So we went to a charity auction this weekend and won 20 park hopper tickets to WDW! I called Disney today to find out some more info on the specifics of them. Turns out that the “w/BO” written on the back means “with blackout dates”. They were able to tell me that it is usually the day before and the day of major holidays that are blacked out. However, they said the list of BO dates are released 3 months ahead and that I would know for sure when I go to book FP and it won’t let me! Seems like that makes planning a bit difficult! By the time I’m making FP, a whole lot of other reservations have been made and finalized. Does anyone have any experience with this from the past? Do you know what days they consider “major holidays”? We’ll probably just pull the kids from school and go at an off time to avoid the whole problem, but I like to know specifics!
First off congratulations that is a nice win.
Second double check the tickets sometimes they also have an expiration date.
Third I would call back someone else might have a better answer, if you don’t get one here.
Thanks! Yes, they do have a 24 month expiration window and I did confirm the dates on that. I may have to try and call back. I found no info on the website. I thought it might be similar to some AP black outs, but they those seem to wider windows. The example she gave me was for Easter, they are not valid the Saturday or Sunday or Easter weekend. The AP blackouts I saw were the whole 2 weeks surrounding Easter.
That’s just insane. 3 months? Yet they make people make ADR 180 days out? Which means you have to know WELL ahead of time when you are going.
Disney trips are planned well more than 3 months in advance I think most of the time. What are you supposed to do? Make hotel reservations, flights, etc, for a time period that you’ll only find out 3 months ahead of time are blacked out?
Disney knows full well when they will have black out dates. Waiting until 3 months out is just, dare I say it…STUPID! (Don’t tell my kids I used the S word.)
Yes! That was my frustration with their response! When we go to Disney, we don’t tend to take days off to spend at the resort. So, it’s not really an option to find out last minute that our tickets aren’t good. And 20 tickets is enough for a whole trip, so I can’t just plan to buy blacked out days.
@missoverexcited shared an email address for getting answers on another thread
WDW.guest.communications@disneyworld.com
perhaps you would get a more helpful answer if you try that. can’t hurt to try! and congrats on the tickets!
Do you know what kind of tickets they are? Are they the old style multi-day hoppers?
Thanks! I’ll try that
Lecras- it’s 20 individual one day park hopper tickets. They look like gift cards/credit cards and say “1 day park hopper 24 mo donate w/bo comp”.
Ok - the only blackout dates for the charitable giving tickets are Christmas and New Year (and the week in between). This is subject to change of course, but that’s how it currently stands. 
This is one area where WDW really frustrates me! They basically force guests to reserve everything months in advance (if you want to do anything worthwhile in the parks) and yet, they wait until the last possible minute to update EMM, DAH, BO dates, etc. It’s so annoying. And don’t even get me started on their IT issues! 
But, once I am there, walking down main street, looking at that beautiful castle, I always forgive them. LOL
Oh, yes. It is a lot like when your toddler decides to finger paint the couch, or cook a meal with all the ingredients from the fridge in their bedroom. Then, they look up at you with those big, sorry eyes and say, “Sorry, daddy.” And all is forgiven! You might even (after a few hours, days, or weeks) laugh about it.
Well, okay. It isn’t EXACTLY like that.