Sorry to blow up the forum this morning with all of my questions. A few years ago, I did the discounted ticket to AP conversion which worked well when I found the right CM. Do the new “dated” tickets affect this conversion? Would I have to purchase the no specific date tickets? Do they still value your park tickets at the WDW gate price?
Originally, I had hoped to save a little money by buying my park tickets at UT for a discount, and then upgrade to an AP to bridge the savings. But as I started doing a little digging, there is reason to believe this no longer works. Instead, they can still convert your tickets over to an AP, but you’ll just pay the difference from what you paid for your ticket.
HOWEVER, since I didn’t do that, it is possible they will bridge the VALUE of your ticket, not the price you paid. So, if you bought a date-based ticket at $30 less than the value of the ticket (if sold from Disney directly), they would credit you the value, not the price, so you save the $30.
Ultimately, I bought my AP directly instead because it is far enough out that I was afraid a price increase of the AP (expected sometime this year) would be greater than the savings I would get by waiting and buying a discounted ticket.
For anyone who has actually done the ticket to AP conversion… If I wanted to convert my tickets, say on the third day of our trip in order to prolong the expiration date in 2020, would they credit me for my full ticket, or only the unused days?
As long as you have days left on your ticket, you will be credited for your full ticket. But you can’t convert to an AP if you use up all your days before doing the conversion.
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Actually, now that I think about it, I seem to remember that the expiration date is based on the date of first use (park entry) of the ticket. Can someone confirm this?
Yes, the expiration date is based on your first use date. You won’t gain days by waiting to upgrade. I would upgrade the first day to start getting discounts.
If you have the dining plan, does converting affect this? I also assume it doesn’t affect any existing fastpasses.
@Wahoohokie, a very conflicted name. I like the first half.
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Have you done a conversion recently? I am wondering if bridging is still worth it? I mean, will they still credit me for the Gate price, or do all of the CM’s now have access to the discounted price you paid, and will only credit you for that?
2nd question: If I forget about the bridging, and just buy the AP now from WDW, is my expiration date going to be 1 year from the date of purchase, or the date of first use? Thanks!
I am not sure, I have not upgraded to a pass since all the changes and price increases.
If you just buy an AP now, it will expire 1 year from date of first use.
I bought my AP a couple weeks ago because I was afraid bridging either wouldn’t work, or would save me less than the eventually AP increase.
The AP year, as @Wahoohokie said, starts upon first use. And also if you buy now, you don’t have to actually activate it until 2030. I confirmed this. It even says so in MDE.
Finally, you can start using it immediately for discounts where the AP is accepted for discounts such as the ShopDisneyParks app (but NOT the Shop Disney appnnor website) without having to activate it
I’m curious about this, too. I have tried to run numbers, but I have read so many variables. Some forums indicate they’ll credit gate price, some say advanced purchase price, and then there are the stories of only getting the price paid to the reseller. On top of that, I’ve seen indication the value will be impacted by the date it was “minted” by Disney. So, if I buy from a reseller I have no way of knowing if it was created by Disney before the new pricing. Which means I could get an old stock ticket that’s worth less than I expect.
I have one discount ticket option that could either save me $400 or cost me $150 in the upgrade, depending on the above variables, so I’m trying to understand it all.
What do you all think about those variables? Is it worth the risk or should i just buy an AP with discounted gift cards and be happy with my 5%
I looked at it this way. It is POSSIBLE I could save more by waiting. But that is an unknown. But I know for SURE I can save money by paying for my AP now, ahead of when they will almost certainly raise AP prices.
So, I decided I’d rather save for sure some, rather than potentially NOT save anything later even though I might also lose out on a bigger savings. In the meantime, it will allow me to easily purchase DAH at the passholder discount if/when the time comes.
Now, if someone could post with certainty how they are handling bridging of discounted tickets to AP TODAY (not what someone did last year, etc), then that could make the decision easier. But since I don’t know when, for sure, they will raise AP prices, I decided not to wait.
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We just did this! We went to Guest Relations at the International Gateway at Epcot. The woman who helped us upgrade to APs was super helpful and did the bridging no problem. We saved about $30ish per person buying our tickets from one of the places TP recommended. She used the value of the ticket (not the price we paid) to upgrade us, AND I’d used a Disney gift card (that we’d gotten from credit card points, so it was essentially free money) to buy Memory Maker, so she also credited us that amount. I’d done some math ahead of time and our total was exactly what I’d calculated. Overall it was easy-peasy.
Re: your second question – if you buy the AP now, just don’t activate it until you go into the parks, and you should be good.
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Thank you! Do you recall her name? Even a first name would do!
Anyone from the UK done this?
Hi Matt, Welcome back.
I don’t remember, unfortunately… We did it around 2pm on Friday, and she was a lovely woman whose nametag said she hailed from Mexico. I just remember that she was extremely helpful and it all went super smoothly!
So, have they had a price increase since you bought yours? Or, did you pay the price that is currently on the website? (Wondering about the timing of any future AP price increase.)
I bought a couple weeks ago. I don’t expect an AP increase until later this year, but I won’t be going to Disney until May of 2020, so I wanted to be well ahead of the price increase.
@hmbhmbhmb When you converted your tickets at the International Gateway entrance, was Guest Relations inside the gate or outside? I am wondering if we can go there on our date of arrival to do the conversion, but not activate the AP until several days later when we return from Universal. I would prefer not to deal with the conversion at RD on our Epcot day.