Bridging Parksavers tickets to AP - is this correct?

[Rash]

Yea, but money wasn't lost. You'll still keep the discount that was gained when you bought the $300 ticket. Because whatever the current gate price is of the ticket you bought is the amount of credit you are given when you upgrade. So if that ticket you paid $300 now has a gate price of $450 you get $450 towards your AP, not $300. Had you not bought that $300 ticket you'd pay $600 for your AP, instead of total of $450 ($300 ticket + $150 upgrade)
No?

That is a separate issue. You are referring to the fact that buying discounted tickets saves you money when upgrading. No one is disputing that. But once you have purchased that ticket, it is possible to to pay more for the upgrade if the price difference changes before you upgrade as outlined in my earlier post.

 

[AngiTN]

That is a separate issue. You are referring to the fact that buying discounted tickets saves you money when upgrading. No one is disputing that. But once you have purchased that ticket, it is possible to to pay more for the upgrade if the price difference changes before you upgrade as outlined in my earlier thread.

I've got to get my DH on this (my human calculator). I'm still not see how you pay more for the upgrade just because you bought a discounted ticket.

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

Well done, and congratulations.
Did the term "bridge" seem to be familiar to your CM? Although I've upgraded tickets a number of times and only had a problem once, I've never been sure if that terminology is a Disney thing or a DISboards/Mike Tuchman thing.
So I've never been sure just what the "magic words" would be if I needed to persuade/convince a reluctant CM to perform the bridging.

There's a section in the ticketing documentation called "Price Bridging Policies and Procedures" - it's terminology we use. But if someone doesn't know enough to do it, or is stubbornly refusing to do it, saying the words probably won't make them.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

.......
If my discounted ticket price doesn't change from what I paid, but the upgrade price difference goes up before I get a chance to upgrade, then I am worse off than if I didn't wait.

That is a separate issue. You are referring to the fact that buying discounted tickets saves you money when upgrading. No one is disputing that. But once you have purchased that ticket, it is possible to to pay more for the upgrade if the price difference changes before you upgrade as outlined in my earlier post.

The second comment I quoted is correct, but it does not mean that you are worse off because you didn't wait.

You are referring to the timing of the price of when you can do the upgrade so yes, it might not be the same amount you pay compared to what you calculated on the day you bought, but it does not mean that you would have been better off waiting. It would take being able to purchase the ticket you plan on bridging at a lower price in order to make you worse off and that will only happen if you luck into some special somewhere, not because Disney reduced ticket prices 'cuz that's very unlikely. What the AP costs and the spread between the two might mean you are spending more, but it is not because you didn't wait to purchase the ticket for bridging. It's because you waited too long to go to WDW when prices were cheaper for the AP.

 

[AngiTN]

The second comment I quoted is correct, but it does not mean that you are worse off because you didn't wait.

You are referring to the timing of the price of when you can do the upgrade so yes, it might not be the same amount you pay compared to what you calculated on the day you bought, but it does not mean that you would have been better off waiting. It would take being able to purchase the ticket you plan on bridging at a lower price in order to make you worse off and that will only happen if you luck into some special somewhere, not because Disney reduced ticket prices 'cuz that's very unlikely. What the AP costs and the spread between the two might mean you are spending more, but it is not because you didn't wait to purchase the ticket for bridging. It's because you waited too long to go to WDW when prices were cheaper for the AP.

You see it the same way I do. And after getting my DH to analyze all the figures he agrees. You may not save as much but at no point are you worse off than had you not purchased the discounted ticket.

 

[Rash]

You see it the same way I do. And after getting my DH to analyze all the figures he agrees. You may not save as much but at no point are you worse off than had you not purchased the discounted ticket.

I never said you would be worse off had you not purchased a discounted ticket. I said that it's possible that, AFTER BUYING A DISCOUNTED TICKET, for the upgrade price to go up if the price difference changed before you did the upgrade. You still save money, just less than you would have before the price difference changed. So you're worse off for waiting to upgrade if that happens, but not worse off for buying the discounted ticket.

I thin we're all talking about different things. I am specifically talking about the risk of waiting to upgrade AFTER you buy a discounted ticket. I'm not questioning the savings realized by buying the discounted ticket.

 

[CMNJ]

You see it the same way I do. And after getting my DH to analyze all the figures he agrees. You may not save as much but at no point are you worse off than had you not purchased the discounted ticket.

Possibly-however I can see the potential dilemma as we are in a similar situation. I have bought discounted Disney gift cards that I put in a Disney vacation account to buy AP for our Oct trip. Then I saw the info about discounted park tickets from park savers and thought about having Disney refund the money back to my gift cards to use on my trip instead (for food and expenses) and buying those tickets instead and then upgrading to the DVC AP. However if the next AP increases occur at the same time this year (early oct) and they do away with the DVC gold pass or raise it more than the discounted ticket (I'm assuming there will be no increase the value of the 7 day ticket at that point) I will lose money on the transaction. Plus I won't get the $20/$1000 bonus from the DVA spending. Also I have to put out that money again in the interim-so I'm weighing if the potential benefit is worth the risk. It would be a real PIA if I go to all the trouble and save little to nothing. However if someone wouldn't purchase an AP voucher prior to the next price increase then they wouldn't be losing out.

 

[AngiTN]

I never said you would be worse off had you not purchased a discounted ticket. I said that it's possible that, AFTER BUYING A DISCOUNTED TICKET, for the upgrade price to go up if the price difference changed before you did the upgrade. You still save money, just less than you would have before the price difference changed. So you're worse off for waiting to upgrade if that happens, but not worse off for buying the discounted ticket.

I thin we're all talking about different things. I am specifically talking about the risk of waiting to upgrade AFTER you buy a discounted ticket. I'm not questioning the savings realized by buying the discounted ticket.

Ah, ok. That makes a lot more sense. Several of us thought you meant you were worse off buying the ticket than not buying the ticket. That was the basis of the confusion. You can for sure be worse off waiting to upgrade, unless the AP stays the same and the ticket price goes up. Then you are better off. And since they haven't raised both at the same time lately you do stand a chance of that happening.

 

[AngiTN]

Possibly-however I can see the potential dilemma as we are in a similar situation. I have bought discounted Disney gift cards that I put in a Disney vacation account to buy AP for our Oct trip. Then I saw the info about discounted park tickets from park savers and thought about having Disney refund the money back to my gift cards to use on my trip instead (for food and expenses) and buying those tickets instead and then upgrading to the DVC AP. However if the next AP increases occur at the same time this year (early oct) and they do away with the DVC gold pass or raise it more than the discounted ticket (I'm assuming there will be no increase the value of the 7 day ticket at that point) I will lose money on the transaction. Plus I won't get the $20/$1000 bonus from the DVA spending. Also I have to put out that money again in the interim-so I'm weighing if the potential benefit is worth the risk. It would be a real PIA if I go to all the trouble and save little to nothing. However if someone wouldn't purchase an AP voucher prior to the next price increase then they wouldn't be losing out.

Well yeah, the DVA sure changes things a lot. It makes it way more complicated to figure out.

 

[Rash]

Ah, ok. That makes a lot more sense. Several of us thought you meant you were worse off buying the ticket than not buying the ticket. That was the basis of the confusion. You can for sure be worse off waiting to upgrade, unless the AP stays the same and the ticket price goes up. Then you are better off. And since they haven't raised both at the same time lately you do stand a chance of that happening.

I'm starting to confuse myself, so I can see where I could easily confuse others! I think we're all correct, just stating it several different ways.

 

[NoMoneyThanks2Disney]

Thanks to all the information on the boards we've decided to do the parksavers tickets to ap upgrade too. One quick, hopefully very stupid, question: I know that there has been talk of the ticket prices reflecting peak times, we're going at a less peak time (I know there's no such thing as off season anymore). Does this mean there's the possibility of the 7 day park hopper price being less in September than it is now, so we would get less of a credit for the tickets than we're anticipating toward the ap, and consequently pay more to upgrade than we've calculated? I'd find it odd for prices to go down, but thought I'd check. I'd prefer to have time to get used to the idea instead of getting an unhappy surprise. Lol.

 

[Rash]

Thanks to all the information on the boards we've decided to do the parksavers tickets to ap upgrade too. One quick, hopefully very stupid, question: I know that there has been talk of the ticket prices reflecting peak times, we're going at a less peak time (I know there's no such thing as off season anymore). Does this mean there's the possibility of the 7 day park hopper price being less in September than it is now, so we would get less of a credit for the tickets than we're anticipating toward the ap, and consequently pay more to upgrade than we've calculated? I'd find it odd for prices to go down, but thought I'd check. I'd prefer to have time to get used to the idea instead of getting an unhappy surprise. Lol.

I could be wrong, but I think the seasonal pricing only applies to single day tickets, not multi-day. Of course that could change.

 

[Robo]

Does this mean there's the possibility of the 7 day park hopper price being less in September than it is now...

Nope.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

If my discounted ticket price doesn't change from what I paid, but the upgrade price difference goes up before I get a chance to upgrade, then I am worse off than if I didn't wait.

Hmmmmm.....

I never said you would be worse off had you not purchased a discounted ticket.

You might understand better why we were getting confused by what you were saying! You stopped short of saying more along the line of what I think you meant - "then I am worse off than if I didn't wait until after the price increase to upgrade to the AP". Yes?

Of course the timing of your trips still matters the most. If you had upgraded before the price increase it might not have covered some trip a year+ down the road and then you need to renew the AP vs paying the slightly higher cost of upgrading later. Lots of scenarios you could cover where when you upgrade increases (or decreases) the additional amount you pay.

 

[Rash]

You might understand better why we were getting confused by what you were saying! You stopped short of saying more along the line of what I think you meant - "then I am worse off than if I didn't wait until after the price increase to upgrade to the AP". Yes?

I don't know what else the waiting could have referred to, but yes that is what i was saying.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I don't know what else the waiting could have referred to, but yes that is what i was saying.

Waiting to buy the ticket to bridge.

 

[taiko225]

Possibly-however I can see the potential dilemma as we are in a similar situation. I have bought discounted Disney gift cards that I put in a Disney vacation account to buy AP for our Oct trip. Then I saw the info about discounted park tickets from park savers and thought about having Disney refund the money back to my gift cards to use on my trip instead (for food and expenses) and buying those tickets instead and then upgrading to the DVC AP. However if the next AP increases occur at the same time this year (early oct) and they do away with the DVC gold pass or raise it more than the discounted ticket (I'm assuming there will be no increase the value of the 7 day ticket at that point) I will lose money on the transaction. Plus I won't get the $20/$1000 bonus from the DVA spending. Also I have to put out that money again in the interim-so I'm weighing if the potential benefit is worth the risk. It would be a real PIA if I go to all the trouble and save little to nothing. However if someone wouldn't purchase an AP voucher prior to the next price increase then they wouldn't be losing out.

I don't totally agree with this..... Look if you buy a Park Saver 3+4 PH ticket. It already save you $75 approximate because of their selling price and the Disney gate price. I don't see how it is better off with DVA which only save $20 over a $1000 spending. Even if the DVC AP price is going to increase in Oct.... Currently the DVC Gold AP is $549 or $585 (including tax). Let's say they have a $50 increment in it.
New DVC Gold AP will be $599 or $638(include tax). It is still less than $1000. So you save $75 out of your $638 (included tax) immediately vs $20 out of $1000.
Of course, you did mention you need to source out extra money, that is true. And might also bump into trouble with bridging when upgrading to AP. But I would definitely go for $75 saving instead of the $20.... Every penny count for me. And I really wish I could open up a DVA too... They not allowing people from overseas to open up account even though I have an US bank account.

 

[CMNJ]

I don't totally agree with this..... Look if you buy a Park Saver 3+4 PH ticket. It already save you $75 approximate because of their selling price and the Disney gate price. I don't see how it is better off with DVA which only save $20 over a $1000 spending. Even if the DVC AP price is going to increase in Oct.... Currently the DVC Gold AP is $549 or $585 (including tax). Let's say they have a $50 increment in it.
New DVC Gold AP will be $599 or $638(include tax). It is still less than $1000. So you save $75 out of your $638 (included tax) immediately vs $20 out of $1000.
Of course, you did mention you need to source out extra money, that is true. And might also bump into trouble with bridging when upgrading to AP. But I would definitely go for $75 saving instead of the $20.... Every penny count for me. And I really wish I could open up a DVA too... They not allowing people from overseas to open up account even though I have an US bank account.

I think you misunderstood my post. I am either buying DVC gold APs (for my family) soon (before my FP window opens for oct) using my DVA (and getting $40 as I will spend over $2000 for that and MNSHHP) so I will pay the $585 per ticket OR I have to have all those funds refunded/issued to a new gift card (which is a PIA to deal with) and spend the money for the Parksavers tickets again now saving those funds until Oct. I am happy to do that for the $225 I would save (would cover most of the cost of MNSHHP). However I am concerned what the next round of AP price increases could mean for my required upgrade in Oct. If they were to decide to do away with the DVC gold option or significantly raise the price I am not sure all this trouble to buy the discounted ticket in the first place is worth it for me. Using your example of $638 I wouldn't be "saving" $75 per ticket anyway-I'd only be saving about $25 per ticket because if I didn't buy the Parksavers tickets I would have gotten the AP before they raised the price (and with MnSSHP will get $40 gift card back). So for me this is a gamble I'm deciding on. If the AP don't go up much I would be saving a good amount of money but if they do I would have gone to a decent amount of trouble floating the extra cost a few months, dealing with a DVA refund, and wasting valuable park time (to deal with the upgrade to an AP) for possibly $35 (again using a $50 AP increase for this example). I agree every penny counts but time is worth money too and all this trouble wouldn't be worth $35 to me-($225 absolutely but I suspect Disney will raise AP right before we go as they did last Oct)
Again for most this may not be a consideration as they would not buy an AP voucher anytime soon (so they'd be paying the higher AP cost no matter what)

 

[Rash]

Sounds like too much hassle to me. As a percentage of what you will spend on a Disney vacation, the savings aren't worth that level of hassle IMO. I did the whole Disney gift card/target card/DVA thing last year and saved about $200, but honestly it was a PIA and I won't do it again. I'd stick with what you already started - as you mentioned, reversing things to start another savings scheme is time consuming and not even a sure thing in your case. A Disney vacation is already more complicated than it used to be - why add more complexity.

 

[hodad]

This thread really took off after I asked about bridging a MYW to a Platinum Pass near a price increase.

I ran the numbers for my upcoming visit in February, and here are the results, assuming 1) any payment to Disney utilizes the 10% discount from the Raise/Target strategy, 2) the next AP increase will be about $50 and the next MYW increase will be about $25, and 3) the current ParkSaver 4 + 3 free Park Hopper MYW ticket is the discounted ticket.

Bridging a discounted ticket is always the best bet, whether I bridge it at the beginning of the trip to take advantage of Tables in Wonderland and other AP benefits, or at the end of the trip, if price increases occur during the trip.

WITH ONE VERY LIKELY EXCEPTION:

If the AP increase occurs before my trip and the MYW increase occurs during my trip, but I want to have an AP from the beginning for its benefits, it would be $10 cheaper to buy an AP now than to bridge the discounted ParkSaver ticket.

Given that the 2016 MYW price increases occurred on February 28, the odds of an increase during my trip (Feb. 19-26) are pretty high. High enough that when taking the potential difficulty of bridging a ticket at the gate into account, I'm probably just going to get an AP now, before the next AP increase.