Quick question about upgrading to AP, I leave tomorrow.....

Carnut12

Earning My Ears
Joined
May 15, 2010
Sorry I did a search and read conflicting information. I know I can upgrade, but I bought my tickets from Undercover Tourist and I am not sure if that is a problem.

I am doing 5 days Disney followed by 3 days Universal, I intend to do Universal again next year the same week, but I will shift the dates to the beginning of the week and then I will spend the end of the week at Marco Island. I am assuming this will work out fine, correct? As long as the dates do not overlap?

Quick questions before I leave-

Can you upgrade UT passes?

I have 3 day 2 park passes, I want Seasonal AP's, what is the easiest way to accomplish this, can it be done prior to going to the park?

Thank you all, this forum has provided me with so much great information, my trip would not be the same without it!!!!!
 
Yes, the Ut tickets can be upgraded to an AP at the park guest services.

You can use the guest services that are located outside the park also.

If you use the UT tickets to enter the park, the value of them will automatically upgrade to the current ticket price.
You need to do the upgrade from tickets to ap before the tickets expire.

Some wait until day 3 at the end of the day as they are in a black out period during the days they are at UO.
 
Yes, the Ut tickets can be upgraded to an AP at the park guest services.

You can use the guest services that are located outside the park also.

If you use the UT tickets to enter the park, the value of them will automatically upgrade to the current ticket price.
You need to do the upgrade from tickets to ap before the tickets expire.

Some wait until day 3 at the end of the day as they are in a black out period during the days they are at UO.


Macraven - Can I book a room under AP rates and still not upgrade until later in the trip? When does the hotel ask for proof of AP? I have 2+2 3 Park tickets under a SMSM rate right now (at Cabana Bay) and I am planning to upgrade to AP when I get there but want to wait until I have used the ticket once to update the value. Can I do that? It would only be an issue if I found a better rate with AP than I already have with SMSM or if I could move to a hotel with EP for a decent price under AP. Thanks!!
 
Macraven - Can I book a room under AP rates and still not upgrade until later in the trip? When does the hotel ask for proof of AP? I have 2+2 3 Park tickets under a SMSM rate right now (at Cabana Bay) and I am planning to upgrade to AP when I get there but want to wait until I have used the ticket once to update the value. Can I do that? It would only be an issue if I found a better rate with AP than I already have with SMSM or if I could move to a hotel with EP for a decent price under AP. Thanks!!

As long as you upgrade to an AP at some time before you leave (to show the front desk if they ask), you will be fine.
 


Since you are leaving today for your trip, not much time to check if the ap rates are available

In order to get the ap room rate, it has to be booked in advance
Only a specific number of rooms will be allowed to apply ap rates to them


Smsm is a solid rate
Don’t think ap rate would be more than the 10%

Hope you have a fantastic vacation
Let us know when you return home

 
One thing to be mindful of - seasonal passes are blacked out of the Studios side on the nights of the Mardi Gras concerts. Depending on when you are going next year, this might be (or become) an issue.
 
One thing to be mindful of - seasonal passes are blacked out of the Studios side on the nights of the Mardi Gras concerts. Depending on when you are going next year, this might be (or become) an issue.

Wow I did not know that, so should I upgrade to the Power Pass??? Will that work?

Thank you for the information, so far we have had 2 amazing days at Disney, the weather has been incredible and is supposed to stay 80’s and Sunny all week!!!!

I start at Universal Wednesday so I still have a few days to work this out.

Thank you all
 


so should I upgrade to the Power Pass??? Will that work?

There's probably two ways of doing it:

- Upgrade to at least a power pass now and then you don't have to worry about it.

OR

- Upgrade to a seasonal pass now and then see when you plan on going next year. If it conflicts with a concert, you can always upgrade to a Power Pass then.

If you go to a Power Pass, the price difference between that and a Preferred Pass is about $40. With the Preferred, you get 10% off almost all food and merchandise. If you are going to make two trips out of it, you'd probably make up the difference of upgrading at least one of your passes pretty easily.

Glad to hear that you are having a good time at Disney!
 
I have a question on this as well - planning to do the same thing when we arrive in March. I bought Undercover Tourist tickets before I realized that annual passes would be a better deal for us, so plan to upgrade to Seasonal Passes when we arrive (and it seems to be a decent savings as I bought them before the price increase which is a bonus). If I want to do this, do I have to go to guest services/ticket booth at the parks, or is this something that can be done at the hotel - it is unclear to me whether the hotels have a an actual person selling tickets or if it is just a computer kiosk. We get in mid afternoon and plan on upgrading that day, so not an issue for us of wanting to wait until later in the trip due to blackout dates (Mardi Gras doesn't hold much appeal to us, so planning on IOA/Volcano Bay/outlet mall over the weekend, then will do US during the week).

@Carnut12 - would love to hear how this goes for you once you have been there.
 
I have a question on this as well - planning to do the same thing when we arrive in March. I bought Undercover Tourist tickets before I realized that annual passes would be a better deal for us, so plan to upgrade to Seasonal Passes when we arrive (and it seems to be a decent savings as I bought them before the price increase which is a bonus). If I want to do this, do I have to go to guest services/ticket booth at the parks, or is this something that can be done at the hotel - it is unclear to me whether the hotels have a an actual person selling tickets or if it is just a computer kiosk. We get in mid afternoon and plan on upgrading that day, so not an issue for us of wanting to wait until later in the trip due to blackout dates (Mardi Gras doesn't hold much appeal to us, so planning on IOA/Volcano Bay/outlet mall over the weekend, then will do US during the week).

@Carnut12 - would love to hear how this goes for you once you have been there.
You have to do this at Guest Services within the park. We did this in December with Undercover Tourist tickets. Just make sure to use the ticket to enter before you upgrade, because you get converted to the current ticket price.
 
You have to do this at Guest Services within the park. We did this in December with Undercover Tourist tickets. Just make sure to use the ticket to enter before you upgrade, because you get converted to the current ticket price.

Just curious did you do it the first day you entered or the last? Some say to do it the last for whatever reason.

Thank you!!
 
Just curious did you do it the first day you entered or the last? Some say to do it the last for whatever reason.

Thank you!!
If you go during a black out period, peeps use the tickets up to the last day.
They upgrade to the ap before the end of the last day in the parks.

Premier and Preferred ap don't have black out dates.
Mardi Gras period is one of them that comes to mind.
(Preferred does have some black out dates for early entry)


So, if you know there is a black out period for the dates you will be there, use the tickets until you are leaving the last day to upgrade.
 
Do you have to have the mailed tickets from UT or can you upgrade the e-tickets after you enter the park too?
 
Here's a question: I will be traveling in July this year for 10 days to Universal. If I buy a 3 park UT 2 +2 day ticket and use some of it at the water park and the normal parks how will Universal treat upgrading to a Power AP? July has black out dates for the water park so will I have a choice of a 2 or 3 park Power AP and than not be able to continue to use the water park?
 
Here's a question: I will be traveling in July this year for 10 days to Universal. If I buy a 3 park UT 2 +2 day ticket and use some of it at the water park and the normal parks how will Universal treat upgrading to a Power AP? July has black out dates for the water park so will I have a choice of a 2 or 3 park Power AP and than not be able to continue to use the water park?

You can upgrade to whatever you like. It will just be a different cost. However, don't count on Universal giving you credit for a 4 day ticket, they may only credit you for 2 depending on the actual 2+2 ticket you've got. Make sure you use all the water park days you want before you upgrade.
 
Last edited:
Here's a question: I will be traveling in July this year for 10 days to Universal. If I buy a 3 park UT 2 +2 day ticket and use some of it at the water park and the normal parks how will Universal treat upgrading to a Power AP? July has black out dates for the water park so will I have a choice of a 2 or 3 park Power AP and than not be able to continue to use the water park?

We recently used 2+2 3 park base tickets from Undercover Tourist. We upgraded to seasonal AP and were told that if we had used the tickets to enter Volcano Bay then they could only be upgraded to 3 park seasonal. Because we did not go to Volcano Bay we were allowed to upgrade to a 2 park seasonal. Because our tickets were a promo ticket we did not get the full value of a 3 park 4 Day ticket as I had hoped. They scanned our tickets and knew exactly how much UT paid for them and how much we paid. We got credit for how much we paid. We had paid $239.99 and it cost $45 to upgrade to 2 park seasonal. So, no savings for us and really more of a hassle than just buying the seasonal AP from the start.
 
And then there is this post ...

I recently upgraded the explorer ticket to the seasonal 2-park pass. It cost $5.00 per adult ticket and $15.00 to go from a child explorer ticket to a 2-park seasonal pass. We upgraded at guest services inside IOA. As a note my sister in law tried to upgrade the same ticket at city walk, her hotel and Universal Studios and was told she could not downgrade the explorer ticket to a 2-park ticket because she had already visited volcano bay and that she would have to purchase the 3-park seasonal pass(I believe the price was around $95-$100) per ticket. She even sent an email and received the same response. I told her to try guest services inside IOA and they happily did the upgrade to the 2-park seasonal pass for $5.00.

So your results may differ.
 
Well I think I just went off the deep end for Universal tickets. I bought Universal Explorer (3 park) tickets from a UK website (etickets). These will last 14 days at all 3 parks which is more than I need but still cheaper than messing with APs. Anybody try this in the past?
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top