New Magic Your Way ticket upgrade policy

[disneydata]

Starting August 3rd, a new policy will be in effect regarding upgrading Magic Your Way tickets.

Regular, military, and convention tickets will NO LONGER be upgradable once fully used (no remaining entitlements) even if within the 14 day upgrade window. Florida Resident tickets will not be affected by this change.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

That's odd. Wouldn't it benefit Disney for people like this to upgrade their tickets?

 

[dreamfinder]

Basically you need to decide if you want to upgrade before the ticket is all used up. Some people are speculating this change it to cut down on the illegal ticket resellers. Many of them apparently buy tickets that have no days left, and then upgrade them for cheap I.E. a 5 day to a 10 day for $42, and then selling it as a brand new 5 day for say $200. A price that no legitimate reseller can match. But then when the guest goes to use it, there is a reasonable chance it will get rejected. Perhaps not the first day, but most likely at some point during their trip. And now the guest is out their $200, and Disney has an unhappy guest who needs to buy a new legitimate ticket.
It won't affect many regular guests as many people don't even know they can upgrade their tickets. You can still upgrade before you run out of days, but not afterwards. Not sure how the last day works, if you need to upgrade with 1 unused day left, or simply before the parks close on your last day.

 

[roadtripper]

Just curious what others may know on this...what if you have a one day ticket, use it to enter the park, go directly to guest services to upgrade/add days? Is that considered a "used up" ticket? Or is that legit because it is you on the one and only day available? Or do you need to upgrade before entering the park?

 

[peachykeen]

You can upgrade the ticket on its last day if that was the final entitlement. For example, if you have a 5 Day Park Hopper and you've used 4 days, and you come into the park today as your last day, at the end of the night you can still upgrade the ticket, even though all five days have been "used," it is still that same day so you can upgrade. Tomorrow you wouldn't be able to. Same with 1 Day. If you enter the park, you have to upgrade the ticket before that day is over.

This is to cut down on illegal ticket vendor activity. Disney got really, REALLY serious about this in the last couple weeks.

 

[bigorangeandy]

Wow, I'm glad that was not in effect four months ago, we upgraded our tickets to Annual passes, after our last day the parks.

 

[boufa]

Clarify, if you used your ticket that day, even after you leave you are still o.k. If you come back the next day, then you will have to work it out with Guest Services. I would think that if it was to upgrade to an annual pass you would be o.k. since there is no resale issues with annual passes.

I think this will be a minor incovinece to a very small number of people, but could save a large number of people from being scammed for buying tickets on Craigslist, etc. (ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/5-day-WALT-DISNEY-WORLD-Park-HOPPER-water-park-ticket-/300582010993?pt=Tickets_Experiences&hash=item45fc158071

Good going Disney for trying to be proactive.

 

[KingdomofDreams]

This is just curiosity on my part, but isn't the use of biometrics system supposed to ensure the ticket is only used by the original ticket holder? If not, what is the purpose of the finger scan upon entry?

 

[Master Yoda]

This is just curiosity on my part, but isn't the use of biometrics system supposed to ensure the ticket is only used by the original ticket holder? If not, what is the purpose of the finger scan upon entry?

The bio-metrics are not 100%. From what was reported when they switched to the finger scan about 1 in 100 will have the same code generated. Also the bio-metrics are not always turned on when entering the parks. They are frequently switched off for the morning rush.

 

[KingdomofDreams]

Thanks Master Yoda! That's interesting ... makes one wonder where the benefit is in having it at all if it's unreliable and has to be turned off at times.

 

[peachykeen]

And another big change is that the biometrics are now ALWAYS going to be on, including during the morning rush. Expect slightly longer lines to enter, but more open turnstiles. Half the line at Guest Relations at the park entrances in the morning is now people with unauthorized tickets having them confiscated.

 

[minniemickeyfan]

When I was there in June I couldn't believe all the signs up wanting you to sell or buy used tickets on 192 heading west off I-4! Hopefully this will cut down on the problem.

 

[KingdomofDreams]

Sounds like the company is taking a hard look at some of this long-time manipulation and abuse of the system and making necessary modifications to eliminate or reduce it as much as possible. I think it's a good thing and long overdue.

 

[Master Yoda]

Thanks Master Yoda! That's interesting ... makes one wonder where the benefit is in having it at all if it's unreliable and has to be turned off at times.

The system does actually work pretty well but they have to balance effectiveness and efficiency at times. No security system will always be 100%. About the only time you will see the scans turned off is at park opening and even that is becoming less and less common from my experience.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

In my recent exeperience, only Animal Kingdom had the biometric scanners shut off at park opening.

Which is a good thing because, I have no idea why, but the turnstyles at the park move significantly slower than any of the other three parks.

 

[Master Yoda]

In my recent exeperience, only Animal Kingdom had the biometric scanners shut off at park opening.

Which is a good thing because, I have no idea why, but the turnstyles at the park move significantly slower than any of the other three parks.

Where I tend to see them shut off the most is at DHS and AK. I assume this is due the fewer turnstiles and a rather bottle necked entrance.

 

[Kamikaze]

Thanks Master Yoda! That's interesting ... makes one wonder where the benefit is in having it at all if it's unreliable and has to be turned off at times.

Its not 'unreliable' nor does it 'have to' be turned off.
The reason they turn it off is because of efficiency. If they wanted to, they could leave it on, it would just take a lot longer to get into the parks.

 

[theguitarman]

Hmm, I see the point of this, but I have also upgraded my ticket the morning after it ran out several times. I think a good compromise would be once the ticket runs out, they could "mark it", and from then on you could only add one day at a time. This way, you can't add a couple of days and sell it at a deep discount. At worst, the scam would work for a single day pass. But at the same time, it wouldn't completely penalize us honest folks. I mean, I am sure there are plenty of people who wake up on "leaving day" and say, "aw heck, lets just stay one more day!", or maybe "lets just head to the parks for the morning!". It's a shame to take away that option because of a few dishonest folks!

On a related note, I think this ties in with a lot of the other changes and topics discussed on this board. ADR's and DDP (picking what you have a taste for 6 months in advance). The possibly upcoming xpass (where your hour by hour itinerary is pre-determined). Seems like spontaneity is not going to be possible at WDW in the future

 

[dreamfinder]

And another big change is that the biometrics are now ALWAYS going to be on, including during the morning rush. Expect slightly longer lines to enter, but more open turnstiles. Half the line at Guest Relations at the park entrances in the morning is now people with unauthorized tickets having them confiscated.

Did anything ever come of that new fangled gateless gate tech they were testing a while back? Would help to alleviate that I would think.

 

[Master Yoda]

Hmm, I see the point of this, but I have also upgraded my ticket the morning after it ran out several times. I think a good compromise would be once the ticket runs out, they could "mark it", and from then on you could only add one day at a time. This way, you can't add a couple of days and sell it at a deep discount. At worst, the scam would work for a single day pass. But at the same time, it wouldn't completely penalize us honest folks. I mean, I am sure there are plenty of people who wake up on "leaving day" and say, "aw heck, lets just stay one more day!", or maybe "lets just head to the parks for the morning!". It's a shame to take away that option because of a few dishonest folks!

On a related note, I think this ties in with a lot of the other changes and topics discussed on this board. ADR's and DDP (picking what you have a taste for 6 months in advance). The possibly upcoming xpass (where your hour by hour itinerary is pre-determined). Seems like spontaneity is not going to be possible at WDW in the future

From what I am hearing situations like this will be handled on a case by case basis. My thinking is that if it obviously legit they will allow it.