Ticket Bridging for Disney World Annual Passes
The best way to save money on a Walt Disney World Annual Pass is a method called price or “ticket bridging” from regular admission. This guide explains how the technique works, official policy, problems you might encounter, and the discount you’ll receive from upgrading to an AP. (Updated May 10, 2025.)
In order to price or ticket bridge, you’ll want to start by purchasing the Walt Disney World park ticket with the deepest discount from an authorized third party reseller. What this means is that you can purchase discounted tickets via our friends at Get Away Today, and then convert those standard discounted tickets to an AP.
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.
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.
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.
You can also ticket bridge by calling (407) 939-7277 and going through the exact same process. And unsurprisingly, you might have exactly the same results. Sometimes it’ll work, sometimes it won’t. Other options are using the Annual Passholder Help Form to email Walt Disney World’s dedicated Help Team or contacting DVC Member Services if you’re a Disney Vacation Club Member.
Failing all else, the best in-person location for any of this stuff is Guest Services at Disney Springs. We’ve found that whenever we have a complex question or problem, just cutting to the chase and going to Disney Springs is the best option. In our experience, the Cast Members there are often the most seasoned and knowledgeable, and they usually have more time to figure out issues–and greater willingness to take your question ‘up the food chain’ if they don’t know the answer. At the parks, there seems to be more of a desire to keep things moving, which might mean more of a rushed resolution. Your mileage may vary.
May 10, 2025 Update:Â This guide was originally written several years ago, and to the best of my knowledge, has remained 100% accurate for all of these years and thus hasn’t really been in need of an update. However, I’ve recently received a few questions about ticket bridging and had to do a deeper dive into the topic for Magic Keys at Disneyland, which led me to do some investigating at Walt Disney World.
The internet has been sending a lot of mixed messaging about whether ticket bridging still works at Walt Disney World. To settle things once and for all (or at least until the next policy change), I dug into the fine print of the official Walt Disney World Annual Pass terms & conditions. The following two paragraphs contain Walt Disney World’s official rules for upgrading from single and multi-day tickets to Annual Passes:
UPGRADES: Upgrades may be available from time to time or at no time, as determined in Disney’s discretion. A guest wishing to upgrade to a Pass from another form of eligible Walt Disney World® Resort theme park admission media must upgrade on the same day in which the original form of theme park admission media is valid, and must choose a Pass of equal or greater value than the retail price of the original theme park admission media when it was purchased. The difference in prices must be paid in full at the time of the upgrade.
If an upgrade to a Pass is made from a multi-day ticket, the Pass will be backdated to begin on the first day that such ticket was used. If an upgrade to a Pass is made from a lower level Pass, the new Pass will have the same expiration date as the original Pass. Each guest wishing to upgrade their theme park admission media to a Pass must be present at the time of the upgrade transaction. Fully used ticket media, partially used and expired ticket media, complimentary ticket media, special event ticket media, water park ticket media and ticket media stating its ineligibility for an upgrade may not be upgraded to a Pass. Upgrades are subject to Pass availability as determined by Disney, and additional restrictions and rules. Downgrades are not allowed.
Do you want to know the mildly amusing or frustrating thing, depending upon your perspective? The policies for Walt Disney World and Disneyland are almost identical, save for a couple of verbiage changes, capitalization differences, and one added sentence. The sentence in question? The very first one: “Upgrades may be available from time to time or at no time, as determined in Disney’s discretion.”
Whereas upgrades are so standardized at Disneyland that the whole process is streamlined via a button in the app, the same is only sometimes true with Walt Disney World tickets. (At least, that’s what this official page claims. The title of the page is “Upgrade your Florida Resident Ticket to an Annual Pass,” so it would stand to reason that it’s unique to that ticket type, but the actual text suggests it’s more expansive.)
To the best of my recollection, I’ve never seen this button in the My Disney Experience app, but then again, I don’t often have regular Walt Disney World tickets loaded in there.
Anyway, the bottom line is that Walt Disney World’s official policy on bridging regular tickets to Annual Passes is “if we feel like it.”
This pretty much tracks with online reports and, frankly, explains a lot! From my experience with this process over the last decade-plus is that it more comes down to getting an experienced Cast Member who knows how to bridge, because it doesn’t seem to be a straightforward process, and who is willing to do it.
That basically means it’s the luck of the draw with a dash of whether the Cast Member likes the “cut of your jib” thrown in for good measure. Speaking from firsthand experience, we’ve always found that Sarah has a higher success rate at stuff like this than me, unless the Cast Member is an older woman, in which case, I outperform. So, uh, good luck!
Another weird quirk in this whole system is that the Cast Member doing the ticket bridging is seemingly doing the math on the upgrade when you’re upgrading from a third party ticket. Meaning that you really, really should double-check their numbers before you proceed with the transaction. None of this is automated, for whatever reason.
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.
Variations of price bridging have been around for at least 15 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–in the early days of Free Dining to upgrade tickets (back in 2008 or 2009), 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 final 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.
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 or ticket bridging? Have you tried it before? Any problems price bridging? Successes? Wish this technique were called “WDW Ticket Trojan Horsing” instead? Agree or disagree with our advice about ticket bridging? Share any questions, tips, or additional thoughts you have in the comments!
We did this when we upgraded our tickets to APs on our trip back in November and it worked like a charm! I am curious how this works with AP renewal. Do I just say I have tickets I want to apply to the renewal? And can that only be done in person?
Man, I wish I would have known this before our Christmas trip. 7 of us had 10 day park hoppers and my daughter recently moved to Florida so I know we will be going back this year. We would have definitely bridges to an annual pass had we known.
I’m planning to visit WDW with a hopper ticket in 2018 and am an AP member at Disneyland. Am I able to bridge the hopper AND my AP into a premier pass? Or only can bridge into a separate WDW pass? Thanks!
Has anyone ever bridged a WDW hopper ticket and a current Disneyland AP into a premier passport? I want to be able to book fastpass+ but use both to bridge into a premier AP. Any tips or tricks on how to do this?
I am curious about the partially used ticket. So say i buy a 7 day park hopper and use 4 days before i go to update to an AP, will i only get a credit for the 3 days remaining on my pass towards my AP or the full 7 days?
I have a. 10 day non expiration ticket with only water parks left on it that I purchased in February 2015 would I be able to bridge this for an annual pass ?
Hi Tom!
Thanks to your post, we saved $815.74 on 5 Annual Passes this weekend. I purchased 4 five-day hoppers and 1 five-day hopper (with 2 free days..for a total of 7 days).
I did have to visit 3 different Cast Members at 3 different windows before I was successful. 3rd time at Epcot was a charm! (Epcot always seems to have the best Guest Services employees.)
Thanks for these posts. I love the money saving tips as much as the photos you post.
I just called Get Away Today & asked if I could purchase their discounted Disney World 7-Day Park Hopper (it’s on special for the price of 5-Day) & then upgrade to an Annual Pass when at Disney World. They told me that is NOT possible. Has anyone upgraded a park hopper ticket bought from Get Away Today to an annual pass at Disney World & had success?
How does this work when you get an “extra day free” pass? If I buy a 4 day pass with the 5th day free pass, will Disney credit this as a 4 or 5 day pass?
Hi there, what great information! To make sure, I can enter the park and then lets say I leave at lunch time, on my way out, walk to guest services and apply my current ticket value to the annual pass ( even though I have entered the park already ) ??
I expected the $313 gap as noted my numbers were the same as above but it only cost me $291… not sure why I had extra savings but I definitely applied it to vinylmations (which seem to be retiring/disappearing from parks)
That’s interesting…I can’t explain why, but I sure hope the same happens to us!
I am not sure I understand the note about being able to do price bridging for a DVC discounted annual pass. Could you please explain an example?
The prices for DVC annual passes are lower than those available to non-members. This trick also works on those lower priced annual passes
Do you have any information about upgrading a 10 day Disneyland (purchased in Australia) to an annual pass? I can’t get a definitive answer anywhere about how much the upgrade would cost as they don’t have standard 10 day tickets available.
Sorry, I don’t. I think you’re going to have a difficult time with that one, since it’s not something sold in the United States. Good luck, though!
I have been bridging tickets for 6 years now with never an issue. Last week I was told regular military tickets (NOT Salute or longer expiration tickets, just good old 5 day park hoppers!) are NOT to be bridged ever. As a one time “courtesy” they completed the transaction but the supervisor and the supervisor the supervisor checked with both stated that military tickets are not bridged and should never have been. This was new information based on the previous 6 years of experience. I had to fill out a paper form with my information and I was told this exception and that I had been told it was the last time and that it would be noted in my file.
J, do you know if they allow salute tickets to be upgraded to an annual pass? I am going to Disney in January and am currently planning on utilizing salute tickets for my trip, but, by that trip rolls around, I may have another trip in the works, which would make the FL resident Silver Pass more economical for two trips, rather than two 5-day salute tickets. If that’s the case, I would love to upgrade, but don’t want to risk it!
Thanks for the great info. Went right to the guest services window at Epcot and they converted us to platinum plus because of the DVC deal. It barely cost each of us $120. My son was already in the park and they were able to update his later. I wouldn’t. Have even thought this was an option if not for your blog. Thanks so much
Hi, we have 2 upcoming disney vacations. For this summer, we decided we wouldn’t do any theme park except for the water park, so we bought tickets for that. Then, we bought a 5 days park ticket no hopper option but with the canadian discount for the second trip. But now, I was wondering if it would be better for us to do annual passes… Will they combine the price of the 2 sets of tickets or it doesn’t work like that?
Thank you!
How do fastpass+ reservations work with this strategy? So, to make 60 day fastpass reservations, I think I need to enter tickets into My Disney Experience. So, if I buy a 7 day ticket from a 3rd party and then enter those ticket numbers into MDE, I can then make reservations. But if i then turn those tickets in to upgrade to annual passes when I get to the Member Services booth, will I lose access to the reservations?
I’ve been scrolling through the comments with the very same question. Has anyone had experience with, and therefore can answer Chris’s questions? Thanks!
I didn’t this a few weeks ago and don’t believe I lost any fastpasses. I don’t believe you would. However, I waited until the last park day of my vacation to upgrade my ticket. My AP expires 365 days From when I upgraded. So it was like I got the earlier days for free.
Will you be doing an update to this? We bought the 7-day hopper in Jan 2017 before the price increase in Feb 2017. Another website is saying that the ticket themselves were overhauled, so that price bridging this ticket would not have “current” value, but “Feb 11, 2017” value. That their Disney system recognizes 2 different types of tickets for the before/after of Feb 12.
On 4/23/17, I upgraded 5-day passes to 8-day. They were all purchased from third party sites in 2014 or 2015. Disney bridged me, but I still had to pay an unexpected $35 per ticket in addition to the price difference from 5 to 8 days (was charged $85 when online shows difference of just $50). I did ask at two different locations and was told the same thing. Even when I questioned further. When I look back and compare prices of old and new, it seems I was bridged to the “Jan 2017” price, like you mention, then charged an extra $5 somewhere. I absolutely was not bridged to the current price. A costly difference on the budget!
We have military discount tickets and then plan to go back to wow in Dec so we would like to get an annual pass with our dvc membership. Can we bridge the military tickets for an annual pass. We are leaving for our 1st trip April 30 so if you could let me know soon that would be great.
Hi Tom, it doesn’t seem Park Savers still has the same deal of a 7-day hopper w/ 3 days free. From what I can tell, it seems the UndercoverTourist 6-day hopper has the biggest discount. Is that correct?
I found the undercover tourist 10 day Park hopper deal with park hopper and water parks combined with a mini van for 540.00 for 14 days in Orlando during spring break to be the best deal by near twice the amount I could find anywhere else! I don’t see that deal today, but a couple months ago it was by far the best. The park hopper alone without the car still came out to the same as the mentioned 7 day hopper that isn’t available right now, but we got water parks as well.
I must say every day the undercover tourist deal changed. You MUST check undercover tourist every single day, the prices change at like 2 am. I actually purchased and 2 weeks later with my daily check I found the same deal 98.00 less so if you really want a deal keep checking and undercover. They will give a refund and let you change giving the credit to the card that same day. But they wont just return the difference, you must repurchase.
As a side note; The day we arrived Budget wanted a bit over 1500.00 for a mini van for 2 weeks during Spring break, 860.00 the absolute rock bottom I could find 14 days before we arrived direct through their site with a coupon code. SO 540.00 and the deal on the 10 day pass was an Enormous saving! I researched over and over and this was the best deal I found.
We are on day 9 and going to try to upgrade to the annual pass for him today(04/02/2017). The other 5 of us already have the annual platinum premier plus passes. If it works and I actually factor in the full van price many that don’t research pay the annual pass is free(If I was to pay the full 1500.00 for the car). On the pass alone the deal is about a 75.00 savings to the annual pass. BUT if I would of done this before the annual pass change in price I would of saved near 125.00. There was a very short window where someone could of paid the old prices and jumped on an advantage.
The best deal really is had by getting the car rental dirt cheap. With 6 of us it has to be a mini van and once you get that mini van at 540.00 for 2 weeks verse what you thought you would pay, well that’s 300.00 off right there and a better savings than any kind of trickery with tickets will get you. Toss in the undercover tourist 3rd party ticket discount AND the bridge technique and with the best car rental available its near a 400.00 saving based on a 14 day mini at 860.00 which is still a good price, let alone the 540.00 I paid. The guy next to me in line paid that 1500.00 for the mini van for his 13 day trip, I paid less than that for an annual pass AND the van so shop early and smart!