

I could do that, but since the Discover Disney ticket is set to expire June 18, it doesn't get me to when Annual Passes are expected to be available in August, anyway. Plus, my Silver Annual pass will be on blackout at the end of this month, so I wouldn't be able to take my daughter in June to use her last ticket.

I guess I could just shell out to get my daughter an Annual Pass in August when they are available again, but then her and my Annual Pass dates won't match up and it's not like she's going to be going without me since she's just 4. The whole thing is a bit of a mess and, again, the fact that Disney won't even consider my special circumstance is quite unlike them, in my opinion.

 

[Yogi76]

Just to let follow up, Guest Services at Magic Kingdom was able to override the policy and get my daughter's ticket upgraded to an Annual Pass. I guess it just took finally finding the right person to ask.

 

[RememberWhen]

Just to let follow up, Guest Services at Magic Kingdom was able to override the policy and get my daughter's ticket upgraded to an Annual Pass. I guess it just took finally finding the right person to ask.

That’s promising. My family has several tickets we’d like to upgrade to APs in October. But maybe by then they’ll be selling them again anyway.
Glad you were able to get it sorted.