What should I do?? Help me figure out the whole upgrade thing!

[BarTopDancer]

1. What can I expect to re-coup from my original $139 3-day park hopper when I upgrade?

2. Is it one-third of the $139 since I'm upgrading on the third day? Or way less because it's "discounted" according to Disney's way of thinking?

4. Also, when you buy an AP, when is the expiration? For example, if I purchase on 7/17/05, is the expiration 7/17/06? Or a day sooner? (I'm thinking about 2006....will I want to come down next July to play? And if I do, will I want to buy single day passes when my AP expires? Ugh!)

Last I heard you pay the difference between the park hopper and the DAP which is $70. $209-$139 = $70. They pro-rate the expiration date to the first day of use of the park hopper. So if you use your park hopper for the first time on 7/15/05 and upgrade to the DAP on 7/17/05 your AP will expire on 7/15/06. If you don't do any sort of upgrade and just buy an AP on 7/17/05 it will expire on 7/17/06. If you buy an AP on a day it is blocked out you can use it that day (under normal circumstances... don't know if they'll change the rules for the 17th)

3. Should I just buy the PAP for $329 and not worry about it? (We'll be down again in December for 5+ days, so I'll get some use out of it, plus the discounts, but the days we'll be there in Dec. are not DAP black out days, so I don't necessarily need a PAP.)

YES!!! PAP $329. Difference between PAP and 3-day park hopper is $190. I don't know how much a 5 day hopper is, but you should break even at the least, with the store, food and hotel discounts.