When can I add extra days?

[Beckett]

Hello! I am staying during late December/early January in Disney and have 4 day tickets. I almost immediately regretted not buying extra days but was told that the only way to add them is at the resort or parks after I arrive. I really wish I could add them now to get the benefits that come with staying onsite. Also, after reading a trip report in which adding extra days caused a major problem at the parks (magic bands did not show the extra days, fastpass reservations were lost, CM's treating them like liars due to the magicband error) I am worried...a lot. Please help me know if I have any other options...thanks!

 

[Rob562]

First question: Did you purchase the tickets separately? Or are they part of a package reservation?

If they're purchased separately, then there isn't much you can do until you arrive. Any "horror stories" about adding days most liekly date back to the earliest days of the MDE/MagicBand roll-out. I haven't read about any issues for quite a while.

If they were booked as part of a package reservation, just call Disney (or your travel agent if booked through them) and have them change the tickets on the reservation. Since it's inside 45 days you'll have to pay the difference right then, but the change fee will be waived since you're increasing the overall cost of the package.

-Rob

 

[Beckett]

Thanks. It was a 2015 trip report. I booked separately. Guess I'll have to wait!

 

[Beckett]

Before I begin my account of day 8 of our trip, I must stop to mention a conversation that Julia and I had as we were walking through POP Century. She had asked me if I was keeping notes for my trip report. I told her yes – but I told her I was worried that it was going to be boring because nothing really “exciting” happened. That being said…



Day 8: Monday September 22nd Magic Kingdom (Or are we in the Twilight Zone?)


As I have said many times before, our family is not very good with rope drops or opening shows – we always run late. But I vowed today would be different. We had an early reservation for Crystal Palace before park opening so we could walk through before the crowds. But as hard as I tried, of course, we were running a little late, so I didn’t even attempt to take a single picture!


When we got to Magic Kingdom, we looked for the breakfast line, but couldn’t find it and the CM we asked didn’t seem to know what we were talking about. Maybe it was gone because we were late – so we got on the LONG line and waited to get in. Okay, so no pictures without crowds – maybe next time.


As we got to the entrance, I scanned my Magic Band as I did for the past 7 days but to my shock, that whizzing circle did not turn green today, instead, it turned a very troublesome shade of blue. I tried again and again and again. Then Julia tried and Ross and Hope. Uh Oh!


I was so worried that we would miss our breakfast ADR’s. A CM with an I-Pad pulled us to the side and looked up our info. My stomach sunk as soon as I saw the look on her face. I don’t know what she saw on her screen – but it must have been a doozey!


“You used all your days – you have no park days left.” She said.


Ross and I looked at each other. We told her it was not possible, we had a 10 day ticket, added an eleventh day, so we still had 4 days left.


“No” She said very firmly. “You have used all your days.”


We were beyond confused. We asked how that was possible – we arrived on the 15th and today is the 22nd so that would make 7 days – there were 4 days left.


She gave us the answer, “No, you arrived on the 11th and the 21st would have been the last ticket used. You have no tickets left.”


Bewildered we told her, “We didn’t arrive on the 11th – we arrived on the 15th”!


We pleaded our case to her. But she was insistent “No you did not – you arrived on the 11th – it is right here in our system.”


Part of me wondered if we were on one of those prank shows – I kept looking around for a camera or someone to jump at us and laugh that we were “punked”. But no such luck.


I assured her that we were most definitely NOT in WDW on the 11th – but in NY. I started to pull up our Jet Blue itinerary on my phone. I also asked her to please call FQ to confirm when we checked in.


As I was pulling up information on my phone, Ross asked her a brilliant question. “Where were we on the 11th”?


She responded without hesitation, “Animal Kingdom.” She said. “You were in AK on the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th .”


By this time, I knew it was no joke. I was shaking and ready to cry. I could tell by the tone of her voice, she didn’t believe a word we were telling her.


I showed her my phone with the Jet Blue info on it – and My Disney Experience which had our check in date. For the first time, I think she realized something was extremely wrong and that we were not MK crashers. She told us to remove our Magic Bands and give them to her and get in line at Guest Services.


Now if anyone has seen the Sandra Bullock movie, The Net, you will understand how I felt taking off that Magic Band and handing it off to her. I looked at Ross and said, no one will ever believe who we are!


We didn’t have any choice though. We stripped ourselves of our Magic Bands and got in the longest line for guest services I have ever seen.


By now the opening show had commenced. The entire MK gang was dancing and singing away as we waited in a complete fog, not knowing what was going on.


When we got up to the front, just as I thought, the CM didn’t know what I was talking about. They had to find our Magic Bands and then the first CM we spoke with. Soon, I found myself retelling the whole story of adding the 11th day and of course her response was, “You can’t do that – it’s not possible.” It was obvious; she did not believe my story until I pulled out the receipt and showed her. She said to wait a moment and caucused with other cast members who were all scratching their heads and staring at us. Soon, 3 CM’s were at the window starring completely in disbelief at a computer screen and trying to figure out what was going on. Once again, I explained what had happened. At last, I got the first sign of hope when she said, “I’m sorry – we are trying to figure out what happened.”


I told her that we had reservations at CP that we’re now beyond late for – she promised they would call over and let them know what was going on so they would seat us when we arrived and we would not get a charge.


We waited and waited.


As one can imagine, Ross was fuming. He may as well have had a neon sign on the top of his head that flashed, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it!” Yes – it was completely his day of redemption, “This is why you don’t change the plans!” The only thing that I had going for me was that he was even more upset at the CM’s who were treating us like we were liars.


The whole time, Julia was doing her best trying to keep Hope entertained but understandably she was just as frustrated as the rest of us. She came over and asked Ross what was going on. Ross told her, “Mommy broke the Magic Bands!”


FINALLY, after what seemed to be an eternity, it was about an hour; we got our Magic Bands back. They never told us what happened or why it happened. They said they had NEVER experienced anything like this before, but that everything was okay. They also added an extra Fast Pass on to our day for the delay and told us we could get back on to the line to enter MK.


Being so late for breakfast, I figured we could be escorted to the front of the line, but no, that wasn’t the case. I asked the CM, after all the time we wasted trying to figure this out; don’t you think someone could get us into the park without waiting on another line? Nope. Her response? “That’s why we added an extra Fast Pass to your day.”


When we arrived at CP, I went to check us in. Of course, no one had called ahead and they didn’t see us in the system right away; but thankfully, they located us, gave us a pager and told us it would be a few minutes.


I didn’t mind the wait. I think we all needed a few minutes to regroup. We were still in disbelief and tried to figure out what had happened. Obviously, we figured it was because of the now “doomed” 11th day being added on, but it was so weird how elusive they all were.


As we were waiting, I checked my phone to see the times of our Fast Pass reservations, figuring with the huge delay, we would probably have to move some around. I pulled up “My Plans” – and the APP crashed. No big deal. I just deleted it and re-downloaded it.


The APP was back and running and I pulled up my “My Plans”. That’s when I realized our troubles were not over – because we had NO plans. All of our information for our trip was gone.


NO Fast Pass reservations


NO Dining Reservations


NO FQ reservations


NO information about our trip at all – everything was wiped out!


NO WAY!


By the time they called us in, Ross was beaming. He didn’t find the loss of the reservations that bad and he took full advantage of getting the point across that he was right and I was wrong.


So instead of enjoying Pooh’s Puffed French Toast, I found myself choking down an extra portion of crow. But at least I dined in good company.

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[Tuvalu]

The above was a very unusual case and not the norm when adding additional days to your ticket. The maximum number of days you can have on one ticket is 10...an 11th day cannot be added (as the family in the trip report soon learned ). Days beyond 10 require the purchase of a new one day ticket or upgrade to an annual pass.

As long as you don't plan to add more than 6 days to your 4 day pass you won't encounter any difficulties, with the exception of having to wait to make FP choices for the added days.

 

[dreamfinder]

Make sure to peform the upgrade while you still have valid park admissions. Basically, don't wait until the last day.

 

[Beckett]

Could I do it when I check in at the hotel? Or do I have to use at least one day before doing it? Thanks!!!

 

[dreamfinder]

Could I do it when I check in at the hotel? Or do I have to use at least one day before doing it? Thanks!!!

You could, but it depends on where you bought the ticket. If you bought it from a reseller such as Undercover Tourist, basically paid less than gate price, then you would want to use it at least once. Otherwise you wouldn't get the full value of your existing ticket applied to the new one. Personally, I would do it in park as they do it more frequently than the concierge at the hotel. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes to do.

 

[Beckett]

I bought them directly from Disney. Maybe I should still use them at least one day before I add more days?