Advice on old tickets 3-9

[BaybeeYoda]

Hi everyone! I’m a little befuddled right now and would love a little advice regarding old tickets. Apparently, I have two 5-day tickets (no date) for kids (age 3-9). My son just aged out and I totally forgot I had these tickets.

I’m so mad at myself. We aren’t going back to Disney until December 2025. These tickets are super valuable…. If they were for adults!! Any advice on what I should do?

I have six other tickets for adults that I’ve saved up (yay) but now I don’t know what to do with the two 5-day tickets for children. . I recall buying them when I heard rumors that Disney was switching to a date-based pricing. My kids were super young then.

 

[heynowirv]

Hi everyone! I’m a little befuddled right now and would love a little advice regarding old tickets. Apparently, I have two 5-day tickets (no date) for kids (age 3-9). My son just aged out and I totally forgot I had these tickets.

I’m so mad at myself. We aren’t going back to Disney until December 2025. These tickets are super valuable…. If they were for adults!! Any advice on what I should do?

I have six other tickets for adults that I’ve saved up (yay) but now I don’t know what to do with the two 5-day tickets for children. . I recall buying them when I heard rumors that Disney was switching to a date-based pricing. My kids were super young then.

They still have a monetary value based on what you paid for them. You can trade them in for whatever they are worth.

 

[lanejudy]

The tickets are most valuable to use them as-is. Do you have a relative, friend, co-worker who might be able to use them? Since they are fully unused you can transfer the tickets to someone via MDE. (Be sure to inform the user they will need theme park reservations to use these tickets.)

Alternatively, you can use the value as a credit and upgrade to a current adult ticket. Credit is likely in the ballpark of $350 each; an upgrade is 1 old ticket to 1 new ticket so unlikely you could combine both unless you need more adult tickets.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We were able to use it for our son, who was 4 when we bought them, but about 18 yo when we found it, stuffed away in some old souvenirs. So he'd definitely aged out! We had no idea if we could use it, but turns out we could (maybe we lucked out). We used it at Epcot. The CM just looked at DS, said "You've got a smart Mom!", or something similar, and welcomed us in.

 

[BaybeeYoda]

The tickets are most valuable to use them as-is. Do you have a relative, friend, co-worker who might be able to use them? Since they are fully unused you can transfer the tickets to someone via MDE. (Be sure to inform the user they will need theme park reservations to use these tickets.)

Alternatively, you can use the value as a credit and upgrade to a current adult ticket. Credit is likely in the ballpark of $350 each; an upgrade is 1 old ticket to 1 new ticket so unlikely you could combine both unless you need more adult tickets.

We were able to use it for our son, who was 4 when we bought them, but about 18 yo when we found it, stuffed away in some old souvenirs. So he'd definitely aged out! We had no idea if we could use it, but turns out we could (maybe we lucked out). We used it at Epcot. The CM just looked at DS, said "You've got a smart Mom!", or something similar, and welcomed us in.

Thx— I’ll try to salvage them for its current value. $350 is pitiful at best! They are currently double that for a 5 day….

were the tickets from 2010 electronic? Mine are…. I think they are from 2013-2015

 

[lanejudy]

We were able to use it for our son, who was 4 when we bought them, but about 18 yo when we found it

Just curious...had it been partially used when he was younger? A partially used ticket can continue to be used by that individual. Otherwise you got some serious pixie dust!

 

[Judique]

Hi everyone! I’m a little befuddled right now and would love a little advice regarding old tickets. Apparently, I have two 5-day tickets (no date) for kids (age 3-9). My son just aged out and I totally forgot I had these tickets.

I’m so mad at myself. We aren’t going back to Disney until December 2025. These tickets are super valuable…. If they were for adults!! Any advice on what I should do?

I have six other tickets for adults that I’ve saved up (yay) but now I don’t know what to do with the two 5-day tickets for children. . I recall buying them when I heard rumors that Disney was switching to a date-based pricing. My kids were super young then.

Are these no expiration tickets? Do they say that on your ticket?
I dealt with the old ticket situation twice in 2024. The first time was not pretty. We eventually had to pay more cash to turn a 5 day ticket into a 3 day ticket at the Magic Kingdom ticket windows. And we had a nasty castmember to boot. They declared the ticket 'worth nothing' although eventually they called the ticketing office after I told them I had already talked to the ticket office. If I remember correctly it cost about $180 to turn 5 days into 3 new days.

Hopefully your experience is better than mine. I would suggest going to Guest Relations on arrival (Disney Springs maybe) and find out how they will handle your situation.

My 2nd experience was better. It was a ticket marked no expiration. Good luck! You are probably going to have to deal with the 6 other tickets also. They may have to be converted into date based media. Hopefully it works out better than our first experience.

 

[BaybeeYoda]

Are these no expiration tickets? Do they say that on your ticket?
I dealt with the old ticket situation twice in 2024. The first time was not pretty. We eventually had to pay more cash to turn a 5 day ticket into a 3 day ticket at the Magic Kingdom ticket windows. And we had a nasty castmember to boot. They declared the ticket 'worth nothing' although eventually they called the ticketing office after I told them I had already talked to the ticket office. If I remember correctly it cost about $180 to turn 5 days into 3 new days.

Hopefully your experience is better than mine. I would suggest going to Guest Relations on arrival (Disney Springs maybe) and find out how they will handle your situation.

My 2nd experience was better. It was a ticket marked no expiration. Good luck! You are probably going to have to deal with the 6 other tickets also. They may have to be converted into date based media. Hopefully it works out better than our first experience.

Hm. They are regular 5 day tickets that’s not date based. I guess I could save them for my grandkids someday. Except my kids are currently 10 and 14, so that’ll be awhile.

It’s just not worth it for $350!! I’d rather eat it and save it for the future since ticket prices outpace inflation.

Disney should just bring back the value of the tickets based on current prices . It is so sad that they changed that!!

I do have 10 day no expire (4- one for each person in my family) that I used once in 2017 or 2018. So we have 9 single days left on those. I plan on using those sparingly.

 

[Judique]

Hm. They are regular 5 day tickets that’s not date based. I guess I could save them for my grandkids someday. Except my kids are currently 10 and 14, so that’ll be awhile.

It’s just not worth it for $350!! I’d rather eat it and save it for the future since ticket prices outpace inflation.

Disney should just bring back the value of the tickets based on current prices . It is so sad that they changed that!!

I do have 10 day no expire (4- one for each person in my family) that I used once in 2017 or 2018. So we have 9 single days left on those. I plan on using those sparingly.

Unfortunately the regular 5 day tickets and the child tickets will continue to lose value if you let them sit. Your 9 days on the no expire tickets are the ones that are gold. If you can see time to get to Guest Relations and I'm emphasizing GR, and you get them put into MDE you will have something with potential value. You more than likely cannot put these into MDE yourself and you probably can't walk through the gate with them. At Guest Relations you may get a more informed or better deal. It's difficult to predict as it can go either way as I soon learned.

 

[lanejudy]

The first time was not pretty. We eventually had to pay more cash to turn a 5 day ticket into a 3 day ticket at the Magic Kingdom ticket windows.

An older 5-day ticket should be usable as a 5-day ticket. "No expiration" only matters if the ticket is partially used -- say a 7-day ticket with 5 days remaining. Was there a reason you couldn't use the 5-day as a 5-day, and just let the last 2 days expire? Yes those extra 2 days would be "lost" but it shouldn't have cost you anything additional.

Unfortunately the regular 5 day tickets and the child tickets will continue to lose value if you let them sit.

No, they won't "lose value" because they will continue to be the same value it is today which is the same value it was when purchased. Tickets don't grow in value to current price anymore but they don't lose credit value. An unused ticket from 2013-2015 can be used as-is without additional cost as long as the PP wants to use them for a 5-day visit. They should be able to add the ticket to MDE and make a theme park reservation and enter with no additional intervention.

 

[Genie+]

An older 5-day ticket should be usable as a 5-day ticket. "No expiration" only matters if the ticket is partially used -- say a 7-day ticket with 5 days remaining. Was there a reason you couldn't use the 5-day as a 5-day, and just let the last 2 days expire? Yes those extra 2 days would be "lost" but it shouldn't have cost you anything additional.

I think they meant old ticket. Not non-expiring ticket. Because then the credit you get for the couple of years old 5 day ticket may just cover a 3 day ticket today.

No, they won't "lose value" because they will continue to be the same value it is today which is the same value it was when purchased. Tickets don't grow in value to current price anymore but they don't lose credit value. An unused ticket from 2013-2015 can be used as-is without additional cost as long as the PP wants to use them for a 5-day visit. They should be able to add the ticket to MDE and make a theme park reservation and enter with no additional intervention.

They lose value in the sense that inflation kills it and you lose any advantage of a previous discount. Because they’re not bridging anymore.

We bought a discounted ticket for my sister last year. She had to cancel, but came with us 11 months later. It cost us $250 to change her Dec 2023 ticket to Nov 2024 (we also added one day, 8 days instead of 7 days). Once you need to change dates - there is no way to get a discount, so now we had to pay the full price, and with the price increases on top.

 

[Genie+]

It really is slick on WDW’s part.

 

[Judique]

An older 5-day ticket should be usable as a 5-day ticket. "No expiration" only matters if the ticket is partially used -- say a 7-day ticket with 5 days remaining. Was there a reason you couldn't use the 5-day as a 5-day, and just let the last 2 days expire? Yes those extra 2 days would be "lost" but it shouldn't have cost you anything additional.


No, they won't "lose value" because they will continue to be the same value it is today which is the same value it was when purchased. Tickets don't grow in value to current price anymore but they don't lose credit value. An unused ticket from 2013-2015 can be used as-is without additional cost as long as the PP wants to use them for a 5-day visit. They should be able to add the ticket to MDE and make a theme park reservation and enter with no additional intervention.

I think they meant old ticket. Not non-expiring ticket. Because then the credit you get for the couple of years old 5 day ticket may just cover a 3 day ticket today.


They lose value in the sense that inflation kills it and you lose any advantage of a previous discount. Because they’re not bridging anymore.

We bought a discounted ticket for my sister last year. She had to cancel, but came with us 11 months later. It cost us $250 to change her Dec 2023 ticket to Nov 2024 (we also added one day, 8 days instead of 7 days). Once you need to change dates - there is no way to get a discount, so now we had to pay the full price, and with the price increases on top.

It really is slick on WDW’s part.

Our '2015' era ticket was NOT usable at the gate in March 2024 and as Genie+ says, since no more bridging, the value is significantly decreased as time goes on and prices rise. It cost $180ish to make that 5 day ticket into a 3 day ticket so that it could be used. We were at VGF and AKV for 6 nights and easily could have used 5 days if desired. They essentially turn your old ticket into a date based ticket. The sooner these tickets are used, the more 'value' you can get out of them by using before the next price increase.

Your mileage may vary but I'm recounting my ticket experience with a 5 day magic your way ticket purchased for a family member as tickets were changing in early 2015. When we went to use it we had to pay the difference of what it cost at purchase and what 3 days would cost in March 2024 to be able to use it.

The CM at the Magic Kingdom ticket window at first refused to do anything and told us the ticket was worthless. After I told her that I had called ticketing, she then called ticketing and came up with a number close to what ticketing told me I would have to pay.

2015 was the year they quit selling the no expiration add on during the February price hike. Most people may have assumed the 5 day magic your way base ticket would still carry all its days at the price paid and for some time I think they were honored in this fashion. This is not now automatically the case.

It's also possible that some holders of these tickets have been pixie dusted.

 

[Genie+]

2015 was the year they quit selling the no expiration add on during the February price hike. Most people may have assumed the 5 day magic your way base ticket would still carry all its days at the price paid and for some time I think they were honored in this fashion. This is not now automatically the case.

It's also possible that some holders of these tickets have been pixie dusted.

Yes. And at least in the era after non-expire tickets, they’s give you the full value of that ticket type on the dates listed, and you’d just need to pay price increases since then. Now you need to pay the price increases and lose any discount you previously secured. Doesn’t seem like a big until it costs $250 to add one day to ticket using it 11 months later, and in a cheaper week than the original too. The original ticket was peak pricing of the year, the second ticket was not. And it still cost $250 to change it out.

Basically the big impact would be on a family who was debating taking a WDW trip, seeing if they could find something within budget or not. Tickets have gotten really expensive, especially on WDW site, so they look at 3rd party vendors that save $100+ per ticket. Saving that $500 helps them pull the trigger. Little Johny breaks his wrist and the family decide to reschedule 8 months later. There is no way to use the tickets without paying WDW back the $500 plus ticket increase(s) over that last 8 months. They no longer like the budget but will lose alot money to skip it at this point.

It’s a bit extreme and unexpected as traditionally WDW terms were more gracious around trip changes. I learned my lesson in this new era. Do not buy tickets either until much closer to the trip date, or pay extra for refundable like the £10 fee on UK tickets.

 

[lanejudy]

Our '2015' era ticket was NOT usable at the gate in March 2024

Your mileage may vary but I'm recounting my ticket experience with a 5 day magic your way ticket purchased for a family member as tickets were changing in early 2015. When we went to use it we had to pay the difference of what it cost at purchase and what 3 days would cost in March 2024 to be able to use it.

2015 was the year they quit selling the no expiration add on during the February price hike. Most people may have assumed the 5 day magic your way base ticket would still carry all its days at the price paid and for some time I think they were honored in this fashion. This is not now automatically the case.

You are mixing up a few things.

Yes, WDW stopped the "no expire" add-on in early 2015. However tickets sold that year continued to not expire if completely unused. Those tickets should still be valid for use as-is today. I'm very sorry if you had a poorly trained CM who did not know that and forced you to pay more to use a 2015 ticket to use in 2024.

ANY fully-unused ticket sold prior to Feb. 2017 can be used as-is because there were no expiration dates on unused tickets prior to Feb. 2017. If one wants to add or change the number of days on said ticket, then it becomes subject to upgrade fees; but to use the original number of days it should cost nothing more. If a CM tries to make you pay more, stop the transaction and ask for a supervisor or go to a different ticket window/park.

Expiration dates for WDW tickets started in early 2017. Tickets sold through most of 2017 and 2018 were good for up to 23 months -- usually expiring at the end of Dec. the following year. For example a ticket purchased in March 2017 expired 12/31/2018. A partially used ticket from this time frame expired 14 days after first use.

Dated tickets such as are in use today were first sold in Oct. 2018. These are the tickets with a "start date" and the expiration is X-days later based on length of ticket.

Correct there is no more "bridging" to current price. Credit for expired tickets, or older tickets that one wishes to add-on, is equal to what WDW sold the same ticket at the time yours was purchased. Correct that as a % of the new ticket this will decrease as time goes on and prices go up; but the actual credit amount will not change.

 

[Genie+]

Correct there is no more "bridging" to current price. Credit for expired tickets, or older tickets that one wishes to add-on, is equal to what WDW sold the same ticket at the time yours was purchased.

This is the part that made such a big difference in our ticket change. We didn’t get credit for WDW’s price of that ticket size and date, we only got credit for the discounted price we paid. In this case it was a UK ticket we paid $645 for 7 day hopper (£520 in Feb 2023 for late December 2023). The new ticket was 8 day hopper Nov 2024, and we had to pay another $250 to get to the full almost $900 current WDW retail price. No other way except not use the ticket and eat the $645.

 

[Judique]

You are mixing up a few things.

Yes, WDW stopped the "no expire" add-on in early 2015. However tickets sold that year continued to not expire if completely unused. Those tickets should still be valid for use as-is today. I'm very sorry if you had a poorly trained CM who did not know that and forced you to pay more to use a 2015 ticket to use in 2024.

ANY fully-unused ticket sold prior to Feb. 2017 can be used as-is because there were no expiration dates on unused tickets prior to Feb. 2017. If one wants to add or change the number of days on said ticket, then it becomes subject to upgrade fees; but to use the original number of days it should cost nothing more. If a CM tries to make you pay more, stop the transaction and ask for a supervisor or go to a different ticket window/park.

Expiration dates for WDW tickets started in early 2017. Tickets sold through most of 2017 and 2018 were good for up to 23 months -- usually expiring at the end of Dec. the following year. For example a ticket purchased in March 2017 expired 12/31/2018. A partially used ticket from this time frame expired 14 days after first use.

Dated tickets such as are in use today were first sold in Oct. 2018. These are the tickets with a "start date" and the expiration is X-days later based on length of ticket.

Correct there is no more "bridging" to current price. Credit for expired tickets, or older tickets that one wishes to add-on, is equal to what WDW sold the same ticket at the time yours was purchased. Correct that as a % of the new ticket this will decrease as time goes on and prices go up; but the actual credit amount will not change.

Please explain why the ticketing office on two occasions (1) when I spoke to them by phone from home, giving them the ticket numbers and (2) when the poorly trained cast member at Magic Kingdom called them in my presence, both came up with the statement that the ticket could not be used as is for 5 days and in order to get 3 days, both times gave an amount to be paid.

I absolutely agree that these tickets 'should' be valid for use as-is today. That's not what happened. I could not add the ticket to MDE so I had to call. The ticketing office got involved and I was given the option over the phone to pay. Just as you state, I was expecting the ticket to be honored as 5 days, no changes. I decided not to pay in advance over the phone and took a chance on waiting until I got to WDW. As stated went to the ticket window when the ticket was rejected at the turn styles, and the rest is history as detailed above. We had no choice but to pay or we weren't all going into MK.

 

[Jodo98]

Hi everyone! I’m a little befuddled right now and would love a little advice regarding old tickets. Apparently, I have two 5-day tickets (no date) for kids (age 3-9). My son just aged out and I totally forgot I had these tickets.

I’m so mad at myself. We aren’t going back to Disney until December 2025. These tickets are super valuable…. If they were for adults!! Any advice on what I should do?

I have six other tickets for adults that I’ve saved up (yay) but now I don’t know what to do with the two 5-day tickets for children. . I recall buying them when I heard rumors that Disney was switching to a date-based pricing. My kids were super young then.

I believe you can go to ticket window and exchange for different passes and pay the difference. Why dont you try if you dont have family that can use them.

 

[lanejudy]

We didn’t get credit for WDW’s price of that ticket size and date, we only got credit for the discounted price we paid. In this case it was a UK ticket we paid $645 for 7 day hopper (£520 in Feb 2023 for late December 2023).

Sorry, I didn't realize you were talking about UK tickets. My comments are specific to typical US tickets. There is no US-equivalent to the UK ticket, therefore the credit is what you paid (but with an exchange rate which may or may not be favorable vs the exchange rate when you purchased).

 

[Genie+]

Sorry, I didn't realize you were talking about UK tickets. My comments are specific to typical US tickets. There is no US-equivalent to the UK ticket, therefore the credit is what you paid (but with an exchange rate which may or may not be favorable vs the exchange rate when you purchased).

We had other tickets this happened as well that were bought regular US 3rd party broker, just not as big a gap because they were smaller tickets to start. Like the 2023 Jollywood Nights ticket I bought at the same time for my sister, she cancelled and we held on to it and applied to her JN 2024 ticket. We bought this ticket through TripAdvisor 20% off sale, and they only credited us the discounted price toward new JN ticket.

Somehow they’re seeing the actual price paid I guess?