Annual Pass Question

M

MissViv

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Looking at possibly purchasing annual passes. Can you only purchase from Disney or are there discount tickets available thru third party?

Does anyone know when the next price increase will be?
 
disney4life2008

disney4life2008

Well-Known Member
I think you can only purchase from disney but someone else can confirm.

I would expect a price increase within the next 3 to 5 months, it happened twice last year.
 
HauntedPirate

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
AP's are only available from Disney, as far as I know. And there are no publicly available discounts, the DVC member discount is the only one I'm aware of.

As for the next price increase: We are approaching 1 year since the last price increase, which was late February 2016. As such, I am expecting another price increase in the next 4-6 weeks.

Edit: It was late February for the last price increase, updated that in my post.
 
JohnD

JohnD

Well-Known Member
I know you can purchase APs through AAA. You may be able to get a discount but that would only be because you already pay annual fees to AAA.
 
ajrwdwgirl

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
I haven't done this but I read about someone doing this, it was a pretty reputable Disney blogger too. They bought discounted tickets and then upgraded them at the park into AP's. So they got the discount on the ticket and supposedly when they upgraded the full cost of the ticket they had bought (not the discounted cost) applied to the the AP then they paid the upgrade price, thus receiving the discount from the 3rd party ticket. Like I said I haven't tried it so I don't know if that would still work or did work. That is just what I remember reading. Maybe someone else has tried this.
 
Monty

Monty

Brilliant...and Canadian
In the Parks
No
ajrwdwgirl said:
I haven't done this but I read about someone doing this, it was a pretty reputable Disney blogger too. They bought discounted tickets and then upgraded them at the park into AP's. So they got the discount on the ticket and supposedly when they upgraded the full cost of the ticket they had bought (not the discounted cost) applied to the the AP then they paid the upgrade price, thus receiving the discount from the 3rd party ticket. Like I said I haven't tried it so I don't know if that would still work or did work. That is just what I remember reading. Maybe someone else has tried this.
Click to expand...
If you purchase a discounted ticket before the price increase, the ticket is valid for use after the increase. If you upgrade the ticket before you use an admission, you only get credit for the discounted price you paid, however, if you use an admission from the discounted ticket and then upgrade, you'll be credited with the current full gate price of the ticket. Once you have used the last available admission on the discounted ticket, the following day you can't upgrade it anymore.
 
A

andy773

Active Member
ajrwdwgirl said:
I haven't done this but I read about someone doing this, it was a pretty reputable Disney blogger too. They bought discounted tickets and then upgraded them at the park into AP's. So they got the discount on the ticket and supposedly when they upgraded the full cost of the ticket they had bought (not the discounted cost) applied to the the AP then they paid the upgrade price, thus receiving the discount from the 3rd party ticket. Like I said I haven't tried it so I don't know if that would still work or did work. That is just what I remember reading. Maybe someone else has tried this.
Click to expand...

This is correct. I went to WDW this past October. Last January I bought a 6 day hopper from Official Ticket Center or Undercover Tourist for $378.50. That summer I went ahead and pre-purchased Memory Maker for $149.00. In September Disney announced the extra month for AP'es and the increased discount. I'm DVC so I was able to buy the Gold Pass for $584.68. At that time, Disney's price for a 6 day hopper was $451.56.

I went to Guest Services in Epcot and explained that I wanted to upgrade my 6 day hopper to a Gold AP. The girl knew that I had paid less than Disney's price and initially quoted me $206.18 (584.68-378.50) as the cost to upgrade. I told her that she should bridge the ticket for me. She was in training and didn't know what I was talking about, but a manager overheard and told her that I was correct. The actual cost to upgrade was $133.12 (584.68-451.56). So I saved $73.06 using this method.

Another thing: since an AP includes all photos, I didn't need the Memory Maker I had already purchased. I asked if they could put my Memory Maker on hold so that I could use it at some time in the future when I didn't have an AP. The girl said " Why don't we just refund you the cost?" I was surprised that they would do this, but said "Sure." So they refunded me the $149.00 I had paid for Memory Maker.

So, that day, I actually walked out of there with an extra $15.88 AND a Gold AP. How could I NOT upgrade, right?

A couple of things: I've read conflicting things about this, but I think you need to use the discounted ticket to enter a park before they will bridge the price for you. You can't call Disney in advance and have them do it. Also, if you get a cast member who doesn't know about bridging, ask for a manager or another cast member.
 

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