Your Experience with Buying Disney Admission Years in Advance & Using Them

[newageretro]

I know that the Disney company policy is to accept old unused admission tickets.
Here is my question to the group.....

What is your experience with pre-buying admission tickets? how/where did you buy it?, What was your experience when you went to use old tickets? Was it worth the effort?

My motivation is that I am about to have my first child and I feel that I will only be able to take my kids to Disney World once for a family vacation. However, I myself am a Commando Planner/Traveller so I will want to wait until my kids can keep up with me before I take them, so I will likely be experiencing a 10-15 year break from Disney Parks. Looking online I can see that in the last 10 years, the price of admission has just about doubled, so in an effort to keep ahead of the curve, I was thinking about buying 4 adult passes now, to use one day far in the future.

Any feedback and experience stories would be greatly appreciated. Especially if something went wrong.

Thanks!

 

[seashell724]

I'm interested too. I bought mine quite a while back when they were paper tickets, not too long before they turned electronic. Due to different circumstances we now want to use them next year and hoping it all works out!

 

[newageretro]

I knew of the possibility for a while, but the topic came up on the recent Dis Unplugged Solo show and it really motivated me to take this idea seriously.

 

[DetroitDisney]

If you are going on vacation next year, sure, buy your tickets now as they will likely increase in price in the next year.

If you are going on vacation in 5 years or more, it likely doesn't make sense and here's why.

This system theoretically benefits you by hedging against the price of ticket increases. But if you put that same money into an investment account, you would earn gains similar to the price increases, but have the ability to use that money for anything in case another need arises. Example. Tickets increase 10%/yr, you earn 7%/yr on your money. You only lose out on 3% per year by keeping liquid cash, which amounts to very little. And there is no guarantee the prices increase that much each year, so you could likely come out way ahead in your investment account.

If you have tons of cash to burn, go for it. You might save a FEW bucks. But if you're thinking of doing this to save money on the tickets because you need the savings, then keep your money and invest it.

 

[Jimsig]

I'm interested too. I bought mine quite a while back when they were paper tickets, not too long before they turned electronic. Due to different circumstances we now want to use them next year and hoping it all works out!

Last year I used a couple days worth of tickets (non expiring) that I had purchased back in 2002. Disney has changed some ticket policies over the years, such as getting rid of non expiring tickets, but have always grandfathered those previously purchased tickets so that you can use them.

 

[newageretro]

Hey DetroitDisney,
I get what you are saying, but at this point I am assuming that it will be a 15 year investment minimum, and the thing is that we do have the cash to put into this now, my thought is not about cash liquidity, but in $15 years from now am I going to kick myself for not doing this while it was easy to do (no kids yet). The cost of 4 adult passes has nearly doubled in the last 10 years, while it's not that much money now, what will it be later, and what will our financial situation be?
Even 3% for 15 years, and the knowledge that I WILL be going for sure one day, goes a long way.

 

[newageretro]

Hi Jimsig,
What did you have to do to use your tickets? just show up to the front gate and they worked?

 

[tzeitel]

I bought tickets 2 years in advance. What happened was that we were planning a trip so I got tickets. Then DFiL decided to take all the grandkids (and parents of course ) to WDW. He paid for everything and wanted to do the dining plan so we had to get tickets as a package. We got a really good deal for our tickets by buying on Orbitz through Ebates. Thing with Orbitz tickets is that they give you a voucher to redeem for the hard tickets. Since we were going anyway that was not a problem.

Anyway - I had the tickets for 2 years before we used them. No problem using them, added PH in the parks no problem either. I am sure it would be fine even after 10 years. DH still had some comp tickets from when we were CMs which we used at DLR. They were 12 years old - huge things with barely anything printed on them but the Disney system could still process them. We just went to the ticket booth and exchanged them.

 

[barkley]

we bought non expiring park hoppers for the maximum number of days they were available back in 2005 (I think 10 days was the max?). at that point in time ds was young enough to be considered a "child" for ticketing purposes. we didn't use all the days up so we took them along with us when we returned again in 2012 (by then ds was 15) and used them with no problems. we just had to show our i.d. to show it was us whose names were on the tickets-and as far as ds went, that at the date the tickets were issued he was indeed of the age to qualify him as a 'child'. on our last day at the parks we mentioned to one of the c.m.'s that ds still had one day left on his-they said to hang on to it b/c since it was issued as non expiring it will be good forever.

the only concern I would have w/buying admissions now to use years down the line is if the admission had to be activated within so many days of purchase esp. if it was for a specific age range (like ds qualifying under the child criteria). the other issue would be if it was purchased through a secondary party that later severed their partnership w/Disney that afforded decent discounts (like what's happened with aaa)-in that case, I would be concerned that just like the Costco/American Express "divorce" those discounted purchases may have a stale date w/no recourse on either party to go after years down the line.

 

[mom2t]

I bought tickets 2 years in advance. What happened was that we were planning a trip so I got tickets. Then DFiL decided to take all the grandkids (and parents of course ) to WDW. He paid for everything and wanted to do the dining plan so we had to get tickets as a package. We got a really good deal for our tickets by buying on Orbitz through Ebates. Thing with Orbitz tickets is that they give you a voucher to redeem for the hard tickets. Since we were going anyway that was not a problem.

Anyway - I had the tickets for 2 years before we used them. No problem using them, added PH in the parks no problem either. I am sure it would be fine even after 10 years. DH still had some comp tickets from when we were CMs which we used at DLR. They were 12 years old - huge things with barely anything printed on them but the Disney system could still process them. We just went to the ticket booth and exchanged them.

I went with my parents in 2000. We had non-expiring tickets with one day left on two tickets. Went to guest services in Downtown in 2014 and they transferred each entry paper ticket to the new plastic cards used. It took a little time but worth the effort. We were staying off site and only did one day at AK and MK and the tickets were park hoppers used my Disney rewards dollars on DS's ticket and paid a total of $17 difference for his one day park hopper.

 

[disfanforlife]

I have a few years of tickets that I bought in advance. When we became DVC members I knew we would be planning multiple trips. I bought enough tickets for 5 years for us, then we ended up buying AP's for 2 years. Then there was a great deal with orbitz through ebates for a 20% rebate about a year and a half ago. Now there is a promotion for $30 off Amex from UT. So, if there is a special I tend to buy ahead. But for my next trip in January, I am using some of the "older" tickets and had no problem linking them.

 

[Marionnette]

I know that the Disney company policy is to accept old unused admission tickets.
Here is my question to the group.....

What is your experience with pre-buying admission tickets? how/where did you buy it?, What was your experience when you went to use old tickets? Was it worth the effort?

My motivation is that I am about to have my first child and I feel that I will only be able to take my kids to Disney World/Land once for a family vacation. However, I myself am a Commando Planner/Traveller so I will want to wait until my kids can keep up with me before I take them, so I will likely be experiencing a 10-15 year break from Disney Parks. Looking online I can see that in the last 10 years, the price of admission has just about doubled, so in an effort to hedge my bets, I was thinking about buying 4 adult passes now, to use one day far in the future.

Any feedback and experience stories would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I have some very old tickets with days still on them. A couple of them are the old Park Hoppers from pre-2005 and there are two "World Passports" from the days when it was only the MK and Epcot. I also have a few no-expiry 10-day MYW hoppers with a few park days and plus options still on them. I was able to add one MYW ticket to my husband's name in MDE without any problem. If I'm not mistaken, you can also add PH and PHPs to MDE as well but i haven't tried it yet.

There are a couple of reasons that I might hesitate to purchase tickets at this time:

• You cannot take advantage of a Disney package if you already have tickets that you intend to use.
• If Disney opens a "fifth gate", your current tickets may not be valid for admission to that park.
• If/when Disney changes their ticket type (like when they changed from PHs to MYW), you probably will not be able to upgrade your ticket to add more days or other features. In fact, even though it is in their best business interest to allow ticket upgrades, Disney doesn't have to permit them at all and could revoke that courtesy at any time.
  
• There's no way of knowing -today- how long you will want to visit in 10-15 years. You could purchase a 10-day MYW base ticket and in 10 years you might only have time to visit for 6 but want to hop. In that case, you'll waste days and be stuck visiting one park per day. Or you might buy 5-day hoppers but want to stay for a week. In that case, you would end up purchasing 2 extra days of tickets at whatever the prevailing cost is for those 2 days.
• Disney could start adding expiration dates to the tickets that they sell. Right now, tickets that are unused do not expire. In the future, there's a possibility that won't be the case. When I entered my husband's old ticket into MDE, it showed an expiration date of 12/31/2030.
• Tickets can get lost or stolen.
• Older tickets often need to be exchanged for new ticket media before they can be used at the parks. All of those tickets that I have that pre-date Magic Bands do not have RFID chips. As long as I can link them in MDE and use a MB, it's not a problem but if I have no MB for that person, a visit to guest relations or a ticket booth is necessary prior to first use. Who knows what kind of technology they will be using years from now? Ten years ago, all my data went on a floppy disk. Now most of it is in the cloud or on a thumb drive.

Of course, none of those concerns might be a consideration for you. But they are worth thinking about before you jump on buying tickets that you won't use for more than a decade.

 

[DetroitDisney]

Hey DetroitDisney,
I get what you are saying, but at this point I am assuming that it will be a 15 year investment minimum, and the thing is that we do have the cash to put into this now, my thought is not about cash liquidity, but in $15 years from now am I going to kick myself for not doing this while it was easy to do (no kids yet). The cost of 4 adult passes has nearly doubled in the last 10 years, while it's not that much money now, what will it be later, and what will our financial situation be?
Even 3% for 15 years, and the knowledge that I WILL be going for sure one day, goes a long way.

15 years out, you will gain WAY more by putting your money into an investment. Compounding interest is your friend. Not trying to discourage you, but a constantly growing investment account will make you much happier than a voucher you need to keep safe somewhere, which of its destroyed you are likely out of luck.

Like some posters have said, if you want to buy a few years worth to use in the next few years, then sure. But buying tickets today for a trip in 15 years is a bad idea.

Besides, I forgot to mention inflation in my original post, which will only help you.

 

[smiths02]

OP,
I agree with DetroitDisney.

You also said Disney World/Land. Are those not totally separate tickets? I wouldn't buy tickets if I didn't know which place I wanted to visit. That sounds like a problem

And then you worried about your financial position in 15 years. So in 15 years, if you can't afford the ticket increase, you will be able to afford flights, hotel, and food? If you can't afford a WDW vacation in 15 years, won't you be in a bad place with 4 Disney tickets that maybe you can sell instead of a good mutual fund that you can cash in?

I would just buy a good mutual fund from a company with low fees (like Vanguard) with the money you have for your Disney vacation. In 15 years, it might be enough for your entire vacation!

4 adult Disney tickets-let's say 7 day MYW is $1383...so $1400 at a 7% rate (conservative) over 15 years is $3,862.64. Even in 10 years, you have $2754. Plus, that money can always be used for something aside from a Disney vacation

 

[Marionnette]

15 years out, you will gain WAY more by putting your money into an investment. Compounding interest is your friend. Not trying to discourage you, but a constantly growing investment account will make you much happier than a voucher you need to keep safe somewhere, which of its destroyed you are likely out of luck.

Like some posters have said, if you want to buy a few years worth to use in the next few years, then sure. But buying tickets today for a trip in 15 years is a bad idea.

Besides, I forgot to mention inflation in my original post, which will only help you.

Agreed! The only reason that I have leftover tickets is because we took a hiatus from Disney after the kids became teens. It wasn't planned, it was just how life sometimes turns out. My one son has an no-expiry ticket with most of the pluses and 5 days of theme park admissions because he hasn't been to Disney in about 10 years. He's had no desire, nor the time, to return during this period but the ticket is waiting for him when he changes his mind.

 

[seashoreCM]

15 years out, you will gain WAY more by putting your money into an investment. Compounding interest is your friend.

I beg to differ. AFAIK there are no such investments that:

1. Have my friend of compounding interest,
2. Will not go down in value due to adverse economic conditions either global or directly related to the investment itself,
3. Do not require constant attention and manipulation using information that has to be heard on radio and/or seen on television and/or read in publications,
4. Will or can be projected to be worth sufficiently more in 10 to 15 years to liquidate, pay applicable fees and taxes, and then purchase Disney tickets and more at that time.

If there were such investments then folks would already have gone to them in droves, to avoid such problems as,

5. Having to buy yet more tickets to go with an attractive resort and/or dining package leaving the previously bought tickets unused.
6. A change in the overall ticketing system, eliminating the ability to add days to older tickets without tremendous additional expenditure.

Historically, no Disney ticket has ended up being useful for less in the future compared with when it was printed, except for venues and facilities that no longer exist.

 

[smiths02]

I beg to differ. AFAIK there are no such investments that:
1. Have my friend of compounding interest,
2. Will not go down in value due to adverse economic conditions either global or directly related to the investment itself,
3. Do not require constant attention and manipulation using information that has to be heard on radio and/or seen on television and/or read in publications,
4. Can be projected to be worth sufficiently more in 10 to 15 years to liquidate and purchase Disney tickets and more at that time.

???
Go to vanguard.com, stick $1400 in a mutual fund with a good track record-won't require constant attention at all, it can be projected to be worth significantly more in 10-15 years
Of course, nothing is certain. Buying Disney tickets is not certain either.

 

[dcfromva]

We have a bunch of odds and ends tickets.
I recently took all our old tickets to WDW to convert them to the new ticket media so I can add them to MDE when I decide how they will be used in the future-so, I haven't actually used them.
They still had "bridging" the last time I used a really old previously purchased ticket. It worked out quite favorably to use it once and then convert it to an annual pass on the same day (I don't think bridging is an option with the remaining tickets I have anymore, though).

 

[Jimsig]

Hi Jimsig,
What did you have to do to use your tickets? just show up to the front gate and they worked?

I was able to call before my trip and have them added to my MDE account as I wanted to book FP+'s. As I had used some of the day already and they were older tickets I needed some information, like last park used and approx. date and some numbers off the back of the tickets.

If I had just show up at the gate they would have had a way to take care of me too.

 

[Anthony1971]

while I do have enough non expiring tickets to last me another 3-5 years, I do not consider this an investment nor would I make a 10-15 year investment if you want to call it that in park tickets.
The past way back Disney offered non expiring tickets only. In the late 90's or 2000 I believe it was they changed to length of stay tickets only as park attendance was super high as it is now. In or about 2004 or 5 they redid the whole ticketing again and offered expiring and non expiring tickets and advertised it has never been cheaper for tickets as park attendance was down..... You never know what type of ticket Disney will offer nor its pricing. If Disney switches to crowd pricing and it sticks... you decide to go in July maybe you will make out but if you go in September you may take a loss.... who knows???
In ten years the prices for a lot of things have doubled... Disney may not a priority in life 10-15 years from when you have kids now but how to pay for college will be... you are far better off opening a bank account with that intention.