Got our FITS Vouchers Today!!!

[dcmbshafe]

After reading some threads on these boards, we decided to purchase the FITS (Fun In The Sun) passes from Discount Orlando. We realize that there is a risk that we may run into some troubles when we go to activate, but we decided to try it out due to the extraordinary value these passes represent.

For those of you who have questions about these passes, I thought I'd share exactly what the vouchers say:

"The Florida Fun in the Sun Ticket OR this voucher and a current photo ID entitles you to admission to Edison/Ford Winter Estates; Everglades Safari Park; Miami Seaquarium; Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex; and the Salvador Dali Museum. For admission to the parks or attractions at the Walt Disney World Resort listed below, present this voucher at any Ticket Booth, together with a current photo ID, and you will receive your Florida Fun in the Sun Ticket. This voucher and/or Ticket is valid for 29 days after the first date of use at ANY of the Theme Parks or attractions listed. The Florida Fun in the Sun Ticket expires 29 days after the date of use at any park or attraction.

Walt Disney World Theme Parks and Attractions: Magic Kingom Park, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios, Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park; Disney Quest Indoor Interactive Theme Park, Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Water Park, DIsney's Blizzard Beach Water Park, Downtown Disney Pleasure Island, Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex."

"The Florida Fun in the Sun Ticket or this voucher allows you to visit multiple theme parks or attractions on the same day. Theme park or attraction hours are subject to change without notice. Theme Parks or attractions may close temporarily without notice due to refurbishing, capacity, inclement weather or special events and may otherwise change or be discontinued. Not valid for special evens or activities requiring a separate admission charge. Walt Disney World Resort is not responsible for misplaced, lost or stolen vouchers. THIS VOUCHER MAY ONLY BE EXCHANGED AT THE WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT. ALL OTHER THEME PARKS OR ATTRACTIONS MUST COMPLETE THE INFORMATION ON THE REVERSE SIDE AND RETURN THIS VOUCHER TO THE GUEST"

***
Attached is another voucher titled "Disney's Breakfast Feature". This is good for character breakfasts.

Anyway, we have read here that some US and Canadian citizens have been "hassled" when attempting to activate these vouchers, however, there have been no reports of anyone being unable to eventually use them. WDW intended these tickets to be used by people from outside the US and Canada, however, there is nothing at all on these vouchers that specifically prohibits anyone from using them. I included absolutely everything that is written on them and there is no other fine print (although the same information is repeated on an attachment in several different languages).

Discount Orlando's website now contains a disclaimer that says "These tickets are meant to be sold to residents outside North America. Americans and Canadians have used these but be aware you may be questioned at the gate." I would definitely recommend using Discount Orlando - we immediately received an email confirming our order, received another email when the vouchers were shipped (along with tracking information) and we got our vouchers in 6-days from the time we ordered them.

We are thrilled with the prospect of being able to use these passes for our 2-week vacation. Hopefully, we will not have any trouble but we'll deal with it if we do. We hope this information is helpful.

 

[WaltD4Me]

Thanks so much for posting what is on the back of the ticket! I ordered our FITS passes from Discount Orlando too, but haven't received them yet.

I wonder if Disney will start printing user restrictions on the vouchers after this round expires in April 2005.


Lisa

 

[SusanDK]

I also just received my FITS tickets from Discount Orlando Vacations and cannot say enough about Jeff and the customer service I received.

First, he was very quick and responsive to email. When I first tried to order, I had trouble getting the sensitive AVS (address verification system) of their credit card processor to verify my credit card payment.

Not only did Jeff respond instantly to several emails back-and-forth, but he also telephoned international long distance to me in Denmark to help.

I finally got my order to go through last Friday, and yesterday, just one week later, received my tickets via FedEx in Denmark.

I highly recommend this company. I also want to thank everyone on these boards and mousesavers for the info about these tickets. They will be perfect for my husband and me with the way we like to visit the parks and waterparks. We don't like to spend long days, but prefer a few hours here and there over many days. We also like to pop into a water park for just a few hours, sometimes the same day we've done a theme park.

We also look forward to visiting Disney Quest for the first time, and Pleasure Island at night for the first time. Not sure we would have bothered to pay individual entrance fees for these.

We also enjoy Kennedy Space Center so will spend a day there, and the FITS covers the $29 entrance fee.

I'm also looking forward to breakfast at one of the Disney restaurants.

Do not hesitate to use Discount Orlando Vacations. They are topnotch.

Susan

 

[dcmbshafe]

It is impossible to know how big of a deal this is in the eyes of WDW management. If it is causing them conern, I would guess that WDW will either do one of three things when the program expires in April: (1) discontinue issuing these passes, (2) increase the cost to make it more comparable to UPHs, or (3) they will put something on the vouchers to the effect of "Not valid for use by U.S. or Canadian citizens".

I am really a little curious about this whole thing. It doesn't seem like a very good business practice to issue ticket media for which use is based upon citizenship of different countries. It also doesn't seem like it would be a legal business practice, but I really have no idea about that side of things.

We will just try and activate them when we get down there and see what happens. If we get hassled and denied at the first place we go, we'll probably just try a different guest relations location. I'm really think everything will be fine - the reports of hassle are low in number and nobody has reported being completely denied.

 

[Local_Girl]

I am really a little curious about this whole thing. It doesn't seem like a very good business practice to issue ticket media for which use is based upon citizenship of different countries. It also doesn't seem like it would be a legal business practice, but I really have no idea about that side of things.

I agree. I think the FITS pass is marketed to overseas customers and the fact that U.S. customers have discovered them (and news of their existence has spread to a wider market over the internet) is a sore spot for Disney. I'm also curious as to how Disney will handle this. As for us, my DH is reluctant now to purchase this pass. We used them last year (purchased through Paramount) and they were wonderful, however we did have trouble redeeming the vouchers at Guest Relations. After that trip, we thought we might be willing to try them again, but since we've decided that we just don't want to deal with the hassle/risk.

I would advise you to bring your receipt from Discount Orlando with you to show proof of purchase...I had brought ours and it seemed to expedite the process at GR.

Also, I read on another thread that someone was told by a rep at Discount Orlando NOT to tell where they purchased the FITS pass. Hmmmm...if it's against Disney's policy to sell these passes domestically and D.O. does it anyway (and expects its customers to lie!)...that's also not good business practice, IMHO.

 

[SusanDK]

Originally posted by Local_Girl

I would advise you to bring your receipt from Discount Orlando with you to show proof of purchase...I had brought ours and it seemed to expedite the process at GR.

What receipt? The envelope I received had the two FITS tickets inside and nothing else.

My only 'receipt' will be my credit card statement showing the charge which I won't have until after I return from the trip.

Susan

 

[Muffy]

Paramount always sent a receipt with their tickets.

 

[SusanDK]

Originally posted by dcmbshafe

I am really a little curious about this whole thing. It doesn't seem like a very good business practice to issue ticket media for which use is based upon citizenship of different countries. It also doesn't seem like it would be a legal business practice, but I really have no idea about that side of things.

I agree with other posters that it would be great if FITS tickets were available to everyone as they are great tickets.

However, I don't think it is illegal for Disney to offer different types of tickets in different markets. They also offer 2 and 3-day park hoppers sometimes to visitors of certain specific events, for example, which are not available to the general public.

As someone coming from Europe, I really appreciate that Disney is trying to provide a ticket that somewhat resembles an AP in flexibility, but for a shortened timeframe (one month), since it would be rare for European visitors to be able to return more than once in a single year as North American visitors often do.

Park Hoppers are really expensive and inflexible for a European family that is coming to the U.S. for perhaps a 2-4 week trip of a lifetime. However, paying for APs to get that flexibility, but only using them for a few weeks in a single year is also tough.

I really think the FITS were meant to be an alternative for travelers who had a long journey getting to Disney, wanted to visit for more than 7 days, but wouldn't be back more than once in a single year to make an AP worthwhile.

Not to imply that there aren't a lot of North American families who also take a single big trip of 2+ weeks duration, to Disney only once per year, of course. I'm just trying to provide a reason why Disney might have come up with this option for its visitors from farther abroad.

All of that notwithstanding, I don't expect preferred treatment from Disney and would be just as happy to see my North American friends using the tickets. I think they should be offered all the time as one of Disney's regular ticket options (and think Disney would actually earn more as a result of them from their overall use).

Susan

 

[dcmbshafe]

We received an email from Discount Orlando that served as an order confirmation and receipt. It clearly shows what we purchased and how much we paid. If you did not get this, I would recommend calling D.O. and asking them to send you some sort or receipt.

While Disney certainly offers other types of ticket media as a part of special packages, there is no other type of media other than the FITS pass that I'm aware of that is meant to exclude individuals from a certain part of the world. I too think it is fantastic that they came up with an affordable alternative for people who travel (regardless of distance) to spend extended time at WDW. I do not think it is fantastic that there should be an exclusion based on where someone resides. Again, I'm not an authority on legality - I'd love to hear from someone who is.

Local_Girl, I was wondering whether you would tell us where you activated your vouchers and what exactly happened. I have also read other reports where guests were told to claim they had relatives abroad who purchased the tickets for them and this seems like a really bad idea to me. It sounds like you told the truth, showed your receipt, and were able to ultimately use the tickets. This is definitely the route we will take.

In terms of risk, I have read on these boards that it is WDW policy to accept all forms of ticket media sold through "official" distributors. The implication is that even if WDW did not allow someone from the U.S. or Canada to use these passes, they would at least allow you to apply the face value of the vouchers to another type of media. I don't know whether this is true, but if it is there is no risk of losing your money.

 

[Local_Girl]

dcmbshafe,

We redeemed our vouchers after 8pm on a Sunday night at the Guest Relations window at Epcot, because that was our arrival day and we were hoping to slip in to see Illuminations that night. As it turned out, we were at the window so long we decided to skip it. In retrospect, perhaps we should have redeemed it at a time when it would be more likely that a "seasoned" CM would be working (like a day shift, not on Sunday night).

There were 3 CMs in the booth and they all agreed that they had only seen the FITS vouchers used by foreign visitors (and apparently they hadn't seen them often). Interestingly, they actually thought that Paramount had sold them to us thinking we were from the Netherlands...because we are from Holland, MI. I did show the receipt received from Paramount. Anyhow, after standing at the window for what seemed like an eternity facing a reluctant CM, she finally phoned a supervisor who talked her through the redemption process. After that night, the only problem we had was that my pass demagnetized a couple of times, but I was given no hassle at all when I went to have it reissued.

A couple of added notes...she did not give us back whatever portion of the voucher she should have for the other attractions (ie Kennedy Space Center) and I was afraid to push the point. Fortunately, we hadn't really planned on using that part of the pass, but if you do, make sure you get it back. Also, there is the breakfast voucher portion that you should receive back.

The other thing...I don't think that Disney would have given us full credit for what we had paid had they refused to let us redeem the vouchers. When I got the receipt back from GR after redeeming them, it listed their value as well under $200 (wish I'd kept that receipt so I could tell you exactly), which I thought was interesting, since we'd paid $300+. I thought Disney would only apply their value to the purchase of new ticket media and not the amount you actually paid to one of their distributors. We would have been out quite a bit of $$$ had that happened. Good luck to you...many have had no trouble at all redeeming the FITS vouchers. After all was said and done, we really did enjoy the flexibility this pass offered...and now we're spoiled!

 

[disneyvacalover]

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAVE POSTED WITH INFO. REGARDING THE FITS PASSES. I PLAN TO PURCHASE 5 FOR OUR TRIP IN FEB. I HAVE BEEN MONITORING REPORTS REGARDING THE DEBATE OF NORTH AMERICANS USING THESE TICKETS. THE POSITIVE REPORTS MAKE ME FEEL BETTER ABOUT GOING AHEAD AND PURCHASING.
THANK YOU!!!!!
ANDREA

 

[dcmbshafe]

Thanks a lot, Local_Girl, that is great information. We will be arriving in Orlando around noon on a Saturday and I was thinking we could go over to GR at DTD prior to checking-in at our condo, which is right around the corner from there. That is also interesting about the "face value" of the tickets, which I guess is the price at which WDW sells them to the distributors. We were planning on using the voucher for KSC also, so I'm glad you mentioned this as well - we really would need to get the vouchers back from WDW for the other non-Disney attractions.

After the experience you had, I can understand why you would be reluctant to go through it again. I am definitely not a person who craves conflict, particularly at the beginning of a vacation. However, I figure I can withstand a little aggravation for the flexibility these passes will offer (especially considering how crowded it will be when we are there - week before and after Easter).

 

[TonyS20]

My DH and I have used these for our last 2 trips. The first trip, Dec. 2002, we exchanged them at the International Gateway. The CM had not seen them before and asked a few questions about them. Not a big deal, but basically she was trying to figure them out. She called a manager who walked her through the process.

The second trip, Oct. 2004, we exchanged them at MGM. The CM knew exactly what she was doing and processed them. It still took about 15 minutes to get them both exchanged. Neither made any comments about them only being valid for International travelers.

She told us we would use our DISNEY ticket to go to KSC, etc. Since it said "Fun in the Sun" on the back of our tickets that that would be how we would enter the other attractions. KSC would be able to issue tickets based on the Disney ticket. We didn't have the other places on our agenda, so I don't know if that is true.

We like to travel for 2 weeks every other year. These tickets allow us the flexibility to "see it all" and are a much better value for us. I hope they continue to offer this ticket or at least offer it to all of their visitors.

 

[WaltD4Me]

I agree. I think the FITS pass is marketed to overseas customers and the fact that U.S. customers have discovered them (and news of their existence has spread to a wider market over the internet) is a sore spot for Disney. I'm also curious as to how Disney will handle this. As for us, my DH is reluctant now to purchase this pass. We used them last year (purchased through Paramount) and they were wonderful, however we did have trouble redeeming the vouchers at Guest Relations

We are using FITS for our December trip and I really won't be happy if they hassle us. I just do not understand how they can justify hassling a guest when there is NOTHING stated on the ticket about who can use it. I realize it might be a "sore spot" for Disney, but they need to resolve the issue and make things clear somehow. If it were not for these boards I would have no idea what Disney INTENTIONS were for the FITS passes. I'm sure Disney's intentions for these passes were good, offering a good deal to overseas travelers, but since Americans have been able to buy them they should be honored and without question.

Lisa

 

[Local_Girl]

I totally agree that Disney should honor the FITS vouchers at GR without hassling guests...if they have a problem with who the passes are being sold to, they need to take that up with their distributors.

I have also wondered if Disney has confronted some of their distributors with this issue...Ticketmania used to carry the FITS but doesn't anymore; Paramount used to carry the pass and sold it to Americans when no other U.S. company was doing so (to my knowledge), but now they appear to be out of business and I've wondered if perhaps Disney discontinued its business relationship with Paramount?? Pure speculation on my part, of course.

Finally, I find it interesting that someone (who posted here on the DIS) was told upon purchasing the FITS passes from Discount Orlando not to tell Disney where they bought the pass if questioned. That sounds really fishy to me...like Disney has given its distributors a directive regarding the sale of this pass...and some are choosing not to follow it.

 

[dcmbshafe]

I think you're right Local_Girl...I'd bet that WDW sent some type of communication to their distributors threatening them. From your description, it sounds like the distributors net a $100+ profit from each one of these tickets, which seems like a pretty healthy margin (can't imagine they get anywhere close to that on PHPs). But at some point, these companies have to be concerned about potentially losing their status as an "official distributor". D.O. is currently out of stock of these tickets again - will be interesting to see if they get more.

 

[disneyvacalover]

BAD NEWS
I JUST E-MAILED DISCOUNT ORLANDO ASKING WHEN TICKETS WILL BE IN STOCK AND WAS TOLD THEY ARE NO LONGR SELLING THESE TICKETS AS THEIR TICKET AGENT MOVED.

 

[disneyvacalover]

WELL I E-MAILED THEM AGAIN AND ASKED IF THEY KNEW WHERE ELSE I COULD OURCHASE THE FITS PASS. THEY SAID

I believe that we may be getting them again, we are checking around so
you could check back within a few days. Thank you.

I WAS WAITING TO PURCHASE CLOSER TO MY TRIP BUT IF THEY RE-STOCK I WILL PURCHASE IMMEDIATELY.

 

[DebbieB]

Is their ticket agent overseas? That's one thing I couldn't understand, why Disney was distributing these passes to an Orlando ticket broker when they did not intend for them to be sold here.