We got the ticket, now this is all about the rules...

[Samar]

I BOUGHT THE TICKET! END OF THREAD ALREADY!


****EDITED: This is a dead thread. The horse has been beaten, so to those who still feel the need to talk, have fun

 

[catherines_mama]

I'm just going to lay the law out for you and you can chose what to do, its not like me to tell you what to do.

Under 3 is free, Over 3 purchases a childrens ticket
I highly doubt they will card your toddler, as they did not card mine when she was pre-3 but tall for her age.

I have a neighbor who had a DD(5) who was small for her age and they did not purchase a ticket and just wheeled her in.

Have a fun trip!

 

[tjmw2727]

This is tough question to answer, you already know the rule but what are you going to do....utimately its yours to answer.

Disney requires admission for children 3 and older and as such "could" deny your son entry without a ticket. It gets more tricky with FP as he won't have a ticket to use in the FP machine so he won't have a fast pass. Many CM's will ask for his fast pass if he appears to be 3 or older when you are using the FP lane. How many times a day are you prepared to say "he is only two and dosen't need one?icket" and will he correct you?"

They won't card you - but they may engage your son in a friendly conversation to determine his age.

My experience in December and February was that about 50% of the time my sil just strolled through with my neice. While others have never been questioned at all including a friend of mine who's son was just short of 3 but very tall.

On our last trip with my DBIL and DSIL my neice was just over two and tiny but will talk till your ears bleed. Randomly and at least once a day a CM would engage her and be friendly. They were kind and considerate but always managed to ask her how old she was. Things like "hi cutie are you having fun, did you meet Mickey yet? Your a big girl how old are you?" So when I tell you that she wears about a size 18mos and probably won't ride the 40" rides until she is six that should give you and idea that she didn't look three.

Its a decison for your family alone and it is one you be faced with again and again, the movies are cheaper for 12yo's, its 10 for an adult ticket at WDW and your dd will be 10 a day before the trip, kids meals are for 10 and under.......and so on.

TJ

 

[maxiesmom]

I have read on here that if a CM thinks your child is over 3 and you do not have a ticket they can make you buy one. I am not going to tell you what to do, but you should at least be aware that you may have to buy a pass. It seems that the guest has to prove their child is under 3, not that Disney has to prove they are over, if that makes sense.

 

[lclark0621]

They CAN card you, if they think your child is over 3. It is CMs' choice.

We were there in March with some friends. We were there the week before their DD's 3rd birthday. They were asked for proof of age for their DD three different days!

The first day they had left a copy of her birth certificate in the hotel & did not want to trudge all the way back to the hotel to get it.

So they had to buy her a 1 day ticket. Then when they got back to the hotel, they took the used pass, receipt & the birth certificate to guest services & got their money back.

My DS was also on the trip & he was under 3 (will be 3 in July). No one ever asked us. And my DS is tall. But no one questioned us, but they did question our friends THREE different days.

So yes, you can get caught if you are trying to "sneak in" a child who is over 3.

 

[susykt4]

When I purchased my January, 2006 trip over the phone THROUGH the official WDW travel company, THREE different people absolutely refused to sell me a ticket for my son because he hadn't yet turned three. His birthday was November 8 and our trip started January 5. This was mid-October. I finally insisted that the CM ask her manager and she came back and said "If you just keep your mouth shut, you can save a lot of money."

My son is tall for his age, absolutely LOVES roller coasters and I wanted to be able to get him FastPasses so I did end up buying him a ticket. However, I seriously doubt anyone would "card" your child or question his age. I spent sooooo much time and effort to buy my 3 years and 2 months old child a stupid ticket! I wouldn't sweat too much over it- especially if your child isn't 40+inches and/or interested in the coasters, etc., that you may need FPs for!!

 

[bicker]

are they going to look at me and "card" him

Disney relies on the integrity of its guests to be honest about the age of their children. As long as you tell Disney he's over three years old, then it is up to them whether he needs a ticket or not. Sounds like some guests have experienced a good amount of generosity in that regard.

 

[Samar]

Thanks everyone. DS is about 36" tall and doesn't talk intelligably due to speech issues.

We bought a travel package and it only started at 3 day hoppers and didn't seperate the tickets so we could do it seperately. We'll take him to MGM and Animal Kingdom. We've done MK a couple times and DH and I will do Epcot by ourselves.

 

[Kayleebug]

We took DD to WDW about 2 weeks before her 3rd B-day. I was asked at Magic Kingdom how old she is. When I told them that she was 2 and would be 3 in a couple of weeks, they let us through. I didn't get the feeling that the CM believed me, but I was telling the truth. My DD is very short for her age but is very outgoing and talkative.

 

[tjmw2727]

Thanks everyone. DS is about 36" tall and doesn't talk intelligably due to speech issues.

We bought a travel package and it only started at 3 day hoppers and didn't seperate the tickets so we could do it seperately. We'll take him to MGM and Animal Kingdom. We've done MK a couple times and DH and I will do Epcot by ourselves.

The only issue with this is that the one day one park tickets are much more expensive than the multi day tickets. If you do end up having to buy a ticket on the fly for your three year old you won't get a discount. Keep that in mind - you may save hundreds if you get away with your lie. OTOH you may end up paying more for the 3yo's ticket then you did for your 3 day hoppers.

TJ

 

[Desnik]

To the OP:
My son also has speech issues and if asked, can't say how old he is. He was a preemie so he is really small for his age. He still wears 18-24 months clothing! No one thinks he is 3 years old! He really looks to be about 2 and has the language of an 18-20 month old.

With that said we will be in WDW 4/30-5/8 and he just turned 3 in March. We will be buying him a pass. An AP too!! We're all getting one and I wouldn't take the chance of not getting him a pass. Not because I am so moral, but I really couldn't take the embarrasment of being asked for proof and then lying in front of my kids to save a buck! I really don't have a problem paying for him because there is alot for a 3 year old to do in the parks.

We had an experience once with DD when she was 3. I had gotten a pass for her and used it at 2 different parks. Then while going to the MK one day a CM happened to be standing right at the turnstile when I was putting my pass in for me. DD was in a stroller. For some reason I didn't get her card out when the CM opened the stroller gate and waved me through. I wheeled DD through and was getting her pass out and the CM kept nicely telling me to "go ahead". There was alot of people behind me. Anyway, I said wait, I have her pass here. She told me not to worry and go ahead. Well, I admit it, I went through without putting her pass in. I couldn't believe what happened and DH just told me to be happy and let it go. After that I made sure when we went to the turnstile I had her pass out and in my hand. At 3 DD looked about 2, my kids are really tiny!!

 

[Twingle]

When we were there in December, my twins were just a little over two. They are very tall for their age, despite being premies! While we of course did not NEED to purchase them tickets, we were asked THREE different days for proof of their age. Also, there were some CM's that would try to engage them in conversation and ask generally about their age. Sometimes the girls would reply, sometimes not, but you can bet my six year old DS would let people know how old they were!

I understand that your child has some speech issues, but would he let them know he'd just had a birthday? When my DS turned three he told people about his party for about six months!

 

[JulieNMM]

Once when I went to DisneyLAND, I asked for a ticket for my son and he was sitting on the ticket counter next to me. The cashier asked how old he was and I said he just turned 3 and she said I didn't need a ticket for him. I said, well, by "just turned three" I mean he turned 3 last month and she said it's fine, just go on in and don't worry about it!

A few years later, I was there during Thanksgiving and DD was turning 3 on Dec. 4 (so about a week later) and the CM asked for her ticket. I told CM she didn't need one since she wasn't 3 (DD is very big for her age -- people think she and DS are twins and he's 2 years older!). The CM looked at me very very suspiciously and let us in, which is good because I didn't have her birth cert. with me! Oh and the CM asked my DD how old she was and she said "Six!". UGH! At least she didn't say Three! LOL

JULIE

 

[all4fun]

DS was 36" on our last trip to WDW but he was still only just about to turn two. No one ever asked him or us how old he was. He's in the 90th percentile for height. Last Fall we were at Disneyland and we were asked several times at the Grand Californian entrance to DCA how old he was, but never at the main gate. So it just depends on how old he looks and what CM's you come across.

I checked the ticket prices here on the Dis and it looks like they do offer 2-day passes, but you can only get them at the gate (at least it doesn't list an advance purchase price so I'm assuming you can only get them at the gate). Non-park hoppers "Base" tickets are about $110 I think. If it's worrying you a lot you can just get a pass at the gate so you don't have think about any more.

Oh btw my ds was a preemie, and speech delayed too. Today his speech therapist suggested I should start teaching him to say his age and since his birthday is in about a month to teach him to say "three". I said no way, we're going to Disneyland in less than 2 weeks and I don't want him telling the cm's that he's three already. I think I'm going to wait until we get back before I start working on that, lol. At any rate, after reading this thread, I'm definitely bringing a copy of his bc because of his height I wouldn't be surprised if we got asked again.

 

[jim and meesie]

If you plan on having tickets left over for another trip in a couple of years a ticket for your 3 yo that you just use as you need may be advantageous. I had leftover children's tix from 2001that had originally been used by my now 14 and 11 yos. It would be ridiculous to try to pass them off as children just to use the ticket so I asked at Guest Services. They upgraded the tickets for no additional charge (with all the days and pluses intact) to adult tickets for them. This was great and saved us some real money. The idea is that if the tix are truly non-transferable kids do get older and eventually the original owner of a child's ticket will grow to adult age eventually.

One other point, the finger scans appear to be phooey!!! We shuffled our passes around (they were all bought at different times on different trips originally) amongst our family for the whole week with not a scanning issue. Maybe it was because they were old passes and maybe it's only a random check, sometimes they do or not. Or just maybe it is to scare you enough to not ever think of using someone elses pass. I had no guilt, I bought all my passes for use by my immediate family and that's all that have ever used them.

 

[pandora174]

I think it's up to you to make the decision that your most comfortable with. My DS 3 is also a preemie with speech delays. He's also very tall. If asked he won't tell you his age. We went to Universal in Dec. the week after his 3rd b-day but I still bought him his ticket. For me I am a nervous nelly & dread any kind of embarrassing situations. & I was sure the toddler carding police would see right through me at the gate . By the way no one asked his age & we have taken him to Disney when he was 1 & 2x when he was 2 & no one asked his age. But now that's he's 3 we'll buy him his ticket at Disney when we go this year. I just don't like to worry about anything when I'm vacation.

 

[Gillian]

My 2 year old (3 in June) is very tall, strong and talkative for her age, so I am bringing along a birth certificate just in case when we go in April. No one ever asked my son how old he was in our 2 trips when he was 2, but he was small and quiet.

It's funny, but I feel guilty about not buying her a ticket, even though it's perfectly within Disney rules. And she won't be going on roller coasters or anything unusual for her age. She is a big eater, but that's a different story!

If asked, she will say she's 5.

 

[ibgrumpy]

DS will JUST turn 3 right before Disney and DH didn't buy him a ticket because of that fact and DS will not be doing 3 days with us, just 2.

Now, are they going to look at me and "card" him or is it o.k. that we didn't get him a ticket? I'm having a guilt-trip here and I need some advice on either side of the fence here.

TIA!

Don't feel guilty. Disney charges adult price for 9 year old.

 

[Tam1067]

Hi,

I think this is relevant to what you've been discussing.

I was in DL in California in 1999 going into the park. The woman next to us had a little girl with her. The CM working the front gate asked the girl how old she was, and the girl replied "I'm three." The mom claimed the girl was only 2 but had a birthday coming up in a few weeks and was getting practice telling everyone her age and was just excited about her age.

The CM then told the mom that if she wanted to enter the park, she either had to purchase her daughter a ticket or bring a birth certificate as evidence of the girl's age.

FYI...

 

[tjmw2727]

If you plan on having tickets left over for another trip in a couple of years a ticket for your 3 yo that you just use as you need may be advantageous. I had leftover children's tix from 2001that had originally been used by my now 14 and 11 yos. It would be ridiculous to try to pass them off as children just to use the ticket so I asked at Guest Services. They upgraded the tickets for no additional charge (with all the days and pluses intact) to adult tickets for them. This was great and saved us some real money. The idea is that if the tix are truly non-transferable kids do get older and eventually the original owner of a child's ticket will grow to adult age eventually.

One other point, the finger scans appear to be phooey!!! We shuffled our passes around (they were all bought at different times on different trips originally) amongst our family for the whole week with not a scanning issue. Maybe it was because they were old passes and maybe it's only a random check, sometimes they do or not. Or just maybe it is to scare you enough to not ever think of using someone elses pass. I had no guilt, I bought all my passes for use by my immediate family and that's all that have ever used them.

Ticket media is not transferrable and now with biometrics they can enforce this with adults. In the above senario if the tickets were purchased together they will pass on everyone's hand biometrics as they are coded that way. Otherwise it may have been random or they may have noticed that you were with a large party and assumed you may have mixed up the tickets. This may or may not happen.

Children don't have to use the biometrics since the hand changes so much. You are right though that disney dosen't penalize children for growing up. If a child turns 10 prior to using days on a non expiring childs ticket they will upgrade the remaining days and plus options free of charge. The child must be present and the current age of the child and other uses must make sense. Once the ticket is upgraded to an adult ticket the 10+ yo will then have the ticket tied to them an use the biiometrics.

If your point is that the OP buy a larger day admission ticket so the toddler will have non-expiring days to use in future visits that is a great idea and I agree. If the OP can afford it the 7-10 day can get the additional days down to as little as $2.00 per day.

TJ