What to do about tickets

[Carlen9]

we are planning our second trip to WDW in Sept. Going will be me, my dh and our three kids (son who will be 6 and twin girls that will be 5). We went almost three years ago when the girls were under 3. We have two adult and one child park hopper plus tickets with (1) plus option and no expiration. I want to purchase a package thru AAA staying on Disney property along with the dining package. I think it is better to have as much planned ahead of time as possible. My dh doesn't care for spur of the moment things and it never fails that something goes wrong when I don't plan ahead. I called WDW reservations to see if they could tell me the value of my tickets and see if I could trade them in new tickets when I purchase a package and they told me I could NOT put them towards a package and the only way to find out their value on upgrading is to personally take them to the Customer Service area of any park. Now I don't know what to do. I tried to price out on buying 2 days tickets with my package and then using the two days we have already when we go but we would still have to buy additional two days for the girls. And that only saved us about $100 when it looks like the tickets should be worth at least $300-400 for all 3. Any ideas?

Karen

 

[AJKMOM]

I do know you can only check what's left on your tickets at any Guest Services desk. They will let you trade your tickets on new ones.

I would think if you could guess what's left, maybe get the package and try to get passes with that many days not on them. For instance, if you are staying 6 days, get a 4 day pass for everyone. Then use what you have to get more if needed.

Did you check with any other travel agents about packages? With 3 little kids, are you sure you will get your monies worth with a meal package?

We booked once with AAA, and now have passes to "Discovery Island" which isn't even open anymore, and Wide World of Sports, which we don't go to. They wouldn't sell us just the tickets and room. I do it all online myself.

 

[eeyore0062]

OK, deep cleansing breath...
1)WDW tickets cannot be read over the phone and may only be read at the parks at Guest Relations or at the resorts by Guest Services. This is a security feature for the guest and a rule that is never compromised.
2)The old tickets do not expire.
3)If you only have plus features left, they have no value toward a new ticket.
4)Tickets that are over 1 year old are best left as is, as you will be loosing value when applying them toward anything else. Basically, the ticket is worth whatever the price was originally divided by the original number of days.
5)Old tickets can never be applied toward a package, only toward individual tickets...
6) If you are applying left over usage to new tickets, one one old tickets worth can be applied to any one new ticket.

You could use the 2 days left on your old tickets and then purchase whatever else you need, but remember, that in the long run, the cost of your ticket is actually cheaper per day the more days you purchase. Personally, since you want to purchase a package, I would leave the old tickets for another time and start new.

Good luck on whatever you decide.

 

[Carlen9]

I thought the dining package looked like a good deal considering we are definitely planning on doing at least one character meal and it will get us snacks and such thru out the day. I can see us eating all our meals in the park. We are not ones for leaving to go elsewhere. We already belong to AAA and get a 15% discount on the room which saves us about $200 for a deluxe room. I think it is too early for any other discounts but heard you can always apply them later if they come out.

Karen

I do know you can only check what's left on your tickets at any Guest Services desk. They will let you trade your tickets on new ones.

I would think if you could guess what's left, maybe get the package and try to get passes with that many days not on them. For instance, if you are staying 6 days, get a 4 day pass for everyone. Then use what you have to get more if needed.

Did you check with any other travel agents about packages? With 3 little kids, are you sure you will get your monies worth with a meal package?

We booked once with AAA, and now have passes to "Discovery Island" which isn't even open anymore, and Wide World of Sports, which we don't go to. They wouldn't sell us just the tickets and room. I do it all online myself.

 

[pplasky]

If you went over three years ago, the tickets might not be worth as much as you think. They will give a dollar amount based on what you paid for the ticket, not current ticket prices. I would either get tickets to make up the difference or save the older ones for a later trip depending on the value.

 

[seashoreCM]

Hint: Avoid buying new tickets to make up the difference, if your vacation is 5 to 10 days. Instead try to buy new tickets for the entire vacation and save the old tickets for the future. The number of dollars saved by using the old tickets first can be very small.

Alternatively, good value is had when the old ticket(s) are used as-is and the difference is made up with 10 day non-expiring tickets.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm