Hi there, in addition to the replies here, I learned a few things new about upgrading tickets to passes last year during a disappointing experience.
First, the background. I previously was an annual passholder for a few years, but I let it lapse in 2020 right before Covid hit, thinking I would buy a new pass when I went back the next time because I didn’t have a trip planned for a while. Then Covid hit. In 2021 after things re-opened, I decided to plan another trip. I had also added more points to my DVC contract (thank you
DVC Resale Market). In May 2021, I bought a 7-Day park hopper ticket and reserved a room for Thanksgiving week last year before annual pass sales resumed. My hopes were that if annual pass sales resumed, I could upgrade the tickets to a pass. Annual pass sales then resumed. With previous DVC gold annual passes, Thanksgiving week was not blacked-out (spring break was); however, this time Thanksgiving was blacked out (Nov 24 to Nov 27). I was arriving the Friday before, Nov. 19 and departing on Sunday, Nov. 28. The way I timed use of the tickets was that the last valid day on the 7-Day ticket was going to be Saturday, Nov. 27, the last blackout day of the Sorcerer pass. I wasn't sure how that would work with the blackout dates if I upgraded the tickets to annual passes (if I upgraded the tickets to the Sorcerer pass, would I then be subject to the blackout dates because the 7-Day tickets were valid those dates but the Sorcerer pass was not?). Also, I had seen conflicting wording online about when you can upgrade to an annual pass. Some places I read gave me the impression that you could upgrade them on the last use day of the tickets, but other places were worded where it sounded like there had to be at least one valid unused day remaining on the ticket to be able to upgrade. That made a difference because if there had to be a day left and my last ticket day was planning to be Nov. 27, that meant I would have had to upgrade on Nov. 26 so that there was a day left. However, that could also blackout me from getting in the parks on Nov. 27 once I got the annual pass. So, I called the annual pass guest service line to get answers to these questions a few days before I left for the trip to plan the upgrade procedure.
I explained to the annual pass cast member on the phone what I was looking to do. I wanted to upgrade my 7-Day park hopper ticket to the DVC sorcerer pass, but I saw that there were blackout dates. The last valid day of the 7-Day ticket was going to be on the 27th (also the last blackout day of the Sorcerer pass). I told the cast member I wanted to upgrade the tickets to the Sorcerer pass, but I didn’t want the upgrade to blackout my dates while there. I also explained the conflicting information I read online about when to upgrade (on the last day vs. having at least one day remaining). After explaining the scenario to the cast member, I asked what to do.
The cast member responded that it was accurate that there had to be one day remaining on the ticket (this ended up being incorrect…more to come). So, when I asked how to do what I wanted to do with upgrading the tickets to the Sorcerer pass, she responded it was an “easy” solution. All I needed to do was add more days to the ticket online and make it an 8-Day ticket. That way, I would have one day left-over after Nov. 27, and then I could upgrade my ticket on Nov. 27. This made sense to me, so I added a day to the ticket to make it an 8-Day ticket.
Fast forward with this game plan all planned out, I arrived on Nov. 19. Normally, I would have taken care of upgrading the tickets to passes at the beginning of my trip. However, per the cast member’s advice, I proceeded to wait until the last day. While I was there, the annual pass sales were then paused. Nov. 27 came, and I proceeded with my plan. I went to the ticketing office at Magic Kingdom (the one in Liberty Square) to upgrade the tickets to an annual pass. They proceeded to tell me that pass sales were paused. That caught me by surprise. However, I proceeded to explain the scenario and what the phone cast member instructed me to do. I even showed them my phone call log and the receipt adding days to the pass to corroborate my story. The ticketing cast member then proceeded to tell me that even if annual pass sales were still available, I wouldn’t have been able to upgrade my tickets to the Sorcerer Pass because they were used on blackout dates. The phone cast member never mentioned this when we were discussing the scenario, even fully knowing I would be there during blackout dates. The ticketing office cast member said there was nothing they could do, but I could go to Town Hall to speak to someone. I did. I had to re-explain the situation there. I told them the story, showed them the corroborating information, and explained everything. They brought the lead on duty to speak to me. I told him the same thing. I explained everything and that I was doing exactly what the phone cast member instructed me to do. He explained that there was nothing they could do. He said the easiest thing to do would be to give me a pass, and he would love to do that, but the system doesn’t even have the option to let him do it. He also clarified that the tickets could be upgraded on the last day of use and does not need to have a valid day remaining (contradicting the phone cast member's information). He gave me a business card to email guest services and said that I could speak to them since they could not do anything there. He also refunded the extra day added to the ticket since I didn’t need that day. Frustrated, I left and reluctantly emailed guest services. After two emails to guest services per his instructions, I have not received a response, almost 3 months later. I am still waiting.
So, these were the lessons I learned through this experience: 1) If you plan to upgrade your tickets to an annual pass that includes blackout dates, you cannot have used the tickets on the blackout dates; 2) There does not need to be an unused "extra" valid day remaining to upgrade; the tickets can be upgraded until the last day of valid use (just not after the last day has been used or the ticket has expired); 3) Guest services can give incorrect information, and this can impact outcomes/plans in a BIG way; 4) If a mistake is made and it’s Disney’s mistake, they will not automatically make it right or honor what they say; 5) Emailing guest services per the direction of the cast members does not always guarantee a response; I wasn’t rude in my email; I emailed just explaining the situation like I did to each cast member I spoke to following the cast member's instructions. 6) It's on the guest to keep pursuing a resolution; no one at any point in time said let "me" do a...b...c; it was always "you" can do this or "you" can do that, even though their instructions were what originally caused me to be in the predicament...no accountability or sense of ownership, nor really any apology about the situation.
In case you’re wondering, I had a trip planned in January. I also have one planned in May, July, and September. When I went in January, on principle I did not purchase any park tickets that trip and decided to explore other central Florida attractions. That is also my plan for my upcoming trips. I’ll stay on property using my DVC points, rent a vehicle, and see what else central Florida has to offer. Had I been given the correct information up front, I could have pursued other applicable options like purchasing the Incredipass at the beginning of the trip. I normally would have taken care of that early in the trip to have access to the annual pass discounts during my trip. However, I held off to the last day per the phone cast member's instructions. If Disney feels empowered to treat guests/customers this way, then I can patronize other businesses out there and give them a chance. I am strongly leaning towards an annual pass to Universal at the moment as a result of this experience. I hope this experience helps someone in the future if they are in the same scenario.
