Tickets on Ebay/Craigslist?

[goofykb03]

So, long story short... my BF and I were planning a 10-day trip, which had to be reduced to 4 days. We were going to use our Give A Day tickets and then buy 6-day tickets (no park hopper/water park/etc). Now that our trip has been drastically reduced, our 2 options are to either buy a 3 day hopper, or a 5 day pass and just use multiple days on the pass in one day to go to a different park (it's actually cheaper this way - the 3 day hopper costs more than the 6 day no hopper tickets!!!)

Question is... BF was perusing Craigslist and mentioned it's quite a bit cheaper (like $100 or more cheaper) to buy someone's unused days. But... I'm very skeptical that either someone is lying about the expiration date, # of days remaining, or they are fake tickets. I guess Ebay might be a little safer with PayPal and being able to get a refund if the tickets are bogus (and we could always pay up at the box office in WDW if necessary), but has anyone had any positive or negative experiences buying tickets this way? I've been to WDW more times than I can count and have never bought tickets from anyone but Disney, but in the face of drastic changes to the plan that are going to cost us a lot of lost money already (changing plane tickets, etc), I'm trying to be open-minded. I'm very hesitant to even think about buying this way, so any input is appreciated!

 

[eelkmj01]

I would be way too skeptical to buy tickets from ebay or Craig's List for every reason you mentioned!

 

[Lynne M]

Question is... BF was perusing Craigslist and mentioned it's quite a bit cheaper (like $100 or more cheaper) to buy someone's unused days.

Disney park tickets are tied to the user by a finger scan. When you insert a ticket into a turnstile, measurements are taken of your fingerprint and those measurements are forever stored with the ticket.

So....once someone has entered a Disney park with a ticket, even just once, that ticket will not work for anyone else. You can't use someone else's unused days. If these tickets you're looking at are indeed partially used, they're worthless.

Buy your tickets through Disney or a reputable reseller, you'll save yourself a lot of headaches.

 

[Reddog1134]

Even if the seller is completely legitimate, used tickets are non-transferable. If he/she used some of the days on a non-expiring ticket, their biometric scan would be in the system so you would most likely NOT be able to use the tickets.

 

[vicki_c]

To the OP - besides the question about where to purchase (I agree with the PPs) your reasoning is faulty. You cannot use multiple days on a longer ticket to go to more than 1 park in a day. You can only do more than 1 park in a day if you buy a hopper.

 

[bradk]

Not to mention there was recently a bust on Craigs List with someone selling stolen tickets. All were invalidated.

Buyers of tickets found to be not legitimate will not be reimbursed by the parks and may in fact find themselves ejected from the property.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

I only needed to read your title to come up with my comment: Don't do it! It's a bad idea that will probably blow up in your face, not to mention its potentially illegal.

 

[Chaoticsweetness]

I agree with all the posters above, also if you wanna find a good deal try AAA or Undercover Tourist. Both have good deals.

 

[It'sWDW4me]

So, long story short... my BF and I were planning a 10-day trip, which had to be reduced to 4 days. We were going to use our Give A Day tickets and then buy 6-day tickets (no park hopper/water park/etc). Now that our trip has been drastically reduced, our 2 options are to either buy a 3 day hopper, or a 5 day pass and just use multiple days on the pass in one day to go to a different park (it's actually cheaper this way - the 3 day hopper costs more than the 6 day no hopper tickets!!!)

Question is... BF was perusing Craigslist and mentioned it's quite a bit cheaper (like $100 or more cheaper) to buy someone's unused days. But... I'm very skeptical that either someone is lying about the expiration date, # of days remaining, or they are fake tickets. I guess Ebay might be a little safer with PayPal and being able to get a refund if the tickets are bogus (and we could always pay up at the box office in WDW if necessary), but has anyone had any positive or negative experiences buying tickets this way? I've been to WDW more times than I can count and have never bought tickets from anyone but Disney, but in the face of drastic changes to the plan that are going to cost us a lot of lost money already (changing plane tickets, etc), I'm trying to be open-minded. I'm very hesitant to even think about buying this way, so any input is appreciated!

1 - DO NOT buy tickets on eBay or Craigslist for reasons mentioned numerous times above

2 - you must have the Park Hopper option if you want to visit more than one park on any given day. Yes, Disney knows it's cheaper to get multiple day passes and use 2 days' worth of tickets rather than buy the hopper. That's why they have a system that will lock you out if you try to enter a second park on the same day using only a base ticket.

 

[dacky041208]

So, long story short... my BF and I were planning a 10-day trip, which had to be reduced to 4 days. We were going to use our Give A Day tickets and then buy 6-day tickets (no park hopper/water park/etc). Now that our trip has been drastically reduced, our 2 options are to either buy a 3 day hopper, or a 5 day pass and just use multiple days on the pass in one day to go to a different park (it's actually cheaper this way - the 3 day hopper costs more than the 6 day no hopper tickets!!!)

You do know you can upgrade your GAD ticket, right? That way for your 4 day trip you would have a 1 day ticket and would only pay the difference for a 4 day hopper. A 4 day hopper (before tax) is 277, but you'll have a 1 day credit ($79 ) towards the price. That is cheaper than using the GAD and then buying a 3 day hopper.

But the PP are all right, you do need a hopper to go to more than 1 park in 1 day, and I would never buy tickets off ebay or craigslist. Too much of a gamble.

 

[Momofbeauty&2beasts]

Okay, I have a similar question then: What about all of those "cheap ticket" places along 192 in Orlando? How are they able to buy and resell unused tickets? On our way out last week, we still had a day left on our tickets so we stopped in one of those places to sell them.

Also, we went to the parks four days and we were only asked to put our fingers on the scanner thing the first day. I started to put my finger down the second day and the CM said it wasnt necessary and pushed us through the line

 

[ccgirl]

Do not buy from Craigslist or eBay. The potential savings will be negated when you attempt to use the ticket and can't and then have to buy tickets at the window. As a PP stated, you cannot use multiple days of one ticket to hop between parks on one day. If you want to go to more than one park per day you need a park hopper ticket. Another option is to use your GAD tickets and upgrade them to a longer ticket. For example, a 4 day park hopper and then deduct approx $80 when you exchange your ticket. You would have to do this when you get there. In general, WDW tickets are not discounted deeply even from the reputable ticket sellers (i.e AAA).

 

[RMulieri]

Okay, I have a similar question then: What about all of those "cheap ticket" places along 192 in Orlando? How are they able to buy and resell unused tickets? On our way out last week, we still had a day left on our tickets so we stopped in one of those places to sell them.

Also, we went to the parks four days and we were only asked to put our fingers on the scanner thing the first day. I started to put my finger down the second day and the CM said it wasnt necessary and pushed us through the line

Tickets are not transferable.Whether or not Disney utilizes the finger scanner all the time is immaterial, in times of high crowds they may elect to turn the scanner off to move people thru faster.However, transferring used tickets to someone else is against disneys rules

 

[Tara922c]

Well first off, your plan wont work. If you buy a 6 day pass, you can only go into one park each day, you can't use two days in one day. The way I look at it is when you buy a 6 day pass, disney is saying "you can pick one park a day, 6 times, within a 14 day period, add on park hopper, and you can go to multiple parks per day, for 6 days in a 14 day period". They know it is cheaper to buy a 6 day pass, rather then a 3 day park hopper pass, and that is why they make you do the hopper if you want to hop. No what would work is if you get a 3 day pass, and go to two parks in one day using your GAD pass, or you can apply the value to your GAD pass to your park tickets.

I would stay away from tickets on EBAY and Craig's list, because if you have a problem with them, Disney will not help you, and will not refund you! There is also no way of finding out if the tickets are legit until you actually get to disney. Also, many of the times, you have to pick up your tickets at a Timeshare place, and go on a long, long tour in order to get your tickets.

 

[ElementCamper]

QUOTE=Momofbeauty&2beasts;36253007]Okay, I have a similar question then: What about all of those "cheap ticket" places along 192 in Orlando? How are they able to buy and resell unused tickets? On our way out last week, we still had a day left on our tickets so we stopped in one of those places to sell them.

Also, we went to the parks four days and we were only asked to put our fingers on the scanner thing the first day. I started to put my finger down the second day and the CM said it wasnt necessary and pushed us through the line[/QUOTE]

Those "cheap ticket" sellers are doing exactly what is not allowed, buying unused tickets and selling them to 'rubes' who will attempt to use them and be denied at the park gate with the scanner system. When you go back to get a refund, you won't get one or they won't be there. BEWARE as the above posters have noted.

As far as being waved through, you got lucky. Scanner system may have been temporarily down or due to backup of crowds temporarily disabled. You cannot count on this.

Tickets are NOT transferable, CL and Ebay tickets are likely bogus. Save your money and buy legit tickets or use the non legit sources to save a few dollars and end up buying tickets twice, it's entirely your choice.

 

[Slayerextreme]

Disney park tickets are tied to the user by a finger scan. When you insert a ticket into a turnstile, measurements are taken of your fingerprint and those measurements are forever stored with the ticket.

So....once someone has entered a Disney park with a ticket, even just once, that ticket will not work for anyone else. You can't use someone else's unused days. If these tickets you're looking at are indeed partially used, they're worthless.

Buy your tickets through Disney or a reputable reseller, you'll save yourself a lot of headaches.

I disagree with the whole finger scan thing.....spent an entire week at Disney and never, not once did we ever have to scan/touch any of the biometric scanners they had at each turnstyle.......I actually carried mine, my wife's and my 6 year olds ticket everyday, and ran them thru the turnstyle each day myself...I bought those tickets thru undercover tourist with the extra savings from the mousesavers link (and I did the same thing for nexts week vacation to disney).....

I hate it, but I actually got 6 days of tickets and will probably only spend 3 or 4 days at the park......I am 100% sure that if I give my 2 adult 1 child tickets to anybody within the 14 day expiration of the tickets that they can get inside the gates of any of the Disney theme parks......

I have yet to see anybody asked to provide valid ID if they have a resident ticket let alone be harrased about a "generic" biometric scanner that doesn't actually take your "finger print" but it does take an approximate "size" of the print and "could" be used to determine a difference between an adult and a child......

your fingerprint with your unique Identification is not "magically" placed onto that ticket.....

Trust me, as a federal employee that has to go through numerous levels of security on a dailey basis..... I can safely say that the "mouse" does not have your fingerprints!!!!!!

PS.....I will always purchase my tickets through a legitimate source.....but I have no problem whatsoever, handing my tickets with leftover days to my daughter and her husband so they could enjoy a mini-vacation......I would never purchase "extra-day" tickets from craigslist or ebay either......

 

[maxiesmom]

I disagree with the whole finger scan thing.....spent an entire week at Disney and never, not once did we ever have to scan/touch any of the biometric scanners they had at each turnstyle.......I actually carried mine, my wife's and my 6 year olds ticket everyday, and ran them thru the turnstyle each day myself...I bought those tickets thru undercover tourist with the extra savings from the mousesavers link (and I did the same thing for nexts week vacation to disney).....

I hate it, but I actually got 6 days of tickets and will probably only spend 3 or 4 days at the park......I am 100% sure that if I give my 2 adult 1 child tickets to anybody within the 14 day expiration of the tickets that they can get inside the gates of any of the Disney theme parks......

I have yet to see anybody asked to provide valid ID if they have a resident ticket let alone be harrased about a "generic" biometric scanner that doesn't actually take your "finger print" but it does take an approximate "size" of the print and "could" be used to determine a difference between an adult and a child......

Your experience was not the norm. I was just at Disney World last week, during Spring Break, and only one time did I not have to put my finger on the scanner. People who like to pass the tickets around are the whole reason for the finger scan.

 

[purvislets]

My gut instinct is to yell NNNOOOO!!!!!

Whether or not you could get away with it or get lucky and actually get a real ticket, it's not worth the risk. And it's against the rules!

 

[Momofbeauty&2beasts]

But then how do those places that buy and sell tickets stay in business? The guy at the one we went to said he had been in business for 30 yrs in that same spot. I know that if bought tickets from one of these places and then was unable to use them, I would be right back there raising a stink about it, kwim?

Just scratching my head on this one.......

 

[purvislets]

But then how do those places that buy and sell tickets stay in business? The guy at the one we went to said he had been in business for 30 yrs in that same spot. I know that if bought tickets from one of these places and then was unable to use them, I would be right back there raising a stink about it, kwim?

Just scratching my head on this one.......

Just because something can be done (and is done) doesn't make it right. What those businesses do is against Disney policy plain and simple. For me, it's not worth the risk.