Park tickets [a change regarding buying tickets from a broker vs. Disney] - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Park tickets [a change regarding buying tickets from a broker vs. Disney]
There is a VERY long thread over on the DIS boards regarding some changes to Disney's ticket policy. ). This is a Heads Up.
The gist of it is that there is a very good possibility that if you bought your tickets from anyone other than Disney directly and you want to add a day or add water park options, you may not be able to do so. What's being reported is that if you buy tickets from Undercover Tourist or Maple Leaf or such, that what you buy is what you'll have to use.
I know that a lot of people buy tickets from outside brokers at a lower amount than they think they'll need, planning on upgrading if they decide to do another day in the parks. You may not be able to do this. You'd have to pay the one-day ticket price (~$100) if you want to enter the parks.
The problem is that Disney hasn't seemed to have made an announcement about this, but AllEarsNet has recorded this on their website and the new policy is supposed to have started on Feb 24 (when prices went up).
Just be very sure of what you order in the future. Make sure you buy enough days to cover your trip needs.
Thanks for the heads up. This sounds like the sort of thing we should have in our newsletter tomorrow! Any additional information would be appreciated.
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You're welcome, Jennifer. I hope you have some luck in getting some definitive answers.
Apparently, it's in their Park Ticket FAQ at All Ears.
I debated whether I should post this since it's not definitely confirmed, but since there seems to be some rather good evidence that it is a new policy in place, I thought it better to forwarn folks here than have them surprised. If it turns out to be just rumor, then nothings really lost, right?
I just called and spoke to a cast member at Disney Ticketing and they tell me that the tickets purchased from non-Disney sources (i.e., Undercover Tourist and Maple Leaf Tickets) can still be upgraded at Guest Services. However, that cast member may not have known about the changes. I am calling again to see if I get a different answer.
On the third call, I got a cast member who told me -- three times -- that only tickets purchased through Disney (including DisneyWorld.com) are "guaranteed." This is what he said, word for word, three times: "Only tickets purchased through DisneyWorld.com are guaranteed" no matter how I worded the question. It seemed clear, in this case, he'd been told what to say to this question. He wouldn't answer anything else I asked, only kept repeating that sentence. Now I will contact Undercover Tourist and Maple Leaf Tickets.
I spoke to Omar at MapleLeafTickets.com and he explained what's going on. He says the tickets can still be upgraded at a pro-rated price, but there are two caveats:
1. It must be upgraded within 7 days of first usage. If not, it cannot be upgraded.
2. Disney is looking at whether the tickets were bought before or after the price increase to determine how much the pro-rated price would be.
Either of these could be source of confusion/trouble when a guest goes to Guest Services with a pass for upgrade.
I should note that Omar wasn't aware of the notice on AllEars.net either.
I asked our friends at AllEars.net about this, and the information has now been reworded based on new information that surfaced this morning for Jack Marshall. Here's the new information:
Quote:
Last week, we became aware of an apparent unannounced change in Disney's policy regarding tickets that were purchased from non-Disney sources. Several guests reported that when they attempted to add a day to a Magic Your Way ticket purchased from a non-Disney source, they were refused and told that they would have to spend more than $100 for a single-day ticket. Several tried at both their resort concierge and at a guest relations window and were told the same thing.
We called the Disney Ticketing office and and spoke to a supervisor. We were told that commencing with last week's price increase "third-party tickets can no longer be upgraded to passes at a pro-rated rate, have days added, or have options added at a discount." A different call to a second Disney source confirmed this, but added that this does not affect AAA.
On the basis of all that, we changed our ticket FAQ to reflect what we believed to be the new policy. We expect that we will learn of policy refinements as time passes, and will keep watching the situation and listening to our readers' comments about any problems or successes they have had in this area. - March 3, 2014
Update March 5, 2014: This apparent policy change affects tickets bought from third-party sellers by guests who may be hoping to avoid an increase in gate ticket prices. The change requires you to pay the difference between the old ticket and the new ticket first, before any upgrade. We have no information yet on how Disney will separate those ticket purchases from ones that were made prior to the latest increase or how many previous price increases may be affected.
Thanks for this info! Am I correct in that, if tickets are purchased through a third party vendor, but no changes are necessary for our stay, we have nothing to worry about when we go to the parks? I am just a little concerned with all of the changes at WDW this year!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GoofyAriel
Thanks for this info! Am I correct in that, if tickets are purchased through a third party vendor, but no changes are necessary for our stay, we have nothing to worry about when we go to the parks? I am just a little concerned with all of the changes at WDW this year!
Thanks for the heads up! I was planning to buy an 8 day ph and water parks & more from UT, then adding an additional day. UT doesn't offer 9 day tickets. I'll see what I'll do now.
I've now heard back from Ian at UnderCoverTourist.com, who had this to say:
Quote:
Our tickets are exactly same as the ones bought at the gate from Disney World.
They can be upgraded. The only change to policy this year is that if you buy tickets before a price rise and ask for bridging after price rise – Disney World will only give you credit for the Gate price at the time the tickets were bought – no longer the current gate price. So no double dipping so to speak.
So buy the tickets you need, if you don’t know exactly, go ahead and buy with full knowledge that you can upgrade and get the gate price as a credit, but if you happen to straddle a price rise you will only get the gate price (still locking in the discount!) but not a double discount. We have confirmed this in writing with our Disney World direct contacts
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Park tickets [a change regarding buying tickets from a broker vs. Disney]
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for the info, hiddenmickey, and all your research into this Jennifer! 
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