Stupid question re: tickets

[xCourxCorex]

My mind is just not grasping what seems like should be an easy concept... can anyone just review this scenario and tell me if I'm doing something wrong?!

I have 5 days remaining of a 10 day non-expiring ticket. My fiancé and I are going to WDW for our honeymoon Oct/Nov 2016, and had planned to use the remainder of our days then (he has the same 5 left over days).

However, in the meantime, plans have been made to go January 2016 as my sister is competing in the college dance nationals event 1/15-1/16 so I will be going down for the weekend. We are *pretty sure* we'll get 2 park days in, but not sure yet.

Am I correct in thinking I should just use my magic band for however many days we end up in the parks in January (most likely 2 but I suppose could be just 1 depending on her schedule)...and then buy either 1 or 2 day pass to "replace" the days I used so that I'm back up to 5 for the honeymoon?

I am hoping to avoid any price increase coming in the next ~10 months also so I was thinking of getting the tickets via undercover tourist as soon as I return from the January trip and just adding them to my MDE account... does this make sense? Is there a better or easier way to be doing this?

TIA!

 

[C-CMom]

Just thinking out loud here, but... because once you have to buy another set of tickets anyway (you are thinking 2 days now) and the value is kind of loaded on the front end with the later days costing less and less, you may find better value in buying a longer ticket for the 5 day honeymoon and maximizing the value of the 1-2 days off your non-expiring ticket. You would have a few days left "in perpetuity" on your non-expiring, but those would retain (and possibly increase) their value. How about write out the math for the cost both ways to compare? Of course assumes the cost is feasible for you either way.
Good luck.

 

[supersnoop]

No expiration tickets are best for trips of 4 days or less. If you're going twice in the same year, you might consider an annual pass.

 

[chartle]

Also UT doesn't sell 1 and 2 day tickets at a discount.

As always

 

[mshanson3121]

Just thinking out loud here, but... because once you have to buy another set of tickets anyway (you are thinking 2 days now) and the value is kind of loaded on the front end with the later days costing less and less, you may find better value in buying a longer ticket for the 5 day honeymoon and maximizing the value of the 1-2 days off your non-expiring ticket. You would have a few days left "in perpetuity" on your non-expiring, but those would retain (and possibly increase) their value. How about write out the math for the cost both ways to compare? Of course assumes the cost is feasible for you either way.
Good luck.

This. You'll pay $192 for 2 days, or only $315 for 5 days. Save the tickets that don't expire for future short trips, use those for your January jaunt, and for that matter you can buy the 4 day/5th day free pass for around $300 depending on who you go through, so you'll save even a bit more.

 

[sharonabe]

One more vote to buy the tickets you'll need for honeymoon, but only IF free dining is offered for the time you will be there. You'll need to buy at least a 2-day ticket to get the free dining (IF it's offered) anyway. However, that means you'll need to wait until April/May to see if the fall free dining materializes.

 

[mmackeymouse]

Hate to piggyback off this person's question.

But, if you have a non-expiring ticket, and you have it attached to a magic band, will that convert it to an expiring ticket? I know that existing non-expiring tickets are being honored, but I just don't know whether to leave it on the card, or attach the card to my Magic Band.

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

Attaching NE tickets to MDE/MagicBands does nothing to alter their NE entitlement.

 

[xCourxCorex]

OP here - thanks for the replies so far!
We already have our room for the honeymoon (rented DVC points) so we're out even if there was free dining offered (but doubt it just given our dates).

About buying the additional tickets: so if I were to use 2 of my "current" NE days now (already on my magic band/account) and bought say 5 day tickets after the short trip next month... How does that work for my honeymoon trip? Will they automatically use my 5 "regular" days and not my NE ones first? Do I somehow indicate this to a CM at the gate?
I do agree it's only a bit more money for the extra days, although we aren't planning a return trip for several years after the honeymoon (trying to expand our travel options!) I don't doubt we will be back at WDW at some point though, so I guess even if I have 3 days that haven't expired that's still a savings because prices are sure to go up at least once if not several times before we go back?

 

[chloelovesdisney]

You can add on the new tickets in MDE (I would do it after your January trip) and go to guest services at the beginning of your honeymoon trip to prioritize the new tickets over the NE. I did this on our last trip. I only had to go to guest services the one time, but I did go back at the end of the trip just to confirm nothing wonky had happened and they did indeed only use the 5 day tickets and the NE were still intact.

I do the same thing with party tickets.

 

[mmackeymouse]

Attaching NE tickets to MDE/MagicBands does nothing to alter their NE entitlement.

Okay sooooo, do any of those unused NE days get saved into your MyDisneyExperience account? Do they go back onto the card ticket? Do you have to save your Magic Band?

 

[chloelovesdisney]

My NE ticket numbers still show in our MDE. I also kept the actual tickets just because it makes me feel better to have them lol. I don't think you need to save your Magic Bands, but I keep them anyway.

 

[bumbershoot]

Okay sooooo, do any of those unused NE days get saved into your MyDisneyExperience account? Do they go back onto the card ticket? Do you have to save your Magic Band?

"On" the magicband isn't actually correct.

Things are merely *accessible by/through" the magicband. You put something onto your MDE (reservations, ADR, tickets) and then a MB (or 8 or 12) is attached to your same MDE. That allows the attached MBs to retrieve the info from MDE when scanned at a mickey head reader.

So the non-exp tickets are on MDE. You have a MB on MDE. Therefore, it feels to you like the tix are on the MB.

If she has the non-exp tickets on MDE then gets new tickets, they are all there, on MDE, accessible by the MB. That's why you have to go to Guest Services to have them prioritize them. That just tells MDE what to use first.


I save MBs because they continue to be usable! I see no need to be wasteful and throw them out. I have 9 MBs right now and any of them would work with anything I have on my MDE.

 

[xCourxCorex]

Great info, thank you so much!

 

[larryz]

Is "Stay, Play, Dine" available during your planned Jan trip? If so, it might beat paying rack price for tickets...

 

[xCourxCorex]

Is "Stay, Play, Dine" available during your planned Jan trip? If so, it might beat paying rack price for tickets...

Staying at Saratoga with rented DVC for that trip too!