Just last week I redeemed tickets bought from Orbitz, which I guess is affiliated with Cheap Tickets. Yes, Disney very much looks at the dates. I spent almost two hours last week at the DLR ticket counter trying to get my tickets a week before my dates. I was successful, but only because of the enormous efforts of two cast members.
The deal is that the company from whom you buy the tickets (Cheap Tickets or Orbitz) has to release the tickets to Disney in order for Disney to give them to you. Based on anecdotal stories here on the DIS, they release the tickets a day or so before your dates. That is why I heard success stories from people who arrived a day before their dates and had no problem picking up their tickets. I arrived a week before my dates and had huge problems. The cast member said the tickets were not in their system, and I had to call Orbitz to get them to change the dates and releast them to Disney. I did this, but Orbitz wouldn't change the dates. They said Disney could see the tickets and change the dates. So I went back to the same ticket window, told them what Orbitz said, and she told me that Orbitz was wrong, and that Orbitz had to make the changes. The cast member got her lead and they both called Orbitz. They were transferred several times, put on hold for long periods, and told that the tickets didn't exist, despite me having the paperwork and several confirmation codes and just confirming with Orbitz on my own phone call that the tickets did exist. Like I said, we finally got our tickets, but it was a stressful 90 minutes of waiting. The cast members were wonderfully patient and persistent. Their pixie dust saved my vacation.
In your situation you want to go after the dates on your reservation. That is good in the sense that the tickets should already have been released to Disney, but the amount of time between your dates and your arrival concerns me. I have read stories here online of people who arrived a week after their dates and had no problem getting their tickets, but I am not sure what happens to the tickets in the system after several months. I am guessing that talking with Cheap Tickets and asking them what happens will not help. They will give you the standard line that dates cannot be changed. I am not sure what would happen if you called Disney to ask. I guess it depends if the CM you talk to is well versed in ticket situations such as these.
Is there any chance anyone you know can pick up the tickets during your date window and hold them for you?
