Help! Two different ticket types and my head is wrecked.

[Penmac]

Hello DISfriends!

I hope I am on the correct board here. I figured strategies was the best case scenario. So, we are one month out from our trip. I am booking fastpasses over the next several days, and I am SO confused and this is our 4th trip!

We have a 3-day base ticket that I purchased through undercover tourist. This is linked to MDE and all set to book fastpass. I booked our passes for 7/5 today with no problem. We also have an after 5pm ticket that I purchased separately through our convention group rate for my daughter's dance competition. I have also linked this separate ticket to MDE. So, in total we have 4 park days including the after 5pm ticket. This is where things get confusing.

Tomorrow I will be booking fastpasses for our after 5pm experience at AK. If I book all my fastpasses for after the 5pm hour, will the system automatically know that I am using that ticket? Is there a way to clarify on the fastpass system that I am booking fastpasses for that particular ticket, and not the base ticket? Worried after I book 3 days of fastpasses, the system will think our base ticket days are used up and try to push me to after 5pm hours only.

In addition, if I link all these tickets to our magic bands (we purchased these- not staying on property), how can I be certain that when we head to Animal Kingdom at 5pm on 7/6 that it won't automatically scan one of our full day tickets?

I called Disney and asked a cast member, but she was not knowledgeable about this. She kept putting me on hold. Her advice was to NOT link the after 5pm ticket to our magic bands at all. I guess we would just have to carry those around the park to scan for our fastpasses that night. It's a bit frustrating, but doable I suppose.

She also said we need to book fastpasses specifically for our after 5pm pass, but I have no idea how to do that on MDE. Does anyone know how to do this? When I click on FP it takes me directly to the booking page but does not offer a way to book fastpasses for only the after 5 ticket. Hmmmm.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

The system has no way of knowing which ticket you are booking FP on and there is no way to clarify which one you are using in the system.

What I would do (and someone with more knowledge may chime in with a better solution), would be to create an entirely new MDE account under a different e-mail address, create new profiles and link the after 5 pm ticket to those new profiles. This will keep that after 5 pm ticket completely separate from the 3-day base ticket. Since you already linked the after 5 pm ticket to your profile, you would need to set up this new MDE account and then link both MDE accounts through Friends and Family. You can then transfer the after 5's to the new profiles. To not confuse profiles, perhaps use everyone's middle names for the new profiles for the after 5 pm tickets.

Your 3-day base tickets will then be linked to your original profiles and will be accessible through the MB's. You will enter the park on your "base days" using the MB's and activate your FP+ on those tickets using the MB's as well.

The after 5's would be accessible using the plastic RFID ticket card (so would the FP+ reserved with that ticket), so you would enter on your after 5 pm day using the plastic ticket card and access those FP+ with those cards as well.

This completely separates the tickets and doesn't confuse the tickets.

If you keep all of the tickets in one profile, you may end up with reserving FP+ problems (as you described) and you would also need to go to guest services prior to entering AK to make sure your after 5 pm ticket is prioritized for that day so a base ticket isn't pulled. The system just isn't as smart as we would wish it to be!

 

[4kids4karen]

What I do for Cheer tickets is to add them as a separate individual. For example, one has the regular ticket Named as person Susie and the Cheer ticket is person “Susie NCA”. Which NCA being the Cheer competition name. I wouldn’t recommend linking multiple tickets to one person in these cases. I have seen others post this tip here and also say it keeps things less confusing.

Now as a side note, I do not use the magic bands. I typically have a FL resident three day pass or a Cheer ticket (or both). But this is the way I load them in MDE and book fast passes. I would just manually scan the dance ticket for that event instead of magic bands in your situation.

Also for some of the private Cheer events in the park, they do not honor fast passes or my disability pass. So you may not be able to reserve anything and I’d you do reserve it don’t be surprised if it is not honored for a private party. I tried to use my disability pass for a return time for tower of terror that had over an hour wait and the cast member said it was not valid for the party.

 

[Pkltm]

You can prioritize the tickets in MDE, so the correct one is used on the AK day. This is what we did last fall with our chew tickets.

 

[Penmac]

Thanks everyone. I don't know how to prioritize tickets in the MDE app. I did take the advice of creating a separate account and then linking them, but it was a lot of work. I will keep the hard copy ticket for the after 5 day and the magic band for the 3-day pass. I guess I don't understand why there isn't a drop down menu on the fastpass page that says, "which ticket are you booking fastpasses for today?" Would seem much easier!

 

[Beachmom0317]

You can also prioritize your tickets at the Guest Relations Welcome Center in Disney Springs upon arrival.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

You can prioritize the tickets in MDE, so the correct one is used on the AK day. This is what we did last fall with our chew tickets.

If you could explain how you did that, it would be helpful. I've had multiple ticket media in my account for years and have not been able to prioritize through MDE since the first year MDE was introduced. I've always had to either have separate profiles or stop at guest services to prioritize if tickets are in the same profile.

 

[Mome Rath]

You can "activate" or "deactivate" tickets in MDE, but I've been told several times (here and at the World) that deactivating a linked ticket in MDE is not enough to insure the right ticket is used. I've always went to my Disney Hotel Concierge and they prioritized the correct ticket for me.

 

[clm10308]

When I ordered convention tickets, I got the plastic card in the mail. I put it in MDE along with my regular ticket (and a party ticket) to make FP reservations, I brought the plastic card along and used the card to enter the park one day.

 

[supersnoop]

Thanks everyone. I don't know how to prioritize tickets in the MDE app. I did take the advice of creating a separate account and then linking them, but it was a lot of work. I will keep the hard copy ticket for the after 5 day and the magic band for the 3-day pass. I guess I don't understand why there isn't a drop down menu on the fastpass page that says, "which ticket are you booking fastpasses for today?" Would seem much easier!

Fastpasses are not linked to tickets. You must have valid admission for the number of days for which you book fastpasses, but they are not tied to the specific ticket.

Once a ticket card is linked to MDE, it’s no longer a link to that individual ticket, but a link to your MDE profile, just like a magic band. Carrying the card doesn’t help you in any way.

You can "activate" or "deactivate" tickets in MDE, but I've been told several times (here and at the World) that deactivating a linked ticket in MDE is not enough to insure the right ticket is used. I've always went to my Disney Hotel Concierge and they prioritized the correct ticket for me.

You can deactivate the card, but that has nothing to do with the ticket.

 

[Penmac]

Fastpasses are not linked to tickets. You must have valid admission for the number of days for which you book fastpasses, but they are not tied to the specific ticket.

Once a ticket card is linked to MDE, it’s no longer a link to that individual ticket, but a link to your MDE profile, just like a magic band. Carrying the card doesn’t help you in any way.

You can deactivate the card, but that has nothing to do with the ticket.

Wow, now I am even more confused.

 

[Robo]

You can prioritize the tickets in MDE, so the correct one is used on the AK day. This is what we did last fall with our chew tickets.

You can also prioritize your tickets at the Guest Relations Welcome Center in Disney Springs upon arrival.

Guests cannot prioritize their own tickets.

Only Guest Relations can prioritize tickets.
(Yes, the Welcome Center at Disney Springs IS a Guest Relations.)

 

[Robo]

Wow, now I am even more confused.

Just know that there is no difference between using a MagicBand and/or using a plastic ticket for FPs and entering a park.
Both are subject to the same MyDisneyExperience rules.

Before you enter a park, stop by a Guest Relations (they are located outside the gates at all parks) and have the CM set the priority of your tickets.
(Just explain what you want to do, and which ticket you want to use.)

 

[4kids4karen]

I also think you need to see if fast passes are even honored for this event. It sounds like an after hour private party, and like I said for the cheerleader after hours private parties, they do not honor fast passes or disability passes.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I also think you need to see if fast passes are even honored for this event. It sounds like an after hour private party, and like I said for the cheerleader after hours private parties, they do not honor fast passes or disability passes.

OP has an after-5 pm convention ticket. It is not a private event ticket. You can make FP+ using convention tickets.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Wow, now I am even more confused.

Penmac, you had said you linked the tickets to different profiles in separate MDE accounts at this point, is that correct? If so, you don't need to worry about prioritizing or going to guest relations anymore. When you want to make your FP+ on your 3-day tickets, simply make them through the MDE account they are linked to. When you want to make your after-5 pm FP+, simply go to the other MDE account and make those there.

Enter with your MB to access your 3-day tickets. Enter with your plastic after-5 pm card to access that ticket. Your tickets are completely separate at this point and the system cannot confuse them since they are linked to two separate accounts.

 

[Pkltm]

If you could explain how you did that, it would be helpful. I've had multiple ticket media in my account for years and have not been able to prioritize through MDE since the first year MDE was introduced. I've always had to either have separate profiles or stop at guest services to prioritize if tickets are in the same profile.

Guest services does it.

When I ordered convention tickets, I got the plastic card in the mail. I put it in MDE along with my regular ticket (and a party ticket) to make FP reservations, I brought the plastic card along and used the card to enter the park one day.

This did not work for us. It used wrong ticket and we had to get it sorted out at GS. It was ow we learned you need to go to GS to prioritize.

 

[ww52]

We have a similar situation for two of our party of 7 ticket holders. It didn't occur to me that there was no logic in their system to do the prioritizing - at least for relatively simple decisions. ( they have a one day non-MK and 4 days left on a non-expiring hopper.) But they don't.

I also learned that MDE used to let you do it yourself, but no more. Maybe people messed it up.

From what I keep hearing, it's a common situation that Guest Services (outside the entrance) handles very well. And MDE makes it easy to see once (once you enter) if it in fact was done as desired).

The idea of fake names and reassignments certainly looks like it would work, It also looks like a potential to make things inadvertently worse.

The only thing I was disappointed / surprised at, was that the MDE app itself gives no message/warning when it sees more than one ticket for a given individual that they may need to prioritize at GS before entry.

Had I not seen that need on these boards (almost by accident) I think we'd have had a bt of a mess one day. In the heat of July, With 2 preschoolers in tow.

 

[Penmac]

Hi All! OP here, and our trip is over and I can tell you exactly what happened with our tickets! It didn't work!

Recap: I created a separate account on MDE with another email address and used my maiden name as a last name for our family to keep the confusion at bay. I linked the after 5pm tickets to this new account, and did NOT link this separate ticket to our magic bands. We actually had hard-copy plastic tickets, so that really helped keep them organized. The 3-day base tickets were linked in my main account, and those tickets were linked to our magic bands.

We used our first full day ticket at Magic Kingdom. The next day we went to Animal Kingdom with our after 5pm plastic tickets and left the magic bands back at the condo. We entered the park with these separate tickets and used them for scanning our fast passes for the evening. We had one glitch at Navi River Journey where cast member insisted we did not have a FP booked for Navi (we absolutely did), but the system was completely down that day and we couldn't even log into MDE to prove her wrong. Luckily, the cast member working with her was much more relaxed and overrode the issue and sent us through. We were not the only people with this issue as there were other people lining up with the same problem. I think it even made headlines that night that the entire MDE system was down all day. Luckily it was our after 5 day and we didn't need to book additional fastpasses. We wouldn't have been able to!

Next day, we headed to Epcot for day 2 of our 3-day base ticket. No issues. And on the last day, finished out in Magic Kingdom with day 3 of our base ticket. Can anyone guess what happened??!!!! We went to scan our Magic Bands at the tap-stile at 8:20am and we got a flashing blue light. "No active tickets". Somehow, in some way, the after 5pm ticket didn't run through at Animal Kingdom and it must have pulled our full day pass so we had no full day tickets remaining!!!! I have NO idea how this happened. We had separate tickets for this day. We didn't link the after 5 ticket to our bands, and didn't use the bands at AK. Yet, it still pulled a full day ticket from our after 5pm plastic ticket. It even says "after 5pm" on the back of the ticket. I have no idea how on earth this happened.

I did link the two account as "family & friends". And I guess that is where I went wrong. I thought I did everything I possibly could to avoid it, but it just goes to show that the system really isn't so smart after all and going to guest relations is the only way to deal with this type of stuff. Moral of the story, don't go to the trouble of organizing a fake account like I did. With 6 people to organize tickets for, it took me half the night to deal with it and it still didn't work. Just wait in line at guest services and ask the cast member to prioritize the ticket for you.

I also think we entered Animal Kingdom just a few minutes before 5pm, and that could have added to the problem. I didn't even check the time, assuming the tap-stile would turn blue if we were entering too early. It must have been 4:55 or something, and maybe grabbed the full day ticket instead. I still don't know how it happened since we were not using the same ticket, account, or our magic bands.

I was close to tears that morning at the gate. At this point, we were on the last day of vacation, which is sad enough for any die-hard Disney fan. The kids were so excited to rope drop Space Mountain and I felt like I totally failed them. But, this is where Disney customer service stands out. Magic Kingdom Guest Relations was AMAZING. The CM handled it so well. The man smiled at me, said it happens all the time, and gave us full day access without missing a beat. It was a complete non-issue. I was ready to cry thinking we would have to either buy another 6 tickets at peak pricing, or leave and come back at 5pm, but he was so amazing with how he handled the whole thing. Thank you, Disney!

 

[ww52]

But, this is where Disney customer service stands out. Magic Kingdom Guest Relations was AMAZING. The CM handled it so well. The man smiled at me, said it happens all the time, and gave us full day access without missing a beat.

Good to know. Two very important points - CM handled it well - which is fantastic.

"It happens all the time" - very troubling