Generally, it pays to be a pack rat, and through my final go to to Orlando, I came upon simply how a lot: about $1,500. By conserving observe of some essential paperwork, I will lower your expenses on my household’s subsequent Walt Disney World journey.
The important thing to those Disney World savings? Cashing in some very outdated theme park tickets with unused park days remaining on them.
A handful of those tickets had been stashed away in my father’s desk drawer, forgotten for greater than 30 years. Interested in how Disney handles these sorts of tickets, I gathered up our household’s assortment to take with me on my most up-to-date Disney World journey. I took six classic tickets to a Disney visitor relations workplace, and I exited greater than just a little pleasantly shocked at their worth. I additionally discovered a good bit of intriguing Disney lore alongside the way in which.
Disney World’s no-expiration park tickets
Earlier than delving into my $1,500 discovery, let’s begin with just a little historical past lesson on Disney tickets.
For a number of a long time, Disney World bought park tickets with no expiration date. These tickets bore completely different names through the years however basically labored the identical means: When a visitor redeemed some days of a multiday ticket, unused days remained legitimate for future use and by no means expired.
In these years, many frugal friends (my household included) would purchase multiday tickets with extra days than they may want on a given journey and save the extra days for future holidays. Longer multiday tickets value much less per day on common than shorter ones, identical to they do in the present day. Company who visited recurrently may get extra bang for his or her buck utilizing a single longer ticket over the course of a number of holidays quite than shopping for a number of tickets with a smaller variety of days.
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Disney step by step phased out its no-expiration ticket coverage, and this money-saving trick slowly pale into Yesterland. In 2004, tickets not included this function by default. From 2004 to 2015, friends may proceed so as to add a no-expiration choice to park tickets for an extra price. By 2015, nevertheless, all Disney tickets turned use-it-or-lose-it over a a lot narrower window of time.
It is a not-very-well-kept secret among the many Disney devoted that Disney continued to honor older tickets issued throughout the no-expiration period, and it nonetheless does so now.
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Therein lies the worth for pack rats like me.
Precisely how the redemption course of for unexpired tickets works isn’t properly documented, although. Disney’s own website advises merely that friends “go to a Walt Disney World theme park ticket window or name.”
I took Disney’s recommendation, setting out with a number of tickets in hand to seek out out simply how a lot worth had been tucked away in a desk drawer all these years. After taking my ultimate spin on Slinky Canine Sprint earlier than heading to the airport, I visited the primary visitor relations workplace by the doorway of Hollywood Studios to seek out out simply what these tickets is perhaps price.
Assessing my classic Disney tickets’ worth
In my possession had been three completely different pairs of tickets from three completely different theme park eras. Two had been little one tickets from the early Nineteen Nineties — so outdated that they proudly proclaimed you can go to “all three parks” with them. The tickets bore bodily date stamps indicating the times they’d been used and a surprisingly low value printed on the again.
Two different tickets had been plastic “Your Key to the World” keycards with my title and my husband’s title on them from a 2005 journey we took. We properly paid for the no-expiration ticket choice means again then.
The ultimate two tickets had been seven-day Park Hopper tickets on paper media with a 2011 date. A handwritten be aware from my mom indicated these might have been even older tickets that my dad and mom had already traded in years in the past and gotten reissued.
The forged member who greeted me at visitor relations was, as is often the case in Disney parks, exceptionally pleasant and useful. With a smile, she indicated she was able to dive right into a historic scavenger hunt once I revealed my assortment.
It shocked me to seek out out that the explanation for my go to wasn’t all that uncommon. Disney World apparently fields inquiries from friends with no-expiration tickets just about each day, even this a few years later. The forged member who helped me mentioned she personally helps somebody with outdated tickets about as soon as a month — though she admitted she does not see friends fairly often with fairly the number of tickets that my assortment included.
Disney has plenty of sources out there for forged members to analysis the worth remaining on historic tickets. The forged member was capable of finding a number of of my tickets digitally within the depths of Disney’s laptop programs.
She additionally talked about that, within the again workplace, there are reference books with each ticket media that Disney ever issued, so forged members may reference that. (The weblog AllEars.internet has probably the most complete publicly accessible digital archive of vintage Disney tickets for fellow Disney historical past buffs.)
After some digging, typing and visiting the again room, she decided that my six tickets had a the rest of eight park days in complete left on them. That may be sufficient for my household of 4 to make use of for 2 park days every. Since Walt Disney World two-day Park Hopper tickets at the moment value from $344 to $458 per particular person, together with tax, my assortment is valued between $1,376 and $1,832, relying on the dates I plan to go to.
Guidelines and restrictions for redeeming classic Disney tickets
As I anticipated, selecting to redeem the tickets got here with just a few guidelines and caveats.
First, the constructive: I discovered that I may nonetheless personally use my Nineteen Nineties-era little one tickets in the present day. Not solely do Disney tickets not expire, however in addition they develop up with the ticketholder. I had assumed I might need to pay a price to improve a baby ticket to an grownup one however was amazed to seek out that would not be the case.
I additionally discovered that Park Hopper tickets equally develop up as properly. My “all three parks” tickets would certainly now be usable to enter all 4 of the parks as they exist now. I used to be glad to know I would not must skip Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
There have been additionally some restrictions. Disney’s official coverage has all the time been that tickets are nontransferable, so classic tickets have for use by the one who initially partially redeemed them years in the past.
Virtually talking, nevertheless, many of those tickets are so outdated that it’s unattainable to find out who the unique person was. I received the sense that forged members are given some leeway to course of and reassign these ticket varieties, however be aware that your mileage might differ. As was the case with the plastic keycards from 2005 with my title and my husband’s title on them, tickets that bear a person’s title are understandably extra restricted.
Moreover, to redeem outdated Disney tickets, friends have to show within the bodily ticket media to a forged member. Sadly, you can not hold the tickets as souvenirs. I used to be tempted to border the 1990 “all three parks” ticket of my youth, in order that half undoubtedly damage probably the most to listen to.
I discovered that Disney will digitally load all unused days from outdated tickets right into a visitor’s My Disney Expertise account after they give up the media. Disney forged members then must assign the brand new ticket to a selected particular person at the moment. Which means it is important to know who in your loved ones will use the tickets sooner or later if you money them in.
Since my household hadn’t made particular journey plans for our subsequent Walt Disney World trip (and I nonetheless might wish to body that 1990 ticket it doesn’t matter what), I made a decision to attend to give up my tickets this time. They’re now safely tucked away in a brand new desk drawer for my subsequent journey to Orlando, after we could have extra concrete plans for his or her use.
Backside line
My investigation into these classic Disney tickets turned out to be each profitable and charming. It allowed me to piece collectively some journey reminiscences inside my circle of relatives that all of us would have doubtless forgotten.
It additionally helped me go on an essential lesson to others: If you happen to visited Disney World a long time in the past, test your desk drawers rigorously. You might be able to money in on just a little of this similar money-saving magic, too.
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