need help understanding a ticket issue - group ressies

[redrosesix]

We're traveling to WDW for the 7th year in a row to attend a competition my DD is in. We have to buy our tickets through the competition ie. youth or YES tickets, in order to get access to WWoS for all of the days of the competition, and our tickets are checked at the door of the arena to make sure we're supposed to be there. But... last year the competition organizers sent the tickets out so late that they didn't arrive at my house until 4 days after we got to Florida. They said that they couldn't send them out earlier because Disney won't print the tickets earlier. Since they're planning to send them out on Feb 1st, we're going to have the same problem again.

However, with the new FP+ system one of the moms called Disney to see if we could participate and was told that all we needed was the ticket order number -- that tickets could now actually be printed at home and since we had already paid for them we should be able to get that number. I don't know who is right. But I would like to make sure we don't miss any park days (we missed 2 last year waiting around for replacement tickets) and I would like to do the FP+ since we're well into our 60 day window now.

With the mail fiasco last year, I talked to a couple of CMs at our resort and they said most groups have their tickets sent to the resort so participants can pick them up when they arrive. But that would exclude tons of families from participating in FP+ and that's just not right. I'm not sure this is Disney's fault but I would like their group booking people to get on top of this problem. I know they book many many tours and events every year but somehow the new system seems like it just won't work with the way they do things. Unless we're not being told the truth by the competition organizers....

Hoping somebody out there can shed some light so we know who to approach to make sure we can actually use all of our park days this year.

TIA

 

[doconeill]

This system is too new to really tell.

But if you can get the ticket order number, that can likely be linked to MDX so that you can make FP+ reservations in advance. The tickets are more "virtual" these days anyways.

Then again, there is no guarantee at this point that YES or competition tickets will get advanced FP+ reservations, or if it will be the same 60 days. I think some have reported that they HAVE been able to.

Anyways, I don't see how Disney's group sales could have been functioning this long if they couldn't get tickets into hands in plenty of time. There is no reason they can't be "printed" in advance, as those tickets typically have restricted dates in which they can be used anyways. I've not heard of this "fiasco" happening before.

 

[redrosesix]

This system is too new to really tell.

But if you can get the ticket order number, that can likely be linked to MDX so that you can make FP+ reservations in advance. The tickets are more "virtual" these days anyways.

Then again, there is no guarantee at this point that YES or competition tickets will get advanced FP+ reservations, or if it will be the same 60 days. I think some have reported that they HAVE been able to.

Anyways, I don't see how Disney's group sales could have been functioning this long if they couldn't get tickets into hands in plenty of time. There is no reason they can't be "printed" in advance, as those tickets typically have restricted dates in which they can be used anyways. I've not heard of this "fiasco" happening before.

The competition organizers won't give us the ticket order number. They said they won't have it until the tickets are printed.

I think you're right though. If this happened with every competition and group event, it would be all over the boards. I've searched every way possible and it seems like this one is the only operator who is sending stuff out late. The latest update is that they plan to send the packages out on Feb 1st for a competition that begins on Feb 14th -- including to participants in Canada. Last year they used regular mail for those ticket deliveries. Craziness...

 

[redrosesix]

Update: A few of our team members and a couple of people I know from other teams have talked with Group Reservations -- this group actually asked to take over the ticketing for the competition and before that everything was sent out by the Group office. ie arrived on time and by Fedex or UPS, not regular mail. They no longer work with the ticketing agent, who is the only contact with the competition organizer.

Other competitions like Pop Warner still must pick up all of their tickets etc when they check in, and there is no plan to change that so they can't participate in FP+ etc. It is kind of crazy though, that when the organizers want to do it on their own there is no oversight at all. They had no idea all of the tickets had been sent out late last year.