Is upgrading to AP a pain?

tanyaandallie

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
We are taking a very quick trip in March. I have booked an AP rate at Royal Pacific but do not have the AP yet. I was planning to purchase UT tix for everyone and just upgrade mine to AP. I'm just wondering how time consuming the ap process is. Is it quicker/easier to just purchase an AP on the UOR website and skip the $25-$30 savings? DS and I won't arrive at the hotel until 11pm the night before and we are staying our first night at Doubletree. We transfer to RPR the next morning and I'm worried about getting checked in, getting our EP, getting my AP taken care of etc and making it to early entry. I read somewhere that the ticket counter at the resort opens at 7 am. DD and DH arrive on an earlier flight so theoretically could get my ap taken care that first night but I'm assuming I have to be there? Do I? Does it have your pic on it? Could dh handle the upgrade for me? I'm clueless about the AP thing! I just want this all to be as painless as possible that morning! And I'd love to have dh take care of some of it the night before.
 
Your hotel key card is the ep
The 3 premier hotel guests have this perk
All in your party receives the hotel room key card

You can check in and ask for all the hotel room cards for those that are in your room

No pics involved for room key
 
Thanks for the info! I'm more concerned about the AP than the ee/room key. Can my husband do that upgrade for me at the ticket counter or do I have to be there?
 
you can do that at the attraction desk at the hotel or at a guest services location

but, regarding your question about time ... it will make no difference wether you purchase tickets and upgrade them, or buy an AP straight from the bat, because you'd still need to redeem the AP voucher for the real AP at the same place you would upgrade.

I don't think you need to physically be there for the upgrade, but I might be wrong.
 


I upgraded for myself and
my daughter at the HRH ticket desk. The process took about 5 mins but there was a lengthy queue to get to the desk.
 
Thanks so much. Exactly what I needed to know! I’ll go ahead and but the ut ticket and upgrade. And we will be there early so we are at the front of the line to get it all done quickly!
 
For how many nights are you at RPR? You don't have to show them your AP until the evening before you check out. So if you're there for more than one night, you don't have to rush to upgrade.
 


For how many nights are you at RPR? You don't have to show them your AP until the evening before you check out. So if you're there for more than one night, you don't have to rush to upgrade.
Thank you! I’m still pondering if I should upgrade to the power pass for the discounts at restaurants. Not sure if it’s worth it or not. If I do that I will have to upgrade before we go to the parks. If not I’ll definitely do as you suggested and wait to upgrade. I know we will be anxious to get to the parks!
 
Something that I was told at the ticket counter.... if you buy UOR tickets from a third party seller and lose them, UOR cannot reissue the tickets as they have no record of them. Just another reason to upgrade to an AP sooner rather than later maybe.
 
I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to piggyback onto this thread... I just snagged an AP rate for RPR and will need to upgrade my UT ticket to an AP. The hotel savings are significant.

The first day of my trip is 4/18, which is a blackout date. But the rest of my trip dates are not blackout dates.

Would it then make sense to use my UT ticket for 4/18 and then go and upgrade to a seasonal pass on 4/19 for the purpose of the hotel rate?

Or is it worth it for the food/merchandise discount to just upgrade to the Preferred pass? I couldn’t find what the percentage discount is for food and souvies.

Thanks!!!
 
How many park days will you do?

Three days at the parks, 2 nights at RPR.

ETA: Am I reading the site correctly that a seasonal pass is only $305? Compared to 2-day, 2 park tix that are approximately $290, depending on the deal?
 
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Three days at the parks, 2 nights at RPR.

ETA: Am I reading the site correctly that a seasonal pass is only $305? Compared to 2-day, 2 park tix that are approximately $290, depending on the deal?
Yes, they are a fantastic value if you can make a second trip within a year and avoid the blockout dates.

If you can't then the Power Pass for $50 more removes some of the blockouts. We upgraded to Power Passes this year since we went during Thanksgiving and again in three weeks for Mardi Gras, both of which had blockouts.

We upgraded one to the Preferred Pass for $40 more than Power. For our family of 4, the discounts covered the $40 on the first trip.
 
To the poster that asked about upgrading tickets to an AP at the attraction desk in the hotel lobby, call the hotel to find out the hours the attraction desk is open
 
I was there last week and and upgraded our tickets purchased from Visit Orlando (bought as 2 day PTP tickets with a free bonus day, but just showed as 3 day PTP tickets, not promo tickets). I went to the attractions desk at HRH to upgrade to Seasonal Passes, and they were unable to do it - they only offered the option of upgrading to Power Passes for $40 more per person. He said the seasonal passes were actually a little less in value than our tickets, and he couldn't process a "downgrade" or an even exchange.

I had to go to Guest Services outside the park, which had a much longer line, but they did the upgrade as an even exchange. My family was with me, but they wondered away and didn't need to be there for the upgrade as long as I provided their birthdays and information. We did it on our last day, but we were never asked to show it at HRH.
 
Even if you can't avoid a blockout date it might be worth it. We arrived on a blockout date and upgraded just to spend a few hours in IOA. All I really wanted to do was grab a butterbeer and pick up my wand in advance, so getting into US didn't really matter.
 

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