Please help - Urgent Advice Needed!

[Rach78]

Hi all,
I am panicking as I just booked my first ever trip to folrida (Yeah!) through the wdw website. I week at old key west plus 14 day tickets. We are having the week before it in a villa but want to visit disney for a few day that week too. Will we be able to get out tickets to use the week before or have we just wasted a weeks worth of tickets? Do you only get your tickets when you check in so wont be able to get use out of them then first week? I would be gutted if thats the case!! Please can anyone advise a novice!!!
Thanks in advance!!
Rachel

 

[wayneg]

I wanted to do exactly this a few years back, I emailed Disney and asked if it was possible, they said no you have to stay onsite first so we stayed offsite.
More recently some have posted and said they have had success by going to guest services and getting their tickets upto a week before checking in to their Disney resort.
Hopefully someone will post with recent experience. Hope its possible for you, its something we might do next year if you can.

 

[Rach78]

Hi,
Thanks very much for your reply.
I have spent months looking at options and finally booked it tonight and about five minutes after I did the realisation set in about tickets. I am gutted as this is a one off dream holiday that we have been talking about for years and obviously want to get my moneys worth out of the tickets by visiting in the first week also. I am not sure what to do at this point. I have just sent Disney an e-mail and waiting for reply but I have feeling that is what they are going to tell me too. I wont sleep tonight worrying about this!! You would think you could get your tickets for the previous week too, at the end of the day more guest, money etc for them.
Thanks again
Rach

 

[2Tiggies]

You could try asking Disney if they would send you paper tickets or ticket vouchers which you could redeem at Guest Services at any of the parks or Downtown Disney. Whether they will do this with a package I don't know - this has come up before but I don't recall what the outcome of the request was. It is worth a try Ordinarily, your tickets will be added onto your room key which you receive when you check in at your Disney Resort. If you tell them that you do not want your tickets on your room key, but would rather have separate paper tickets I can't really think of many good reasons why they should say no.

What I have learned with Disney, and this is just a little bit of potentially useful advice, is that if you don't get the answer you want the first time, hang up and ring again.

 

[purple figment]

Did you book a package or the room and tickets separately?

If you booked the room and the tickets separately, then you will be able to pick up the tickets at a ticket window whenever you want or have them mailed to you.

If you booked a room + tickets package, you will only be able to pick up the tickets up to 3 days in advance of your check in date. You have a package if you were told that you must pay in full 45 days before arrival. A room only reservation does not have that stipulation. You have a package if you wanted a dining plan or there was a special promotion that required the package.

Because you just booked your vacation, I am guessing that it will be a while before your vacation to Florida. You can convert it to a room only reservation if there's no reason to have a package. You can then purchase the tickets separately.

 

[wayneg]

Did you book a package or the room and tickets separately?

If you booked the room and the tickets separately, then you will be able to pick up the tickets at a ticket window whenever you want or have them mailed to you.

If you booked a room + tickets package, you will only be able to pick up the tickets up to 3 days in advance of your check in date. You have a package if you were told that you must pay in full 45 days before arrival. A room only reservation does not have that stipulation. You have a package if you wanted a dining plan or there was a special promotion that required the package.

Because you just booked your vacation, I am guessing that it will be a while before your vacation to Florida. You can convert it to a room only reservation if there's no reason to have a package. You can then purchase the tickets separately.

Different rules apply to reservations on Disney.co.uk, deposits £50pp have to be paid on booking which is non refundable. If you want to convert to room only there is a fee (£25?) to pay. Maybe worth it on this occasion if no free dining is involved. Balance is payable 8 weeks(56 days) before arrival.

 

[wilma-bride]

Why don't you just cancel the tickets off the package That way you can purchase tickets separately and get them when you nee them. Or have you got the dining plan for your week at OKW? In which case you obviously need to keep the tickets. Could you possibly change it round so you stay onsite first?

 

[Rach78]

Thanks for your replies everyone.
I have booked a villa ticket package and the reason why I do not want to cancel the package is because we get free dining as well so it leaves me in a bit of a quandry.
I have spoken to someone at Disney and they have told me to ring guest realtions which I will do later today.
Someone mentioned about picking tickets up three days in advance. On the disney website it says you cant pick them up in advance at all but I know some people have talked about it but I cant find the information anywhere. Does anyone know if this is written anywhere or has anyone done it? I wouldn't mind so much if we can get them three days earlier but would like this to be confirmed.What I find odd though is that you can continue to use the tickets when you leave the resort but cannot use them the week prior to being there. What is the difference really?
Unfortunatly the week after is not really an option as we are tied with school holidays. Thanks all for your advice. Anymore is appriciated. I was so excited to book our first family dream holiday and this has really put a spanner in the works. Will spaek to guest relations and see where I get to.
Thanks again
Rach x

 

[mackay_j]

please come back and let us know what they say as I was planning to do the same thing. Like you we need to do the disney week 2nd to get the free dining, so I was also thinking that we could just pick up the tickets early until I read this post.

 

[2Tiggies]

Let us know what they tell you when you ring them up. Based on prior discussions I recall on this subject, I am guessing that separate tickets are possibly going to be your best option. There appears to be nothing written in to say that you HAVE to have them added to your room key - unless I have overlooked it. But as I mentioned before, it may take a few phone calls (i.e. speaking to various people) to get the answer you want. I hope it all works out for you.

 

[Elise79]

There is a cast member who works in ticketing for Disney and he has posted an FAQ on the theme parks board.

From the FAQ thread:

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.

 

[Rach78]

Thanks all for your replies.
We phoned the number we had for bookings and enquiries and asked to speak to guest services. The woman wouldn't put us through but wanted to try and help. To cut a looonnngg story short she said there was nothing you could do, you cant get the tickets until check in, we could re book it all separately etc. We insisted she put us through to guest services in America. When we spoke to them they confirmed that you can pick tickets up 3 days in advance. Apparently it is a US thing and not advertised over here. The British phone staff had never even heard of early ticket pick up but the US guest relations said it is quite often done and you would have no problem doing it. There is certain id and paperwork needed, which I will check if anyone wants to know. Also what I would recommend if anyone wants to do this is to phone and speak to guest services themselves prior to travel so that you have some comeback if you have a struggle to get the tickets.
Anyway I am happy enough with that as it gives us the first few days of our holiday at SeaWorld and Aquatica, followed by 10 Disney days. I just wish this had been made clearer before booking as I am sure many others have been caught out by it in the past.
Thanks All
Rach x

 

[2Tiggies]

Glad you got something sorted out Rach. And thank you for posting so that we all have some up to date information on it. You are definitely not the only one to have had this problem and it isn't really the kind of thing you would think about at the time of booking anyway unless you had done this before. Most folk booking onsite for the first time aren't even aware that they get their tickets on their room keys, not separate paper tickets. Well done on getting a workable solution sorted out. Now you can enjoy your planning - the fun part!

 

[wayneg]

Glad you are happy with the outcome. This policy loses Disney quite a lot of bookings, it was the reason we stayed offsite about 3-4 years ago and same again next year, we are planning on traveling out mid July and staying offsite 1st, if we can't get out tix early then we will just stay offsite the whole trip. We are lucky we enjoy offsite as much as onsite so not that bothered but surprised Disney let customers slip thru their fingers for something that would be easy to solve.

 

[tinkerbell88865]

Hi all,
I am panicking as I just booked my first ever trip to folrida (Yeah!) through the wdw website. I week at old key west plus 14 day tickets. We are having the week before it in a villa but want to visit disney for a few day that week too. Will we be able to get out tickets to use the week before or have we just wasted a weeks worth of tickets? Do you only get your tickets when you check in so wont be able to get use out of them then first week? I would be gutted if thats the case!! Please can anyone advise a novice!!!
Thanks in advance!!
Rachel

The fourteen day pass tickets are good for two weeks. If you don't need two weeks worth of visiting Disney World then maybe you can call and change the ticket package. Hopper tickets are the best because you can visit all of the parks at Disney World that way. The water parks, The Disney Studios etc. If you just want to visit a few days at Disney World call and change your tickets. You have paid for too many days. I hope this helps.

 

[2Tiggies]

We are lucky we enjoy offsite as much as onsite so not that bothered but surprised Disney let customers slip thru their fingers for something that would be easy to solve.

It's quite similar to the ticket/DDP policy where they don't accommodate split stays. I can understand free dining - to a point - but they make it so ecnomically unappealing. While that may not necessarily lose guests to offsite accommodation, it certainly discourages those who perhaps could not afford, say, a deluxe resort for an entire stay who want to tag on half a stay at a nicer onsite hotel. Or the guests simply decide not to use the DDP at all and stay at the resorts of their choice - who then, not being obligated to purchase any form of package, are free to purchase their park tickets elsewhere too. Just one more of Disney's many great marketing mysteries.

 

[wayneg]

The fourteen day pass tickets are good for two weeks. If you don't need two weeks worth of visiting Disney World then maybe you can call and change the ticket package. Hopper tickets are the best because you can visit all of the parks at Disney World that way. The water parks, The Disney Studios etc. If you just want to visit a few days at Disney World call and change your tickets. You have paid for too many days. I hope this helps.

Unfortunately Hopper tickets/MYW tickets are not available to us in the UK for the free dining packages. We have to buy the UK tickets which are 5/7 day Premium tickets or 14/21 day Ultimates.

 

[Rach78]

Yes to be honest the whole thing just doesn't really make any sense. Surely they would rather you were in the parks spending money? Or like Wayneg said it would encourage you to stay else where instead of on site. This policy must lose then money overall so it just seems odd! Plus not sure why you can get the tickets 3 days before?! Why not a week? I also would have liked a split stay with okw for a week and then more of a child orientated place like pop for a week but I thought it was odd that I couldn't book like that.
Rach x

 

[2Tiggies]

Yes to be honest the whole thing just doesn't really make any sense. Surely they would rather you were in the parks spending money? Or like Wayneg said it would encourage you to stay else where instead of on site. This policy must lose then money overall so it just seems odd! Plus not sure why you can get the tickets 3 days before?! Why not a week? I also would have liked a split stay with okw for a week and then more of a child orientated place like pop for a week but I thought it was odd that I couldn't book like that.
Rach x

There is clearly a reason for this, as Disney will be aware of the gripes whihc have been ongoing for quite some time, but what it is just seems to defy all logic The point I was making above however was that you didn't do anything silly. Because unless you had encountered this problem or heard about it from someone, there would be no reason to even consider it But the more experience you get with the various aspects of the busenss side of WDTC, the more you learn to expect the unexpected.

 

[Rach78]

I am sure when booking and planning this holiday there will be more stress along the way!! Just glad to have found a solution I am happy enough with. It is really good to have this place to share things with and get advice as everyone seem to know so much!!
Rachx