Disney World Training Day 9 – What is a Key To The World?

Welcome to Day 9 of Disney World Training. Please be sure to catch up on all the previous posts here. I am covering information in order of how you might need it when you are planning your trip.

When you stay at Disney World, you are issued a plastic room key looking card that Disney calls your “Key to the World card”. This card is your room key for your Disney resort room, your ticket to get into the parks, how you will get your FASTPASSES, proof that you are allowed to stay for the Extended Magic Hours, where your Dining Plan credits are stored and you can even add a charging feature to it and use it like a credit card too! Wooo this made me tired just typing all that.

When you check into your Disney resort, they will give you your Key to the World card. You will receive a card for each member of your family (even the kids under 3 who are free) with their name printed on it.  If you bought your tickets as part of your Magic Your Way package, they will also already be loaded on the card. (If you have an 8 day ticket, 8 tickets are credited on your card, etc) If you are getting the dining plan they will have all the credits loaded onto all the cards. (You will only have to present one card at check out at the restaurants. All the cards are connected together and it will deduct the appropriate credits off all the cards.) You can also decide to link a credit card to your Key to the World account and they will enable charging on the Key to the World card. (You do NOT have to do this. You also can elect to do it on only one of your family’s cards and not all of them, or you can even impose a charging limit on the card.)

When you enter the parks on the first day you will be required to put your pointer finger on the finger scanner. Your finger print is now stored on your card and other people will not be able to use your card. (This is just for ID purposes. They do NOT check it against the FBI database or anything.) When you enter the turn style it will mark 1 ticket on your card as used. (This is all electronic) You are free to enter and exit that specific park as many times as you want that day. However, if you try to use your Key to the World card at another park and you have not purchased the Park Hopper option, entrance will be denied. So keep that in mind.

After the card has been used at the turnstyles, you will be able to insert it into the FASTPASS machines to obtain your FASTPASS tickets (I will provide more information on this soon). If the card has not been used to enter the park, you will not be able to use it in the FASTPASS machine.

When you visit one of the souvineer shops in Disney (and you have activated charging), you simply present the Key to the World card at the register and they use it exactly like a credit card. (I.D. is usually required so make sure you bring that with you.) It’s nice to not have to carry cash or a separate credit card for charging.

When you visit a restaurant and are presented with the bill, you give them just one of your family’s Key to the World card. They take it to the register and electronically subtract the credits you are using from your Dining Plan account. All of your cards are electronically connected. So if you used Dad’s card for breakfast and Mom’s card at lunch, her card is less the credits they removed from Dad’s card earlier that day.If you have enabled charging on the card, you can sign the receipt and add in the tip amount. (Just like at a regular restaurant)

One of the benefits to staying on site at Disney is being able to enter certain parks an hour early or stay in certain parks 3 hours after it closes to the public. You are required to present your Key to the World card to get on any of the rides, buy anything to eat, drink, souvenirs etc.

So hopefully that gave you some insight to what your tickets will be like at Disney. I know I was extremely curious when I first went to Disney and I could not quite understand it. If you have anything to add or correct, please leave a comment!