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Your Thoughts: Purchasing Disney Tickets Off-Property
- Thread starter wdwjmp239
- Start date
FettFan
Well-Known Member
Undercover Tourist and Orlando Fun Tickets both work under contract from Disney, and their business model is similar to Hotels.com/Priceline/Travelocity. They buy bulk tickets wholesale from WDW, and then re-sell them with a lower markup.
EDIT -- Though to be truthful, unless you are buying a 10-day hopper pass with no expiration, you're only going to be saving about $15 per ticket. If you're buying for your whole family trip then it's a good deal.
But as for me....I only buy for myself and my wife, so I'll go straight to the source.
DizneyPryncess
Well-Known Member
My in-laws stopped and inquired about tickets many years ago at one of those huts on the road, when my husband was a kid. They agreed to do a tour of a timeshare in order to get the tickets - so I bet that many of them are still like this today. They got their tickets - and they were good tickets. They also ended up buying a time share that they still use today....some 20 years later. They actually have 3 weeks there now, it's at Orange Lake.
FettFan
Well-Known Member
Dad 2 M & M
Well-Known Member
Thanks for that additional info...I didn't know it was vouchers!!
The used passes everyone is refering, they are the paper passes? Our room key is our pass; I guess because we purchase the package direct from WDW. Even if they are paper, doesn't (as suggested in this thread), the biometric render them useless? Or does the CM overide eliminating the consequence (of purchasing used tickets)?
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
No, rest assured that the paper tickets work exactly the same way as the plastic one's do. It's the magnetic strip on the ticket that tells the computer who you are, not the makeup of the ticket itself. I think Disney has pulled away from almost all plastic tickets with the exception of the key's to the kingdom. The paper ones are more likely to get damaged and therefore cause problems in the machines but they still have a way of matching the tickets with the owner quite well.
FettFan
Well-Known Member
Oh I hope not. I keep my spent plastics as souvenirs.
Dad 2 M & M
Well-Known Member
We keep ours as well. Haven't had a paper WDW ticket in over a decade...did use paper in DL in '10.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
I usually buy my tickets from Disney directly and separate from packages since I almost always stay off-site. The last time I was given a plastic ticket that way was 2008. In fact, since that time the only plastic I got was when I stayed on-site in 2010 and it doubled as my room key.
Captain Hank
Well-Known Member
As said several times before in this thread, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Don't buy a ticket from someone other than Disney unless you are absolutely, 100% sure that they're a legitimate seller. Transfer of ownership of a partially-used multi-day ticket is illegal. The first line under the magnetic strip on all tickets is "Nontransferable. Must be used by the same person on any and all days." If you are caught using an illegitimately sold ticket, it will be confiscated and you will be directed back to the place you purchased it if you would like to attempt to get your money back. Don't take the risk.
ratherbeinwdw
Well-Known Member
They will only give paper tickets to annual passholders now unless you buy it at your resort. I asked for plastic, and they wouldn't give us one.
They said they have many more problems with the plastic than the paper ones. Since we have our paper annual passes, we have to carry a plastic room key and the paper pass when we stay onsite. We did finally have to have our paper ones replaced our last trip, but it only took a few minutes at Customer Care. We still have to try at least twice everytime we enter a park. We never had that problem with our old plastic cards.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
Well not that awful small. I would have saved around $60.00 had I purchased my 10 day park hopper, non-expiration ticket through AAA. I never thought to even check until I had already purchased it. If I were flexible enough I would have kicked myself over that.
LizC
Well-Known Member
True. I guess saying the savings are small depends on how many days you buy. Still any savings at Disney are a big deal in my book! At least now you know for next time.Well not that awful small. I would have saved around $60.00 had I purchased my 10 day park hopper, non-expiration ticket through AAA. I never thought to even check until I had already purchased it. If I were flexible enough I would have kicked myself over that.
I hear what you're all saying and I'm agreement with all of it. It's a scammy business and with the current technology being used at the entrance of the parks (biometrics), the tickets wouldn't work anyways because there's someone else's fingerprint information encoded in that little magnetic strip on the back of the pass.
What I'm wondering is now is how are these people staying in business? You would think the technology would've pushed these scammers/scalpers out of business.
What I'm wondering is now is how are these people staying in business? You would think the technology would've pushed these scammers/scalpers out of business.
jonesenon4
Active Member
alot of these cheap ticket places are timeshares now and in order to git the tickets you must endure a 90 to 120 min tour and a high pressure presentation.my family and i prefer park time to listening to a high pressure sales pitch so we have never gotten these tickets.we always go thru disney travel and get everything at once tickets room and food all at one stop.
Well, I guess there are some people (probably our visitors from foreign countries) who are into those timeshare presentations. Plus, they would seem like an easy target to these scalper-type people.
If I had to take a look as to what's going on in one of these scalper's minds, a thought process would probably look something like this: "Oh look!! Here's a family of four from France. They speak very little English. I'll sucker them into a high pressure timeshare sale."
But, if the travel agent in France did their homework, they would warn that family that these people do exist around the Disney/Universal Studios area.
Briangwen7
Active Member
I Bought some once to take a friend for $50 and It worked. But would not do it again.
But would not do it again. 
rct247
Well-Known Member
STAY AWAY!! It isn't worth the risk. Only purchase tickets from an authorized Disney ticket seller such as a good-neighbor hotel. These tickets shouldn't be super cheap. That's usually a sign of a bad deal not a good one. Having previously worked turnstiles at Disney, I can tell that many times guests will buy tickets from off property along 192. We always know when this happens. The biometrics don't work. Also, an American or even South American family who comes up with a 14 day ticket bought them from 192. Those 14 day tickets are only available in Europe so more than likely a hispanic family or one from Illinois for instance shouldn't have them. I've also had numerous and I do me numerous times where a ticket was sold with no more days left on it. Those guests not only will not get into the park, but also got ripped off. You can go to guest relations to explain how where you bought them on 192, but all they will tell you is to go back in try to get your money back. Good luck with that. The workers at those booths move around all the time, thus finding the "manager" that sold you them to get your money back won't be at the same booth again next time you go. Not to mention all the timeshare and annoying sales tactics they bother you with.
Florida does allow scalping/ticket reselling with some strict guidelines so it isn't entirely illegal. Disney tickets all say they are non-transferable and not for resale, but that doesn't stop people. Forgive if I am wrong, but the law states that on property ticket scalping is illegal. This still happens, but Disney is always on the lookout at resorts, parking lots, and parks for this activity with cameras, security, and undercover employees. The law also states that you have to give a refund if the tickets are valid. Those 192 booths avoid this rule by making it extremely hard to track down the person who sold you the tickets by moving them around. The tickets also can't be sold for more than they are worth. Disney also has people that visit these booths every no and then undercover to try to shut these places down by finding illegal activity, but those booths are still businesses and as long as they can look legal and their is a demand, they will continue to pop up all over the place. PLEASE DO NOT SUPPORT THESE BUSINESSES!! Please buy your tickets the right way and encourage all your friends to do the same.
Florida does allow scalping/ticket reselling with some strict guidelines so it isn't entirely illegal. Disney tickets all say they are non-transferable and not for resale, but that doesn't stop people. Forgive if I am wrong, but the law states that on property ticket scalping is illegal. This still happens, but Disney is always on the lookout at resorts, parking lots, and parks for this activity with cameras, security, and undercover employees. The law also states that you have to give a refund if the tickets are valid. Those 192 booths avoid this rule by making it extremely hard to track down the person who sold you the tickets by moving them around. The tickets also can't be sold for more than they are worth. Disney also has people that visit these booths every no and then undercover to try to shut these places down by finding illegal activity, but those booths are still businesses and as long as they can look legal and their is a demand, they will continue to pop up all over the place. PLEASE DO NOT SUPPORT THESE BUSINESSES!! Please buy your tickets the right way and encourage all your friends to do the same.