upgrading passes after first use?

[O'MalleytheAlleyCat]

I'm taking extended family to WDW for the first time this fall for the F&W Festival. Everyone in my immediate family already has either an annual pass or a non-expiring hopper ticket to use, but the newbies will need passes. Some of them will be there for 3 days and some for 4 days. We definitely will spend time only in EPCOT the first day, but may opt to park hop on subsequent days. If I can believe what I read in certain places about cost of tickets, would it be less expensive to buy Magic Your Way tickets (without any extra options) online prior to the trip, and then upgrade to the hopper pass on the second day we're there? It seems that maybe the current gate price of the ticket would be applied toward the price of the hopper and each person would pay the difference to upgrade to the hopper, which would be less expensive than buying a hopper ticket for the total number of days to begin with. I'm not trying to "cheat the system" or anything, just make the trip as affordable as possible for my relatives.

I hope this all makes sense, and someone can give me some good advice!

[BugeyedMuggy]

You can add it later but if I understand correctly you will have to add it to all the days you already used. But waiting til you know you need it will give you the option to never spend the extra $$$$.

[gerald72]

It's the same price- but if you do it the second day you have one less day to take advantage of hopping.

[WRWDisney]

Hopping is a straight $59 add-on now a days (not linked to length of ticket). Where the OP can save a few bucks is if the order their ticket from a ticket broker (like our sponsors here) at a discount, the use it, then upgrade. In that scenario, the gate ticket value is applied for the upgrade, thus allowing for a potential savings (on 3-4 day tickets, it would probably be minimal--$3-$10 ticket; it is on longer stay tickets that you can save up to about $25).

Hope all of this makes sense.

[VWL Mom]

Hopping is a straight $59 add-on now a days (not linked to length of ticket). Where the OP can save a few bucks is if the order their ticket from a ticket broker (like our sponsors here) at a discount, the use it, then upgrade. In that scenario, the gate ticket value is applied for the upgrade, thus allowing for a potential savings (on 3-4 day tickets, it would probably be minimal--$3-$10 ticket; it is on longer stay tickets that you can save up to about $25).

Hope all of this makes sense.

While that does save money in some upgrade circumstances, the add-on for the hopper is actually less when you buy it all at once if you're using our sponsor OTC. Their base ticket is less but their add-on for the PH is also a bit less. Even though Disney would give you credit for gate price, the add-on will still cost $59 OOP.