Getaway.com ticket question

[mariezp]

We are going to the park in November. We have invited a family to go with us. They will be with us for the first week we are there. We will be buying tickets for them and plan to buy annual passes for ourselves since I know we will be returning next year. I am trying to decide what ticket to buy for them. Option 1 is to buy them annual passes as well, just in case they might want to go with us again next year. Or option 2 would be to save a little money and purchase them 8 day park hoppers.

I know if I get the 8 day hoppers from getawaytoday.com they come with 2 MM early entries. I would kinda like to use the bonus MMs myself, for my DD and I to get in early, since most of the rest of the group probably wouldn't be interested in getting up early anyway, but since I will have an AP I don't know if it would be possible since I have never gotten the other tickets before. Sooo, all you veterans, here's my question.... are the MM days scanned from their tickets or are they a voucher that could be used with an AP?

 

[avalon451]

On the GAT tickets, they're scanned from the tickets. If you're staying onsite, you use your hotel charge slip to show you're staying onsite.

You can purchase hoppers for your family, and then upgrade on your last day to APs, after using your MMs. You will pay the difference of the cost of your hoppers to the AP. A lot of people do this in order to take advantage of MMs. Where are you staying? If you're onsite, you get MMs anyway.

The only disadavantage of this is if you're using the AP rate to get a good rate for the hotel. Although I'm not sure, maybe you can book AP rate, and you only need to show that at checkout to get the discount?

I would really encourage you to use the MMs if you can. Convince your family that it's worth getting up early on those days... that first hour is solid gold for knocking out slow loading rides and getting a jump on the crowds.

 

[DangerMouse]

They are scanned from their tickets, and tied to their entry. So if you used the MM on the hopper, it would also use a day off their ticket. Make sense?

 

[DangerMouse]

They're scanned from the tickets.

You can purchase hoppers for your family, and then upgrade on your last day to APs, after using your MMs. You will pay the difference of the cost of your hoppers to the AP. A lot of people do this in order to take advantage of MMs. Where are you staying? If you're onsite, you get MMs anyway.

The only disadavantage of this is if you're using the AP rate to get a good rate for the hotel. Although I'm not sure, maybe you can book AP rate, and you only need to show that at checkout to get the discount?

I would really encourage you to use the MMs if you can. Convince your family that it's worth getting up early on those days... that first hour is solid gold for knocking out slow loading rides and getting a jump on the crowds.

Yep, do what Gail says. Get yourselves hoppers, and then upgrade. That way everyone can do MM together.

 

[mariezp]

Thanks guys! Hmmmmm, things to ponder.

 

[mariezp]

This just might work out! If we arrive on the evening of the 9th with the 7 or 8 day hoppers (they are the same price), we can upgrade on the 15th to take advantage of an AP discount at Blue Bayou that same day, right?

Also, would the AP date begin on the 9th when the original ticket was used or on the 15th when we upgraded? I would love it if it pushed my expiration date further into November for the trip the following November. We could go Nov 1-15 in 2009, instead of having to go in October.

Also, just how complicated is the upgrading process? I hate taking perfectly good time out of my day getting tickets. That is why we have always purchased them in advance online.

 

[bumbershoot]

This just might work out! If we arrive on the evening of the 9th with the 7 or 8 day hoppers (they are the same price), we can upgrade on the 15th to take advantage of an AP discount at Blue Bayou that same day, right?

Also, would the AP date begin on the 9th when the original ticket was used or on the 15th when we upgraded? I would love it if it pushed my expiration date further into November for the trip the following November. We could go Nov 1-15 in 2009, instead of having to go in October.

Also, just how complicated is the upgrading process? I hate taking perfectly good time out of my day getting tickets. That is why we have always purchased them in advance online.

The discounts will be available to you as soon as you have your AP in hand.

The date is from the first use of the hopper. When we entered the parks on our 5 days on Sept 18, we didn't upgrade until the 20th, but our APs expire on the 18th this year.

Upgrading is not complicated at all. Just choose your time well (you'll see the line out the door of the "bank" and will know to avoid it). We went first thing in the morning on the 20th and had a tiny wait. Go in, give 'em your info and anyone else in your family, pay, take pictures, you are given your APs and some brochures with discounts listed. Easy.

As for the GAT ticket pickup, you go to a ticket booth (get there EARLY as for some reason, the times we've bought tickets at the gate, it seems that each person in front of us is brokering a peace treaty between forever embattled countries, that's how long it seems each and every person is taking!!!), show the ID of the person who bought the tickets, and you are given the tickets.

 

[Queenbillabong]

Are you staying on-site? If you are, this would change the whole thing as they would print out the tickets for you and you would get the MM through that rather than the park hoppers......

 

[DizMe]

Upgrading is not complicated at all. Just choose your time well (you'll see the line out the door of the "bank" and will know to avoid it). We went first thing in the morning on the 20th and had a tiny wait. Go in, give 'em your info and anyone else in your family, pay, take pictures, you are given your APs and some brochures with discounts listed. Easy.

bumbershoot, what is the best time of day to go? Will evening (say, around 8:30 PM) on a Fri night be a bad time? I am the only one in my family who needs to get my AP, and I was thinking I'd run in the night we arrive and get it so that when we go to the park in the morning, it's all taken care of.

 

[DangerMouse]

I found a good time to go was right before the evening parade started. I was the only one in my family upgrading as well. I walked in and there was no one in line in front of me, but when I left there was a line about 5 people deep. Not too bad.

 

[mariezp]

I just love this board! Everyone on here is so helpful!

We will be staying at the Desert Inn. We will be arriving on Sunday, late afternoon, so hopefully we won't show up during a prime rush hour. So just any old ticket booth will do for picking up the GAT hoppers? No need to go to guest services, right?

I think I can handle the upgrading since we have been through the AP process before. At least I am familiar with that! Just this new stuff makes me nervous!

 

[mariezp]

Oh wise ones.... I have another question. Any chance they issue a voucher for the MM days if you have not used them before you upgrade or do you just forfeit them?

 

[DangerMouse]

Oh wise ones.... I have another question. Any chance they issue a voucher for the MM days if you have not used them before you upgrade or do you just forfeit them?

No, if you don't use the MM's that are on your hopper, you just forfeit them. They are directly tied to the days on your hopper.

And yes, you can use any ticket booth, however I usually find that the guest services line is shorter.

 

[bumbershoot]

bumbershoot, what is the best time of day to go? Will evening (say, around 8:30 PM) on a Fri night be a bad time? I am the only one in my family who needs to get my AP, and I was thinking I'd run in the night we arrive and get it so that when we go to the park in the morning, it's all taken care of.

We went in the morning, on a non-MM day, when there was a really tiny line.

We will be staying at the Desert Inn. We will be arriving on Sunday, late afternoon, so hopefully we won't show up during a prime rush hour. So just any old ticket booth will do for picking up the GAT hoppers? No need to go to guest services, right?

I might be getting my "guest" whatevers mixed up, but if Guest Services is the one over near Lost and Found, when you enter from Harbor you might take a peek over to see what the line is like. The two times we've dealt with ticket booths (in low season mid-week each time) it's like each person is, as I said the other day, brokering peace between two nations that have warred forever. It just takes AGES for each person to finish their transactions at the ticket booths. So if there's a smallish line at Guest Services (which as you enter from the Harbor side is off to the left tucked in before DCA), I'd head over there if the ticket booths look nasty.

 

[mariezp]

Has guest services moved? I was thinking it was on the far end of the DL turnstiles when you come in from Harbor. (or on the left when you are facing them) I had to pick up tour tickets last year and they were very efficient there.

 

[DangerMouse]

"Guest Services" is to the left of the DL Turnstiles and can help you with your ticket vouchers. They deal with tickets and money.

"Guest Relations" is next to Lost & Found to the left of the DCA turnstiles. They don't deal with tickets or money so I don't believe they will be able to help you with your vouchers.

HTH.

 

[mariezp]

Thanks for clarifying the guest relations mystery, DangerMouse. And thanks to everyone for helping me make a decision.

I think I have just about decided that there is really no good reason to not buy the hopper tickets and then upgrade. We will get the MM just in case we want to use them and if for some reason we decided not to we will not have lost anything.

During our 8 days, we can decide if our guests might want to go again next year. If they do, we can upgrade their tickets too. If not, then we might as well save the extra $65 per ticket by not buying APs in advance.

 

[mariezp]

Just wanted to let everyone know that I went ahead and purchased my tickets from GAT this morning. I wanted to brag on them because they have EXCELLENT customer service! I had the tickets in my shopping cart and another charge showed up that I did not know what it was. So I hit the live help button which has someone call you back. They called in probably no more than 3 minutes. Kara was extremely pleasant and knowledgeable. She answered my question and completed my order for me while I was on the phone. She was polite when I asked if there were any discount codes, which there were not. (still a great deal!) Then she went over the order again and explained about the extras.(MM, pins and lanyards) She then told me when to expect my order confirmation and explained the procedure for picking up my tickets. I was thoroughly impressed! So I guess I am all set now... well ticket wise anyway.

Thanks again for the recommendations and answering all the questions.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

oh cool im glade they were helpfull. so do you have the lanyard and pin deliverd to home or pick up at the ticket place? i have asked before but then had one person kinda confuse me idk just want to make sure ill get the lanyard and pin lol

 

[Brady's Mom]

Lanyard and pin are sent to your house, Jade, along with a receipt. You pick up the tickets at DLR. I don't know how long it will take to get the pins and stuff, it is usually pretty fast (about a week?). We are only ordering tickets through GAT this time, I have gotten a package before. So now I have to figure out when to order the tickets for Dec.!!