Pretty sure I traumatized the children!

[DisneyMommy77]

Hello,
We got off DCL Wonder on Sunday morning and thought since we are only 1.5 hrs away we should go to Disneyland for the day. We got to Anaheim just in time for park opening and parked at the GardenWalk Parking lot where I purchased one day tickets for us. We took the shuttle to Disneyland and the bag check line was all the way packed up to the shuttle drop off area. We usually go in January, February, September, or May, so I have never seen the line that long.

Anyway, I figured the line would move along quickly, but it didn't and it was nearly 90 degrees at 10AM. After waiting for 45 minutes in the heat with no shade and with a fussy baby and not even halfway to the bag check we gave up and returned back to San Diego. I assume it must have been completley packed in the park that day, and since I didn't do any pre-planning and it was a complete spur of the moment trip I hadn't checked the forecast or crowd calendar. I always try to avoid crowds and heat! (other people in line left too)

We go to DLR at least once a year. We were just there in the end of May, and we will go back again, but I certainly feel guilty getting my 8 and 3 year old so excited and then telling them we are leaving. However, we just did get off DCL so there was plenty of Disney fun!

Now My question is what to do with the tickets?? I don't have a need for 1 day tickets. Next time we go can we upgrade them to our normal 3 or 5 day park hopper tickets? They don't expire until 12/2016.

Thanks!

 

[Mysteryincorp]

Sunday was the CHOC walk, we left right after the walk but the park and surrounding area was already so packed!

 

[Sherry E]

You can upgrade the tickets to Hoppers.

 

[bumbershoot]

CA schools do still seem to get off school for Columbus Day, and the two times we've been there for that weekend it can be a madhouse. Add the CHOC walk to that and you've got a nasty recipe for arriving at any point other than well before park opening.

You have a lot of empathy from me, most definitely.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

There were 15,000 people there for CHOC Walk (a fundraiser for Children's Hospital of Orange County). The walkers are allowed to buy seriously discounted tickets on the day of the Walk only, so the lines at the ticket booths and the crowding in the esplanade are crazy. As stated above, add the CHOC craziness to the guests there for a 3 day holiday weekend and you have a super crowded day at the parks!

Your park tickets will never lose their value, so while you can certainly use them to upgrade to park hoppers before their expiration date, you can use them after the exp. date, too. They will retain their dollar value and you will pay the difference toward whichever tickets you want.

 

[SMD]

Your park tickets will never lose their value, so while you can certainly use them to upgrade to park hoppers before their expiration date, you can use them after the exp. date, too. They will retain their dollar value and you will pay the difference toward whichever tickets you want.

That's actually not true. I thought it was, but it turns out that only AP vouchers retain their value past the expiration date. Regular park tickets don't. It probably has something to do with the AP being a voucher and gift card laws might apply, whereas the tickets are actual tickets.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

That's actually not true. I thought it was, but it turns out that only AP vouchers retain their value past the expiration date. Regular park tickets don't. It probably has something to do with the AP being a voucher and gift card laws might apply, whereas the tickets are actual tickets.

We've always been told that the unused tickets retain their dollar value (meaning whatever you paid for them) no matter how far past their expiration date they are. Tony Baxter was joking at an event this summer that a ticket from July 17, 1955 would still work today if someone went to the ticket booth. We've used expired tickets in the past (not within the past year, but before that) and applied the paid value toward new tickets. The expired tickets have always been accepted and we just pay the difference. A friend told me that her daughter used a ticket from the 1980's (dug out of Grandma's drawer) and was able to upgrade it to a one day park hopper. The price difference was steep, but she was able to use the ticket.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I don't know that the 1980's tickets had expiration dates. I had a ton of A, B, C tickets from the 60's & 70's (thank you, Mom, for never tossing them), and ended up going to Disneyland 4 times when they started the all-day passes in the 80's. However, those tickets didn't have expiration dates. When you buy tickets now that have a definite expiration date, I wouldn't chance using them after that date. People might have had positive experiences, but it's not a guarantee, and why chance it.

 

[SMD]

We've always been told that the unused tickets retain their dollar value (meaning whatever you paid for them) no matter how far past their expiration date they are. Tony Baxter was joking at an event this summer that a ticket from July 17, 1955 would still work today if someone went to the ticket booth. We've used expired tickets in the past (not within the past year, but before that) and applied the paid value toward new tickets. The expired tickets have always been accepted and we just pay the difference. A friend told me that her daughter used a ticket from the 1980's (dug out of Grandma's drawer) and was able to upgrade it to a one day park hopper. The price difference was steep, but she was able to use the ticket.

I know that they still take the really old tickets with no expiration date and no way to determine the value, such as no bar code. But it came up here maybe last year that the expiration date on tickets is an expiration.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

I know that they still take the really old tickets with no expiration date and no way to determine the value, such as no bar code. But it came up here maybe last year that the expiration date on tickets is an expiration.

Yes, the expiration date stands as far as a ticket being valid for park entry, but the dollar value does not expire. So a ticket that expires on 12/31/15 will still have it's dollar value next year if it is used for an upgrade, for example. For someone who has a ticket that is expiring soon and won't be used before the end date, a call to Guest Services is probably a good idea, just to be safe.