Ticket Purchases/Upgrades and Telephone People
Ticket Windows and Guest Relations Offices
There are Ticket Windows outside of all four theme parks, both water parks, Disney Quest and Wide World of Sports. The ticket windows for MK are at the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC). There are Guest Relations Offices (GRO) at all locations where there are ticket windows including inside the four theme parks, at the MK gate (in addition to the one at the TTC) and in Downtown Disney.
Every ticket window and GRO can sell any ticket available to the General Public, as well as Florida Residents and DVC Members. Every ticket window and GRO can also upgrade any ticket which can be upgraded, activate any Exchange Card/Voucher, and issue tickets from a reservation or voucher or replace a lost or demagnetized ticket. These capabilities include all tickets up to and including the WDW Premium AP. The only exception to this is the Disney Premier Pass (good at both WDW and DLR) which may only be purchased or upgraded to at a GRO.
In addition to tickets, the GRO will handle Lost & Found, Guest Recovery, and some very
complex problems related to lost tickets that cannot be easily resolved. The GRO at the Theme Parks and DTD can also make dining reservations and handle problems related to Resort Reservations.
Resort Lobby Concierge
At each Disney Resort the Lobby Concierge can handle
some problems related to tickets. If the ticket is on your room key (KTTW) they may do upgrades or remove the ticket on to a separate card. If your ticket is on a separate card they can transfer it to your KTTW
provided there is no ticket on the KTTW. The LC cannot do anything related to any variety of annual pass. Also they may not be able to deal with No Expire tickets or paper tickets that were issued during a prior visit.
Other Ticket Purchase Locations
There are three other ways to purchase tickets, which will fall into the general categories of Safe, Problematical and To Be Avoided.
Safe would include The
Disney Store, AAA Offices, Online (or by phone) directly from Disney, the Earport at Orlando International Airport, locations at Official Florida Welcome Centers or at Florida Turnpike Rest Stops, and a number of "Authorized Resellers".
I will not attempt to list this last group, but many of them are discussed in this and other forums. They will have the Official Disney Ticket logo on their web site and/or their physical location.
Depending on the location and type of ticket purchased from these locations you will receive either be a "live" ticket which can go directly into the turnstiles or a Voucher/Exchange Certificate which has to be activated or exchanged at any WDW ticket booth or GRO.
Problematical basically is time share locations. They may require you to attend a presentation and promise either free or reduced price tickets, or will do direct sales. It would be extremely rare for them to provide you with live tickets, usually you will receive a voucher which must be exchanged for tickets at a ticket window or GRO. If the ticket, or the voucher, says on it "Touch of Magic" the resultant ticket
cannot be upgraded or modified in any way.
To Be Avoided is any private seller unless you know them personally, anybody on eBay, anybody on Craigslist (or similar) and anyone in a storefront or kiosk in either the US-192 or International Drive areas.
There is no way you can tell by looking at any ticket what is actually available on the ticket. Many of these locations may be trying to sell expired or fully used tickets. The date shown on a ticket is only the physical date that particular ticket was printed. It could be a replaced demagnetized ticket or one that had days added.
If you have a problem with the turnstile finger scan and cannot provide information to satisfactorily show the ticket is yours it could be canceled and you would have to buy a new ticket on the spot to get into the parks.
Telephone Advice
Whenever you call Disney, unless you have been told by a person that the specific number is actually a direct line, you will get a Call Center.
The Disney Reservations Center (DRC) has locations in Orlando, Tampa, Houston, Utah and North Carolina. Some of the people at these call centers may have never been to WDW. They will identify themselves as Walt Disney Travel Company or Central Reservations Office (407-W-DISNEY) or Dining (407-WDW-DINE) The Annual Passholder line (407-WDW-PASS) or Tour Reservations (407-WDW-PLAY) or any of several other numbers.
The Main Switchboard (MS) is the main number (407-824-2222). It is also the Resort phone number on the back side of your Resort Reservations form. They are the ones that you get if you press "0" from any telephone on property. Also, if you try to get your Resort Front Desk from a room. They also answer all calls to The Walt Disney Company Corporate Offices in Burbank. If you ask, they will identify themselves as "Guest Services". MS can connect you to any telephone on property, as well as transfer you over to DRC if needed.
Everyone at both DRC and MS have access to a very large computer information system called The Hub. Answers to almost all questions can be found there if you dig deep enough.
The people at MS do not deal with tickets at all. The people at DRC can sell tickets either as part of a package or separately. The people at DRC do not handle any ticket problems or upgrades. If you have anything question all about upgrades, replacements, expiration or anything else about tickets you cannot rely on any information from DRC or MS. If they give you incorrect information it is because they do not understand what they are doing even though they are trying to help you.
Other than actually going to a ticket window or Guest Relations Office your best source of answers to ticket questions is actually DisBoards. If some answers your question incorrectly there will probably be at least a half dozen people jumping in to correct the error or misunderstanding.
