Disneyland Ticket Issue/Question

[lightguy]

HI,

We're planning our first trip to DLR for this June (2022). We had a trip planned for the summer of 2020, but COVID took care of that. Unfortunately, we bought DL tickets through a 3rd party, Disney Authorized, ticket company that we've used many times, just before COVID hit and DL shut down. The tickets had an expiration date of January 2021, which Disney subsequently extended to December of 2021. Disneyland didn't reopen to out of state guests until mid June of 2021 and by then we had already canceled our rescheduled trip because no-one knew when the parks would reopen in the spring when we had to make arrangements. If you do that math, we only had a total of 7 months- 1 month before the park closed and 6 after it reopened to out of state guests- that these tickets were valid for us to use.

Our issue isn't that the tickets are now expired, it's that we need park reservations and can't book them without valid tickets. I've spent 10's of hours on the phone with DL and the ticket company trying to straighten this mess out. Neither seems willing/able to do anything about it. The ticket company said they they couldn't refund/exchange the tickets because Disney wasn't allowing it and Disney says that since we bought the tickets from a 3rd party- apparently the fact that they are a "Disney Authorized ticket seller" doesn't matter- they can't do anything with our tickets over the phone or by mail. Keep in mind that these are e-tickets, which they can and have verified in their system. It's not like they are physical tickets. They say that we need to physically go to a ticket booth at Disneyland to exchange/upgrade them for new tickets and there is no other option. I've spoken to at least 10 different cast members- including at least 2 managers- one of which hung up on me when she couldn't answer my questions- over the last year. We live on the east coast, so going to CA to exchange them before our trip isn't happening. I have no real issue with the actual exchange (or the additional fee I'm sure I'm going to have to pay), but since the parks now require reservations, and the park reservations are tied to your tickets, we can't make park reservations ahead of time. So it sounds like we're going to have to fly to CA without park reservations and hope they are available...for the week leading up to 4th of July... when we exchange the tickets. We are staying onsite at a Disney hotel, though so far that doesn't seem to make any difference to anyone.

So my questions is, do any of you have any thoughts, insight, experience with anything like this? Anyone know any workarounds for the park reservations? Is there any way to tie them to the hotel reservation? Does the hotel have a separate reservation calendar that might still be available even if the normal one isn't? Also, can anyone confirm that you can make dinning reservations without having tickets or park reservations (As far as I can tell you can, and yes, I understand I'll need tickets and park reservations to actually go to the restaurants). Thanks!!

 

[disneylover102]

You don’t need park tickets/reservations to make a dining reservation.

I don’t know how to work around this, but if you really can only change them by physically exchanging them at the park, I’ll be there on a solo trip 2/8-2/12 and I would be happy to do it for you if that’s what you would like. I definitely understand if you don’t want to trust some random guy online lol, but I already have a magic key and don’t need tickets lol. If you’d like me to help just pm me, I really hope you can get this figured out! It sounds very frustrating

 

[Malcon10t]

The DLR hotel (DLH, GCH, and PPH) have a separate bucket for reservations. I made reservations on NYE for NYE for a person who joined us at the hotel. Yes, you can make dining reservations without tickets.

 

[sophy1996]

There does seem to be a separate hotel bucket for Disney hotels. Even when reservations were marked unavailable during our trip last November (for our Magic Key), we were able to book using the hotel reservation.

 

[hulamom]

We are in the same predicament -- bought tickets from a 3rd party in late 2019 for a trip the exact weekend in March 2020 that DL was shut down. The company we bought tickets from doesn't sell DL tickets anymore and won't refund me. We have a trip planned early March, and I have also spoken with several DL agents with no help. The interesting thing, is that I *was* able to make park reservations with these expired tickets. Each agent seems baffled by this, saying I shouldn't have been able to do that. But I took screenshots and have confirmation numbers, etc.

Even with the reservations, I think if we tried to enter the parks, we might get stopped because the tickets are expired. No help from the agents. I'm basically telling them "Take my money!" to upgrade, but they say the only way to do that is at the ticket office near the front gate in person. I've even considered flying down for a day (I live in N. CA) to do that, but the cost would still be significant. The only solution the agents are giving me is to buy new tickets, and then upgrade my current tickets to use for a future trip. That's another $1000+ commitment I'm unwilling to make.

Just crossing my fingers that I'm able to upgrade and reservations will still be available for those next 3 days. But it's stressing me out!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Multiple people have reported being in this predicament. I don’t recall anyone getting a resolution aside from buying a new set of tickets, having someone else physically go there and upgrade the tickets or upgrading on arrival and praying park reservations are still available. On the second front I think reports have consistently been the Disney hotel bucket always has availability.

 

[smartlabelprint]

I just bought new tickets.

 

[lightguy]

We live 3,000 miles away and need 5 5-day park hoppers, so spending $2,500 on new tickets isn't something I really want to do. If this was WDW maybe- we go there pretty regularly and would use them, but DL is a whole different thing given the 6 hour flight. I appreciate the info from everyone.

One other question- can anyone confirm that anyone would be able to show up at a DL ticket booth with my ticket info and upgrade the tickets to new ones for me? For example, if I had a friend or family member that was going out there for something (I don't currently) they could go upgrade them for me? That is what I was told, but it seems very strange to me given that I had to enter all our names when I bought the tickets and the digitals each have one of our names on them. I'm just surprised with all the other crazy security stuff Disney does, that they would let some random person show up with the e-ticket codes bought by someone else and trade them in for new tickets.

 

[Geoff_M]

We were in the same situation. Originally bought tickets in 2/20 from an authorized 3rd party seller that had an original expiration of 1/21. These were later extended to 12/16/2021. Between not being CA residents, and my wife being a teacher, we were not able to use the tickets before they expired once DL finally opened and non-CA residents were allowed back in. I was told "Don't worry, expired tickets can be rolled over into new tickets. You won't be out any money." But, like others, when I went to book our 3rd try at using the tickets for March, 2022, I realized we were stuck in the Park Reservation "Catch-22." After several calls to Disney and the reseller we were told that you can only make Park Reservations with non-expired tickets and expired tickets can only be re-issued in-person at the park... and I finally bought a SECOND set of tickets.

HOWEVER, it appears that either we were misled or Disney quietly changed something. Someone reported last year that they also held tickets that expired on 12/16/2021 BUT the DL website allowed them to make Park Reservations for available dates after the pending-expiration. It wasn't clear if this was a scheduling bug, or if the reservations might be deleted once these tickets actually expired. I didn't want to risk making reservations with my old tickets and then watch them disappear on 12/17. Well, I just now checked the DL website and it shows me that I'm STILL allowed to make Park Reservations using my unused expired tickets!!! It appears that either this "Catch-22" never really existed, or Disney changed the rules to allow Park Reservations as long as you hold some type of unused tickets (expired or not).

 

[DLgal]

Have you tried to book a park reservation? See if it works. Just pick any date that is available on the calendar. You can cancel it if it actually goes through.

 

[Geoff_M]

Have you tried to book a park reservation? See if it works. Just pick any date that is available on the calendar. You can cancel it if it actually goes through.

Yes, I was just now able to make a reservation for March 1st for DL using one of my tickets that expired on 12/16/21. The DL web site reported that I had 4 available reservations before I booked that one. It's a 4 Day Hopper with MaxPass. After I read the report above from someone else that reported that they were able to make a post-expiration reservation before 12/16/21, I called DL to see if they had re-extended the expiration dates of these tickets and I was told that, no, they were still set to expire on 12/16/21.

So, it appears that the purchase of the 2nd set of tickets was not needed to insure that I could get reservations for March, 2022... contrary to what I was told over the phone more than once by Disney and the 3rd party ticket seller.

 

[hulamom]

Yes, I was just now able to make a reservation for March 1st for DL using one of my tickets that expired on 12/16/21. The DL web site reported that I had 4 available reservations before I booked that one. It's a 4 Day Hopper with MaxPass. After I read the report above from someone else that reported that they were able to make a post-expiration reservation before 12/16/21, I called DL to see if they had re-extended the expiration dates of these tickets and I was told that, no, they were still set to expire on 12/16/21.

So, it appears that the purchase of the 2nd set of tickets was not needed to insure that I could get reservations for March, 2022... contrary to what I was told over the phone more than once by Disney and the 3rd party ticket seller.

Even though I was able to make reservations with my expired tickets, the agent I spoke with told me I should not have been able to do that and I would still need to upgrade my tickets in person at the park.

When I asked if I would still be able to keep my current park reservations, she said no. They would basically be issuing me new tickets and my current tickets (including reservations) would be invalid. If I tried to enter the park with the expired tickets, I would be stopped and told to go to the ticket office.

I'm trying to find any friends who are going to DLR in the next few weeks and would be willing to help me upgrade my tickets before our March trip. I'll report back about what I find out if that happens!

 

[Geoff_M]

I have no doubt that you would not be allowed through the gate with the expired tickets. However, if what you and I encountered (months apart) were a programming bug, you would think that it would have been fixed by now. Even though our tickets are expired, they still are unused tickets that are eligible to be rolled-over into new admissions media. Arguably, that puts us in a different category for making reservations than someone who holds no unused tickets.

Quite frankly, this is how it should work. We should be able to make reservations up to the limit of our recently expired tickets. When we do then show up in-person to exchange our tickets, they can transfer the reservations to the new tickets... and off we go. This makes more sense than forcing us to purchase a 2nd set of tickets for one trip, or hoping that a friend can do the in-person exchange on our behalf a couple of months before our trip.

 

[Monoxide]

I have a similar situation. I have 4 day tickets with MaxPass (paper tickets direct from Disneyland) that expired 1/12/22 I believe and when I called to find out what I needed to do, I was told if I bought a new set of tickets of equal or greater value they would refund the original tickets. I thought great I'll buy the new one they'll refund my old one and Bobs your uncle I would be all set.

I called 2 weeks later to check on the refund and was told if they would have been E-Tickets that would be the case. Since they were paper tickets they would not refund them. Grrr to say the least.

When I asked what I should do with the paper ones they could only tell me to take them to a ticket booth and upgrade them to e-ticket for a future trip.
Very disappointed with that answer since there rep even noted on my account they would refund them. The rep had to look them up a different way to begin with to even find them before telling me to purchase the new e-ticket and verify purchase value.
I am in the same boat that Disneyland trips are far and few between and even a refund to a Disney gift card (or cards even e-gift cards) would have been an acceptable solution and the majority of the gift cards would have been spent on the trip anyhow so they would still be getting there money. So as it stand I will use the new tickets and now spend less there after having to buy another set of tickets which is throwing the budget out of whack.

 

[hulamom]

We decided to make the drive to Anaheim and made a weekend out of it driving back along the coast, first stopping at DLR to upgrade our tickets.

I was issued new DLR tickets (hard paper tickets) that replaced my expired tickets. The CM at the ticket booth was awesome and helped me re-do my park reservations. She told me "Don't worry! I got you!"

I asked if anybody was able to upgrade tickets (besides the ticket holder) and the answer was as long as they had the tickets or ticket number with names, that could be done.

 

[bettymae1121]

Are you me? We also had plans for June 2020 with tix purchased through a 3rd party trusted retailer, and also plan to take our long-delayed vacation this June...

Just a few days ago, I cashed in some miles and a hotel cert so that I can fly out in a few weeks to exchange our tix in person. I'll only be out the Uber fare and a couple of meals so cost-wise it's not the end of the world. But I'll be in CA for a grand total of 18 hours! I'm trying to look on this as an adventure though, rather than a slog. I haven't been to DLR in 15 years so this will help me remember the lay of the land, and I'm staying at the same hotel we have reservations for in June so I'll have a chance to preview that as well.

 

[gottalovepluto]

UPDATE!!

Reports are park reservations will be cancelled when you update your ticket and Disney will not replace them. If reservations are sold out you’re not going to be able to enter Disneyland.

 

[smartlabelprint]

UPDATE!!

Reports are park reservations will be cancelled when you update your ticket and Disney will not replace them. If reservations are sold out you’re not going to be able to enter Disneyland.

That’s cruel.

 

[Geoff_M]

Update to our ticket situation. We opted to keep and use our 2nd set of tickets for this trip and decided to roll-over our pre-COVID set that expired on 12/16/21 for a future trip.

After talking to three CMs, in both Guest Relations and the ticket booth, I think I have a better understanding of what people have been told. I talked to the guest relations booth outside the gates of California Adventure and to the left. They CAN move reservations from one set of tickets to another. However, she told me that it would have to be done at that booth instead of other guest relations locations such as in the hotels. She said that other locations likely would not have the level of access to the reservations system that they do at the location outside of the park. What they couldn't do at Guest Relations was roll-over my old expired tickets into new ones. That has to be done at one of the regular ticket booths.

So we went over to one of the regular ticket booths and present them with our old tickets. I had four-day park hopper ticket with MaxPass that I purchased before the price increase in Feb, 2020. She was able to give me $440 credit for each ticket towards new four-day park hopper with Genie+ that required a $50 upgrade. That's not bad given there's been two price increases since I bought the tickets and Genie+ is $5/day more than MaxPass. Better, these new tickets will expire on Jan 1, 2024. I made a comment to the lady in the ticket booth about being able to still make park reservations using expired tickets, and she said that you should be able to do that and they've repeatedly asked the IT department to correct the web site and they haven't done so.

So, it appears that park reservations CAN be moved to different tickets, but you have to go to the right Guest Relations booth. Ticket booths cannot do this. Guest relations cannot roll-over expired tickets into one ones, but the ticket booths can. So, in our case, it sounds like I could have rolled over our expired 2020 tickets into new ones at a ticket booth, and then gone to the Guest Relations booth and had them transfer my park reservations from the 2nd set of tickets that I bought from the 3rd party reseller to the newly issued tickets, and then asked for a refund, using their refund policy, from the 3rd party reseller of the 2nd set of tickets that I bought from them. This would have cleared up having to be "stuck" with two sets of tickets for one trip. However, with the long expiration date of the re-issued tickets, it looks like we'll be able to come back a second time.

 

[Federalist45]

Update to our ticket situation. We opted to keep and use our 2nd set of tickets for this trip and decided to roll-over our pre-COVID set that expired on 12/16/21 for a future trip.

After talking to three CMs, in both Guest Relations and the ticket booth, I think I have a better understanding of what people have been told. I talked to the guest relations booth outside the gates of California Adventure and to the left. They CAN move reservations from one set of tickets to another. However, she told me that it would have to be done at that booth instead of other guest relations locations such as in the hotels. She said that other locations likely would not have the level of access to the reservations system that they do at the location outside of the park. What they couldn't do at Guest Relations was roll-over my old expired tickets into new ones. That has to be done at one of the regular ticket booths.

So we went over to one of the regular ticket booths and present them with our old tickets. I had four-day park hopper ticket with MaxPass that I purchased before the price increase in Feb, 2020. She was able to give me $440 credit for each ticket towards new four-day park hopper with Genie+ that required a $50 upgrade. That's not bad given there's been two price increases since I bought the tickets and Genie+ is $5/day more than MaxPass. Better, these new tickets will expire on Jan 1, 2024. I made a comment to the lady in the ticket booth about being able to still make park reservations using expired tickets, and she said that you should be able to do that and they've repeatedly asked the IT department to correct the web site and they haven't done so.

So, it appears that park reservations CAN be moved to different tickets, but you have to go to the right Guest Relations booth. Ticket booths cannot do this. Guest relations cannot roll-over expired tickets into one ones, but the ticket booths can. So, in our case, it sounds like I could have rolled over our expired 2020 tickets into new ones at a ticket booth, and then gone to the Guest Relations booth and had them transfer my park reservations from the 2nd set of tickets that I bought from the 3rd party reseller to the newly issued tickets, and then asked for a refund, using their refund policy, from the 3rd party reseller of the 2nd set of tickets that I bought from them. This would have cleared up having to be "stuck" with two sets of tickets for one trip. However, with the long expiration date of the re-issued tickets, it looks like we'll be able to come back a second time.

Glad it all worked out for you. Too bad Disney basically shrugs at all the stress this causes people in what should be a greatly exciting time.

One question that I'm left with is whether their ability to reassign reservations can transcend the bucket system. For example, can I use your refund approach to hold park hopper reservations, upgrade a ticket to a Magic Key, and then transfer the park hopper reservations to my Magic Key? If not, can I do this while I'm a Disneyland Hotel Guest?

I have a suspicion that if they allowed E-ticket changes over the phone or internet, Disney or unsuspecting guests would be open to some sort of Fraud. Disney's unexplained "sorry, there's nothing I can do" line is deeply unsatisfying.