Ticket Bridging for Disney World Annual Passes
If you want to save money on a Walt Disney World Annual Pass, a method called “price bridging” will provide the greatest discount. With this technique, you purchase a park ticket from an authorized third party reseller and then upgrade that ticket to an Annual Pass. (Last updated May 6, 2018.)
In the process of ticket bridging, you’re credited for the full gate price value of the regular Walt Disney World park ticket. This “bridges” the gap (hence the name) between what you paid and the ticket’s current value. You then pay out of pocket for the difference between your ticket’s current value and the cost of a Walt Disney World Annual Pass.
In order to price bridge, you’ll want to start by purchasing the Walt Disney World park ticket with the deepest discount from an authorized third party reseller. We keep our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post updated with what’s currently the best deal at the top of the post. Saving money in this first step is important because you receive the face value of this ticket, not what you paid for it, when upgrading.
The next step is going to a Guest Services window with your unused or partially used (despite what you might read, it makes no difference) ticket, and requesting to upgrade it to an Annual Pass, with the value applied towards your Annual Pass. The reason we recommend Guest Services is that this is a fairly uncommon request, and Guest Services is where you’re most likely to find a Cast Member with experience in price bridging.
If, for some reason, the Cast Member at Guest Services is unable to price bridge at the current (full) gate price of your Walt Disney World ticket, ask if a supervisor can assist. Don’t get confrontational or say, “but the internet told me this works!” Neither will get you anywhere. For many Cast Members, the internet is a verboten place of tomfoolery and lies about 5th gates and monorail expansion.
Failing that, try again at a different window. Please, don’t leave an irate comment here about this technique “no longer working.” This method absolutely does work–you just need to be diligent. If ever price bridging stops working at Walt Disney World, I’ll update the post.
Here’s some quick and dirty math to illustrate the savings and process. Let’s say I buy a 7-day Park Hopper for $447. This ticket is credited its full gate price including tax, which is $516.53. I want to purchase the Disney Platinum Pass, which is $829.64 after tax. Out of pocket, I will pay $313.11 to price bridge the difference. (Obviously, these numbers will differ based upon what you purchase–and if any price increases occur between the time this is published and whenever you’re reading it.)
What’s interesting about this technique is that it only works this way with third party tickets, not those purchased directly from Walt Disney World. While all tickets are capable of being upgraded if you pay the difference, those tickets purchased directly from Disney receive credit for the gate price of the ticket at the time the ticket was purchased.
By contrast, third party tickets are credited the current gate price of the ticket at the time of the upgrade. This is a known loophole in Disney’s system and I’m not sure why. Perhaps there’s some sort of breakdown in the feedback loop with the third party sale or some other, unknown reason why full, current price is credited. Whatever the case, it’s a “known issue” that benefits the consumer.
Note that there’s one unique wrinkle to this that will impact a very small minority of you. If you purchased tickets from a reseller before the February 2018 price increase, you will only be given credit for the gate value before the increase. If you purchased after the February 2018 price increase (as most of you are probably doing), you’ll receive credit for the current gate value of the ticket. Since this is a ‘how to’ post, this nuance probably applies to next to no one reading, but it’s still worth mentioning.
Variations of price bridging have been around for at least 10 years, and this loophole has yet to be closed. (Let’s call it a “Disney Hack” since loophole has a negative connotation…) I doubt this blog post will change that as this info has been widely available via forums and other sites for a while. I remember using the technique–albeit not in the exact manner–back in the early days of Free Dining to upgrade tickets, and the same principles are being applied here.
Theoretically, you could “invest” in park tickets now that you’ll use to upgrade to Annual Passes years down the road and watch the value of your tickets climb. It would basically be like investing in GOOGL at its IPO and cashing out today. Well, maybe not that good of an investment, but ticket price increases have way outpaced inflation. However, we don’t recommend this as a long-term plan because there’s no telling when Disney revise this policy.
A few other notes:
- You will receive a credit for the current gate price after-tax when upgrading. Make sure to confirm this amount before completing the upgrade transaction.
- You can use price bridging on Annual Pass renewals.
- You can use price bridging on Disney Vacation Club-discounted Annual Passes.
- You can use price bridging on other, more expensive tickets that aren’t Annual Passes.
- There are some reports of price bridging working at Disneyland, but most of the time it does not. It has never worked for us, so YMMV.
That should about cover it in terms of pricing bridging your discounted Walt Disney World tickets to…discounted Annual Passes! It’s a nice way to save a bit more money that you can then put towards Vinylmation or novelty hats–you know, the necessities.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Do you have any questions about price bridging? Have you tried it before? Any issues price bridging? Successes? Wish this technique were called “WDW Ticket Trojan Horsing” instead? Share any questions, tips, or additional thoughts you have in the comments!
Curious if price bridging is still available now that tickets have expiration dates of 12/31/2018? As long as it is done before the expiration date?
Hi Tom! Love your site! I was wondering how upgrading to an AP during a free dining stay would work? Is that even possible? Thanks so much!
I was wondering about this too. It’s much cheaper for us to book a free dining package and upgrade them to annual passes than it is to renew our annual pass and pay our meals out of pocket. Will guest relations upgrade our 10 day park hoppers to annual passes, if the park hopper is purchased as part of the free dining promotion?
Thanks for the info!! Love blog!!
I have a reservation for July as a “package” for our family vacation. We are staying for 7 days with park hopper. Am I still able to utilize the bridging to an annual pass for myself only ? (I plan to do this so I can use it when I return to WDW in January for Marathon Weekend as a girls trip)
can you bridge a ticket that has water park passes? right now the ticket including water park passes provides the greatest savings, I have no interest in the water parks so would only upgrade to regular annual pass.
Hi Tom. Do you know if anyone has successfully used price bridging towards upgrading an existing annual pass to the premiere annual pass level? Or more generally, does WDW credit the value of your WDW tickets towards upgrading an annual pass while there?
My wife and I live in California and will be going to WDW in April and already have annual passes for Disneyland. Thinking about upgrading to Disney Premier Passport.
Thank you so much for all the useful info in your articles!
I think the problem you’re going to encounter is that you cannot “merge” two existing Annual Passes (the DLR and WDW ones) into a single Premier Pass. You can upgrade one or the other to Premier and pay the difference, but you cannot (to my knowledge, at least) combine multiple tickets into a Premier.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the expiration date of the Premier will be the *earlier* of your two Annual Passes. Meaning that if your Disneyland AP expires in June and you visit in May, your Premier Pass would expire a month later. This is a problem, as Disney does not prorate the Premier AP, either.
My bet: you’re better off holding two separate Annual Passes for DLR & WDW, unless somehow the stars align and make upgrading to the Premier a better option.
Regarding not working at Disneyland: last year we were given one-day parkhopper passes by a friend in the military (who got them with a military discount), and were able to upgrade to SoCal Select, credited full gate price. That’s how I discovered this loo^H^H^H hack and why I ended up on your page.
Regarding “it makes no difference,” I get what you’re saying but I think it’s worth noting that you can use the regular pass with all its benefits before upgrading. In our case, we were able to go on a Sunday, upgrade to SoCal Selects (which blocks out weekends, summer, Christmas, full moons, etc.), and parkhop both that Sunday and Monday. It was like the best of both worlds!
Hi Tom. With the changes to Passes this week I have a few questions. When bridging will they use the gate price after taxes or the pre arrival web price for the tickets? Buying at the gate is now $20 more than prepurchasing. Also I have exchange certificates purchased from the Canadian Automobile Association at a 33% discount. Will I get full gate value for these. Can I turn those into tickets and then upgrade to APs to ensure I get full gate price?
Unfortunately, I can’t answer that. Disney has no official, explicit policy on ticket bridging, and the only way we know how it works is based upon past precedent. There’s no precedent concerning the $20 surcharge at the gate. At least, not yet.
Hopefully someone tries in the next week or so and we have a report…
On the mouseowners forum, a guest has tried bridging his ticket, bought prior to the increase, to an AP. The CM will bridge it to the pre-increase price but not the post-increase price.
Thanks for the info! I have done this a few years ago, but cannot remember when exactly the date on my annual pass started. In other words, when you upgrade to an annual pass, does the year start date begin when it is upgraded, when the first ticket was activated, or the date the original ticket was purchased from the third party reseller? Thanks so much! Love your blog!
How does this interact with Hotel Check in. We have reservations for Annual Pass members – will we need to secure the bridged ticket before check in? Thank you!!
PS Love your blog!!!
Does the bridged annual pass start date begin on the day of the upgrade or is it retroactive to the first day the park ticket was used?
How does it work with tickets bought by Disney in U.K. ? Do they also take the gate price for an upgrade? We have booked a package with 14days MYW Tickets.
Thx Aline
Tom,
How would the price bridging work for a renewal? Would I have to wait until right before my annual pass expired, buy the Park Savers ticket, and then go to Guest Services to request a renewal before the ticket expires? Thank you!
Does price bridging work for upgrading a Single Park per Day ticket to a Park Hopper as well? I have purchased from Undercover Tourist in early February before the price increase and will not actually use them until next year.
What would you say to the CM or supervisor if the prices are not coming out right? This is where I am worried about what to say
Okay, reading this is making me a bit nervous. We are Fl residents and currently have a non discounted 2-day park hopper that runs $257 and we are planning on upgrading to the weekday select pass which is $259. I know that the prices we have paid for our tickets has to be less than the annual pass price.
In the example above, the price quoted towards the upgrade amount had the ticket price as well as taxes, but the Platinum Pass amount and the amount to theoretically upgrade did not include taxes. Was that an oversight, or will that include the taxes for the $257 PH pass before they look at which pass I can upgrade to?
I hope that made sense! 🙂
I have been an AP holder for nine years and have always upgraded through Disney. I am not understanding the process of how price bridging will work the next time I need to upgrade my pass. Which is in October 2016. I had the understanding that APs could only be purchased from Disney…. Is that what I am missing here? It makes sense if I was able to purchase a discounted AP from a third party seller. If that is possible please advise
Do you have to do this at the gate? Can you do this over the phone? We want to purchase AP but know that we may be able to book a room with an AP discount. If we don’t get the passes until we get to the parks we won’t be able to book a room with the discount. Correct?
How does this work for DVC member annual pass renewals? Ours will expire March 2017.
Hi Tom. I still have a 10-day no expiration park-hopper ticket w/ fun option that I purchased from Undercover Tourist a few years ago. Is this ticket eligible to bridge? If so, do I need to complete the transaction after I’ve used all 19 tickets, but before the 20th is used?
Maybe I am one of the lucky few, but price bridging worked for my family of 4 in 2015 at Disneyland. We bought discounted 5-day tickets on Orbitz and then upgraded after using then to enter on our first day. I then used gift cards from target (purchased at 5% discount) to pay the difference. Paid $450 each for $500 passes. Hoping it an work again next year.
There was a lot of confusion because my initial example used a $584 AP for an example. This was my price as a DVC Member–I’ve updated the example with a general public Annual Pass to avoid further confusion…