Problems with 10-year old using a child ticket for admission?

[kichan]

I have unused days left on a child ticket that I purchased for DD last year when she was 9 years old. She turned 10 in December. Since the cut-off age for a child ticket is 9, will she have problems being admitted if she uses the last 2 days on the old ticket?

 

[JerJan]

Well she probably won't have a problem....but it's WRONG! You should just use those days towards the upgrade on the right ticket for her to use. Just my $.02 cents............

 

[Sandi]

It is NOT wrong. WDW deals with this in a perfectly reasonable way. Take your ticket to Guest Relations and explain that DD had a birthday and is now 10, so you need to exchange the ticket for an adult ticket. They will happily do this for you. I had to do this a couple of years ago and thought I'd need to pay the difference. The cast member said, "No, ma'am. This happens all the time. Disney World doesn't charge children for growing up."

You have to have used the ticket as a child -- which your DD did.

 

[DianeV]

Nothing like the first response on a thread judging someone..

and being wrong!

An apology maybe?

 

[In a hurry]

One of my nephews had this issue on our trip. He was told it wasn't an issue. They didn't even have him do a trade for the adult ticket. Have a good trip!

 

[DebIreland]

There's info about this exact situation on Allearsnet. The link is here or I'll paste it here too:

"EXCHANGING OLD CHILDREN'S TICKETS
Many people find themselves in the situation of going to WDW with their young children and having unused days left on their tickets when they return home. These tickets are put away, often for many years, until another trip to Disney is planned. But what can you do with these tickets since your then child is now a teenager or even an adult and obviously can't use a child's ticket now?

What you have left will depend on how this transaction is handled. If you have a brand new, completely unused child's ticket that you bought years ago you will only be able to apply a dollar value equal to the price you paid for that ticket towards any new adult ticket that exceeds the price of the old one. This is your only option with an unused child ticket.

But if you have a partially used ticket, you may take that ticket along with your child who is now a teenager or older to a Guest Relations location at the major parks or DTD. If the Guest Relations CM is satisfied that the dates of the original ticket and the current age of your child make sense, you will have the leftover child's admissions exchanged for the identical adult admissions at no further charge to you. The "child" must be with you or you will be unable to do this.

Making sense of the dates means that if you bought and used the child ticket in 1994, then your child in 2004 must now fall in the 13-19 year old range. If you bought and used it in 1984, then the "child" must now be in the 23-29 year old range, etcetera etcetera. If they are not, then Disney reserves the right to offer you nothing more than the dollar value of the unused admissions towards a new adult ticket.

A note on this: if your child is now 11 or 12 years old, you can continue to use the old child's ticket as is and have no problem at the gate. The only time that you may run into a problem is when you have an older teen trying to use it. That is when you should exchange the child's ticket. Don't bother going to Guest Relations for an 11 or 12 year old, just use it as is."

So it looks like your daughter is all set.

 

[kichan]

Thank you for your responses. I knew there had to be a way for Disney to deal with this, since I'm sure it has happened more than once in the past.

I will ignore JerJan's somewhat rude response about it being WRONG!! I simply had a question, and knew that someone on this board would have an answer. JerJan - at least now you also know that you can do the same thing if you are ever in this situation.

 

[DVCLiz]

Thank you for your responses. I knew there had to be a way for Disney to deal with this, since I'm sure it has happened more than once in the past.

I will ignore JerJan's somewhat rude response about it being WRONG!! I simply had a question, and knew that someone on this board would have an answer. JerJan - at least now you also know that you can do the same thing if you are ever in this situation.

kichan - I'm glad you got an answer that made you happy!!! In JerJan's defense, there have been, by my count, at least ONE MILLION posts recently asking about the use of a child's ticket for an older child. And those posts are almost ALWAYS asking how to "cheat" the system. Many of them even start out, "I know it's wrong, but how can I...?"

Many of us who are rule followers get very irritated at this mindset. Without knowing the particulars of your situation, and since you didn't say anything about being willing to pay for an upgrade if necessary, JerJan (and I, although I didn't answer) assumed, "Oh, boy, here we go again." So I'm sorry you felt the response was rude, but there is a little history that makes it much more understandable.

Now everyone play nice...

 

[mickeyfan2]

Disney does not penalize a princess for growing up. Got to guest relations and explain it to them. They should up it to an adult ticket for her.

 

[tjmw2727]

Like others have said there is no cost to upgrade the ticket for your dd. I have actually done this twice with my nephew and my dd. With my dd we did it a guest relations at Epcot, it was very quick and easy.

The child must be present and the dates must make sense so don't try and get it done "ahead of time" like I did, LOL. I went ahead one morning as I was ready and dh and the kids were daddling. Had to wait for them but that was my fault not wdw's.

TJ

 

[JerJan]

Nothing like the first response on a thread judging someone..

and being wrong!

An apology maybe?

I owe no apology, I was answering based on my previuos experience when I exchanged my DD child ticket for an adult one. I was saying that it was wrong in my opinion to try to "beat the system".

Thanks DVCLiz! You got it right the way her question was worded it appeared as though she was looking for approval to use a childs ticket for her 10 year old. I even staed that it should/could be exchanged for the proper ticket.

 

[In a hurry]

I owe no apology, I was answering based on my previuos experience when I exchanged my DD child ticket for an adult one. I was saying that it was wrong in my opinion to try to "beat the system".

Thanks DVCLiz! You got it right the way her question was worded it appeared as though she was looking for approval to use a childs ticket for her 10 year old. I even staed that it should/could be exchanged for the proper ticket.

How odd that they made you and no one else pay extra for your child's upgrade. We went assuming that we would be, but were told that it wasn't the case.

 

[tjmw2727]

How odd that they made you and no one else pay extra for your child's upgrade. We went assuming that we would be, but were told that it wasn't the case.

One difference could be if you are adding additional days, that would generate an additional charge. WDW would just take the value of the days left and convert it to an adult ticket with the additional days. Otherwise there is no cost to upgrade from a child to adult ticket - for the same child with the same # of days and plus options.

IMHO it is usually best to use old tickets as is esp childrens and purchase additional days separately. There are always excpetions of course but this is just about always true when a child turns 10 with leftover days.

I do think we can all step back a bit and answer a question with the options available to the OP but without all the judging and assumptions that have been flying around lately. (not just on this post either )

TJ

 

[JerJan]

It's not "ODD" and I think that you "ASSUME" way too much............ I simply answered the original question. Just because you and and few other responders here didn't have to pay doesn't mean that others didn't. Good for you for not having to pay for the upgrade.

 

[tjmw2727]

It's not "ODD" and I think that you "ASSUME" way too much............ I simply answered the original question. Just because you and and few other responders here didn't have to pay doesn't mean that others didn't. Good for you for not having to pay for the upgrade.

Honestly, if you did have to pay to exchange a childs ticket, as is, the CM who did it made an error. FWIW it is not considered an upgrade unless you add additional days and or options in which case you pay for the days and the change from child to adult. I am pointing this out for others reading now and in the future who are in the same situation. The child must be present and the dates must make sense but there is absolutely no charge to convert a ticket, as is, from a child pass to an adult adult pass.

I have actually done this in person twice, once for my nephew a few years ago and with my dd in October.

HTH
TJ

 

[In a hurry]

It's not "ODD" and I think that you "ASSUME" way too much............ I simply answered the original question. Just because you and and few other responders here didn't have to pay doesn't mean that others didn't. Good for you for not having to pay for the upgrade.

HUH? I assume too much? I assumed we would have to pay to upgrade! What the heck is your issue with that. Took the kid to the desk, with the ticket, and they told me that they don't bother to reticket, unless the kid is obviously older looking, and there is no cost.

I assumed nothing about you. Go back and check it out before you get snarly, sometime.

eta: Frankly, I was feeling bad for you because you were ripped.

 

[pezpam]

It's not "ODD" and I think that you "ASSUME" way too much............ I simply answered the original question. Just because you and and few other responders here didn't have to pay doesn't mean that others didn't. Good for you for not having to pay for the upgrade.

No, you didn't answer the original question, really. The OP stated clearly that she was looking to use a partially-used child's ticket for the same child who was now over 9. Disney's stated policy is to allow kids in that situation to use those tickets. It's probably easier on Disney than the alternatives, but either way, it's their business decision.

I use FPs within my window. I don't use my DDs DP credits for adult meals. I don't cut in line or save 83 spaces on the curb for a parade. However, I do know that being charged to upgrade my DDs ticket (if we were in that situation) wouldn't be Disney's policy unless it were totally unused. It's not even stretching a rule, much less breaking it.......

 

[Evil Queen]

I too, will have this same situation. Bought the PAP when he was 9, next trip he'll be 10. Was given different opinions on to exchange it or not.

I will go to Guest Relations and get it changed, but not because it's right or wrong, but last trip the fast pass machines wouldn't give us passes half the time. We learned after 2 parks to go ahead and go to guest relations first thing, to make sure they would run through the FP machines. One CM said, "Hmmm, the reason it won't give FP's is because the tickets were showing us as NOT in the parks." So while I am there I will do the exchange, just to be on the safe side.