Picking up tickets early..

[sstanaford]

Don't know how Disney works but I know if my husband were to post emails sent to only employees on a public forum he would lose his job. Rachaelt might want to think before she posts.

 

[goNsoon2WDW]

I just called and had a lengthy and rather circular conversation with a very nice CM in guest services. The end result is that under no circumstances will tickets from a reservation be provided to a guest before check-in. She quoted an email multiple times that she said that she had recently received specifically sent out as a reminder with the availability of free dining.

I asked for the contact information for the appropriate department that had sent the email that she quoted so that I could share my disappointment. I was provided the wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com email and plan to share my thoughts.

I will be sending an email regarding this and letting them know that the message that I am receiving is to enjoy my time elsewhere (perhaps visiting Harry and his friends). That the additional money I would have spent at Disney by receiving my tickets early should be spent elsewhere.

On top of that I will probably be cancelling my unnecessary room reservation and going to stay at the Universal Resort for the first few days of our trip which will put us closer to where we will be spending our time (and money) for those three days.

I might encourage others to send an email sharing their thoughts around this policy.

 

[2forMe]

I just called and had a lengthy and rather circular conversation with a very nice CM in guest services. The end result is that under no circumstances will tickets from a reservation be provided to a guest before check-in. She quoted an email multiple times that she said that she had recently received specifically sent out as a reminder with the availability of free dining.

I asked for the contact information for the appropriate department that had sent the email that she quoted so that I could share my disappointment. I was provided the www.guest.communications@disneyworld.com email and plan to share my thoughts.

I will be sending an email regarding this and letting them know that the message that I am receiving is to enjoy my time elsewhere (perhaps visiting Harry and his friends). That the additional money I would have spent at Disney by receiving my tickets early should be spent elsewhere.

On top of that I will probably be cancelling my unnecessary room reservation and going to stay at the Universal Resort for the first few days of our trip which will put us closer to where we will be spending our time (and money) for those three days.

I might encourage others to send an email sharing their thoughts around this policy.

Good idea, I will be doing this as well. I find it a shame that they are doing this. I had wanted to pick up my tickets 2 days early, then upgrade them to AP so that I could stay on site with the AP rate (before check in with free dining). Icertainly will be recondering a room only reservation, as well as upgrading to |AP. Such a shame

 

[ewrisit]

I had the same issue last year. Unfortunately they did not waive the policy and I was not able to add three extra days to my 7 day pass to use on my split stay before dining started. I was not going to pay the 2/3 day park hopper rate when I had 7 days coming. I still stayed on Disney property but ended up going to sea world and universal. I am sure they are leaving monye on the table since the snacks, lunch, dinner purchased outside of Disney would have been spent at Disney if they allowed this.

 

[mom2rtk]

I had the same issue last year. Unfortunately they did not waive the policy and I was not able to add three extra days to my 7 day pass to use on my split stay before dining started. I was not going to pay the 2/3 day park hopper rate when I had 7 days coming. I still stayed on Disney property but ended up going to sea world and universal. I am sure they are leaving monye on the table since the snacks, lunch, dinner purchased outside of Disney would have been spent at Disney if they allowed this.

I agree. I just can't see most people buying the 2 sets of tickets. That's just nutty. And given that Disney has done this in the past for others, I'd probably be just ticked off enough to want to spend some money somewhere else.

I guess the only alternative would be to cut the package tickets back to 2 days and keep them for later, and buy new tickets for length of stay to activte when you arrive.

 

[Lehuaann]

The policy is no, due to previous fraud issues. It will no longer be allowed. We were sent several emails today reminding us of this.

More of a picking up tickets, then cancelling reservation thing.

So it; once was allowed, but no longer due to fraud?

This isn't really a policy change though, it's a policy that will be more strictly enforced.

The exact wording is what I posted. There have been times when guests have been allowed to pick tickets up early, on a case by case basis.

That policy has been the same for at least the last year and a half.

Now it; never was allowed, just allowed on a case to case basis?

Which is it; a new policy due to fraud, or an old policy that hasn't been enforced?

 

[Nermel9]

I agree. I just can't see most people buying the 2 sets of tickets. That's just nutty. And given that Disney has done this in the past for others, I'd probably be just ticked off enough to want to spend some money somewhere else.

I guess the only alternative would be to cut the package tickets back to 2 days and keep them for later, and buy new tickets for length of stay to activte when you arrive.

Theres no way I'm buying a one day ticket for our first day before our package begins! I'll either go to universal or check out different resorts or something but I'm not giving Disney more money for tickets that I already paid for. Oh well. This is really upsetting.

 

[BDL]

Good idea, I will be doing this as well. I find it a shame that they are doing this. I had wanted to pick up my tickets 2 days early, then upgrade them to AP so that I could stay on site with the AP rate (before check in with free dining). Icertainly will be recondering a room only reservation, as well as upgrading to |AP. Such a shame

If I'm reading this right, you are upset that Disney had discovered that they had a loophole and decided to plug it in?

I understand that you are upset that Disney chose this year to finally shut the door. And that because of this, the move would've saved you 100's or 1000's of dollars. But if you look around, just about every entertainment services industry is now enforcing what they used to just fly by, even though, whatever the infraction, had always been against policy. 3 years ago, you could hardly go to a movie without "theatre hoppers" entering the theatre about 10 min in. I see a few movies a year and haven't seen 1 in a while.

I know it's a fairly weak analogy. But Disney has a captive audience. For everyone who has kids (or everyone that is still a kid), there will be a voice that will come to you and say "I want to go to Disney."

As for Rachaelt ... She is just repeating the policy. She doesn't dictate it.

 

[Lehuaann]

If I'm reading this right, you are upset that Disney had discovered that they had a loophole and decided to plug it in?

I understand that you are upset that Disney chose this year to finally shut the door. And that because of this, the move would've saved you 100's or 1000's of dollars. But if you look around, just about every entertainment services industry is now enforcing what they used to just fly by, even though, whatever the infraction, had always been against policy. 3 years ago, you could hardly go to a movie without "theatre hoppers" entering the theatre about 10 min in. I see a few movies a year and haven't seen 1 in a while.

I know it's a fairly weak analogy. But Disney has a captive audience. For everyone who has kids (or everyone that is still a kid), there will be a voice that will come to you and say "I want to go to Disney."

As for Rachaelt ... She is just repeating the policy. She doesn't dictate it.

Sorry, I don't buy the fraud reason at all. Early pickups been going on for several years, and Disney would've nipped that in the bud a LONG time ago.

The way I'm seeing it is; we want more money, so let begin enforcing the rules to get it.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

I haven't read this thread, however when I called yesterday and split our stay to get FD, the first night we have the Military room discount with dining, then 6 nights of FD, the CM said it would be possible, but we would have to go to DTD or GR at one of the parks.

If this supposed "new" policy is going to be enforced, we will either wait that one night or take our money somewhere else we have never been before, and then cancel that one extra day of tickets in our package.

I know that $205 in room and dining I had booked and extra shopping won't hurt Disney too much, but maybe if enough people cancel that few days or take their money elsewhere, they will change the policy back.

 

[kathleendsm]

I'm failing to see the fraud potential here, and I can see it in lots of other places. In this scenario, I booked a FD package starting on a Monday, and then a room only package starting the Friday before. If I go pick up my tickets on Friday (and maybe add a few more days to them), spending money in the park, buying 3 nights at a Disney hotel, and likely buying food out of pocket, how does that defraud Disney in any way?

Even if people were picking up their tickets and cancelling packages, how does that constitute significant fraud? I'm not understanding.

If I were in this situation, I'd just book at a Universal hotel and enjoy FOTL for a few days, therefore spending $0 more in Disney than I would just with the FD package.

 

[Brian Noble]

Edited: My original post was:

Honestly, I'm not that surprised. The whole point of the "arrival date" blackout windows, combined with the requirement to purchase tickets was to give incentives for people to shift their trips away from blackout dates, and onto promotional dates. Someone "official" might be calling it "because of fraud", but that doesn't mean it's the real reason why.

But after reading the whole thread, I'm now not sure. Reading between the lines, I'm getting the sense that the Cast Members taking bookings are using strong language to encourage guests to avoid arriving on a blackout date, but that when the rubber meets the road, the parks/ticketing windows will still allow an early pickup. This is pretty consistent with Disney's take on other "guest conveniences"---publicly discouraged, but privately accepted.

I'm not sure I'd want to bet my entire vacation on it, but that's my lean right now.

 

[kar0066]

I just got off the phone with Ida in guest services. She confirmed that they will not longer extend the courtesy of being able to pick up park tickets prior to the start of packages. I guess we will be shortening our trip by two nights. My trip is in December. I don't know if I should make the changes now, or wait until there is a reversal in this policy. I asked Ida if she thought there would be a chance of a reversal and she said no because there was too much fraud in the past with duplicated tickets being issued. My flights are already booked, but the cost to change flights is still less that two extra nights at the resort.

 

[kathleendsm]

Honestly, I'm not that surprised. The whole point of the "arrival date" blackout windows, combined with the requirement to purchase tickets was to give incentives for people to shift their trips away from blackout dates, and onto promotional dates. Someone "official" might be calling it "because of fraud", but that doesn't mean it's the real reason why.

So then you hypothesize that Disney is trying to increase crowds at certain times and decrease them at others? I'm with you on the increase, but I can't imagine why they'd want to actively DISCOURAGE people from going to the parks and spending money, even if it's at a busy time.

Besides, if they wanted to do that, they could just stop letting people have the courtesy of booking a FD package if their stay falls anywhere within the FD dates. Lots of people are getting FD during blackout dates by booking one day before the promotion ends. In the early ticket pickup scenario, these folks are merely getting into the parks, not getting FD privileges.

That said, I may still have a fundamental misunderstanding of the issue here. Because I can see it even on things that I think are perfectly ok (like upgrading the 8 year old to an adult for FD, which I think is fine but also can see why others thing it isn't), but I am simply not getting why Disney wants to crack down on this.

 

[DisneyBoundinDec]

Honestly, I don't know what to believe,

BUT I can tell you that the 3 different people that I spoke to.. whether they were in Orlando or Utah, told me that you CANNOT pick up your tickets early. They understood my clients didn't want the free dining early, just the tickets and they told me time and time again that the answer is no.

SOOOO, in good conscience, being a TA I cannot tell my clients that they can book a room only for 2 days, then check in under free dining and get their theme park tickets early.. I just can't..

 

[wdwnoob]

I have been lurking for a while and created an account just to ask this question. Can someone help me understand why you would need to pick up tickets early? Aren't the ticket tied to the reservation with the dining plan? If you have a second reservation that is room only prior to the free dining reservation, why wouldn't you have tickets with that reservation as well?

 

[CdnCarrie]

I have been lurking for a while and created an account just to ask this question. Can someone help me understand why you would need to pick up tickets early? Aren't the ticket tied to the reservation with the dining plan? If you have a second reservation that is room only prior to the free dining reservation, why wouldn't you have tickets with that reservation as well?

It would cost way more to have two separate tickets.

Is this more of a case for free dining and arriving on blackout dates. Just wondering if they would be more likely to give them out early if the guest does not have free dining?

 

[PhoenixStrength]

I have been lurking for a while and created an account just to ask this question. Can someone help me understand why you would need to pick up tickets early? Aren't the ticket tied to the reservation with the dining plan? If you have a second reservation that is room only prior to the free dining reservation, why wouldn't you have tickets with that reservation as well?

Since the cost per day goes down with each day added onto a ticket, it is cheaper to put all the tickets on one reservation. For example I have two reservations in February, and the most cost efficient way to split the 8 days I need tickets for was a 2-day and a 6-Day. This still costs over $150 more than if I did just an 8-Day ticket. So, being able to pick up your tickets early saves you a lot of money!

 

[Mickeyluver37]

I just got off the phone with Ida in guest services. She confirmed that they will not longer extend the courtesy of being able to pick up park tickets prior to the start of packages. I guess we will be shortening our trip by two nights. My trip is in December. I don't know if I should make the changes now, or wait until there is a reversal in this policy. I asked Ida if she thought there would be a chance of a reversal and she said no because there was too much fraud in the past with duplicated tickets being issued. My flights are already booked, but the cost to change flights is still less that two extra nights at the resort.

I can totally see why Disney is doing this. Since this wasn't something you could do at the resort, the resort CM's weren't really trained in it. When we picked up our tickets early (which, BTW, I would have NEVER thought would be allowed in the first place until I read a thread on the DIS), we were issued them at DHS before we checked in. Then, we went and checked in at POP-where we had a one day room reservation, but we had to go back the next morning and re-check in. When we did so, they handed me my KTTW card, WITH the tickets. I had to tell them that we had already picked up our tickets, and she was confused and had to ask someone else how to reissue room keys without the tix. I can imagine plenty of people would keep that information to themselves.

Now, in this technology age, I would think this is an easy fix, but apparently the computers don't talk to each other when this is done, or at least didn't on my reservation.

 

[Brian Noble]

I can't imagine why they'd want to actively DISCOURAGE people from going to the parks and spending money, even if it's at a busy time.

They do this all the time. Rooms are much cheaper in September than they are for, say, Easter. That discourages people from going during Easter. This change (assuming it is true, and if you saw my edit, I'm not sure) is just more of the same.

The point of any discount is not to be nice to people. The point is to attract business to less-busy times. If that means some people move trips from more-busy times, that's okay---those times are busy, someone else will take their place.