I bridged to an AP from a discount ticket in November. It did not affect my FP selections and Memory Maker activation was pretty much immediate.
Thanks. Did everyone in your party have to go to Guest Services for the bridge? How long did you spend there?
You would need everyone’s magic bands if they have them. My son is over 18 and he needed his ID last time.
I was by myself, but it took about 5 minutes with the cast member after about 5 minutes waiting in line (I got there around 1pm after flying in that morning). Make sure they give you the card, though - the cast member working with me forgot, and I just assumed that discounts were linked with your magicband like everything else. I had to go back and explain the situation to another cast member a few hours later to get my card.
Thanks!
Later Edit: The Flash sale mentioned below lasted about a day in Jun 2017 before the tickets were sold out, so this is old info if you are reading it later…
Just to give this thread a slight bump in the forum threads: You can see I edited the top of the initial post with an update- but quick version:
There is a special Flash Sale at UT right now with some greatly discounted Buy 4 Day get 3 Days free. (So 7 Days total)
Also, I updated the Disney Tickets Find Max Discount spreadsheet so that it uses Disney GATE ticket prices, as opposed to the slightly less expensive pre-purchased tickets. (I didn’t realize that was a thing.)
Note: There is some question about a set activation date on these 7 Day Flash Sale tickets: The details on the tickets at UT do NOT have an activation date listed, while all other tickets do. (As is Disney’s current policy - usually they need to be activated by 12/31/2018 for tickets purchased now.)
I have checked with UT on chat and they told me these tickets have no activation date requirement. However, others have also asked and gotten conflicting responses - one person had UT tell them both yes and no to activation.
So, if you plan to buy these Flash tix and hold them for a long period - you’ll want to quadruple check what the real policy is. If you are just buying them to use and/or bridge them to AP before the end of 2018, this is a non-issue.
Wish they came up before I bought mine last month!
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An UPDATE UPDATE: Appears the Flash Sale Tix are sold out.
But, just for the record: I saw that UT posted a message on The Facebook about it and specifically saying these Tix had NO activation date requirement. Was a super deal!
And… You guessed it: another update!
After seeing so many people say CMs at Guest Services are coming up with incorrect numbers for bridging discount tickets to AP, I’ve added a simple printable table to my “Find Max Discount” spreadsheet. Figured it would be useful to have in hand at GS.
Below is a sample of the printable table. You can use the spreadsheet itself by clicking here.
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Has anyone told you today how amazing you are? You rock!
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Thanks @PrincipalTinker!
FYI All: I’ve added another feature by request:
Right below the Annual Pass Cost box you can click and choose one of the 3 AP types.
The numbers on the other printable sheets should all reference the number of ticket selections and AP type selections on the main sheet and be
- Platinum Pass is the “regular” WDW pass (The most commonly selected I’d guess.)
- Platinum Plus adds waterparks etc
- Premier Passport adds Disneyland in CA.
- Premier Passport Hopper Plus means you get free unlimited Pineapple Whip Churros and can play Goofy in any park
(One of those things is untrue.)
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I love spreadsheets, and THIS ONE IS AMAZING! Thank you so much.
Do you know if you bridge after entering the park on your first day, do you get reimbursed somehow for your parking?
If you purchased MM, do they add that to your ticket cost when deducting from what you should pay? Or should I just wait on the MM? (I can only do that if it is certain to work from Day 1.)
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Glad the sheet is helpful!
I haven’t done either of those, but reading chat I’ve seen people confirm yes to both - they should take those amounts you paid into account. (Might need to show receipt for the parking since that won’t be on MDE like MM?)
I also have seen reports that MM does start on day 1 when you upgrade.
Of course, one also sees reports of glitches in general with MM that are likely not related to upgrading. Most problems with MM seem to get ironed out in the end, though.
Maybe others with direct experience can confirm.
If you did decide to buy MM first, my printable sheets won’t take that cost (or parking) into account so you’ll have to do some math on that. Maybe I can add some selection boxes later so people can choose to add it - but I’m starting to worry there’s too many things for people to select on the sheet and it might get confusing. 
New Feature!
I played around with @starfrenzy’s idea at lunch today and added a spot on the printable info pages where you can select whether you have already purchased a Memory Maker before upgrading tickets to AP:
The options in that box are
- None (or blank)
- Advance Purchase
- Starts Immediately
The Amount box will automagically fill in with the correct price based on your selection.
(“Starts Immediately” would be a last minute purchase that costs $30 more.)
For Example:
If you were buying 2 adult and 1 child tickets, the biggest savings at the moment is to buy the “6 Day with 1 Day Free” Park Hoppers from Undercover Tourist. If you bought those, then the amount you would need to pay at Guest Services to upgrade to the Platinum Pass would be $918.
If you then selected “Advance Purchase” in the Memory Maker box, the amount of $169 will appear there - and will lower the “AP Upgrade Cost” box down from the original $918 to $749.
The notes for that box will also change to tell you it now includes Memory Maker, and also pops up a yellow box below to that will hopefully remind you to tell the CM at Guest Services about your purchased Memory Maker so you are sure it gets included in the calculation.
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Fantastic! I think I’ll call tomorrow and ask about the MM and parking counting towards the price of the upgrade and I’ll report back here when I’m done.
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According to the WDW agent I spoke to today,
- the fee paid for MM purchased ahead of time will count towards your upgrade
- if you don’t get MM ahead of time, it will still work immediately when you activate your annual pass
- the fee you paid for parking on the day you enter to upgrade will probably not count towards the cost to upgrade (no parking reimbursement). She said of course you could always ask, and it’s up to Guest Services.
- the MagicBand that comes with the AP will not be given to you when you upgrade. You have to order & customize your MB and it will be shipped to your house. You’ll receive an RFID card on use on this trip (or can buy an MB at the park).
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Great info, thanks! Maybe I should create a FAQ page in the sheet…
I’ve tweaked the spreadsheet a tiny bit more so that the "Total Saved: section now also tells you what percentage of the normal AP price you saved by bridging discounted tickets for an upgrade.
After I did that, I realized something interesting: If you know you are going to upgrade your family to AP and you have children, it might be to your benefit to buy ALL Adult tickets at a discount and use those for the upgrade.
Example for a Family of 4:
Using the current prices at the discounters, if you buy the current cheapest 2 Adult/2 Child tickets you’ll save 6.94% on the AP price when upgrading.
If instead you bought 4 Adult tickets, you’d save 8.35%. That = another $47 saved when upgrading.
Below is a table comparing the two options.
Obviously those numbers change as the discounter prices change, but worth keeping in mind when checking prices in my sheet. (Now, of course, I’m wondering how I might automagically have the sheet do that. There goes my lunch hour, I suspect!)
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is there a way to maybe include the DVC/ FL resident prices as a drop down option?
Not to give you more reasons to keep tinkering with it… … but I have been dreaming of a feature like CamelCamelCamel where you can see what was the best bridging amount (amount saved) in the past few weeks/months.
For example, the first time I used the sheet, the savings amount was $48. The next time I checked it it, the amount I would save by buying discounted tickets and bridging was $90! And then two days later it was $68.
Having that info helps me know whether $48 is a good enough deal or I should wait for a ticket with a higher difference between discounted rice and gate price.
Of course if you have to do that manually that will be a lot of work but if you check say once a week or ev. two weeks and jot it down, that would be a nice feature.
Adding those in the selection shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll just think about how to make it both simple and obvious what people are selecting.
I’ve found over the years that When there are more than a few things to select in a list, people get confused.
If I add both DVC discount AP plus renewal prices, that’s 6 new selections. Looks like there are 6 different Florida resident passes, including renewals is 12.
(I assume they still will bridge for renewals?)
Thinking out loud: Maybe another pair of selectors would be best: one for DVC/FL Resident, another for renewal? Hmm.