Guest backs out - what to do with ticket / magic band?

[gopherit]

I'm planning a BIG trip with our crew of 6, and being a nice mama, am letting my 3 "adult-ish" gopher pups invite a "friend".
I'm buying the tickets, getting the magic bands, and setting up FPs and dining and you name it for all 9 of us. (yeah, I'm a giver... or glutton for punishment. Whatever.)

While I feel confident that my own pups will make the trip come heck or high water, my fear is that a gopher guest might "bail" or be no longer able to attend (or heck, be dis-invited by a gopher pup. Relationships can suddenly tank, it happens!)

And then what? I can deal with extra space in the villa... can probably reduce a dining request by a head or two without losing the ressie.. but what about those tickets? It will be over $550 per guest for the # of days needed.

Most any ticket seller (Disney or other) makes it very clear - yes there may be a 90 day return for unused tickets, but once you link it to MyDisneyExperience (i.e., Magic Band, FPs), it cannot be returned.
And Disney makes it clear - a band / ticket once assigned - cannot be "re-assigned" to another person.
But as most any Disney-savvy traveler will tell you - she who hesitates to make FP ressies won't get them (especially at Xmas) so I wanna buy and link our tickets 60+ days in advance of the trip so as to get those dang FPs.

That leaves me with 60 days of "risk", lol, if one of those "guests" should no-show.

So what happens to a Magic Band that is "assigned" to a person but not yet used at a park? Options I'm questioning:

1) Buy the "no specific start date" tickets for the guests (even though they are pricier)
2) If the guest bails - can I then
(a) unlink the "unused" ticket from Magic Band & assign to different band/user (will it kick it out/not allow it to be linked to new band, even though all days are still on it and it has never been used to access a park?)
(b) let one of my kids of same age / gender "assume the identity" (set up the pin and biometric) with a trip sometime in 2020. They won't however have the ID of the "bailed" person... so I'm guessing that's a problem.

(Small rant - it increasingly cheezes me off, the degree to which Disney forces you to know EVERY DETAIL of your trip 60+ days in advance: which park on what day, FPs, dining, accommodations (we're DVC and it's increasingly difficult to make ressies!) You name it. Most any other park or entertainment venue is a planning breeze, by comparison. The advance planning not only requires a lot of upfront work, but also removes potential for schedule change AND/OR refund options, so you're basically "LOCKED IN". God forbid you find yourself needing to change something, even a month out. They really know how to separate your cash from its wallet, in a less than magical way. Perhaps it's Dark Magic. Rant over... for now.)

Meanwhile - all Input / ideas / first-hand experience appreciated!

-Stressed-Out GopherMama

 

[hiroMYhero]

I'm planning a BIG trip with our crew of 6, and being a nice mama, am letting my 3 "adult-ish" gopher pups invite a "friend".
I'm buying the tickets, getting the magic bands, and setting up FPs and dining and you name it for all 9 of us. (yeah, I'm a giver... or glutton for punishment. Whatever.)

While I feel confident that my own pups will make the trip come heck or high water, my fear is that a gopher guest might "bail" or be no longer able to attend (or heck, be dis-invited by a gopher pup. Relationships can suddenly tank, it happens!)

And then what? I can deal with extra space in the villa... can probably reduce a dining request by a head or two without losing the ressie.. but what about those tickets? It will be over $550 per guest for the # of days needed.

Most any ticket seller (Disney or other) makes it very clear - yes there may be a 90 day return for unused tickets, but once you link it to MyDisneyExperience (i.e., Magic Band, FPs), it cannot be returned.
And Disney makes it clear - a band / ticket once assigned - cannot be "re-assigned" to another person.
But as most any Disney-savvy traveler will tell you - she who hesitates to make FP ressies won't get them (especially at Xmas) so I wanna buy and link our tickets 60+ days in advance of the trip so as to get those dang FPs.

That leaves me with 60 days of "risk", lol, if one of those "guests" should no-show.

So what happens to a Magic Band that is "assigned" to a person but not yet used at a park? Options I'm questioning:

1) Buy the "no specific start date" tickets for the guests (even though they are pricier)
2) If the guest bails - can I then
(a) unlink the "unused" ticket from Magic Band & assign to different band/user (will it kick it out/not allow it to be linked to new band, even though all days are still on it and it has never been used to access a park?)
(b) let one of my kids of same age / gender "assume the identity" (set up the pin and biometric) with a trip sometime in 2020. They won't however have the ID of the "bailed" person... so I'm guessing that's a problem.

(Small rant - it increasingly cheezes me off, the degree to which Disney forces you to know EVERY #$%&@# DETAIL of your trip 60+ days in advance: which park on what day, FPs, dining, accommodations (we're DVC and it's increasingly difficult to make ressies!) You name it. Most any other park or entertainment venue is a planning breeze, by comparison. The advance planning not only requires a lot of upfront work, but also removes potential for schedule change AND/OR refund options, so you're basically "LOCKED IN". God forbid you find yourself needing to change something, even a month out. They really know how to separate your cash from its wallet, in a less than magical way. Perhaps it's Dark Magic. Rant over... for now.)

Meanwhile - all Input / ideas / first-hand experience appreciated!

-Stressed-Out GopherMama

If a gopher bails, just have your pup find a squirrel to fill in.

Edit the name on the Profile even though it really isn’t necessary and the squirrelly person uses the MB, Tickets, and linked FPs.

Nothing is linked to MBs. All data is linked to your MDX account and the MB provides the link to that data.

 

[Robo]

A- Disney makes it clear - a band / ticket once assigned - cannot be "re-assigned" to another person.
But as most any Disney-savvy traveler will tell you - she who hesitates to make FP ressies won't get them (especially at Xmas) so I wanna buy and link our tickets 60+ days in advance of the trip so as to get those dang FPs.

So what happens to a Magic Band that is "assigned" to a person but not yet used at a park? Options I'm questioning:

1) Buy the "no specific start date" tickets for the guests (even though they are pricier)
2) If the guest bails - can I then
(a) unlink the "unused" ticket from Magic Band & assign to different band/user (will it kick it out/not allow it to be linked to new band, even though all days are still on it and it has never been used to access a park?)
(b) let one of my kids of same age / gender "assume the identity" (set up the pin and biometric) with a trip sometime in 2020. They won't however have the ID of the "bailed" person... so I'm guessing that's a problem.

A- Regardless of what you may have read, an unused ticket CAN be transferred to another guest via MDX (even multiple times.)

1) No need.

2a) An unused ticket CAN be transferred to another guest via MDX (even multiple times.)
2b) You could do that (as suggested by @hiroMYhero above) and it does not even have to be a guest of the same age or sex as the original guest.

 

[winnieofpooh]

Seconding the advice above, you can just transfer the ticket to another person. We bought tickets from UT and linked them to our MDE and ended up not using them, and had no issues transferring them to our in-laws to use instead.

 

[gopherit]

Thanks - that's good to know. I'm not entirely sure how easy it will be to "add" a different guest as we are flying to WDW (and if flights are booked / overly priced by that time - could make bringing a "replacement guest" difficult. I'm getting around the whole airline ticket "nontransferable" issue by getting the tickets for the most "iffy" guests via points, which then if cancelled, get returned to my acct.)
But knowing I could re-assign an unused Disney ticket to myself or one of my pups might be a good feature, with enough time to use it (hence why I might want it to be usable for a later date).

I'm thinking maybe I'll pay the upcharge for a "no specific date" ticket for one of the 3 guests and that way - I'm covered for a 33% failure rate if any one of the 3 should bail and can't be "replaced", lol. Then I could give that unused ticket to the kid whose guest was a no-show and say "sorry about this trip... better luck in 2020. Here's a ticket to get your planning started (haha)."

 

[lanejudy]

When is your trip? The “flexible” ticket upcharge can be hefty, and only makes it usable as-is through 12/31/2020. Any unused ticket can be “upgraded” to new date tickets by paying the difference between the old date and the new date. “Flexible” tickets are essentially equivalent to the most expensive time (currently holiday 2020 rates). I would just upgrade an unused ticket when needed.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[NWOhiogal]

(Small rant - it increasingly cheezes me off, the degree to which Disney forces you to know EVERY DETAIL of your trip 60+ days in advance: which park on what day, FPs, dining, accommodations (we're DVC and it's increasingly difficult to make ressies!) You name it. Most any other park or entertainment venue is a planning breeze, by comparison. The advance planning not only requires a lot of upfront work, but also removes potential for schedule change AND/OR refund options, so you're basically "LOCKED IN". God forbid you find yourself needing to change something, even a month out. They really know how to separate your cash from its wallet, in a less than magical way. Perhaps it's Dark Magic. Rant over... for now.)

So don't make dining reservations or use the Fast Pass, and wait in line. Then you're not locked into anything.

 

[dizneefan13]

Well now there's a wonderful solution to her understandable rant.

 

[gopherit]

When is your trip? The “flexible” ticket upcharge can be hefty, and only makes it usable as-is through 12/31/2020. Any unused ticket can be “upgraded” to new date tickets by paying the difference between the old date and the new date. “Flexible” tickets are essentially equivalent to the most expensive time (currently holiday 2020 rates). I would just upgrade an unused ticket when needed.

Enjoy your vacation!

Oh you are right! That's the better plan - to just upgrade as needed. Forgot about that option. And yes - it IS hefty. Like nearly $100 more, which I'd certainly pay if at risk of losing the $550 for the ticket, but would rather not pay as "insurance" if it's not necessary! Thanks!

 

[gopherit]

Well now there's a wonderful solution to her understandable rant.

Well, I suppose we could do that, and just bring cans of corn to nibble on while we're waiting in those lines.... (Sorry - showing my age with reference to a post of long ago, lol)
But since I want the guests to have a good time, umm, no. Gonna be making ressies and FPs, whatever the pain.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Well, I suppose we could do that, and just bring cans of corn to nibble on while we're waiting in those lines.... (Sorry - showing my age with reference to a post of long ago, lol)
But since I want the guests to have a good time, umm, no. Gonna be making ressies and FPs, whatever the pain.

I thought you were mentioning corn because of gophers.

Anyway, gonna close this as the ticket specialists have posted in this thread and that’s the best info to have.