Upgrade fail

[jaz0308]

went to Hollywood studios today to upgrade our 8 day PHs to APs. We purchased before the price increase with a small military discount. CM and supervisor both refused to price bridge even after I asked and explained several times. Supervisor told me they used to price bridge but it is now against policy and they don't do it anymore and they would get in trouble if they did it. I thanked them and went on my way. I fully intend to try again tomorrow at MK and will continue to try until it either works or we don't purchase APs! Wish me luck!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

The military discount may be the issue, but please keep us posted.

 

[wilkeliza]

I hate saying this but DHS is one of the worst guest services and has the habit of making up their own rules.

It is possible that it is because of the military discount but they should have told you it was due to the discount not to the fact that they no longer "price bridge".

 

[Jadyreen1282]

So you want us to wish you luck on breaking Disney policy and getting an employee in trouble...ok then good luck

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

Was this at Guest Relations or the ticket booth? If it was a ticket booth, I'd love to know the name of the "supervisor." (And if it was someone in a white Coordinator shirt or in 'business casual' wear.)

Either way, they were wrong. If you had a military discounted ticket that wasn't a Salute promotional ticket, it should have been price bridged. No policy change has occurred and no one would get in any trouble.

 

[wilkeliza]

So you want us to wish you luck on breaking Disney policy and getting an employee in trouble...ok then good luck

It is very possible it is not policy. As @ravenclawtrekkie pointed out it is not policy as they are still doing it. Either the OPs ticket is not up-gradable (military Salute ticket) or it can be price bridged. If it is no up-gradable then the OP should have been told that not that it is against policy to price bridge.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I previously posted about having a hard time converting tickets to AP's.

I've been blasted here on the DIS; more or less accused of lying.

Both times, the CM's told me bridging didn't exist.

Then again...and I'll try to say this succinctly, there have been a number of OTHER times when CM's ALSO told us some other things didn't exist at WDW, when we know they did.

A CM once told us rider/child swap didn't exist. Another CM told me that the concierge desk has never been able to handle any ticket modifications.

I almost sometimes wonder if WDW's policy is to gaslight customers from time to time, "You only imagine that Dumbo used to be near the castle."

 

[wilkeliza]

The biggest thing is use the proper terminology. Don't ask to "bridge your ticket" just go up and say you would like to upgrade your existing ticket to an Annual Pass. Know how much the upgrade should cost and if the CM says a different amount then that ask them what they are seeing on their side. If it is non-upgrade-able they'll mostly likely tell you the full cost of the AP if the ticket can be upgraded they'll say the price difference between your ticket as if it were a ticket you bought today and the AP. I don't know if "bridge price difference" is something they like to admit so always go in just saying you want to upgrade.

 

[supersnoop]

went to Hollywood studios today to upgrade our 8 day PHs to APs. We purchased before the price increase with a small military discount. CM and supervisor both refused to price bridge even after I asked and explained several times. Supervisor told me they used to price bridge but it is now against policy and they don't do it anymore and they would get in trouble if they did it. I thanked them and went on my way. I fully intend to try again tomorrow at MK and will continue to try until it either works or we don't purchase APs! Wish me luck!

Was this at Guest Relations or the ticket booth? If it was a ticket booth, I'd love to know the name of the "supervisor." (And if it was someone in a white Coordinator shirt or in 'business casual' wear.)

Either way, they were wrong. If you had a military discounted ticket that wasn't a Salute promotional ticket, it should have been price bridged. No policy change has occurred and no one would get in any trouble.

Maybe I'm confused. Or I'm making an assumption. It sounds like these tickets were purchased directly and separately from Disney. Doesn't that make them worth the amount paid? Those would never be bridged.

 

[KittyKitty]

Same thing happened to me at DHS. They quoted a lot more than I knew if it was bridged. So thanked them, and was successful at Epcot customer service. This was a few years ago.

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

Maybe I'm confused. Or I'm making an assumption. It sounds like these tickets were purchased directly and separately from Disney. Doesn't that make them worth the amount paid? Those would never be bridged.

The military discount tickets qualify for price bridging UNLESS it's the Salute promotion - which would be a 4 day park hopper/4 day WPF&M/4 day PH+WPF&M.

The OP's ticket would show up in my computer as "8D PH MIL" - not "8D PH" like a gate price ticket would. I wouldn't price bridge "8D PH" even if it was originally purchased before a price change.

 

[cigar95]

Maybe I'm confused. Or I'm making an assumption. It sounds like these tickets were purchased directly and separately from Disney. Doesn't that make them worth the amount paid? Those would never be bridged.

The universe of tickets covered under the "direct-from-Disney" rule is a pretty small one. As far as I know, all such tickets would have been purchased at full price, and I believe it includes only those purchased directly from a WDW ticket booth, or directly from the Disney web site. (Disney Store tickets might be a third category, can't recall for sure.) Anything that is part of a package is considered to be from a tour operator - WD Travel, in this case - and so remains eligible.

And I'm pretty sure anything discounted does not fall under this rule - though *other* circumstances may render it ineligible for bridging. ("Stars and Stripes" is one of them, I think. Is Mike Tuchman's FAQ still available?)

 

[KittyKitty]

I wouldn't price bridge "8D PH" even if it was originally purchased before a price change.

Now I'm confused. If my 8day parkhopper came up, that I bought before price went up, you would not give current value of the ticket toward an AP? Or you wouldn't need to price bridge it, because the computer would have already given current value to it?

Thanks

 

[jaz0308]

Just to be clear I would never want to cheat the system. From what I understand on this board the price "bridging" is eligible for my ticket. It is an official 8 day PH not a military salute ticket. I purchased it through my local military base. When I first went up I simply asked to upgrade to APs. when the price came back higher than I expected I brought up that I understand I should receive full credit for a current 8 day PH. The CM showed me her screen that listed my price and how much the upgrade would be. At that time I brought up the word "bridging" and asked for a supervisor. It was indeed a coordinator who came over and informed that it wasn't policy any more. I will see what they say at MK tomorrow. If that is true then so be it but if others are indeed getting the service of bridging I have no qualms about taking advantage of that official policy myself! If it is indeed against the rules then so be it and I will simply hold off on buying APs.

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

Now I'm confused. If my 8day parkhopper came up, that I bought before price went up, you would not give current value of the ticket toward an AP? Or you wouldn't need to price bridge it, because the computer would have already given current value to it?

If a ticket is purchased directly from Disney (not part of a package, or from a reseller or outside vendor), at a standard gate price, it's not eligible to be price bridged (even after a price change). The computer actively won't do it through the standard procedure - we get a message like "ticket not eligible" or something, I don't recall the exact wording. (I tried it once just out of curiosity.)

Just to be clear I would never want to cheat the system. From what I understand on this board the price "bridging" is eligible for my ticket. It is an official 8 day PH not a military salute ticket. I purchased it through my local military base. When I first went up I simply asked to upgrade to APs. when the price came back higher than I expected I brought up that I understand I should receive full credit for a current 8 day PH. The CM showed me her screen that listed my price and how much the upgrade would be. At that time I brought up the word "bridging" and asked for a supervisor. It was indeed a coordinator who came over and informed that it wasn't policy any more. I will see what they say at MK tomorrow.

If you recall the name of the coordinator, I'd love it if you could message it to me. If you don't remember or don't want to do that, it's no big deal, I'm just curious.

If you have plans to visit Epcot or DAK on your current trip, go to their ticket booths. I trust at least 75% of the people in ticketing at Epcot, and DAK in general tends to be good at knowing policy and performing complicated procedures. (Not that this is particularly complicated.)

I haven't worked at MK enough to know how good they are at anything, but it's worth a shot.

 

[Huff]

At Disneyland they changed policy years ago. They credit what you paid for your tickets towards an AP regardless of what the current ticket price is. Been that way for quite awhile now but prior to that they would credit the current value.

 

[Mousemommy1]

The easiest thing to do would be to buy the military AP's off the bat. Much cheaper.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

When we tried last visit to change our 6 day passes into 7 I was told it was something ridiculous like 65.00 per person. When I told her I knew it was only supposed to be around 20.00 she told me there had been a price increase. Her supervisor confirmed it so i didn't upgrade. I went to US instead. This was GS at AoA

 

[cvjw]

I have been told so many ridiculous things by cm's and supervisors when trying to upgrade tickets. Not all guest relations personnel are created equally

Op, I have had the absolute best upgrading luck with the guest relations at the international gateway outside of Epcot. They have NEVER told me something that I knew was incorrect!!

 

[dp911]

I always went to Epcot outside international gateway to upgrade and they were awesome! Never had an issue upgrading my tickets to AP with a FL discount. Not sure if military is different.