Converting MYW to Annual Pass

[sbkline]

We just got back from WDW on Sunday, and we used annual passes for our 2012 and 2013 trips. I activated the pass on April 13, 2012, which made it expire on April 13, 2013, which is the day we checked out of the hotel to head home. So it worked out pretty good and saved us some money.

I would like to do it that way again (especially if we can sandwich a long dreamed of Christmas trip in between) and am trying to figure out the best way to do it.

Currently, APs are $611, whether adult or child. With four of us, that's alot of money to cough up at once. Does Disney do any kind of payment plan? I use my Disney Visa for all possible expenses, and pay it in full every month. Is there a way just to make payments to Disney throughout the year so I'm not paying as much all at once, without having to use my Disney Visa?

If not, would there be much of a price difference if we just got a room and ticket package next year (a 7 or 8 day parkhopper pass), then converted our tickets to APs before we leave? Would that save us money, cost us more money, or be about the same?

What about the annual price increase? Do APs go up at the same time that other tickets do, usually in August? And how much do they usually go up? I can't remember off the top of my head how much we paid for our APs. I ordered them in May of 2011 and redeemed the voucher when we arrived at WDW in April of 2012.

 

[KappleB2]

@Monty THANK YOU! You answered the question and the follow up I didn't ask yet! That is just what I needed to know!

 

[dreamfinder]

Ok @Monty or @Master Yoda. My ticket doesn't say comp or list a price on it. It was mailed to me directly from disney and says 7-day park hopper-sports. Upgradable?

With the announcement of free dining I am REALLY considering a September trip!

Sports tickets are typically non-upgradable. This is especially true if the ticket has use after/use before dated. (Typically something like 2 weeks either way of the sporting event.) Those tickets are sold heavily discounted and can usually not be upgraded.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

We got a 2 day base ticket with our Free Dining last September. Since we had AP's we didn't use either park day on that pass. We want to turn those 2 days into an AP in a couple weeks. Would I just present my KTTW card that has the 2 non used days on it when I purchase my AP? We paid I believe $187 for those 2 days and the AP is $611 so my difference would be $424 that I would have to pay in difference, correct? I just want to make sure I have enough money on my credit card to cover the difference. I've never upgraded passes before so I am not sure how it works!!

 

[dreamfinder]

We got a 2 day base ticket with our Free Dining last September. Since we had AP's we didn't use either park day on that pass. We want to turn those 2 days into an AP in a couple weeks. Would I just present my KTTW card that has the 2 non used days on it when I purchase my AP? We paid I believe $187 for those 2 days and the AP is $611 so my difference would be $424 that I would have to pay in difference, correct? I just want to make sure I have enough money on my credit card to cover the difference. I've never upgraded passes before so I am not sure how it works!!

Essentially, but not completely. Since you bought these tickets as part of a package, then they were most likely technically sold to WDTC at a discounted wholesale rate. There may have also been a price increase since you got the tickets and when you use them. As such, you would want to use the ticket to enter the park, and then go to guest services and do the upgrade, requesting that they "bridge" the ticket. Using the ticket once to enter the park magically locks in the value of the ticket at the current gate price, otherwise you would only get credited what WDTC paid for the ticket, not what you paid for it. At that point you should get a credit for the current gate price of a 2 day ticket, and have it applied to the current gate price of an AP. If the current gate price is still $187.44 for the 2day, and $611.31 for the AP, then yes, your math would be fundamentally correct.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Essentially, but not completely. Since you bought these tickets as part of a package, then they were most likely technically sold to WDTC at a discounted wholesale rate. There may have also been a price increase since you got the tickets and when you use them. As such, you would want to use the ticket to enter the park, and then go to guest services and do the upgrade, requesting that they "bridge" the ticket. Using the ticket once to enter the park magically locks in the value of the ticket at the current gate price, otherwise you would only get credited what WDTC paid for the ticket, not what you paid for it. At that point you should get a credit for the current gate price of a 2 day ticket, and have it applied to the current gate price of an AP. If the current gate price is still $187.44 for the 2day, and $611.31 for the AP, then yes, your math would be fundamentally correct.

I did see something about using the ticket once to get into the park and then locking in the price of the current gate price (which I believe is still $187)

• If you have used one or more days of a DISCOUNTED ticket, they’ll apply the current gate price (which will be more than you paid) to any higher-priced ticket. (This is called “bridging” the price.) For this reason, if you’ve purchased a discounted ticket, be sure to use at least one day of your ticket before upgrading!

But then underneath it I also saw this:

• As of 6/3/12, price bridging no longer applies if that ticket was originally purchased at full gate price from Disney (for example, 1-Day or 2-Day tickets you bought as part of a Free Dining package but didn’t use). If you want to upgrade that ticket, you will be credited only for what you actually paid.

So does that mean that I did pay full gate price for it? It uses a 2 day ticket with free dining as example so I'm assuming I did.