Disney World Park Hopper passes - How to upgrade?

[LAX Mom]

I have several old Disney World Park Hopper passes that were purchased more than 10 years ago. A couple have only 1 or 2 days left on them, but the others have not been used. These are the old 4 day Park Hopper passes that never expire.

I have an exchange into Marriott's Lakeshore Reserve and would like to spend a day or two at the Disney parks, but upgrade all these old passes to new ones. However I don't want to change all these passes to new ones on the day I enter a park and then carry them around with me all day.

I know I can take them to Disney and get them upgraded to a current 4 day hopper pass. Where is the most convenient location to take care of this? Is there someplace I can go without having to pay the daily parking fee at one of the parks?

edited to add: Just want to make it clear I'm not trying to sell these passes. I just want to exchange them for the newer version while I'm visiting Orlando this trip.

 

[mecllap]

Go to Guest Relations in Downtown Disney -- it's near (kind of "in") the World of Disney. "Gate" 1 or 2, free parking.

 

[LAX Mom]

Thanks! That sounds like a good option. I just didn't want to exchange all the passes on a day I'm visiting the parks and have to worry about losing them all day. I'll take the passes to Downtown Disney at the start of the week and then just take what we need when we go to the parks.

 

[elaine]

be careful

If you are not going to use ALL days on this trip, you might not want to trade for new tickets, as they must be used in 14 days and non-expiring tickets cost a lot more. But you could post on disboards. com and get expert advice by tomorrow as to how they treat the old tickets (do they auto give non-expire). Otherwise, if it is possible, you might want to keep you old ones, as they are already non-expire, since WDw honors all tickets, no matter how old.

 

[LAX Mom]

Thanks Elaine, we definitely won't use all of the passes on this trip. I'll make sure they don't issue some new passes that expire in 14 days. I just assumed that since the original passes didn't expire that the replacement passes wouldn't expire. I'm glad you alerted me to this.

 

[DebBrown]

Why do you want to replace them? I have a at least a dozen old park hopper passes in my desk drawer. We just intend to use them on visits to Disney over the next few years. Any reason why we can't do that?

Deb

 

[LAX Mom]

Why do you want to replace them? I have a at least a dozen old park hopper passes in my desk drawer. We just intend to use them on visits to Disney over the next few years. Any reason why we can't do that?

Deb

Deb, you are probably right about just hanging on to the passes and using them in the future. I don't want to risk exchanging them for a pass with an expiration.

I'm just worried because I think mine are 10-15 years old, so I figured it would make sense to switch them for the newer version. I just don't want to try to use them sometime and have them not recognize these passes. It will be awhile before I have grandkids to take to Disney so I might not use them for several years.

They definitely are the 4 day Park Hopper passes with no expiration. I don't have them in front of me but the price printed on the back is proof they were purchased many years ago!

We were going to Disney on a regular basis so I bought park hopper passes for everyone, but as my sons got older we discovered cruises and then moved on to timeshares.

 

[bankr63]

Another worry

As I understand it, for your unused passes you may also need to pay the difference to the current price to change. This is why everyone is cautioned to use the first day on a discount ticket before upgrading. Once the ticket has one use on it, the price is "locked in", and upgrades pay the difference from current book value of package to the new value. But prior to that first use, the price is still "floating" and upgrades pay the difference between the price orignially paid for the ticket (not the book value) and the new value.

I am not sure that this would apply in this situation if you were not making any changes to the ticket (straight exchange), but if you added anything to the unused ticket (say WPFAM or an extra day) then the price will skyrocket. You can certainly see what the experts say over at DISBoards, but it's worth asking the question before you try to exchange, IMO if Disney can make more money, then Disney WILL make more money...

 

[LAX Mom]

Thanks, I definitely check on my options before I turn the tickets in to Disney. I don't really want to upgrade anything, just switch them new tickets with the same options (4 day park hopper, never expires). I don't want to add the water parks or other features that weren't on my original tickets.

 

[bnoble]

As I understand it, for your unused passes you may also need to pay the difference to the current price to change.

You are thinking of "upgrades" in the traditional sense---adding days, or adding hopping, etc. And, that's true---but I don't think that's what LAX Mom is thinking about. At least, I hope not, because she can't do that anymore---Disney will now only add days/features to tickets within 14 days of first use. Any older ticket has either expired or (if non-expiring) can be used up, but can't be changed.

As long as they have a magstrip on the back (and the strip is readable) you *should* be good to go, and you probably don't need to exchange your old tickets for new admission media. But, if you expect to be on a schedule as you enter, it would be good to verify with guest services outside any park or at DTD just to be sure.

 

[LAX Mom]

You are thinking of "upgrades" in the traditional sense---adding days, or adding hopping, etc. And, that's true---but I don't think that's what LAX Mom is thinking about. At least, I hope not, because she can't do that anymore---Disney will now only add days/features to tickets within 14 days of first use. Any older ticket has either expired or (if non-expiring) can be used up, but can't be changed.

As long as they have a magstrip on the back (and the strip is readable) you *should* be good to go, and you probably don't need to exchange your old tickets for new admission media. But, if you expect to be on a schedule as you enter, it would be good to verify with guest services outside any park or at DTD just to be sure.

You are correct, I don't want to add any additional days or features to my tickets. I'm happy to use them in the original parks allowed (I purchased before Animal Kingdom opened) for the 4 days on each ticket. I have 3 that have never been used but have no expiration.

I also have a few tickets that have some days used, but 1 or 2 days remaining. Again, these don't expire and I'll just use the remaining days without an upgrade. One ticket is a youth (ages 3-9) and I will need to upgrade it to an adult pass. I am expecting to pay some additional $$ for that.

 

[bnoble]

One ticket is a youth (ages 3-9) and I will need to upgrade it to an adult pass. I am expecting to pay some additional $$ for that.

Good news: as long as you have someone who could have been the original user, of the right age, they'll convert it to an adult ticket for free.

 

[LAX Mom]

Good news: as long as you have someone who could have been the original user, of the right age, they'll convert it to an adult ticket for free.

Thanks, good to know.

 

[colamedia]

I'm happy to use them in the original parks allowed (I purchased before Animal Kingdom opened) for the 4 days on each ticket.

I had a no-expiry park hopper that was purchased pre-Animal Kingdom that when it was upgraded they did allow me to use it at Animal Kingdom. I think the pre-Animal Kingdom tickets don't make any mention of what parks they can be used at, only once Animal Kingdom opened they added some comment about it being for parks that were open when the tickets were purchased. When I exchanged it they made some comments about 'ooooh we shouldn't...', but they did.

Personally, I would only change them on an as needed basis (or at least not change all of them), you never know when a new park will be added Also, the tickets now seem to be pretty sensitive to magnets or something. When I went last year, I had my ticket in my wallet and it wiped whatever coding was on the card. I was doing a crazy 3 parks in one day park hop (last day of park hopper) and had to go to guest services each time because the replacement tickets couldn't read at the turnstiles. First time I thought dud card, second time, there is something in my wallet, but never figured it out. So I'm not sure if updating all of them at once will mean you never need to visit guest services....

 

[PigsDad]

Good news: as long as you have someone who could have been the original user, of the right age, they'll convert it to an adult ticket for free.

I thought they would only do that if the child had used at least one day on that ticket when they were still a child. I'm sure they will let you know your options.

Kurt

 

[LAX Mom]

I thought they would only do that if the child had used at least one day on that ticket when they were still a child. I'm sure they will let you know your options.

Kurt

I should be okay. My child ticket only has one day left. Hopefully I can just exchange it for a one day hopper.

 

[LAX Mom]

I had a no-expiry park hopper that was purchased pre-Animal Kingdom that when it was upgraded they did allow me to use it at Animal Kingdom. I think the pre-Animal Kingdom tickets don't make any mention of what parks they can be used at, only once Animal Kingdom opened they added some comment about it being for parks that were open when the tickets were purchased. When I exchanged it they made some comments about 'ooooh we shouldn't...', but they did.

Personally, I would only change them on an as needed basis (or at least not change all of them), you never know when a new park will be added Also, the tickets now seem to be pretty sensitive to magnets or something. When I went last year, I had my ticket in my wallet and it wiped whatever coding was on the card. I was doing a crazy 3 parks in one day park hop (last day of park hopper) and had to go to guest services each time because the replacement tickets couldn't read at the turnstiles. First time I thought dud card, second time, there is something in my wallet, but never figured it out. So I'm not sure if updating all of them at once will mean you never need to visit guest services....

Good advice, it's probably a good idea to just exchange them when we'll be using them. I'm terrible with the magnets on my purse, they must be very strong. When I visited DC with my son I kept de-magnetizing my ticket for the metro. I've had this problem numerous other times in hotels and transportation passes.

 

[bnoble]

I thought they would only do that if the child had used at least one day on that ticket when they were still a child. I'm sure they will let you know your options.

Yes, that's correct; I'd been assuming all of OP's tickets had been used at least once, but might have been wrong.

 

[LAX Mom]

Yes, that's correct; I'd been assuming all of OP's tickets had been used at least once, but might have been wrong.

My child's ticket has only 1 day remaining, but I do have some adult passes that haven't been used at all. We won't be using them on this next trip (have enough unused days on other passes that we'll use up) so I can't decide if I should hang on to them or exchange them for other tickets this trip.

 

[Merilyn]

Unless things have changed, you only get the original price you paid and have to pay the difference to update your tickets. I really don't think you want to do that as my daughter just went for the day and had to pay almost 90 dollars for a one day pass. I am sure you didn't nearly pay that for them. We always buy the 10 day, never expire, park hopper and more tickets. They last for several years. If you don't use up all your "more" tickets you can use them for ever also even when the park passes are gone. We never buy park passes from Disney as they are more expensive than most places we can buy them.