No More Early Ticket Pickup?

[Amy&Dan]

I think what she meant by abuse it that apparently some people were picking their tickets up early, which are issued as paper tickets,and then when they check into their hotel additional tickets were issued on the KTTW card because the front desk staff didn't realize the tickets had already been issued and guests haven't been speaking up and saying they already have a set of tickets. So, guests are getting 2 sets of tickets when only paying for one. Atleast, that's what I've read.

See, I have never heard of anyone being able to get days for free so to speak. Now if that happend then that is wrong. However, I am sure that Disiney has always or at the very least has a stop gap in place to keep that from happening now.

Just like you cannot buy a ten day base ticket, and then use some of those days to hop to another park, I am sure they have found a way to keep this from happening if it ever did.

You have to have your pkg confirmation number and paperwork to even get the tickets early and then I am pretty sure when we did this, we had the paper tickets the whole time and they never were connected to our room keys that had our DDP credits on them.


THis is pasted from Cheshire Figments ticket FAQ thread. I have bolded the part where it is addressed that the tickets you pick up early are for the entire stay and likely the final tickets you will get. I have yet to see Cheshire amend the FAQ thread to omit this out of there. Here is what I think is very helpful information for us all, it is in post #15 of that thread, section I:



Picking up Package Tickets Prior To Start Of Package

In cases where Walt Disney World Resort Guests would like to begin using their Package Tickets prior to the day of check-in (up to three days in advance), the Guests will be directed to visit any Theme Park or DTD Guest Relations location and request Early Ticket Pick-Up. (Note this cannot be done at a water park.)

It is only valid for people with packages at a Walt Disney World owned and operated Resort. You can be staying off-property at the time you pick up the tickets. Note that if you have a package which includes Dining, although you can pick up your tickets early you cannot get access to the Dining until you have actually checked in to your Resort.

There is a possibility that if your package and the stay prior to the package are at the same Resort that you will be able to get the tickets at the Resort and not have to go to a Park Guest Relations Office.

And the tickets issued will be valid for the entire stay; they will not receive valid tickets when they actually check-in to their resort. There is a strong possibility that the tickets you have received prior to check-in cannot be added to your KTTW on or after check-in.

I would suggest you copy down the following information if you are planning to upgrade promotional tickets. If the person in the window is hesitant to upgrade these promotional tickets, ask them go go into The Hub >> WDW >> Work >> Ticketing >> Processes & Business Rules >> Early Ticket Pickup For Resort Packages where they will see the procedure.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

See, I have never heard of anyone being able to get days for free so to speak. Now if that happened then that is wrong. However, I am sure that Disiney has always or at the very least has a stop gap in place to keep that from happening now...

People on the Dis have reported being able to do this due to mistakes made. I would think WDW would try to fix that hole rather than inconveniencing guests.

 

[Amy&Dan]

People on the Dis have reported being able to do this due to mistakes made. I would think WDW would try to fix that hole rather than inconveniencing guests.

Then to me the easiest thing all the way around is do something to stop that from happening. Just like if you try to use additional base ticket days to hop, or try to hop when you don't have that option or use a ticket that expired. If they can do that then they can do this.

If Disney had a loophole, then they should close it and not make the many folks who want to just use their tickets the honest way suffer for it.

 

[mom2rtk]

So why does Disney now remind me of my daughter's teacher who makes the entire class lose class when a few of the kids are too loud at lunch??????

Seriously Disney........ stop taking the EASY way out on everything.

Tangled Meet & Greet too busy? Take half the attraction away instead of making that ultra-popular pair available at another park.

Monorail on its last leg? Just cut service early every night potentially making the trip back to the hotel much harder at EMH and hard ticketed parties.

Have a bookkeeping problem with early pick-up of tickets? How about putting procedures or computer enhancements in place that prevent this being a problem? Because it's just easier to say no.

 

[skier_pete]

But I'm just saying........ if they won't assure you that you can pick up the tickets early, then why sell you tickets for those days? Sure you can use them after the package ends. But I can't see why the would have a problem with using them early, but not late. Fair's fair. Let's treat both issues with the same set of standards. Adding hoppers etc doesn't affect the number of days. I'm just saying they need to not sell more days than they will assure you that you can pick up and use under their policy. They can sell fewer days, but they shouldn't sell more.

But they are not really selling you them for the days prior to your stay. Try to think of them the same way you do the dining credits. Dining credits activate when you check in, not before. Its the same with the tickets that are purchased as part of a package. They activate when you check in and not before.

Exactly. You also get dining credits based on how many nights you stay at the resort (whether you are paying for the DDP or not), which is not the case with tickets. Never has been.

Split stays are not necessarily linked with free dining. Some may only want the DDP for part of their stay, or spend a few days on a Premium or Platinum package without having to pay for tickets twice.

I think that is the whole point of all this...it is perfect fine with Disney for me to purchase a 4-day package with FD, and then stay for 3 days room only, and have tickets for all 7 days. However, if I were to choose to do the room-only portion first, that is NOT OK? To me, if your going to allow the first, what's the problem with allowing the second.

Comparing Dining Plan to tickets is apples to oranges. Dining Plan starts on the day of your package, and ends on the last day. You can't carry credits over to the next day. So, the fact you can't do it early is exactly the same as you can't use it late.

But in the end - and I've said this a few times so I feel like I'm repeating myself - if you want to have a policy that you can't pick the tickets up early...fine...then simply HAVE THE POLICY. What they have is something else completely. The whole Disney ticketing/package/booking policies are confusing enough without having these half-rules.

I think what she meant by abuse it that apparently some people were picking their tickets up early, which are issued as paper tickets,and then when they check into their hotel additional tickets were issued on the KTTW card because the front desk staff didn't realize the tickets had already been issued and guests haven't been speaking up and saying they already have a set of tickets. So, guests are getting 2 sets of tickets when only paying for one. Atleast, that's what I've read.

OK, first of all, this seems like a Disney screw up. I suppose if they can't prevent their own screw-ups, then they would want to stop doing it, but I wouldn't think this would be that hard to prevent. I myself would tell them the mistake (I'm sort of honest that way - I tell the waitress when she charges me too little.) but could understand others not doing it. But, for me, how about Disney just repair the hole in the system.

Or how about this policy. How about allowing people to pick up their package tickets up to three days early if their staying on-site, and doing so easily. (Say, at your resort.) Again, if the only *abuse* is Disney's screw-ups, then this would eliminate the screw-ups, and also clarify this whole thing.

I am more and more convinced that it is more Disney incompetence than anything purposeful by Disney that is causing all this confusion. (Understanding that the "average" theme park goer knows nothing of this. It's only the 50 people on this thread.

 

[JLKennedy]

But dining credits can't be used after you check out either.

I thought your dining credits ARE valid until midnight, day of check-out? I've used credits (snack) at gift shop while waiting for ME back to MCO.

 

[mom2rtk]

I thought your dining credits ARE valid until midnight, day of check-out? I've used credits (snack) at gift shop while waiting for ME back to MCO.

They are. But unlike park tickets, they can't be used after departure day.

 

[Lehuaann]

I think what she meant by abuse it that apparently some people were picking their tickets up early, which are issued as paper tickets,and then when they check into their hotel additional tickets were issued on the KTTW card because the front desk staff didn't realize the tickets had already been issued and guests haven't been speaking up and saying they already have a set of tickets. So, guests are getting 2 sets of tickets when only paying for one. Atleast, that's what I've read.

The original abuse she claimed was this;

More of a picking up tickets, then cancelling reservation thing.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=42108624#post42108624

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

The original abuse she claimed was this;



http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=42108624#post42108624

Since the tickets for most packages are full fare, this makes no sense. My tickets that I get with the Free Dining promo are full price tickets. Why would I be willing to pay $200 for a last minute package cancellation to pick up my full fare tickets that I can get at the gate for the same price?

This is not their reason.

 

[Aanna]

Just a note -- this does not necessarily have anything to do with Free Dining. I am NOT using a Free Dining code, but I still need to deal with the headache of a split stay because I got a percent-off discount for the remainder of my trip.

If they are going to change something like this, then their computer system needs to be able to handle people having ONE reservation despite changes in the room price.

 

[marivaid]

then their computer system needs to be able to handle people having ONE reservation despite changes in the room price.

Just like any other hotel reservation system. Honestly, the Disney reservation system is a joke. You can't even book 2 rooms at the same time.

 

[Lehuaann]

Let's be honest. The only reason people do the whole room only/package split stay is to make themselves eligible for promotions like free dining.

Not true. My entire 12 day trip is eligible under FD, however, I want to do a split stay before/after my FD reservation...the exact same setup I had last year without issue.


And I agree with the prior pp -dining has zero to do with the issue at hand.

To make a package; full price tickets are required, dining is not. Therefore, if this policy sticks, it should apply to packages across-the-board, regardless if the dining feature is added, not added, or given for free.

Not that this makes any financial sense whatsoever.

 

[Lehuaann]

Since the tickets for most packages are full fare, this makes no sense. My tickets that I get with the Free Dining promo are full price tickets. Why would I be willing to pay $200 for a last minute package cancellation to pick up my full fare tickets that I can get at the gate for the same price?

This is not their reason.

I agree.

I guess the insinuation here was that guests would pick up their tickets early, cancel the package, pay $200 fee, and walk away with $$$ worth of tickets for the price of the fee.

I picked up my tickets early last year and have a hard time believing this would actually fly.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

I agree.

I guess the insinuation here was that guests would pick up their tickets early, cancel the package, pay $200 fee, and walk away with $$$ worth of tickets for the price of the fee.

I picked up my tickets early last year and have a hard time believing this would actually fly.

At that point, you would have paid in full. If Disney can't keep track of their tickets any better than this, they deserve to be scammed, IMO. There is no excuse for the horrible IT systems in use at WDW.

 

[basketlacey]

Amen to ALL of that. Nobody has put forth a plausible theory yet on how Disney is losing out. NOT A SINGLE person is going to follow through and pay full price for that additional ticket.

I still contend they are not liking some of us "tweaking" the free dining dates with a room only for a couple nights. Who the heck cares? It's not like we're getting the free dining then anyway! Or any discount at ALL so far on that one night. Do they really think if they get tough with this that people will book Sunday through the following Monday to have the same number of days? I'm currently booked Saturday through Sunday to minimize days out of school for my DD. If this didn't work, I wouldn't just add change to Saturday through Monday. I probably would have dropped off Saturday and arrived Sunday, leaving them out my full rack rate room for 1 night plus full price dining. It really makes no sense at all.

But I am the opposite of you. I also don't want to start my trip on Sunday because of minimizing days out of school (and because I want to hit the F&W festival) so instead of booking a split stay, I am leaving my reservation as booked in a deluxe with a 30% off discount. Disney is making an extra $650 dollars off my reservation because I don't have FD.

 

[mom2rtk]

But I am the opposite of you. I also don't want to start my trip on Sunday because of minimizing days out of school (and because I want to hit the F&W festival) so instead of booking a split stay, I am leaving my reservation as booked in a deluxe with a 30% off discount. Disney is making an extra $650 dollars off my reservation because I don't have FD.

Then perhaps you had access to a bounceback offer on your last stay or got one of those elusive PINs. I have access to neither, as I was there last year during the time they weren't doing bouncebacks, and wouldn't recognize a PIN if it walked up and bit me in the ....... and I'm not aware of any GP room discounts for Oct to Dec yet.

 

[basketlacey]

Then perhaps you had access to a bounceback offer on your last stay or got one of those elusive PINs. I have access to neither, as I was there last year during the time they weren't doing bouncebacks, and wouldn't recognize a PIN if it walked up and bit me in the ....... and I'm not aware of any GP room discounts for Oct to Dec yet.

We have a PIN. And trust me, I feel very lucky that we do! I was just trying to illustrate how Disney is making more money off my family because of the way they structured the FD discount. If they had released dining on 11/12 instead of 11/13, we would have switched our discounts and saved a bundle in the process. So perhaps Disney looked at the trend of starting dates for reservations before they picked the dates to offer the FD discount? It makes sense that they offer the discounts to encourage more reservations, not to entice those of us that have already booked to call and switch. Regardless, I really hope all of you that booked, get your tickets when you want them! I hate the thought of any sad kiddos and p'd off parents at the gates of the happiest place on Earth!

 

[mom2rtk]

We have a PIN. And trust me, I feel very lucky that we do! I was just trying to illustrate how Disney is making more money off my family because of the way they structured the FD discount. If they had released dining on 11/12 instead of 11/13, we would have switched our discounts and saved a bundle in the process. So perhaps Disney looked at the trend of starting dates for reservations before they picked the dates to offer the FD discount? It makes sense that they offer the discounts to encourage more reservations, not to entice those of us that have already booked to call and switch. Regardless, I really hope all of you that booked, get your tickets when you want them! I hate the thought of any sad kiddos and p'd off parents at the gates of the happiest place on Earth!

My point is that to date free dining is the ONLY option for most for ANY discount in the fall.

 

[javamommy]

Finally got a response about early ticket pickup! Here was my original question?

Can you pick up park hopper
passes early and use them prior to your reservation/package start date?
For instance, if I have a reservation for a package starting on Nov. 27,
can I pick up my park hopper pass tickets on the 24th and start using
them then?

This was Disney's response:

Dear Jessica,

Thank you for contacting the Walt Disney World® Resort.

If you wish to arrive prior to your Disney Resort check in time, you may
pre-register any time after 8:00 AM on your check-in day. The theme park
tickets are not available prior to your check-in date. At that time you
may also pick up your Theme Park tickets (if applicable) and store your
luggage. Upon return, you may then pick up your room keys.

Also, on your departure date, the Resort can store your luggage after
you have checked out and you may pick it up at a later time prior to
your departure from the Walt Disney World Resort.

Jessica, we look forward to your visit to the Walt Disney World Resort
and hope your visit with us is a Magical One.


If you have questions or need further assistance, feel free to contact
us.

Please include your full name, E-Mail address, and reservation number if
applicable on all correspondence.

Sincerely,

Patricia Clark
WDW Online Communications

PLEASE NOTE: All information is subject to change without notice and
should be confirmed just prior to your visit.


Here is my response to that answer: Can you tell I am a little upset about this policy??

Then why do your employees in guest relations tell me I can up to 7 days early? I've called 3 times and got the same answer... I also have friends you have done this very same thing. It's very frustrating that I can not take advantage of the free dining during a portion of my stay without having to buy two separate hopper passes which actually will cost me more money. So because I am staying on your property longer and spending more money at your parks and resorts, I don't get the same opportunities and promotions as those staying just that week.

Furthermore, if I am paying for a 9 day hopper regardless of the free dining or not, shouldn't it be MY decision when I use that ticket? Why should Disney decide? It's my pass and my money. But of course, they do this so that people like me can't take advantage of the free dining without spending more money.

And what's to keep me from doing a room only the first 3 days of my trip and spending the money I saved on free dining and buying a 6 day hopper instead of 9 day at some other park like Sea World or Universal Studios?

It seems to me that you need to look at your policies again and keep your faithful customers in mind. Also, make sure all your employees have the same information. It makes it confusing when one person tells me I can get my tickets early and you are telling me I can't. Bottom line, it appears that Disney is out to make more money then give their customers the vacation they deserve and want.

Sincerely,

Jessica Hudson

 

[mom2rtk]

Awww.... cheer up. It does say it's all subject to change!

Besides, even if they said you could, this would be worthless because it would still have the same disclaimer about it being subject to change.

They might as well have said they could answer but decline to do so because it wouldn't be worth the paper it was printed on.

I'm not laughing at you. I'm in the same boat......... and I also find this to be a sad way to conduct business.