I used the online tickets a few weeks ago, and because the queue at the normal ticket desks was so short, we simply redeemed them there. I cant say it was obvious where we were meant to go on arriving at the park, there may have been a particular desk specifically for them, and it seemed that certain turnstiles were set aside for redeeming the vouchers too. It wasnt especially fast to get the tickets exchanged, but I imagine it would usually save a lot of queue time. You *must* have ID with you, they are very strict, and definitely read the small print carefully (this nearly landed me in trouble). Also, all tickets made in the same booking seem to have to be handed over together.
For me, the online tickets actually turned out to be an utter fiasco. However, before reading the tale of my near-disaster, I can say that all the friends with me had no issues with theirs, and overall its a functioning and swift system. It might be easiest for you to get them at the
Disney Store in person if you have that option though.
So what went wrong:
My friends stepdad booked us the tickets for us online. So that its secure, the voucher you print off has your name on it, and a sort of security image thing which includes your name repeated across it. That way theyre not easy to forge, and at the park, you have to show ID, ensuring that only the actual ticket holder can use the ticket. However, because someone else booked my ticket, the tickets also had his name on them at the bottom, because hed made the booking. So when we went to redeem the tickets, the CM insisted that
he had to be present with his ID before we could get tickets. At the time, we just accepted that we were in the wrong, bought new tickets, and had to hope that we would be able to get a refund on the online tickets we hadnt been able to use.
Later in the day, my friend phoned her stepdad to explain, he checked out the details himself, and it turned out that we were correct all along, and we definitely should have been able to redeem the tickets. After hearing that, we had an adventure trying to sort it all out. It took a while to get the message across at City Hall, because of the language barrier and also that its all a bit complicated. Eventually things were figured out, we were sent over to Guest Relations outside the park to talk to the actual ticket people. They grasped things a little faster, and were really awesome at sorting it out. I got the new tickets Id bought refunded.
Really, I dont blame the CM for being confused, because the online tickets certainly do have their complexities. Even though it worked out in the end for us, it wasted a lot of time trying to get refunds, and I would say that you should definitely ensure you have the booking in your own name to avoid confusion. Or just cut through the whole problem and get the tickets at the Disney Store!
Sorry for the epic post length, but I think its worth putting some warnings about the online tickets out there
