Quirky Tickets/Planning Advice Request

[bferrara16]

Ok, I'll explain the deal and then ask my question:

I am a DVC Member and will be staying at SSR with 5 other people in my party. Since we booked through my DVC membership, park tickets need to be taken care of separately. Quirky facts include the following: the 6 of us are going to be split into 2 rooms for the first 2 nights, then we are all going to switch to one larger room for the remainder of our stay (another 7 nights). On top of that, 4 of us will be arriving together earlier the first day, checking in to the 2 rooms and heading off to the parks, with the other 2 arriving later in the day.

So, this leads me to a few questions:
1) I've read that it is advisable when booking hotel & ticket separately to wait to buy the tickets at check-in, so that you can have the tickets added to the room key. Can anyone confirm that this is true, and if there is a way to do it in advance (not upon arrival)?

2) Since we will be changing rooms, will having everyone's tickets on everyone's door keys present a problem? (I'm presuming that we will be issued new door keys for the new room... is it a very simple transfer of the park tickets or no?)

The debate is basically whether we should call for the park tickets now, or wait? And if we wait, what are the ramifications? Sorry for what is seemingly a rookie question - believe it or not, I've been to WDW many many times, just never had to deal with this many people and room-shuffling before.

Thanks for any help in advance!

 

[lilclerk]

Well. Your second question threw me off, so I'll just let you know that there is no longer a discount for pre-purchasing your tickets. The only benefit or getting them ahead of time is having them paid for before you get there.

I am almost positive they can add your tickets (even if you purchased them ahead of time) to your room key, but since you'll all be switching rooms, I'm not sure how that will work.

 

[wvdisneyfamily]

There is no early purchase discount now so I say wait until you check in and ask the hotel staff what to do especially since you will be switching rooms.

 

[Yellow Shoes]

You may or may not be able to get the tickets on the room key.

One trip I bought the tickets in advance because I wasn't booking a package. I asked when I checked in if I could get them on the room key and they told me "no."

Then I realized that an additional credit card sized piece of plastic really wasn't going to add considerably to the stuff I was carrying in the parks, so I got over it.

 

[Rob562]

You may or may not be able to get the tickets on the room key.

One trip I bought the tickets in advance because I wasn't booking a package. I asked when I checked in if I could get them on the room key and they told me "no."

Then I realized that an additional credit card sized piece of plastic really wasn't going to add considerably to the stuff I was carrying in the parks, so I got over it.

Odd, because front desk staff do this all the time. Perhaps you just got someone who didn't know how to do it.

My suggestion for the original poster is to buy your required tickets (either ahead of time or once you get to WDW), but keep them as separate ticket media until you check into your *second* reservation (because you'll be getting new room keys for the new reservation). Until then, use them as you normally would a separate ticket.

After you've checked into the second reservation, bring all your room keys and all the tickets over to the Lobby Concierge desk and have them encode the tickets onto your room keys. If the CM at the desk doesn't know how, ask for a supervisor. They *will* know how to do it.

You could get the tickets encoded onto the first room keys, but I'm not sure if they can then transfer the ticket off of one room key and onto a second one. So after you move to the new room you'd be stuck with the same problem: having the room key be one card, and the ticket be another. Best to leave the tickets separate until you get into your bigger, longer-term room.

-Rob

 

[Carolyn1717]

Odd, because front desk staff do this all the time. Perhaps you just got someone who didn't know how to do it.

My suggestion for the original poster is to buy your required tickets (either ahead of time or once you get to WDW), but keep them as separate ticket media until you check into your *second* reservation (because you'll be getting new room keys for the new reservation). Until then, use them as you normally would a separate ticket.

After you've checked into the second reservation, bring all your room keys and all the tickets over to the Lobby Concierge desk and have them encode the tickets onto your room keys. If the CM at the desk doesn't know how, ask for a supervisor. They *will* know how to do it.

You could get the tickets encoded onto the first room keys, but I'm not sure if they can then transfer the ticket off of one room key and onto a second one. So after you move to the new room you'd be stuck with the same problem: having the room key be one card, and the ticket be another. Best to leave the tickets separate until you get into your bigger, longer-term room.

The advantage to purchasing your tickets in advance is to lock in the price. If the prices go up before your arrive and you wait, you will be paying a higher price.