Free Dining Tickets

[DizneyLizzy]

I booked at the CBR for FD in late Sept. I don't need the tickets. I would rather buy 3 day base tickets from a third party seller and put the 2 day park hoppers I bought with the package towards a future trip when I want to park hop. Can I do this? Can I request plastic tickets with my package and then just add my 3 day base tickets to my MDE account?

Thanks

 

[DisBuckMan]

Yep, sure can.

 

[ottawamom]

Asked this very same question while trying to decide what to do about free dining. It may give you a few more of the particulars involved.

http://www.disboards.com/threads/park-ticket-question-please-help.3504486/#post-55620593

 

[Landslide305]

So, I have a questoIon too. All of my trip dates don't work with free dining. They would be good for days 3-10 but what do I do for days 1-3 that wouldn't be covered under the free dining? Can I buy 10 day tickets on the Rd package and book a room only for days 1-3 and activate the tickets when I arrive or am I just going to have to hang by the pool, hotel hop and do Disney Springs for the first three days? I can't justify buying 3 day tickets for the four of us. It is so expensive. My head is spinning right now.

 

[Landslide305]

Also I have two vacations booked. One with my original dates for the time before that I booked months ago but and one I just booked yesterday that starts with the FD dates? Is that allowed until I decide or will Disney cancel both?

 

[buzznina]

You can buy a 10 day ticket, the rule for FD is that you have to buy "at least" a 2 day ticket for each person on the reservation. It also does not mean that you can only use the tickets during FD, you can use the tickets any time. No WDW will not cancel your reservations unless you tell them too.

 

[Landslide305]

Thank you, buzzinina.

 

[maxiesmom]

You can buy a 10 day ticket, the rule for FD is that you have to buy "at least" a 2 day ticket for each person on the reservation. It also does not mean that you can only use the tickets during FD, you can use the tickets any time. No WDW will not cancel your reservations unless you tell them too.

That is not necessarily true. It is not unheard of for Disney to cancel both reservations when guests double book. It is rare, but it can happen.

 

[buzznina]

That is not necessarily true. It is not unheard of for Disney to cancel both reservations when guests double book. It is rare, but it can happen.

Thanks for the correction, but like you said it's rare.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

If you have a free dining package with tickets, and a pre-stay of a few days, you can go to Guest Relations at WDW and they will separate your tickets from your package, and then you can use them before the package starts. You'll only have access to the tickets, not to any other package components like the dining. And you won't be able to make Fastpass reservations for the pre-package days until you have had your tickets separated from your package.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

Thanks for all of the replies. Is there any way I could get Disney to send me plastic tickets for the free dining tickets? Here is how I am thinking this is going to play out...correct me if I have made any errors:

1. My 2 day PH tickets included in my package will be automatically linked to my husband, sister, and I in MDE. When I log into MDE it will show us all having these tickets associated with our names. My 2 year old son is 2, and thus will not have a ticket associated with his name.

2. I buy 3 day base tickets from UT, or another 3rd party seller. It will only save me about $15 over buying from Disney, but $15 is $15!

3. I link the 3 day base tickets to MDE and assign them to my husband, sister, and I in MDE.

4. I call Disney (I don't think I can do this myself, correct me if I'm wrong) and have them move the 3 day base tickets "up" in the order that they are listed with our names so that they are the first tickets used.

5. After our free dining trip, the 3 day base tickets will be gone from my account, but the 2 day hoppers will still be there. I can use them anytime, and combine them with days left I have on old non-exp 10 day park hoppers.

I think the most important thing is to have the tickets that I want to use first listed first under our names in my MDE account. Can I do this myself, or do I have to call Disney??

Thanks again for all of your responses!

 

[MakiraMarlena]

You don't necessarily need plastic tickets. The tickets are in your account, they are not encoded on the cards. The cards have an RFID chip and they will read your account the same way a magic band does.

You can go to Guest Relations at Disney and have them prioritize your tickets so you will be using the ones you want to use first.

 

[ottawamom]

Or there's the link the tickets you don't want used to extra names you add to your MDE (per the info in the link I posted above). That way you control which ones get used. There's a whole thread about a nightmare somebody went through when a CM didn't prioritize the tickets correctly. If you do decide to get a CM to prioritize the tickets for you make sure its a ticket specialist who does it just to be safe. My understanding is this has to be done when you arrive a Disney but before you enter a park.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

Or there's the link the tickets you don't want used to extra names you add to your MDE (per the info in the link I posted above). That way you control which ones get used. There's a whole thread about a nightmare somebody went through when a CM didn't prioritize the tickets correctly. If you do decide to get a CM to prioritize the tickets for you make sure its a ticket specialist who does it just to be safe. My understanding is this has to be done when you arrive a Disney but before you enter a park.

Thanks! I still might try calling Disney. It's pretty easy to see the order that your entitlements are in on MDE. I guess I will go from there and probably double check with the concierge at my resort or with GR at a park when I arrive just to be super safe.

Thanks again for all of this research!

 

[DizneyLizzy]

New idea - my 3 day base tickets will be from a third party seller, so I will get plastic tickets. What if I just use the plastic tickets for the duration of the trip? I'll link them to my account just to be safe in case they get lost, but if I use them to enter the park and redeem FP's, won't that guarantee my 2 day park hoppers won't be accidentally used??

 

[Marionnette]

New idea - my 3 day base tickets will be from a third party seller, so I will get plastic tickets. What if I just use the plastic tickets for the duration of the trip? I'll link them to my account just to be safe in case they get lost, but if I use them to enter the park and redeem FP's, won't that guarantee my 2 day park hoppers won't be accidentally used??

No. The system links all of the tickets under your name in MDE and then first pulls from the "oldest" ticket in the system. I found this out a year ago when I got an AP at the ticket window but already had a 5-day hopper in my account under my name (for scheduling FP+ in advance). When I checked MDE after entering Epcot (using the physical AP and not my MB), I saw that a day had been removed from the 5-day ticket. I spent about 30 minutes in line at guest relations to get the system to prioritize my AP before all other passes under my name and to return the "used" day to the 5-day pass. After they got it sorted out, I went into MDE and created a ghost profile name and transferred the 5-day hopper to that person in order to prevent it from happening again.

 

[Wood Nymph]

New idea - my 3 day base tickets will be from a third party seller, so I will get plastic tickets. What if I just use the plastic tickets for the duration of the trip? I'll link them to my account just to be safe in case they get lost, but if I use them to enter the park and redeem FP's, won't that guarantee my 2 day park hoppers won't be accidentally used??

If you link the third party tickets to the same MDE account that has your 2 day ph tickets then they will no longer be separated from your other tickets. Your MagicBands will be able to access those third party tickets.

If your goal is to use only the third party tickets then you can create a second MDE account just for them. That way your plastic tickets will only access the third party tickets and not your ph. The only disadvantage to doing that is you won't be able to get fps 60 days out.

 

[Wood Nymph]

The thing to do is to create phantom people on your profile and give the third party tickets to them. You could then use the third party tickets for fps at 60 days out and use the hard cards for park access without touching your ph tickets. A bonus is that you will also be able to make fps for the ph tickets too. You'll have two sets of fps and if you only use the ph tickets in the fastpass entrances you won't activate the ph tickets.

 

[DizneyLizzy]

No. The system links all of the tickets under your name in MDE and then first pulls from the "oldest" ticket in the system. I found this out a year ago when I got an AP at the ticket window but already had a 5-day hopper in my account under my name (for scheduling FP+ in advance). When I checked MDE after entering Epcot (using the physical AP and not my MB), I saw that a day had been removed from the 5-day ticket. I spent about 30 minutes in line at guest relations to get the system to prioritize my AP before all other passes under my name and to return the "used" day to the 5-day pass. After they got it sorted out, I went into MDE and created a ghost profile name and transferred the 5-day hopper to that person in order to prevent it from happening again.

Okay thanks!! I will just add all of the tickets and have Disney sort it out. I will call and then double check with GR once I get to Disney. We are having dinner at Chef Mickey's on our arrival night, so I'll just walk over to MK GR after dinner.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Don't think of the plastic card as your tickets. The card has a chip in it just like the magic band does. The tickets are encoded in your account, not on the card. To use the card to enter the park, the tickets have to be in your account. AT that point, the card won't read your account any differently than the band does.

The tickets you don't want to use would need to be assigned to a separate account, or be "prioritized" at guest services so your account places the other tickets first.