Just got off the phone with WDW who confirmed that tickets expire on 9/30/12. I even posed the question ... if someone activates a ticket this weekend, they can use it here and there and use up their 4 days and it will just expire 9/30/12? The answer was YES.
We are planning to go in late Nov early Dec 2012
Thank you!
No one would understand it for the first year and the ramifications would most definitely not be thought out. 
We are not trying to take advantage, just make wise use of what is available.