Old Park tickets and fast passes

[Disneybound2018]

Hi everyone and good morning! I have been lurking for a while and now have a question. My sons (11 &15) and I are planning a trip to Disney in September. Our 7th, but it's been over 5 years since our last one. We have tickets already but they are old. 2004 non expiring park hopper plus tickets. I have tried to link them but they can't be linked to MDE because of their age and I was told I would have to link them in person after we arrive. Soooo, I am totally freaking out. I can't make ANY fast passes. I have some medical issues that just won't let me stand for long periods ( due to joint issues, I also can't ride a scooter all day) Not to mention a VERY adhd 11 year old who, while not rude or anything) will pace, bounce, walk in circles and drive me and everyone near him to distraction in a long line. We had counted on carefully planning our days to avoid as many lines as possible.... Now I don't know what we will do. Has anyone experienced this issue trying to link older tickets? Any suggestions? I am so worried now. I don't want this trip to be a disaster....Thanks in advance for any advice anyone might have to offer.

 

[DavidNYC]

First question I'd have is how many days left on those hoppers and how many days are you going for? Non expiring tickets are pretty valuable now because of the flexibility it gives you for short trips. If you think you may be able to use the hoppers in the not too distant future - I'd save them and just get new tickets and then convert the old hoppers when you're there to save for next trip. This is especially true if you'll need to buy additional days anyway or if you're going for more than 4 days. Obviously, this requires paying now which was something you were probably looking forward to not doing since you have tickets.

The other option (also not great) is if you have friends with APs who will have ability to make FPs you can see about getting on their friends and family list, have them make the FP, and then just transfer them to you via change party when you've converted your tickets. Again - not ideal and probably a pain to pull off but better than not having FP at all.

The only other thing I can think of but not sure if it would work is whether there is a way to buy tickets to allow you to make the FP reservations and then return them for refund unused after you've linked your converted tickets. I'm not sure if linking them to an account makes them "used" - I wouldn't be surprised if that is the case but someone can clarify.

 

[Robo]

The only other thing I can think of but not sure if it would work is whether there is a way to buy tickets to allow you to make the FP reservations and then return them for refund unused after you've linked your converted tickets. I'm not sure if linking them to an account makes them "used" - I wouldn't be surprised if that is the case but someone can clarify.

It renders them "non-returnable."

 

[mcm574]

I was in the exact same situation (literally, two parents' park hoppers dating back to 2004!). When I contacted the ticketing questions email address, I was told there was no way to link my tickets - but when I responded and politely explained that this was a significant problem for me as I'm VERY MUCH a plan-in-advance person, I got this response:

I would first try the Internet Helpdesk to see if they can assist you in adding these tickets to your account. The number is 407-939-7765, option 3. Their office hours are 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. EST seven (7) days a week.

This was way back last April, so I can't remember exactly what transpired next... what I do know is that I called that number some time in April or May and spent a VERY long time on the phone with a lovely gentleman who asked all kinds of questions about when and how the tickets were purchased, what other backup information I had (I still had the invoice they had sent along with the tickets), etc. And that then he was going to pass my information along to someone else. And then, in July, I got an email from someone on the eCommerce Guest Care Team saying that they had successfully linked my tickets to my MDE account. (And now I am 81 days away from our trip, yippee!)

I hope they are as helpful for you as they were for me - good luck!

 

[Disneybound2018]

Thanks for the replies. I contacted the number they gave me and the guy i spoke to said he couldn't do it but was gonna sent it to some other department and maybe they could. If not, I would have to wait till I get there so no fast passes. He did say they "might" give me fast passes when I got there since i was not able to make them online, but he couldn't promise that. So ..... I guess I am just stuck. Glad things worked out for you though mcm574. Maybe I will get some disney magic too. lol

 

[dlsanchez]

I have the same issue! Is there a way to just scan the barcode in MDE?