Ticket question

[bartleby1]

Hi all! We are planning to visit DL/DCA in July as part of a road trip from NJ. I'm looking to purchase 3 day tickets and would ideally like to park hop while there. I am trying to minimize my potential financial loss if something should happen that we need to cancel our trip. Due to logistics of a huge road trip, this is our only opportunity to visit disneyland so basically if we don't get there in July, the tickets will go to waste since I understand they are non refundable and non transferable. My husband is getting an extended work vacation which won't happen again for another 5 years.

My initial thought was to purchase 3 day tickets without hopping since they are cheaper and then add hopping once we actually arrive so at least I wouldn't lose the money for the park hopping portion if we need to cancel. However, I just read that may not be possible if park reservations are not available at the time of arrival. I believe I can wait to add Genie+ until we arrive tho, correct?

Does anyone know of any other way that I haven't thought of to protect as much is possible of the financial loss that I could incur if we can't go? I hate to be out $1500 for tickets but I know we have to get tickets to reserve the parks asap. Can the cost of the tickets maybe be exchanged or put towards WDW? We have a much better chance to get to Florida in the future than California. The thought of losing all of that money is making me ill.

 

[Cal-Pie]

Buy from Undercover Tourist, fully refundable, less a 5% restocking fee, they are a very reputable company. I would not attempt to wait to buy the hopper, you can wait on Genie+.

 

[bartleby1]

Buy from Undercover Tourist, fully refundable, less a 5% restocking fee, they are a very reputable company. I would not attempt to wait to buy the hopper, you can wait on Genie+.

OMG! You are awesome! Why didn't I think of that? I actually have purchased from them many years ago for WDW. I can't thank you enough!

 

[mouschievous]

I was also going to suggest one of the 3rd party vendors. We've purchased from UT and from another company that were both great. I believe both currently have generous return options.

When are you going in July? We'll be there July 4-8, in the parks 5-7.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Exactly what Cal-Pie said - buy 3rd party with the hoppers. Add Genie daily if you want it - you might not even want it all 3 days for all the tickets.

I know what you mean about the logistics of the long road trip! I hope everything works out!

 

[CyndiLooWho]

Before you buy, check with the 3rd party vendor. If you have "activated" the tickets by adding them to your Disneyland account, they may not be returnable. And you can't make park reservations if they are not added to your Disneyland account.

So be very sure whether or not you can add them to your account and still return.

 

[Kerr84]

I thought you could change the date of your tickets to the future. You might owe more money when you decide to use them to cover the cost of price increases, but you don't lose the money you paid. Maybe I am wrong though.

 

[pharmama]

I thought you could change the date of your tickets to the future. You might owe more money when you decide to use them to cover the cost of price increases, but you don't lose the money you paid. Maybe I am wrong though.

You are correct that if the tickets expire you can use them to purchase new tickets at the current price at that time. However, this transaction can currently only be done at the physical ticket booths (just like adding a day or switching to hoppers) so it's quite complicated- especially when you add in the dimension of park reservations. One can hope they will come up with a better system for this soon but I wouldn't count on it. All that said, OP indicated they would never have another opportunity to come back to DLR anyway.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

You are correct that if the tickets expire you can use them to purchase new tickets at the current price at that time. However, this transaction can currently only be done at the physical ticket booths (just like adding a day or switching to hoppers) so it's quite complicated- especially when you add in the dimension of park reservations. One can hope they will come up with a better system for this soon but I wouldn't count on it. All that said, OP indicated they would never have another opportunity to come back to DLR anyway.

I was actually able to upgrade an expired ticket before getting to DLR. I was told exactly as you said by one CM but got another who said I needed to buy new ticket then snail mail the old one (which was an e-tix, so printed a picture) with a copy of the receipt for new ticket. I was told it would take 4-6 weeks for a check to be mailed. I opted for a Disney digital gift card to be emailed which I got in about a week. The GC was no problem as we will be there in a few weeks and will spend the GC then. I originally bought the ticket from UCT who wouldn't help at all.

 

[maleficent55]

Before you buy, check with the 3rd party vendor. If you have "activated" the tickets by adding them to your Disneyland account, they may not be returnable. And you can't make park reservations if they are not added to your Disneyland account.

So be very sure whether or not you can add them to your account and still return.

Do you happen to know if once they are added to your account if you can upgrade them to more days, this is something I may be facing. Thanks

 

[maleficent55]

Do you happen to know if once they are added to your account if you can upgrade them to more days, this is something I may be facing. Thanks

But now that I think about it, I think I HAVE had tickets uploaded in the app and then unlinked them (deloaded…?lol) when we had to cancel

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Do you happen to know if once they are added to your account if you can upgrade them to more days, this is something I may be facing. Thanks

It is very hard to upgrade DLR tickets to more days and/or add hopper - no way of doing it online or in app, and when attempting over the phone most say either cancel and get a refund and buy new tickets, or go to the ticket booth at the park. The problem with upgrading at the park is that reservations may not be available for your added day when you get there.

Decide on how many days in advance and buy them that way. Similarly, I'd get them as park hoppers because hopping is so easy at DLR and it makes it more flexible and like one big park.

 

[maleficent55]

I’m remembering that I’ve had tickets uploaded in my app that were bought from a third party and I was able to have them removed from the app to readjust my plans

 

[bartleby1]

Thanks all! I contacted undercovertourist to clarify if the tickets would still be refundable once they are added to my app and connected to me. Just waiting on a response. Thank you to all of you that brought this up! All of this preplanning is driving me crazy! Even some of the national parks we are visiting now need reservations...makes things difficult for a road trip across the country when something as simple as a flat tire can throw the timing of arrival off.

update: Well that was fast! Got a response already and they said that they are still refundable even if they've been linked as long as they haven't been used. Yay!