Stockpiling Tickets

[DisneyStarWisher]

I am thinking of going ahead and buying some tickets for a family trip that will be happening in a couple of years. Most of us will be using NE tickets, but a few of us will need some extra days. The plan is to do three park days, park hopping one or two days. Here's who will be going:
DH51-3 PH days left (needs 0)
DW48-2 PH days left (needs 1 non-PH)
DS23-1 PH day left (needs 2-day PH or non-PH)
DS23's GF-no days (needs 3-day PH)
DS21-3 PH days left (needs 0)
So this year, I will have $125 in Disney GCs left over. I am thinking of going ahead and buying my 1-day non-PH ticket. The plan is to buy a MK ticket since that's probably the park we would spend a whole day in. The thing is I'm not sure when we will be going. It will probably be Thanksgiving, which will require a peak ticket. What would happen if we went during a non-peak time though? Do I just lose the extra I paid for the peak option?
Also, I should be able to go ahead and buy my DS's and his GF's tickets early next year, but what happens if they can't go? If I go ahead and buy a 2-day PH and a 3-day PH, would I be able to use what I paid for them toward an annual pass later?
I'd like to get the tickets in advance to lock in the cost before price increases, but I don't want to lose either due to unexpected issues.
Also, if we decide to just PH one day, how do I justify "losing" that feature on our existing PHs? Seems like such a waste. But buying a 2-day PH for my DS23 will save us about $65 right now. And he doesn't like to PH anyway.

 

[Lesley Wake]

One thing you have to consider now is expiration dates. Tickets expire on Dec 31 of the year after you purchase; a ticket bought now will expire at end of 2018. A ticket bought Jan 1st will expire at end of 2019. Right now the working theory is once the ticket expires you will still have the value you paid for them in your account which you can put towards a future ticket at the higher price, but no one has had a ticket expire yet so it is unknown (first tickets will expire at end of this year). So if you aren't going until 2019 I wouldn't buy tickets until January.

For the annual pass question, if you buy a ticket you can use that towards upgrading to an AP, but I believe only one ticket can be used. So if you have 2 unused tickets you have to choose one.

If you buy a peak ticket and go on a regular/value day you lose that extra. Same if you buy a park hopper and don't use it to hop. You can upgrade a base ticket to a PH though.

 

[Alesia]

I agree with everything that @Lesley Wake said.

I would also add that buying tickets before you're sure about your plans isn't really a smart plan.

 

[otten]

I don’t think there’s any value in stockpiling tickets unless you find a good deal on tickets that don’t expire. We did buy 8day tickets for a trip that isn’t until 2019 but that’s because they’re Canadian resident tickets that don’t expire until 14 days after first use and we wanted to take advantage of that deal before it disappeared.

 

[buyerbrad]

I currently have the following non-expiring tickets stockpiled from the Canadian ticket deal and Airmiles:

4 adult 4-day passes
3 child 4-day passes
2 adult 5-day passes (from Airmiles)
1 child 5-day pass (from Airmiles)

When my Airmiles post from the Sobeys' giftcard deal, I plan on getting one more non-expiring 5-day child pass.

This will cover us for our next 3 trips as my 2 year old daughter won't need a ticket when we go at Xmas this year.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

The only reason I was thinking of doing this is because I get quite a bit of free Disney GCs through my wellness program. Enough for the tickets plus most of our meals. I was just thinking of going ahead and buying the tickets as soon as I had enough GCs in order to lock in the prices. I wouldn't be out any money since I'd be using the free GCs. But that is good to know about the tickets expiring at the end of the next year. That seems a little risky. I may go ahead and buy my 1-day ticket in January since I know that my DH and I will be going twice by the end of 2019 (we go every year) and I need one more day anyway to catch up to the amount of days he has. But I think I'll wait on the other tickets until we are sure of plans. I'll just hang on to those GCs and use them closer to time. Thanks for all the information.

 

[goofyernmost]

That is what many of us did for years by buying 10 day, non expiring tickets and using them up over a number of years for short trips, etc. I'm sure that is why that ticket no longer exists. So stockpiling will only work if you are using all of them within a year. Yes, you get your value back, but, why tie up that much money if you are only going to have to sell them back and then buy at a higher rate. BTW, this one year valid thing is a very recent addition to Disney's "sock it to ya" pricing system. It has stopped me from making multiple trips, buying food, gifts, etc. I guess that income is parking meter change to them. Their loss. I will use the money for other things.

PS. I'm not sure of this, but, I suspect that they will not just flat out give you your money back. If you don't do the swap, old expired for new more costly tickets... you can use them for trash can liners only. They keep the money... you get, well you know what you get. And remember that only applies to tickets that have never been used. Any ticket that has a few remaining days will expire 14 days after the first usage. They get to keep that money too. The whole system is very one sided, deal wise.

 

[Darbie]

I don’t think there’s any value in stockpiling tickets unless you find a good deal on tickets that don’t expire. We did buy 8day tickets for a trip that isn’t until 2019 but that’s because they’re Canadian resident tickets that don’t expire until 14 days after first use and we wanted to take advantage of that deal before it disappeared.

I believe all tickets expire 14 days after first use.

 

[mesaboy2]

I believe all tickets expire 14 days after first use.

Certain FL resident tickets do not follow this rule.

 

[TiffanyA]

Yes, my family's FL resident tickets always have a good for date of 6 months after first use.