going crazy- pls help me with a ticket ?

[TwinkieMama]

Ok- I know it is around here somewhere but I can't find out. Could you please help me out? Thanks so much!

True or false: If I buy discount tickets from somebody like ticketmania they will be paper instead of plastic.


True or false: If I have paper tickets and a resort ressie they can code the tickets onto my room key when I check in even if I am staying on DVC points.

True or false: If I have non expiry tix on a room key then I need to keep and bring back the room key and it will work just fine.

Now for the opinion portion: would you pay extra just to have plastic tickets? how much of a hassle is it to get them on your room key? are paper tix a real problem when fastpassing?

DH and I are planning a 5 night trip. We were thinking about 7 day ph, plus tickets non expiry. Should I go up to 10 days? Down to 4 expiry?? Would you go with the non-expiry tix and save them for another trip? I am most likely taking my girls back to WDW within the next year- probably a 4 or 5 night trip.... should I get an AP? or a non-expiry ticket or what?

For what it is worth: we have done the whole splitting one ticket into 2 trips thing so I am sure we wouldn't lose them... however they do tend to burn a hole in our pocket.... also to note on this trip we are planning one waterpark day and one trip to PI (maybe less, maybe more)... I would not be doing any pluses with my girls so another option is AP for me, and 1 day tix to waterpark, and plus pass for DH....

I know I should be able to figure this out. I can't see the forest for the trees right now. Thanks so much!

 

[btuftee]

I can answer some of that, but I don't have any recent experience with tickets.

As far as I know, all MYW tickets purchased anywhere (except when attached to a room key) are on paper. In the past, we purchased park tickets at resort check-in, so they were automatically added to the room key.

As far as fastpass goes, I wouldn't worry about it. On the last trip, I must have put my pass in a turnstile or fastpass machine 40 times, and it didn't hurt it a bit. Maybe a little worn down, but it was never a problem to scan.

As for transferring a MYW paper ticket to a resort key, I dunno. Seems possible in theory (it's all in the computer system), but I don't know if they actually do this. Might want to call a direct line to a resort (since I'm assuming any change to your room key would be done at the resort) and ask them personally.

Honestly, it's not that much of a hassle to have a separate room key and a MYW ticket, instead of having it all in one. For me anyway, the room key stays in the wallet all day long, and the MYW ticket stays in the front pocket. When you leave the parks, the room key and ticket swap spots. Never lost one yet!

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

We just recently ordered 7 day park hopper tickets directly from Disney and they are plastic. Same thing with our 1 day MNSSHP tickets for Oct 20th.

 

[Kycha]

We have ordered tickets from Ticketmania and Undercovertourist and they were both paper tickets.

 

[CrzyforPiglet]

We've used paper tickets from a discounter twice. The first time we had no problems but this past trip one of the ticket's magnetic strips got desensitized I guess and we had problems both at the gates and at the fastpass machines. Luckily there was a CM at the fastpass machine and helped us out. When we left Epcot, we went to the ticket counter and they replaced it (with another paper ticket) with no problems but I can't help but wonder if it was b/c it was a paper ticket and more fragile or if it was just coincidence. We have 4 days left on the tickets so we'll see the next time we go. I was happy to know that Disney fixed the problem even though we had purchased them through a discounter (ticketmania).

Laurie

 

[brentalex]

On our trip this past April we had bought tickets from ticket mania. At the hotel we had them transfered onto our room key. They are no expiring tickets, so I now have them stored away for our next trip. I don't think the paper tickets or plastic tickets are immune from getting demagnitized. My DS had to have his room key/ticket replaced twice because it had become demagnitized.
Getting the tickets added onto the room key was not a hassle at all, although it did take a few minutes. The first CM did not know that he could do it and had to get help. Also it took a little longer because I had not bought all the tickets at the same time, so the numbers on them were not sequential. they had to key them in for each ticket, instead of just changing a digit or two.
I would not pay extra for plastic tickets. Every dollar saved is a dollar to be spent on some other fun. I saw plenty of people with paper tickets and they all were doing fine.

 

[CleveRocks]

DH and I are planning a 5 night trip. We were thinking about 7 day ph, plus tickets non expiry. Should I go up to 10 days? Down to 4 expiry?? Would you go with the non-expiry tix and save them for another trip? I am most likely taking my girls back to WDW within the next year- probably a 4 or 5 night trip.... should I get an AP? or a non-expiry ticket or what?

I think the 7-day non-expiry is a pretty bad option for you, if you'll be there 5 days this time and maybe 5 the next. A 7-day base ticket is $204, then add $65 for the non-expiry and it costs you $269. So you have 2 days left over for your next trip. BUT, that'll leave you with three additional days to buy for the next trip -- a 3-day base ticket for next time will cost you $181. That puts your total ticket expenses for the 2 trips at $450.

But let's say you buy the 10-day non-expiry. A 10-day base ticket is $210, then add $135 for the non-expiry and it costs you $345. For $345, you get 5 days now and then 5 days for next trip. Doing it this way is a lot cheaper than the previous $450.

Let's say on each trip you'll go to parks 4 days. If you buy a 4-day base ticket now it'll cost you $195, then another $195 for your all-girls trip, a total of $390. The 10-day non-expiry is cheaper than that!!! And FWIW, if you were going to parks for a total of 8 days over the 2 trips, the 8-day base ticket is $206, then add $110 for the non-expiry for a cost of $316. If you buy the 10-day non-expiry, it'll cost you only $29 more for two extra days of park admissions that will never expire.

I hope all those numbers make sense to you. Recap:

10-day non-expiry = $345
8-day non-expiry = $316
2 separate 4-day base tickets = $390
7-day non-expiry ($269) plus 3-day base ticket ($181) = $450
7-day non-expiry (269) plus 2-day base ticket ($125) = $394

With your specific plans in mind, the choice seems obvious.

P.S. I didn't muddy the waters with adding in the park hopping feature. Hopping is an additional $40 no matter how many days on the ticket and whether they expire or not.

 

[CleveRocks]

Sorry, I forgot that you also asked about an AP. APs include park hopping as a feature.

The 10-day non-expiry ticket WITH park hopping would be $385 ($345 + $40). An AP costs $415. If there's a strong possibility of an 11th day within a 365-day period, the AP would be best, but if you're certain you'll have no more than 10 park days in that timeframe, then the 10-day hopper no-expiry is the way to go in your exact situation.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

"Paper" tickets are anything but paper and they are certainly as good as plastic tickets, if not better in some cases.

When visiting in March '06 I overheard a CM at Kilimanjaro Safaris explain to a guest that 80% of the troubles with the FastPass machines are due to plastic ticket media.

 

[polkadotladybug]

Here's my take - we went for a week in June and bought "paper" tickets from Ticketmania - when we checked into Pop - I asked the CM at the front if she could add those to our room keys - she said no problem - zip, bang, whiz - it was done. We also got the paper tickets back, so we could put them in our photo album and they didn't get all mangled (as they could have if we carried them around).


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TRUE : If I buy discount tickets from somebody like ticketmania they will be paper instead of plastic.


I WOULD THINK THEY COULD DO THIS but I'd maybe call the guest desk at your resort and run the question by them: If I have paper tickets and a resort ressie they can code the tickets onto my room key when I check in even if I am staying on DVC points.

NO CLUE: If I have non expiry tix on a room key then I need to keep and bring back the room key and it will work just fine.

Now for the opinion portion:
would you pay extra just to have plastic tickets? NO - ARE YOU NOT SPENDING ENOUGH MONEY ALREADY?? LOL
how much of a hassle is it to get them on your room key? NOT A HASSLE AT ALL
are paper tix a real problem when fastpassing? NO CLUE SINCE WE SWITCHED OURS ON DAY ONE

 

[TwinkieMama]

Now for the opinion portion:
would you pay extra just to have plastic tickets? NO - ARE YOU NOT SPENDING ENOUGH MONEY ALREADY?? LOL

Ok, polkadotlaybug you have me

That is exactly what I needed!

Thanks to everyone, you were all very helpful. I didn't mean to sound like a ticket snob but ours have always been plastic (used to buy them from the Disney Store) and I was just wondering how the paper ones held up to vigorous fastpass usage.

And CleveRocks... you Rock!!

So I need to decide if I will be there 10 or 11 days...
what about my DH? he most certainly won't be back within a year. what should I buy for him?

also does anyone have any experience with upgrading a ticket bought from a distrubuter? do you lose your discount if you want to add days or features????
Again, thanks

 

[CarolA]

My experience has been that my paper AP has NEVER been de-magentized. However, Disney room keys are about the MOST senstive things out there. They must be carried in "special" places no where near any OTHER credit card or your cell phone. Good Grief!!!! (I have been staying at a Marriott Residence Inn for a MONTH with the same key which is randomly THROWN in the purse with the "dreaded" cell phone and it works just fine, but Disney' keys are "special" - in a bad way!)

So I would stick with paper!

If you "upgrade" your ticket you get credit for the price paid so yes, you basically do lose your discount.

 

[seashoreCM]

If you have your ticket combined with your room key and you have non-expiration and days left over, you simply bring back that room key for next time.

Non-expiration generally makes sense only when the remains of one or two tickets will completely cover some future vacation (not necessarily your next).

You should not lose your advance purchase discount if your ticket was ordered from Disney or from a Disney Store and you try to modify it after you get there. If you run into problems, tell the CM to "Do A Paper Upgrade To Gate Price" (for plastic tickets too) and then recompute the cost of the changes. Exception: No change is returned if what you modify the ticket to costs less.

For tickets bought from other outlets or travel agencies whether or not you lose oyur advance discount is to this date an open question. In practice it is a tossup and losing it is more likely if you do the modification at a resort instead of a park, don't ask me why.

It is my belief that paper tickets run over the read heads in turnstiles and fast pass machines better hence the increased problems people have reported with plastic tickets. If a ticket does not seem to work, turn it upside down or backwards and try again. The read heads for those directions of entry may be less dirty.

 

[TwinkieMama]

thanks seashoreCM- that was helpful

 

[Kycha]

also does anyone have any experience with upgrading a ticket bought from a distrubuter? do you lose your discount if you want to add days or features????
Again, thanks

I had a 10 day MYW, park hopper, non-expiring, water park and more ticket that I had purchased through undercovertourist.com in January. I paid about $375 for it. I was able to upgrade to an AP(which according to CleveRocks are $415) at Epcot guest service without paying the discounted difference. After reading a few threads on this forum, I totally expected to pay the difference, so I was pleasantly surprised when I didn't.

 

[TSR6]

True or false: If I buy discount tickets from somebody like ticketmania they will be paper instead of plastic.


True or false: If I have paper tickets and a resort ressie they can code the tickets onto my room key when I check in even if I am staying on DVC points.

True or false: If I have non expiry tix on a room key then I need to keep and bring back the room key and it will work just fine.

Now for the opinion portion: would you pay extra just to have plastic tickets? how much of a hassle is it to get them on your room key? are paper tix a real problem when fastpassing?

DH and I are planning a 5 night trip. We were thinking about 7 day ph, plus tickets non expiry. Should I go up to 10 days? Down to 4 expiry?? Would you go with the non-expiry tix and save them for another trip? I am most likely taking my girls back to WDW within the next year- probably a 4 or 5 night trip.... should I get an AP? or a non-expiry ticket or what?

For what it is worth: we have done the whole splitting one ticket into 2 trips thing so I am sure we wouldn't lose them... however they do tend to burn a hole in our pocket.... also to note on this trip we are planning one waterpark day and one trip to PI (maybe less, maybe more)... I would not be doing any pluses with my girls so another option is AP for me, and 1 day tix to waterpark, and plus pass for DH....

I know I should be able to figure this out. I can't see the forest for the trees right now. Thanks so much!

Paper or Plastic? - True and/or False. The "paper" tickets are actually a plastic impregnated paper material ( think tvek ) - so they are still durable. Which one you get depends on the source the ticket retailer gets the ticket from. I would venture to guess that MOST of the tickets from them would be paper, however it could possibly still be plastic.

True, They "should" be able to transfer your paper tickets to your room key.

True, If you have No-Exp on your tickets, and the tickets are coded to your room key - You forever keep that room key as your ticket. The "hotel" code on the key will expire when you check out - and the "ticket" part of it will forever be active until completely used up.

As far as paying extra for paper v. plastic - you shouldn't. It does not matter at all what ticket media your ticket is printed and encoded to. I personally beleive that there are actually more problems with the plastic tickets compared to the paper tickets. That is just my opinion though from working around the cards. Room key style plastic tickets cannot be reprinted at the parks, where as all paper tickets, and non-resort plastic tickets can. However, Resort cards tend to be an "all in one" card - so they have their plusses and mines

 

[TwinkieMama]

thanks Kycha
TSR6- thanks for the very clear explanation- I have never had a "paper" ticket before and I guess I was expecting something like a movie ticket and just didn't see how it wouldn't just disintegrate in the Florida humidity and my hot grubby little hands !