A few things in life are certain: death, taxes, and expensive Disneyland tickets. As families look for ways to save money, a few enterprising groups have begun Disneyland ticket renting.
While there aren’t any laws against Disneyland ticket renting, it is against Disney’s rules. Often times, bargain hunting families get caught in the middle as Disney enforces their policy against ticket sharing.
Here’s how it works. One of these ticket brokers wil buy a 5-day park hopper ticket. A family will rent the tickets for one day and pay the broker a fee plus a deposit. At the end of your visit, you return the tickets to the agency and get your deposit back. The broker then “rents” the tickets to another family for one day. The cycle continues until all admission days on the ticket have been used.
Visitors love this practice because they can rent the tickets at a lower cost than what it would cost to buy a one day ticket. On average, a family can save $40 per ticket this way. But here’s the catch, the fine print on the back of Disney’s tickets state that tickets are non-transferrable. Because of this, Disney has the right to confiscate tickets that have been transferred. When this happens, it leave the families without admission to the park, a lost ticket deposit, and some very sad children.
This practice continues to grow in popularity as Disney tickets continue to rise in cost. There are around nine ticket reselling agencies in the Anaheim area, with many more advertised online. The agencies can be found in strip malls, in offices above a Chevron gas station, or inside a Shell gas station market. All of the ticket brokers have Anaheim business licenses.
It is a fast growing business, that while legal, is in direct conflict with Disneyland’s ticket policies.
Disneyland prints your name on multi-day tickets and occasionally asks to see photo ID if they suspect a ticket had been transferred. This hasn’t been widely enforced, which is how the practice of ticket renting was able to thrive. But this week, Disneyland began taking extra measures to crack down on ticket transfers.
Disneyland now has dedicated turnstiles at the theme park main entrances for families using multi-day tickets. At these entrances, Disney is checking the names printed on the tickets and asking for a matching ID before allowing entry. For your average family, this doesn’t impact your visit aside from having to pull out your Driver License (children don’t have to show photo ID).
There will always be people willing to take a risk if it means they possibly can save a few dollars. When a family of four can save more than $120 by Disneyland ticket renting, it is enough to entice someone to take the risk. These same families are often the ones who get hurt in this war between the ticket scalpers and Disney. When the tickets are confiscated, they lose out while the ticket broker just writes it off as a small loss.
As you might imagine, the easiest way to avoid all this is to purchase your tickets from official travel agents and dealers. Avoid buying tickets from Craigslist or Ebay and stick with reputable sites like AAA or Costco Travel if you’re looking for a deal. There are many ways to save on a Disneyland vacation without having to worry about getting stopped by Disney security.
Image via Jack Gesler
