Attaching old tickets to Magic Bands

[seasheller]

WORD OF CAUTION on attaching non-expiration tickets to a magic band. I had one day left on a park hopper, non-expiration ticket that was attached to a magic band a few years back. Since we had a house in Florida we were eligible to buy the three day paper tickets each year for approximately $150 and they were good for a few months at the beginning of the year. Last year we went three times and used the three day tickets. This year we went once and I planned to use that last non-expiration ticket on my magic band from a few years back. NOPE! Somehow it had been zapped off the magic band last year rather than a day off the paper three day ticket. I ended up purchasing a one day ticket so I could join my husband who was using his last ticket (after all, we already had hotel reservations to two nights). After returning from Epcot later the next day, I called Disney to protest the fact that they had zapped the magic band while I had another paper ticket. I was told twice that that couldn't happen. After being referred to a supervisor, an hour long discussion with Disney, and being on hold for twenty minutes, I was told that they approved giving me another park hopper, nonexpiration ticket that could be picked up at the park. No refund because of their mistake. I thanked them profusely for taking care of such an UNUSUAL situation. Her response, "Oh, no this happens all the time!"

 

[Marionnette]

WORD OF CAUTION on attaching non-expiration tickets to a magic band. I had one day left on a park hopper, non-expiration ticket that was attached to a magic band a few years back. Since we had a house in Florida we were eligible to buy the three day paper tickets each year for approximately $150 and they were good for a few months at the beginning of the year. Last year we went three times and used the three day tickets. This year we went once and I planned to use that last non-expiration ticket on my magic band from a few years back. NOPE! Somehow it had been zapped off the magic band last year rather than a day off the paper three day ticket. I ended up purchasing a one day ticket so I could join my husband who was using his last ticket (after all, we already had hotel reservations to two nights). After returning from Epcot later the next day, I called Disney to protest the fact that they had zapped the magic band while I had another paper ticket. I was told twice that that couldn't happen. After being referred to a supervisor, an hour long discussion with Disney, and being on hold for twenty minutes, I was told that they approved giving me another park hopper, nonexpiration ticket that could be picked up at the park. No refund because of their mistake. I thanked them profusely for taking care of such an UNUSUAL situation. Her response, "Oh, no this happens all the time!"

It does happen all of the time. The system will scan your MDE and will take a day off of the oldest ticket attached to your name. You need to visit a ticket booth or guest services to have your tickets "prioritized" so that this doesn't happen or to have it corrected on the day that it occurred. I had this happen when I had a 5-day hopper attached to my name in MDE but activated an AP just prior to entering EPCOT. I even scanned the AP rather than my MB, thinking that this would prevent any ticket confusion. A day was still deducted from the 5-day hopper. Fortunately, I knew to check MDE and had it fixed at GS immediately. Then I moved the hopper to a phantom "friend" in MDE just to make sure that it didn't happen again. The ticket isn't on your MB, so it could not have been zapped off of it. The ticket is in your MDE profile. The MB is just a link for the Disney computer to seek valid admission media and FP+ reservations. Nothing is actually stored on the MB. My AP hard ticket acted like another MB so when I scanned it at the turnstile, it read the data, accessed my MDE profile, saw the oldest ticket (the 5-day hopper) and deducted a day.

I'm not sure why you expected a refund. You had one day remaining on a non-expiry ticket and Disney is giving you that day back.

 

[Ngwira]

You need to link the unused ticket in mde to “guest”. If it’s attached to your name, it will use the oldest ticket.

 

[Marionnette]

You need to link the unused ticket in mde to “guest”. If it’s attached to your name, it will use the oldest ticket.

The problem with that is the OP had linked a partially-used, no-expiry ticket to the account. Once linked, partially-used tickets cannot be reassigned. That's why it would have been necessary to visit guest services to prioritize the 3-day pass so that it would be used first.

 

[seasheller]

It does happen all of the time. The system will scan your MDE and will take a day off of the oldest ticket attached to your name. You need to visit a ticket booth or guest services to have your tickets "prioritized" so that this doesn't happen or to have it corrected on the day that it occurred. I had this happen when I had a 5-day hopper attached to my name in MDE but activated an AP just prior to entering EPCOT. I even scanned the AP rather than my MB, thinking that this would prevent any ticket confusion. A day was still deducted from the 5-day hopper. Fortunately, I knew to check MDE and had it fixed at GS immediately. Then I moved the hopper to a phantom "friend" in MDE just to make sure that it didn't happen again. The ticket isn't on your MB, so it could not have been zapped off of it. The ticket is in your MDE profile. The MB is just a link for the Disney computer to seek valid admission media and FP+ reservations. Nothing is actually stored on the MB. My AP hard ticket acted like another MB so when I scanned it at the turnstile, it read the data, accessed my MDE profile, saw the oldest ticket (the 5-day hopper) and deducted a day.

I'm not sure why you expected a refund. You had one day remaining on a non-expiry ticket and Disney is giving you that day back.

I asked if they would refund the amount of the ticket I had purchased that day rather than give me another ticket. Don't think we will make it back to Disney again, but now we have the extra ticket.

 

[Marionnette]

I asked if they would refund the amount of the ticket I had purchased that day rather than give me another ticket. Don't think we will make it back to Disney again, but now we have the extra ticket.

Like I said in my pp, you needed to go to guest services on the day that it happened to have this corrected. I understand your frustration but you were the one who elected to purchase another ticket rather than go to guest services and make your case that day. While it would have been a nice measure of pixie dust for them to hand your cash back instead, just giving you the 1-day hopper was a gesture of good will because the actual problem (not prioritizing the 3-day ticket) occurred a year prior to registering your complaint with them.

 

[hsmamato2]

Yup. A good caution to anyone else reading this, if you have an older pass left in your acct,it will use those days up first,unless you go to GS before entering park,and ask to prioritize the tickets you WANT to use at the time. I have to do this for my upcoming trip,since I have some old 'days' left that I don't want touched yet. I will go to GS,get that done, and then I check my MDE daily to be sure it's not mistakenly using the wrong one,so I can fix it right away if needed(I'm hoarding those old tickets!)

 

[Iya]

Tickets aren't attached to Magic Bands. Tickets are accessed from MDE with a magic band. There is no info stored on magic bands. You're fortunate Disney gave you a ticket. They shouldn't have.

 

[seasheller]

Well I have learned a lot from this post. While at guest services the day before going to the park, they made no mention that my no expiration, park hopper had been used the previous year. They just said I had no tickets left. Took a little research on my part to determine what had happened. Live and learn.