Paper tickets or resort key?

[LeslieG]

Is there any benefit to keeping your tickets on your room key vs. the paper tickets, besides just convenience? I mean if you have days left over on your room key, two years later they would still be good with the no exp option? Where would there be any record of what's on the room key though if after a couple years it wouldn't work anymore?

 

[grimley1968]

The data on paper tickets signifying that you have park days left would be the exact same as what would be on a plastic room card, so the chance of either of them going bad would be about the same from an invalid data perspective. However, I'd imagine a flimsy paper ticket is far more likely to have its data physically affected/corrupted than a sturdy plastic card. If I have a choice I always go for the plastic cards.

 

[LeslieG]

I thought the paper tickets had data/numbers on them that if you photocopied them would protect you if it was lost, damaged, etc. because the info could be retrieved via the photocopy. I didn't know how you would retrieve the info if a strip went bad on the room key.

 

[grimley1968]

Disney should still have your information in a database showing that you stayed at the room, and that you had so many days park-hopping left on your room keys.

I still have 4 room keys leftover from Beach Club in 2004 with 2 days of park hopping on them. I'm not in the least worried that we'd be turned away. If the keys have gone bad, we'll just have them look us up in their system. The info's there, just as it is for paper tix.

 

[TSR6]

Both the plastic cards and the paper cards have "ticket code" written on them.

The Plastic cards have two numbers, the top number is your Ticket ID#. That number can be decoded to indicate a specific ticket via where it was printed, which day it was printed, and the ticket # printed at that station that day. I usually need to have a "cheat sheet" to tell the location - but past that it's fairly easy.

The paper cards are a little easier to decode. They have a 3 letter and 3 number code to tell you the location it was printed, then the date, then the ticket number of that station for the day. It can easily be read at a glance.

These numbers are used as back-up in case the magnetic strip should become demagnitized.

If you are staying on site, the tickets linked to your room card are saved in the computer. I beleive they only stay in the computer "live" for about a week after you end your stay. After that, I'm not sure if it can be pulled up via name or not.

Paper tickets can only be pulled up via the code on the back of the ticket. Sometimes if you do will-call, and pick them up - the tickets can be traced back that way. The tickets can also be traced back via the receipt you receive from Disney, as it shows the specific transaction you bought them on.

Should you buy tickets from online sources, you do not recieve disney's receipt with the transaction codes on them. The only way you can protect yourself is to photocopy the back of the tickets. If you don't - and you lose them, it's just like losing cash. The only way those tickets are linked to anyone would be the transaction that (Insert online seller's name ) bought them, and it could be one of 1,000 tickets in a single transaction.

 

[LeslieG]

I am planning on buying tickets from Ticketmania, and I was wondering if I should transfer them to my room key or not. In this particular situation, since I'm not buying them from Disney, it would be safer to just keep the paper tickets and photocopy them, right? (Or not? This is confusing.)

 

[TSR6]

I would transfer them to your room key.

Should you lose them, or leave them in your room during your stay, you "may" not have to go all the way back to your resort to get into the park. Guest Relations may be able to recover the ticket at the gate.