upgraded my RCI Disney hopper for PAP

[klynn]

I bought three 7 Day Park Hoppers from RCI before the the new RCI Points change. They cost me 50,500 points for each one. I just got to WDW on Friday evening. On Saturday at Epcot I upgraded them to Annual Passes. The gate price for these 7-day Hopper w/Water Parks Fun and More and No Expiration is $435.60. When I upgraded them I got a credit of $374.75 towards a Preminum Annual Passes. It cost $241.91 each to upgrade to a PAP.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Why didn't they give you more credit for the passes? That sounds like a terrible deal. Are you unhappy, or happy about it?

 

[klynn]

Why didn't they give you more credit for the passes? That sounds like a terrible deal. Are you unhappy, or happy about it?

I assume the credit I received of $374.75 was the "wholesale" price. This is the second year in a row I have done this. I am happy with the bottom line. My cost per RCI point is very reasonable and I came out ahead.

 

[rickandcindy23]

For what it's worth, we are also in Disney this week and our son used one of our 7-day passes from RCI points and paid only $96 to upgrade it to a 10-day pass. We bought these about six months ago from RCI. So they basically gave us the value of the current pass toward the upgrade.

We upgraded this ticket at Epcot yesterday morning.

 

[klynn]

That's great! They obviously don't give the full credit towards PAP's. Since we spend about 7-9 weeks per year at Disney we need PAP's!

 

[klynn]

For what it's worth, we are also in Disney this week and our son used one of our 7-day passes from RCI points and paid only $96 to upgrade it to a 10-day pass. We bought these about six months ago from RCI. So they basically gave us the value of the current pass toward the upgrade.

We upgraded this ticket at Epcot yesterday morning.

Cindy, Your son paid $96. to upgrade to a 10-day hopper. But did you realize for $102.00, just $6.00 more, he could have upgraded to an Annual Pass? I was offered that upgrade but opted for the Premium since we always go the the water parks and Disney Quest.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I tried to get him to upgrade to the annual pass, but he doesn't want to go again until probably April of 2009. He's 29, so it was up to him. We gave him two 7-day passes as a Christmas present this year, knowing that he and his girlfriend were going this month.

His girlfriend is coming in on Friday the 1st, and they are staying at Bonnet Creek, we are staying at Saratoga Springs. We have a two bedroom and they do too. Don't ask me why they couldn't share a unit with us because I don't understand well enough to explain it. Our son wanted to stay at Bonnet Creek because he thinks it looks so nice, much nicer than the Disney resorts. Or maybe it was the king bed and whirlpool tub he wanted? Nevertheless, he wanted his own place.

I think we paid about $45 extra to upgrade our 7-day passes to annual passes back in September. I don't understand the difference in price.

 

[Carl D]

Depending on your vacation habits, the benefits of an AP/PAP can easily pay for itself, regardless of how many times you visit the parks.

One example is parking. Did you know parking is included with am AP/PAP?
Another perk is the ability to purchase the Disney Dinning Experience Card. If you dine at Disney restaurants often, this feature can save a bundle.
For those who stay at Disney Resorts, the AP room rate alone can more than pay for the entire pass.

There are other benefits as well. Actually too many to list.

 

[rickandcindy23]

We always get annual passes. It does save a bundle on parking.

Our son is not a total Disney freak, but he really wanted to come this time, and he wanted to bring his girlfriend who has never been, so he is here for two weeks with us. We are staying at Saratoga Springs next week, he is at Bonnet Creek, so we will just pick them up and go together every day. The great thing about this trip is we love his girlfriend.

Kerry, I am just surprised that they devalued the recent RCI tickets like that. It's rather annoying. I am asking why the value of the tickets dropped because I am probably not ever going to do that again. RCI buys them at a discount and charges a lot for them. I don't think it is even close to a good value anymore. Very disappointing. But it just figures, with RCI.

 

[bnoble]

I assume the credit I received of $374.75 was the "wholesale" price. This is the second year in a row I have done this.

For others contemplating a similar upgrade: if you do not use the ticket at all, you are only credited the price Disney charged RCI. If you have used the ticket, at all, even once just five minutes ago to enter a park, you are credited with teh full gate price.

At least, that's true today. The only constant with Disney is change.

 

[refumpcpa]

Depending on your vacation habits, the benefits of an AP/PAP can easily pay for itself, regardless of how many times you visit the parks.

One example is parking. Did you know parking is included with am AP/PAP?
Another perk is the ability to purchase the Disney Dinning Experience Card. If you dine at Disney restaurants often, this feature can save a bundle.
For those who stay at Disney Resorts, the AP room rate alone can more than pay for the entire pass.

There are other benefits as well. Actually too many to list.

What is the discount on the room rate for annual passholders?:whoopie:

 

[Carl D]

What is the discount on the room rate for annual passholders?:whoopie:

Over the years I have seen as much as 50%, although that may not be the norm.
I haven't kept up on it that much, as I have enough DVC points to use instead of cash reservations.
Keep in mind that an on site Disney resort, even at 1/2 price, is still expensive.

 

[bnoble]

the days of 50% are pretty much long gone---that was in the post 9/11 period.

The place that keeps the best tabs on discounts is www.mousesavers.com

As a point of reference, Disney resort rooms were at 89% capacity, with a strong increase in RevPAR in 2007, so expect discounts to become smaller and less frequent going forward, short of another large travel disruption.

 

[klynn]

For others contemplating a similar upgrade: if you do not use the ticket at all, you are only credited the price Disney charged RCI. If you have used the ticket, at all, even once just five minutes ago to enter a park, you are credited with teh full gate price.

At least, that's true today. The only constant with Disney is change.

Are you saying because I never used them I was only credited the price Disney charged RCI, which was $374.75? And if I would have used them first, I would have been credited the full $435.60?

 

[JudyS]

Are you saying because I never used them I was only credited the price Disney charged RCI, which was $374.75? And if I would have used them first, I would have been credited the full $435.60?

Anyone know the answer? I'm interested in this, too!

 

[klynn]

Anyone know the answer? I'm interested in this, too!

This is not true according to Disney. I went back and showed my PAP's and asked why I did not get credit for the gate price when I upgraded my 7-day hoppers. I was told I got full credit according to what I paid RCI. I told them I redeemed RCI points and not money. They said the discounted price that RCI paid was $374.75.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Kerry we were just there, too.
.
I was in the same boat with our 7-day passes from RCI that we upgraded to 10-day passes for Josh and his girlfriend, so here is how it went:

Our son's pass, they automatically credited the full value of the pass, at Disney prices, then charged us something like $96 more for the 10-day.

A week later, Saturday, the 2nd of February, we went to upgrade his girlfriend's pass. The gal was going to charge about twice the amount for that same upgrade, so we asked why the difference. Rick showed her the chart, reminded her that the pass was a 7-day parkhopper plus, non-expiring pass, so the difference should be about the $90 in tax. She agreed and credited us the full gate price.

This is how our upgrade to annual passes went in September, also. We were credited Disney price for the passes and paid the difference between their cost for the same pass and the annual pass.

The nice woman at the ticket window didn't say she was doing anything special for us. She said we were right and her initial upcharge was not correct. Very nice!

 

[klynn]

I don't know what more I could have done. They did acknowldege that the gate price was $423.xx. They proceeded to tell me that since our hoppers were discounted tickets that we could only get the value of what RCI paid. Could it may be have something to do when you got your hoppers from RCI? We just got ours the beginning of January (right before the RCI points change) and I remember seeing a date on the back of our hoppers of November 2007. Do you know the date of the back of your son's and his gf's?

 

[rickandcindy23]

Kerry, I think they were from the spring of 2007.

I don't know what else you could have done either. Asking again was all you can do, and if the answer is the same, I would have done exactly as you did.

Rick was pretty insistent as he talked to the woman behind the counter. She said he was correct. She brought a chart out, Rick showed her the value of our tickets on the chart. Then she told us what RCI paid, which was close to the same you are talking about, a discount of about $90 (we were surprised at the volume discount RCI receives). Then she did something with a voucher credit, then charged us correctly (maybe Rick was just persuasive?????).

This post is going to lead to a great question for Brian and TUG.