Undercover tourists ticket warning

[charming]

My sister had purchased 8 tickets from UT for her trip in February today would of been her day to start getting her FP set up. When she called Disney they told her the tickets expire in January! She was told to call UT and see if they would do anything to fix it so she called. My sister is a very soft spoken person she was treated horribly by customer service and basically was told that the ticket is good when she gets to the gate but as far as her being able to get FP or anything else that is attached to the ticket sale she can't do any of it. She bought her tickets using UT and she is paying for it with her trip and the other thousands she spent for hotels and dining. All a waste if she can't get FP we check in on February 15th its President week.... anyone know of this or what she might be able to do?

 

[kymom99]

So she was treated horribly by UT or Disney? If it was Disney then she should call UT to see if anything can be done. Otherwise I would call Disney back and see if they can give her credit towards new tickets now. I would try it anyway. If she isn’t forceful maybe someone can call for her. Eight tickets is a lot of money. I can see why you are all upset.

 

[Judique]

My sister had purchased 8 tickets from UT for her trip in February today would of been her day to start getting her FP set up. When she called Disney they told her the tickets expire in January! She was told to call UT and see if they would do anything to fix it so she called. My sister is a very soft spoken person she was treated horribly by customer service and basically was told that the ticket is good when she gets to the gate but as far as her being able to get FP or anything else that is attached to the ticket sale she can't do any of it. She bought her tickets using UT and she is paying for it with her trip and the other thousands she spent for hotels and dining. All a waste if she can't get FP we check in on February 15th its President week.... anyone know of this or what she might be able to do?

How long ago did she purchase these tickets?

 

[seashoreCM]

When did she purchase the tickets?

The ticket agency's web page the buyer ordered from should have stated the ticket expiration date, and if this date was inaccurate then the buyer should have called it to the attention of the agent immediately upon receiving the tickets. Or if time is short when the tickets arrived then the agent should cover any unexpected price increases due to tickets not as ordered, or take the tickets back for refund.

Unfortunately I have no new suggestions for making Fastpasses for a soon upcoming trip.

 

[bkaz]

My guess is this had to do with WDW changing to tickets that are based on date. We have always purchased our tickets from UT and have never had any problems. I wanted to purchase the "old" tickets for our March trip, but when I went on their site it stated that those tickets would not be valid for our trip dates (I think they expired 2/1 or something but can't find the date now). She most likely purchased the "old" style tickets and Disney is now requiring date specific tickets for the timeframe of her trip? Not 100% sure about that, but that's my best guess. I would try calling UT back to get a different rep and see if there is any way to change the tickets or what she needs to do.

 

[NKHarris329]

When I purchased tickets at UT it stated explicitly when the tickets would expire (purchased October, expires end of February), I'm also pretty sure there was a pop up as well that I had to agree to at the time of purchase. The expiration date was also written on the paper (and highlighted) that the tickets were attached to. If she has not added them to her MDE account yet, she may have been able to get a refund, but if she has this is no longer an option. Getting a refund at UT was very straightforward when we had to do it previously, as long as you follow the terms of the tickets you purchased.

Unfortunately she won't have a lot of options for fast passes at this point. She can upgrade her expired tickets at the park to current tickets (and pay the difference in value of her existing tickets vs current ticket prices) and attempt to get fast passes at that time. Calling them at this time to ask for the ticket update now might help, but I don't think it's particularly likely.

I'm sorry that this happened, I can imagine that it is very disappointing. While having Fast Passes is a great benefit, not having them will not ruin your trip. Focus in getting a great touring plan in place and work on getting passes as soon as you can during your trip. Good luck.

 

[cvjw]

Most likely, your sister didn’t notice the expiration date of the tickets when she bought them. If you aren’t familiar with all the ins and outs of Disney tickets, it could be easy to overlook the expiration date.

I have purchased tickets twice from undercover tourist since Disney put expiration dates on the tickets. Both times, I knew when they would expire. But, I know about Disney tickets and knew that Disney had changed their tickets to having an expiration date.

Sorry this happened, maybe a call to Disney ticketing could help. If they could upgrade the tickets over the phone for her, she could make her fastpasses.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

@charming This exact situation happened to me (well, it happened to my friends but I handled it since I had suggested UT in the first place). They purchased 5-day park hoppers for our trip in January back in the summer before the new date-based system came out. We got them all loaded and when I went to make FPs for our whole group, MDE said they didn't have valid tickets. I called Disney customer service where they pointed out that the tickets weren't going to be good until February! We went through all the confirmation emails and there was absolutely no mention during the sale of any date restriction and the tickets themselves didn't have any dates on them.

Here's where our experiences are totally different- I called UT and explained the situation. They were very apologetic and immediately sent two new 5-day PHs through FedEx that were valid for our trip dates at no extra charge. The only thing they asked was that my friends return the original tickets to UT (so that UT could attempt to get a refund from Disney). UT told me that when they purchased the tickets that they then sold to my friends, Disney didn't tell them about any date restrictions. Whether or not this is true, I can't say. But I can say that for my situation UT handled it very well. I had a very polite conversation (on both ends) and they remedied the situation at not extra cost to us. We were a few days late in setting up our FPs but that was all.

I'm so sorry they treated your sister so poorly. If you can confirm that she purchased the tickets before October maybe she can call back and use my story as leverage. If she had the same situation we did, it's completely unfair that she wasn't treated the same way we were. And I wasn't forceful or anything on the phone (I absolutely hate conflict). Just calmly explained the situation.

 

[JessM]

I had a similar "issue" for a late January trip. My parents had an extra 6-day ticket they gave to me and I didn't notice the expiration date on it. I called Disney and they said they could only extend the expiration date (ie I paid the difference in price of a new ticket) at the gate. They were firm there was nothing they could do over the phone. Luckily my parents were on a flight to Disney that same day so they "fixed" the ticket for me while they were down there and I was able to book my FP+.

 

[charming]

Yes you can say my sister should of done a ton of things differently but before that understanding my sister paid for tickets that expired before Disney announced it... but UT knew about the change and still sold the tickets before you had to put in any dates. She bought 2, 4 day tickets and 6, 5 day tickets over a 2 month period. We have used UT for many years for many trips never had an issue so she put them in her safe and today when she could of started FP she finds out the tickets expire 2018. Tell me how UT sends out newsletters every month I never read anything warning ppl that they might have tickets that expired before their trip but UT knew. The only way to find out if your tickets are good during your trip is to call Disney directly because if you just trust the ticket is good and link it we all know nothing can be done. For anyone who knows of someone who bought tickets from UT before May when they didn't tell you tickets would expire going in the next few months they need to call and see if they can use the tickets. I can only imagine how many more ppl will get punched in the gut by this. Just put yourself in those shoes and I do believe you'd feel different about who had a responsibility to notify their customers especially because you're talking thousands of dollars per family.

 

[ibob52]

Spring Break 2018 our UT WDW Tickets were Refundable as long as they were not

linked to a person's name ... is there any chance she did not linked all 8 of the tickets ?

or did the UT Refund Policy change too?

 

[tzolkin]

When did she purchase the tickets? And, I’m assuming they’re paper tickets, yes?

We bought our tickets in the fall before the new date-based ticketing came out, but they don’t expire until 1/14/20. I do remember when I ordered them that there was a big disclaimer that popped up warning that if your trip was after some specific day (maybe sometime in Feb 2019) that you must order e-tickets.

But perhaps they didn’t start doing that until after your sister purchased hers when they realized the potential issue. Although I’m pretty sure I remember being given expiration dates for our tickets we bought from UT for Nov 2017 trip too.

 

[NKHarris329]

UT doesn't know when your trip is, nor is it their responsibility to verify that your purchase meets your needs. The newsletter isnt a way to remind people that if they purchased tickets a handful of months ago for a trip still a number of months away, the ticket might expire at some point before their trip depending on which ticket they purchased and from which batch the tickets were pulled from and when their trip actually is. The newsletter is an advertisement.

This situation sucks. I would be upset about it as well. I would definitely want to look at all my options, but before that I'd take a good look at the terms of the specific tickets I purchased to see where the error lays. If it was UT, you now have evidence... if not it was a lesson learned.

 

[kaytieeldr]

but UT knew about the change and still sold the tickets before you had to put in any dates.

Between what dates did she purchase the tickets?

 

[Alesia]

When I bought tickets for my trip last summer, UT was very clear about the expiration date. The paperwork that came with the tickets was also very clear -- the expiration date was actually highlighted. It was also very clear that tickets were non-returnable after being linked to an MDE account.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Wondering what we are going to run into with our tickets now. We have 5 day hoppers bought through UT that "expire" 12-31-18. Our trip was cancelled as my wife blew her achilles and had surgery. We are going 1-6. When we called UT to inquire, we were told that the expiration date was actually 12-31-19 and the worst that could happen would be we have to pay the price difference once at Disney. Our plan is to move the 5 day hoppers into APs.

 

[duffybear32830]

I don't think this has anything to do with date based pricing.

We are just now coming up on the window of the first ever expiring WDW tickets. What was it, tickets bought late in 2017, early 2018 expired at the end of 2018? I think this will be happening to a lot of people in the next few months regardless of where the tickets were bought.

If the tickets are already linked, I'd try to keep calling WDW to make Fast Passes.

 

[Ils]

We have received our three day hoppers from UT and they put on the packet very clearly that the tickets must be used before the end of Feb. When I assigned the tickets on MDE the expiration date is 14th March 2019.

 

[lanejudy]

Wondering what we are going to run into with our tickets now. We have 5 day hoppers bought through UT that "expire" 12-31-18. Our trip was cancelled as my wife blew her achilles and had surgery. We are going 1-6. When we called UT to inquire, we were told that the expiration date was actually 12-31-19 and the worst that could happen would be we have to pay the price difference once at Disney. Our plan is to move the 5 day hoppers into APs.

Sorry to hear of your wife's injury. I hope she's feeling better now. Have you been able to book FP+? If so, your tickets are good and you'll have no problem.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[lanejudy]

She bought 2, 4 day tickets and 6, 5 day tickets over a 2 month period. We have used UT for many years for many trips never had an issue so she put them in her safe and today when she could of started FP she finds out the tickets expire 2018.

...bought tickets from UT before May when they didn't tell you tickets would expire...

Has it been a couple of years since her last trip to WDW? Tickets have included an expiration date since Feb. 2017, even before the more recent change to date-based tickets. Sorry she didn't realize the expiration dates when purchasing; that may be easy to overlook or seem confusing if she was used to buying tickets for several years before the started expiration dates. But it's not a new change.

She can apply the value of the tickets towards current ones at the gate. It may be possible to call WDW and ask very nicely about upgrading in advance. I haven't read many reports of that, but it might be worth the effort of a phone call.

Enjoy your vacation!