Old Ticket Question

[jgrant.med]

Hi all
Long time lurker, first time poster. Thanks for the advice i've gleaned over the years - but can't find an answer to this one.
We had a Disneyland trip in March 20 cancelled due to the Pandemic. We pre-purchased parkhopper/maxpass tickets due limited itinerary time and a long commute (from the UK!) Clearly, part of that ticket is now defunct!
We've finally rescheduled our trip for this year (woohoo). I'm comfortable that the old tickets can be used to make a park reservation & to park hop. However, does anyone have experience on whether (or how) I will be able to 'upgrade' these to the new genie+ system? Can this be done via the app, or will a visit to a physical ticket booth be required to sort this?
I'm anxious about using the existing tickets to make a park reservation if they're going to give me limited functionality beforehand. Appreciate this is a minor issue, really but really want to maximise our time in the park!
Any advice greatly appreciated!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Good thing you spoke up because you have a major issue if those tickets are expired

If they are expired you need to contact Disneyland.

US resident tickets that are expired need to be upgraded to be usable and when they upgrade your park reservations get cancelled and Disney won't allow you to make new ones for days that don't have reservations available. Yep, one could end up standing there in CA with upgraded tickets and no way to enter parks because the park reservations were cancelled and Disneyland will not re-activate/add them back for you.

You're international so they may be able to refund you, something they have not done for people in the US generally. (We have to buy new tickets on the phone with disney and then disney refunds the old ones- unless they were bought from a TA in which case people have to go in person to a disneyland ticket booth to upgrade the tickets).

If the tickets aren't expired G+ can be added after entering the park each day.

 

[jgrant.med]

Thanks for the heads up. They are expired, and we purchased the tickets from undercover, so we'd be stuck doing an exchange at the park.

Out of curiosity, do you know if these older, expired, tickets could be exchanged for disney gift card credit - or is it new tickets only? We'd be spending the money anyway, may be more acceptable to them?

 

[gottalovepluto]

Thanks for the heads up. They are expired, and we purchased the tickets from undercover…

Since you did not buy direct from Disney you need to contact Undercover for your options.

 

[batman79]

I have expired MaxPass Park Hopper tickets too that I bought from Undercover Tourist back in Feb 2020 and I plan on finally visiting the Disney parks in July and recently when I prepared to make a park reservation they asked if I wanted to link my tickets and when I put in my expired MaxPass Park Hopper tickets it took it, but i'm a couple of days too early to make my actual park reservation.

Since i'm able to see my expired tickets in my account, do I need to call Disney? I'm from the US.

 

[jgrant.med]

Since you did not buy direct from Disney you need to contact Undercover for your options.

Thanks, enjoying their hold music now!

 

[sophy1996]

I have expired MaxPass Park Hopper tickets too that I bought from Undercover Tourist back in Feb 2020 and I plan on finally visiting the Disney parks in July and recently when I prepared to make a park reservation they asked if I wanted to link my tickets and when I put in my expired MaxPass Park Hopper tickets it took it, but i'm a couple of days too early to make my actual park reservation.

Since i'm able to see my expired tickets in my account, do I need to call Disney? I'm from the US.

The word is that even if the system lets you make park reservations with expired tickets, those reservations get dropped when you exchange those expired tix for new, valid tix when you arrive at the parks. So if no park reservations are available that day, you won’t be able to get in.

Since you bought from Undercover Tourist, you too need to call them.

 

[bettymae1121]

I have expired MaxPass Park Hopper tickets too that I bought from Undercover Tourist back in Feb 2020 and I plan on finally visiting the Disney parks in July and recently when I prepared to make a park reservation they asked if I wanted to link my tickets and when I put in my expired MaxPass Park Hopper tickets it took it, but i'm a couple of days too early to make my actual park reservation.

Since i'm able to see my expired tickets in my account, do I need to call Disney? I'm from the US.

I was in this exact situation, tix booked through Undercover Tourist (UT) in Feb. 2020 and are now expired, and I live in IL. We are planning a trip for June '22. My understanding is that even though Disney will let you make park reservations on expired tix, Disney cancels your park reservations once you exchange the old ones for the new and you can only rebook the reservations if the dates are still available. That is one heck of a risk to take for non-local guests that can only exchange in person at the start of their vacation.

When I called UT last month to see what (if any) options I had, they said they wasn't anything they could do for me, that I could either buy new valid tix to make park reservations for June and keep the expired ones for another future trip, take my chances on showing up in person with no reservations, or go in person to Disneyland to exchange them for new valid tix and then make park reservations. I am fortunate enough to be in a position that I could fly from IL to Anaheim for a one day trip to do the exchange (I cashed in some frequent flyer miles and had a free night of hotel via my Marriott credit card). I did that a few weeks ago so we're all set now.

You can certainly try contacting UT to see if they can help you (policies and procedures can always change), but I didn't have any luck. Since the tickets are from a 3rd party vendor, Disney is unlikely to help.

What bugs me about this is that because they let you make park reservations, people are going to assume that they won't have any problems once they show up at the turnstiles. I fear a lot of people are going to be in for a nasty shock when they show up this summer with expired tix and park reservations only to find out their park reservations are useless and they can't get new ones because everything is sold out.

 

[batman79]

The word is that even if the system lets you make park reservations with expired tickets, those reservations get dropped when you exchange those expired tix for new, valid tix when you arrive at the parks. So if no park reservations are available that day, you won’t be able to get in.

Since you bought from Undercover Tourist, you too need to call them.

Ok, Thanks!

I'll call them.

 

[jgrant.med]

You can certainly try contacting UT to see if they can help you (policies and procedures can always change), but I didn't have any luck. Since the tickets are from a 3rd party vendor, Disney is unlikely to help.

Spent a while this evening onto both UT & Disneyland. UT stated once tickets expired, they become Disneyland property. Disneyland did agree to refund us once new tickets 'as identical as possible' have been purchased (e.g 2 day park hopper maxpass -> 2 day park hopper genie +).

Not tested the refund yet, will update if it works!

 

[batman79]

Spent a while this evening onto both UT & Disneyland. UT stated once tickets expired, they become Disneyland property. Disneyland did agree to refund us once new tickets 'as identical as possible' have been purchased (e.g 2 day park hopper maxpass -> 2 day park hopper genie +).

Not tested the refund yet, will update if it works!

So, should I focus on calling Disney because I called Undercover Tourist and a message said because of high volume of callers, they'd call me back, but do you think I should just put my energy into calling Disney since UT can't help me anyway? It's like I don't want to be waiting being all worried and they just tell me they can't help me.

 

[jgrant.med]

So, should I focus on calling Disney because I called Undercover Tourist and a message said because of high volume of callers, they'd call me back, but do you think I should just put my energy into calling Disney since UT can't help me anyway? It's like I don't want to be waiting being all worried and they just tell me they can't help me.

I sat on hold for 30 minutes with Disney, but they were helpful once i'd got through. UT just said sorry, it's not our problem.

Which, to be fair, it may not be!

 

[bettymae1121]

Spent a while this evening onto both UT & Disneyland. UT stated once tickets expired, they become Disneyland property. Disneyland did agree to refund us once new tickets 'as identical as possible' have been purchased (e.g 2 day park hopper maxpass -> 2 day park hopper genie +).

Not tested the refund yet, will update if it works!

I'm glad Disney seems to be willing to work with you!

 

[batman79]

Ok, well I told my brother everything you guys had told me about your experiences and he went on ahead and called Disney and they told him we'll have to buy our tickets again from them and that it would have to cost at least $357 and once we bought them, we have to mail them our old tickets from Undercover Tourist and our order number and they would send us a check or gift card or whatever.

Just glad we're able to get new tickets and we'll get reimbursed in some way.

Thanks to all of you that answered my questions. Before this thread I had assumed since the Disney site had linked my tickets everything was good and my brother and I would just pay the difference once we got to the park. But seeing this thread made me ask my questions and thank god that I did, so thanks again.

 

[yogamom]

We are in the same boat with expired tickets purchased from UT in Feb 2020. We live in MI and are flying to DL tomorrow. I stumbled on this thread last night and have been sick to my stomach over this as never in my wildest dreams would I have thought this was possible. I have had my tickets linked to the DL app for months and had no trouble booking park reservations and dining. I called Disney past night and was told the same thing--once we get to DL we can upgrade our tickets and there is a "50/50" chance that a park reservation will be available as all 3 of our dates are now unavailable. We are literally flying across the country to use these 3 day park hoppers and flying back home. My son graduated in 2020 and we intended to use these tickets for the last spring break he and our younger daughter would have together. We cobbled together a short trip (this one) in attempt to still make that happen despite the havoc that covid has caused these past 2 years. Anyway, I just can't wrap my head around Disney actually allowing me to make park reservations and not honoring them with new tickets. This is as far from good guest service as I can imagine and I cannot understand how/why this can't be remedied in a better way.

 

[batman79]

We are in the same boat with expired tickets purchased from UT in Feb 2020. We live in MI and are flying to DL tomorrow. I stumbled on this thread last night and have been sick to my stomach over this as never in my wildest dreams would I have thought this was possible. I have had my tickets linked to the DL app for months and had no trouble booking park reservations and dining. I called Disney past night and was told the same thing--once we get to DL we can upgrade our tickets and there is a "50/50" chance that a park reservation will be available as all 3 of our dates are now unavailable. We are literally flying across the country to use these 3 day park hoppers and flying back home. My son graduated in 2020 and we intended to use these tickets for the last spring break he and our younger daughter would have together. We cobbled together a short trip (this one) in attempt to still make that happen despite the havoc that covid has caused these past 2 years. Anyway, I just can't wrap my head around Disney actually allowing me to make park reservations and not honoring them with new tickets. This is as far from good guest service as I can imagine and I cannot understand how/why this can't be remedied in a better way.

They shouldn't allow the expired tickets to be linked on the Disney app if it's still not guaranteed that you're going to be let in the parks. Because it really does make you think everything is good to go.

 

[yogamom]

We are flying out tomorrow (too late at this point to cancel all of our arrangements) and are hoping for a kind cast member who will help us. It seems clear that our tickets must be holding some sort of space, so I cannot fathom them turning down paying customers when we their system allowed us to proceed with making several reservations. We have been so loyal to Disney, in both their parks and cruises, and it will be a sickening feeling if they leave us (and everyone else in the same boat) stranded in this situation.

 

[Cal-Pie]

We are flying out tomorrow (too late at this point to cancel all of our arrangements) and are hoping for a kind cast member who will help us. It seems clear that our tickets must be holding some sort of space, so I cannot fathom them turning down paying customers when we their system allowed us to proceed with making several reservations. We have been so loyal to Disney, in both their parks and cruises, and it will be a sickening feeling if they leave us (and everyone else in the same boat) stranded in this situation.

Fingers and toes crossed for you!! Please let us know how it goes.

 

[StarlitNight05]

We are flying out tomorrow (too late at this point to cancel all of our arrangements) and are hoping for a kind cast member who will help us. It seems clear that our tickets must be holding some sort of space, so I cannot fathom them turning down paying customers when we their system allowed us to proceed with making several reservations. We have been so loyal to Disney, in both their parks and cruises, and it will be a sickening feeling if they leave us (and everyone else in the same boat) stranded in this situation.

Crossing my fingers for you and hoping for pixie dust! It's a rotten situation to be in, and it's very upsetting this is likely going to continue to happen to folks. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Federalist45]

TLDR: Research the ways that you may be able get access to the Hotel Bucket of reservations.


The consistent story is that Disney will turn you away if there are no new reservations available. It’s unimaginable, but seemingly true, that the system cannot convert your current reservation. According to CMs, your cancelled reservations do not become available to you. I don’t know how the system really functions.

The other option is the Hotel Bucket of reservations for people staying onsite. If you book a night at Paradise Pier, as of now, there’s reservations for all of your days.

There are also posts on this board that indicate that you can book a stay in the future and make current park reservations. I have no experience with this so YMMV.