Question About Buying Advance Disney and Universal Studios Tickets

[1nfrequent]

I'm off to Japan in a couple of months and will be going to Disney (natch) and Universal Studios. I've had a look on both websites and am a bit confused about whether it's possible to book tickets in advance on line.

The Disney site seems to allow it but only if the tickets can be shipped to Japan - is it possible to buy in advance but pick them up from the Disney ticket office? If not, how easy is it to buy tickets on the day (I want a three day pass)? Do you risk long lines if you don't get there early in the morning?

The Universal Studios site only seems to allow advance tickets to be bought through travel agencies but I can't see any for the United Kingdom. Am I right in thinking that this means I can't get a ticket in advance then?

Thanks in advance.

1F

 

[mesaboy2]

I *think* you can buy them in advance and out-of-country between 7 and 60 days prior to your trip. This is using eTickets. I'll be trying this myself I think tomorrow, not sure if it will accept my Visa or not. Definitely unclear to me right now. Tickets bought this way, by the way, are date-specific. I'm talking Disney btw.

 

[FireflyFi]

I've bought advance tickets for both. You may have to go through the Japanese site to do so, though. Use Chrome or just Google Translate to help (although this is of limited use on the Universal site due to most information being in images mot text).

In my experience, the print at home from Disney was the ticket you use at the gate, the Universal one had to be traded in at the gate entrance.

 

[mesaboy2]

I've bought advance tickets for both. You may have to go through the Japanese site to do so, though. Use Chrome or just Google Translate to help (although this is of limited use on the Universal site due to most information being in images mot text).

In my experience, the print at home from Disney was the ticket you use at the gate, the Universal one had to be traded in at the gate entrance.

If I may, did you use an out-of-country credit card to purchase from Disney? And do you happen to know if you can change out the print-at-home ticket for a "real" one? I know it's not necessary, but I've heard the print-at-home tickets can be difficult at the FP kiosks. Wouldn't mind a souvenir ticket either.

 

[FireflyFi]

If I may, did you use an out-of-country credit card to purchase from Disney? And do you happen to know if you can change out the print-at-home ticket for a "real" one? I know it's not necessary, but I've heard the print-at-home tickets can be difficult at the FP kiosks. Wouldn't mind a souvenir ticket either.

Unfortunately, no chance of trading in for a souvenir ticket at Disneyland you print out an A4, fold it up a certain way so that it can be easily scanned and use that for your entire trip. I never had any issues with mine, and definitely not with the fastpass kiosks.

I was there for four days so it was getting a little worn from all the use towards the end. And because of the size of paper, it's not exactly convenient to carry around. I'd imagine if you try and keep it in your pocket you may have issues with scanning as it would have to be folded up more.

If you're going at a time that isn't so busy, maybe buying at the park would be better for you? The ticket sales desks were always dead quiet when I went. Everyone had pre ordered!

Oh, and yes the Disneyland website was happy to take my Aussie credit card

 

[mesaboy2]

Unfortunately, no chance of trading in for a souvenir ticket at Disneyland you print out an A4, fold it up a certain way so that it can be easily scanned and use that for your entire trip. I never had any issues with mine, and definitely not with the fastpass kiosks. I was there for four days so it was getting a little worn from all the use towards the end. And because of the size of paper, it's not exactly convenient to carry around. I'd imagine if you try and keep it in your pocket you may have issues with scanning as it would have to be folded up more. If you're going at a time that isn't so busy, maybe buying at the park would be better for you? The ticket sales desks were always dead quiet when I went. Everyone had pre ordered! Oh, and yes the Disneyland website was happy to take my Aussie credit card

Okay, good news on the credit card front at least. No worries on trading in for a real ticket, that was just a nice-to-have. I am going in about 2.5 weeks, so I'm going at a massively busy time (according to crowd calendars at least). The hardest part for me was finding A4 paper here in the States--had to order a ream from Amazon, nothing locally.

Thanks so much!

 

[FireflyFi]

Okay, good news on the credit card front at least. No worries on trading in for a real ticket, that was just a nice-to-have. I am going in about 2.5 weeks, so I'm going at a massively busy time (according to crowd calendars at least). The hardest part for me was finding A4 paper here in the States--had to order a ream from Amazon, nothing locally.

Thanks so much!

I had no idea that the A4 etc paper sizes weren't common worldwide...! Too late for you now, but you probably could have saved the print page as a pdf and asked your hotel in Japan to print it for you. Oh well, with the ream of paper you now have the means to print at home for your next 400 or so TDL trips

 

[1nfrequent]

Many thanks to all for the advice.

I will no doubt be back here again in the coming weeks as I nail down my plans.

Cheers.

1F

 

[FireflyFi]

Have fun planning, 1F!

 

[mesaboy2]

By the way, I successfully bought a 3-day ticket earlier tonight. I had read something from 2012 that said you couldn't buy tickets from outside of Japan--I was hoping it was out-of-date or just wrong.

Also, the printed eTicket says on it that it can be swapped for regular ticket media--I might try that since it says so.

Thanks to everyone!

 

[Ebiten]

By the way, I successfully bought a 3-day ticket earlier tonight. I had read something from 2012 that said you couldn't buy tickets from outside of Japan--I was hoping it was out-of-date or just wrong.

Also, the printed eTicket says on it that it can be swapped for regular ticket media--I might try that since it says so.

Thanks to everyone!

I usually buy my tickets when I visit the Shibuya Disney Store but I doubt they wouldn't accept the Disney eTicket as it is on the English version of their website so you don't need to worry.

 

[mesaboy2]

I usually buy my tickets when I visit the Shibuya Disney Store but I doubt they wouldn't accept the Disney eTicket as it is on the English version of their website so you don't need to worry.

Oh I'm not worried about that at all. I was concerned I wouldn't be able to buy in advance without being in Japan. Now that I have a ticket in hand, I'm sure they'll accept it. I'm interested in swapping it for a normal ticket purely for the souvenir aspect--since the PP says the eTicket I have was also no trouble at the FP machines.

 

[FireflyFi]

Also, the printed eTicket says on it that it can be swapped for regular ticket media--I might try that since it says so.

Thanks to everyone!

Awesome! It would be great if you could report back on how this goes.

 

[mesaboy2]

Awesome! It would be great if you could report back on how this goes.

I will let you know how it went when I return.

 

[mesaboy2]

Awesome! It would be great if you could report back on how this goes.

I will let you know how it went when I return.

Following up: I was able to trade my print-at-home eTicket for a "real" Tyvek one for no trouble at all...and 200 yen.

 

[FireflyFi]

Following up: I was able to trade my print-at-home eTicket for a "real" Tyvek one for no trouble at all...and 200 yen.

Great! I'll keep that in mind for next time and the other important question - how many Nanoblocks did you end up buying??

 

[mesaboy2]

Great! I'll keep that in mind for next time and the other important question - how many Nanoblocks did you end up buying??

From Disney, six: three little guys and three other little guys. Mickey, Minnie, Dumbo, It's a Small World, Cinderella Castle, and the TDR Monorail. I also found a Nanoblock store by Tokyo Skytree, and I wanted a memento of the Skytree so got the Nanoblock version of it. And the little LED light-up base. Pushing about 20,000 yen later.... Ouch!

DD10 and I put together IASW the other night, they're really cute.

 

[FireflyFi]

From Disney, six: three little guys and three other little guys. Mickey, Minnie, Dumbo, It's a Small World, Cinderella Castle, and the TDR Monorail. I also found a Nanoblock store by Tokyo Skytree, and I wanted a memento of the Skytree so got the Nanoblock version of it. And the little LED light-up base. Pushing about 20,000 yen later.... Ouch!

DD10 and I put together IASW the other night, they're really cute.

haha, good effort! Of your list, I only have the Cinderella Castle (and 13 other Disney ones). I was very tempted by the IASW, though.

Be sure to keep your spare pieces - there's always a handful in every pack and you'll end up with a jar or two full of them in no time