Booking your tickets online for Walt Disney World can feel intimidating, especially since you don’t immediately get a physical voucher or ticket to hold.
Instead, you’ll be greeted with an invoice/ confirmation email which you can then utilize to get your physical tickets. This begs the question, when do you receive your Walt Disney tickets?
As soon as you’ve made your reservation, you’ll receive a confirmation email with your eTickets for Walt Disney World. You can then either link your eTicket and use it from your Walt Disney World Account account or print it using an eTicket viewer. If you’ve received an invoice code, you’ll need to head to the TTC to get your tickets instead.
In this article, we’re going to go over when exactly you receive your Walt Disney tickets, what happens when you lose them, and how you can park hop.
Receiving Your Tickets From Walt Disney World
Not all Disney reservations are the same. You’ll either be booking directly from Walt Disney World or, you’ll use a third-party booking, such as Virgin holidays, to make the booking for you. In either case, there are some slight differences which you should be aware of beforehand.
You will not receive a physical ticket for the parks before arriving.
General Ticketing Guidelines
Before you get your ticket, you’ll need to specify exactly which park you are reserving for on what particular day. If you want to Park Hop, you’ll be able to do so after 2 PM. But, before you do that – you’ll need to head to the park that you originally had a reservation for. After your ticket is scanned, only then will you be allowed to Park Hop.
So, if you really want to Park Hop, try and head to your original park first before 2 PM, get your ticket scanned, and then head to the park you wish to hop to as soon as the clock strikes 2. This way, you’ll be able to save a lot of time as you won’t be scanning tickets trying to get in.
Note: Depending on the park, Park Hop hours may also start earlier. To stay up-to-date, always take a look at the Park Hours calendar before you head to the park.
Booking Through Disney
If you’ve booked through Disney, you’ll get an email with your confirmation code within 72 hours of your payment. Your email will have detailed instructions on how you can get your ticket printed alongside anything you may need to bring as proof of identification.
Currently, you’ll need to present a photo ID alongside your eTicket as proof of entrance to any park.
You can also get your tickets printed inside Disney or link them up through the Disneyland application. In our opinion, using the application is much more convenient than fiddling through papers for days on end.
Booking Through Third-Party Sites
For this example, we’ll be using Virgin as that is what we’re more accustomed to as well. As soon as you book with Virgin, you receive an invoice that has a code. This is not your eTicket. Instead, you’ll need to head to the TTC (Ticket Transportation Center) and present your code there.
Once you do, you might be asked to show proof of payment or images of those traveling with you. This varies from time to time, depending on the policies of Walt Disney World.
In any case, you’ll then be able to get your tickets issued (physical in form.) After doing so, you’ve got your tickets in the same form as everyone else. You will now be able to link them to your Disneyland account if needed and use them freely throughout your stay there.
Fun Fact: You can actually get early tickets from Disney given that you haven’t purchased a hotel package from them (flight/resort / dining) etc. If that’s the case, you’ll be given a ticket linked to your card, activated automatically the day you come in. However, if you’ve just purchased a ticket, you can send an email or contact Disney to get an early Park Ticket. This is extremely useful when you want to get inside the park and try to skip through the rush.
What Happens If I Lose My Walt Disney Tickets?
If you’ve not redeemed your eTicket just yet, you can get it reprinted as many times as you want using whatever method you used to get them printed in the first place. If you’ve purchased a ticket directly from Disney, you’ll be able to get them reprinted from the main entrance.
In any case, when you are interacting with staff, keep a valid proof of payment and your photo ID handy to streamline the interaction. If you already have the ticket linked in your mobile application (My Disney Experience App), just head to the Tickets and Passes section and use it there instead.
Regardless, you will be able to get your Disney tickets back given that you have valid proof of purchase regardless of how you got them.
We recommend linking your tickets to your mobile application as soon as you get them. This way, even if you lose your tickets somehow, you will still be able to access the park since the tickets stored on your phone are equally valid.
Moreover, we follow the same strategy for physical tickets as we do with any of our important documents, keeping them in one place. Rather than giving one person their ticket, it makes more sense for one individual (the most responsible one) to have a hold of all of them.
This helps you maintain a sense of responsibility, especially in a larger family. It can be quite annoying to walk to a place where you can get your tickets re-printed. And, losing them can turn into a stressful situation very quickly.
Conclusion
Visiting any of the Disney parks is truly a magical experience.
While the ticketing system is relatively seamless and we’ve had no major qualms with it, knowing where to go and what to do once you’ve confirmed your visit is of pivotal importance. Otherwise, you might be spending half a day loitering around trying to find out what exactly you need to do to get the party started.
