Magic Key sales back on 1/22!

[brightlined]

Seems like you're being punished (no discounts, no park hopper, etc.) by waiting to upgrade at the end of your trip. I understand missing out on those things if you chose to wait to buy, but MK's weren't available when I booked or I would have bought them at that time.

I'll call Disney Travel on Tuesday to see if I upgrade my ticket, if my existing reservation will be valid and/or if they have availability to get me in since I'll be staying on-site.

With 4-5 trips planned this year, a MK makes the most sense for me, it just wasn't available when I booked the first trip. :/

MKs aren't like WDW APs. MKs are frustrating to get.

I hear what you're saying, but those are the same issues that everyone has faced when these have gone for sale. What you might miss out on seems minor compared to how expensive it would be to take 4-5 trips at full day-ticket prices if you can't get an MK.

DLR doesn't have WDW money to spend on tech and staffing, so there are a bunch of annoying obstacles. And, as limited as MKs are, there's no incentive for them to make it easier - they'd rather sell the available stock at full price to people who aren't as particular.


1) MKs may not still be available on 1/31. Nobody knows how many will be available after the November sale. The November thread has a bunch of posts from people who wanted to upgrade on their upcoming trips and missed out because they waited.

DLR is irritatingly unpredictable when it comes to these. They could be available for months, they could be available for one day.

Nobody knows, but even Tom Bricker is predicting they'll sell out within a few days because of the 70th.


2) You can't upgrade unused day tickets to an MK over the phone. DLR doesn't sell MKs over the phone.

The ticket upgrade is a perk that's only available at the park. If you want to upgrade an unused ticket, you have to wait until the passes are available (1/22) and wait in line at the one ticket booth at DLR handling MK sales that day. The other option is to enter a park and upgrade in the app.

It wouldn't hurt to try the phone call and see what they say. But that has literally never worked in the past.


Is it possible that your plan would work - that you could upgrade in the park on 1/31 and secure new reservations through the resort pool? Absolutely.

But it's possible that you'll completely miss out on getting an MK by risking that.

 

[LAS2AMS]

DLR doesn't have WDW money to spend on tech and staffing

Any perceived staffing issues at DLR derive from the big pay bump the union won last year. Shouldn’t be a surprise that DLR is subsequently cutting labor. Same thing happened a few years ago after WDW’s union won its big pay bump.

DLR has installed tablets that utilize facial recognition to facilitate self entry into the parks. They haven’t went live but will soon. Again, this has to do with higher labor costs.

No different than the drop in table service WDW vets complain of. Servers earn CA’s minimum wage ($16.50) vs. a tipped wage in WDW. Coupled with the local preference for fast casual, this has equated into the drop.

 

[brightlined]

Any perceived staffing issues at DLR derive from the big pay bump the union won last year. Shouldn’t be a surprise that DLR is subsequently cutting labor. Same thing happened a few years ago after WDW’s union won its big pay bump.

DLR has installed tablets that utilize facial recognition to facilitate self entry into the parks. They haven’t went live but will soon. Again, this has to do with higher labor costs.

No different than the drop in table service WDW vets complain of. Servers earn CA’s minimum wage ($16.50) vs. a tipped wage in WDW. Coupled with the local preference for fast casual, this has equated into the drop.

That's not what I'm talking about when I'm referring to staffing problems with MKs. These are a historical issues, not something new.

The MK thing is specifically that they don't have enough staff to be able to handle MK sales over the phone on the day(s) that hundreds of people are simultaneously trying to buy them, so they don't offer them that way.

And they sell MKs so infrequently, they won't spend the money to fix the tech to facilitate easier / less-risky ticket upgrades in the app - essentially, it would be money spent to cost themselves money. I'm confident that that's partly why they shut off MK sales in June and November - they don't want people to upgrade from day tickets into blocked-out passes, and they don't think it's worth the cost to fix the issue.

I think a lot of people (especially WDW vets) expect DLR to work the same way as WDW, but the metrics between the parks are so vastly different - it's a completely different beast.

 

[caimakale]

MKs aren't like WDW APs. MKs are frustrating to get.

I hear what you're saying, but those are the same issues that everyone has faced when these have gone for sale. What you might miss out on seems minor compared to how expensive it would be to take 4-5 trips at full day-ticket prices if you can't get an MK.

DLR doesn't have WDW money to spend on tech and staffing, so there are a bunch of annoying obstacles. And, as limited as MKs are, there's no incentive for them to make it easier - they'd rather sell the available stock at full price to people who aren't as particular.


1) MKs may not still be available on 1/31. Nobody knows how many will be available after the November sale. The November thread has a bunch of posts from people who wanted to upgrade on their upcoming trips and missed out because they waited.

DLR is irritatingly unpredictable when it comes to these. They could be available for months, they could be available for one day.

Nobody knows, but even Tom Bricker is predicting they'll sell out within a few days because of the 70th.


2) You can't upgrade unused day tickets to an MK over the phone. DLR doesn't sell MKs over the phone.

The ticket upgrade is a perk that's only available at the park. If you want to upgrade an unused ticket, you have to wait until the passes are available (1/22) and wait in line at the one ticket booth at DLR handling MK sales that day. The other option is to enter a park and upgrade in the app.

It wouldn't hurt to try the phone call and see what they say. But that has literally never worked in the past.


Is it possible that your plan would work - that you could upgrade in the park on 1/31 and secure new reservations through the resort pool? Absolutely.

But it's possible that you'll completely miss out on getting an MK by risking that.

Great info, thanks for taking the time to share! I guess I'll see what happens and if I can get one. My 4-5 trips is contingent on getting a MK, without one it'll just be my trip the end of this month and one in September. Thanks!

 

[Tinkaboo]

Anybodyseeing the queue?

 

[Firefly09]

nope

 

[Firefly09]

queue now

 

[Rich M]

Queue is open now

 

[KimberMama]

Approximate wait time 47 minutes, and I tried so hard to get into the queue super fast

 

[Tinkaboo]

Me too 37 minutes now

 

[KimberMama]

Me too 37 minutes now

Same here, dropped pretty fast

 

[Firefly09]

aaah was 45 now up to 50 minutes

 

[KimberMama]

Finished my transaction at 9:36 a.m., Inspire MK purchased for my young adult son. I didn't make any reservations yet as he isn't home and I don't know when he's going to be able to go. We're using his $104 ticket next Monday and not activating the MK right away.

 

[AstroBlasters]

I have been on the Woody screen now for over 10 minutes…. But it says not to refresh or use the back button….

 

[Rich M]

Got the two I needed for my son and his GF. Pretty easy.

 

[Firefly09]

welp, glad i was able to get a MK because looks like the site crashed.

 

[AstroBlasters]

I tried agin…. long woody hold…closing out and re-entering from back of line

 

[Tinkaboo]

Well i am stuck on pay screen and wont take my Disney visa. Now on hold on phone and going through queue on computer instead of ipad.

 

[KimberMama]

Well i am stuck on pay screen and wont take my Disney visa. Now on hold on phone and going through queue on computer instead of ipad.

I used a laptop, back in 2023 I tried to use my iPad to book a Disney vacation and it got stuck on the payment screen. I called and the rep tried several things and finally asked if I was using a tablet and did I have access to a computer. I hope you got it figured out.

 

[Tinkaboo]

Never had such a hard time trying to give mymoney away...

YAY! I am now an Inspire MK holder for 2025...my Believe key expires in April and i have no blackouts to concern me.

And thank you, @KimberMama , i now know that only shopping works on iPad LOL