Hi Kenneth!
Welcome to planDisney! Thank you so much for reaching out to us hEAR. I'm so sorry that you're having a bit of ticket trouble, but I'm happy to be your planEAR today!
Yes, you are correct that the value of completely unused and expired
Disneyland Resort Theme Park admission tickets can be applied to the purchase of new tickets. And you're correct again that at the current time that can only be done in person at the ticket booths in The Esplanade between
Disneyland Park and
Disney California Adventure Park. And because guests now need to make
Park Pass Reservations for entry to either or both theme parks it's kind of risky waiting to make the upgrade until you personally arrive in the Disneyland bubble. I sadly don't have the proper magic mirror to see which tickets you currently hold, but if they are standard day tickets that were purchased on Disneyland.com then you shouldn't have an issue passing them off to a friend who can convert them on your behalf. (Tickets that were maybe a part of a group trip or won in a contest would possibly fall under different rules.) If you're mailing the tickets to your California connection it might help to include a copy of your driver's license and maybe a hand-written or hand-signed note saying you give said friend permission to do this, which might help plead the case that you live out of state.
I have one more suggestion before you ship your tickets on vacation without you, which is to reach out to the Ticketing cast members; they might be able to offer other solutions that neither of us has thought of, or perhaps even some pixie dust. The best way to reach them right now is through either 'chat' or their email services. You can access both through this
'Help with Tickets' link; from this page click the icons above the blue rectangle on the right side of the screen. You can also call their office at (714) 781-4636. However, I really like reaching out through the Chat feature in the
Disneyland App; it's not always an immediate response, however, I feel I can get other stuff done while waiting for the reply vs. sitting on a telephone hold. To find the Chat in the App you'll open the
Disneyland App, click the icon that looks like three lines stacked on top of each other in the bottom right corner, and on that new screen click 'Chat with Us' which is the last rectangular box of all the options.
I hope that this helped to get your tickets converted, Kenneth. Be sure to keep up with the
Disney Parks Blog as well as the
official planDisney Instagram account to stay on top of all kinds of tips and tricks for when you're ready to visit Mickey and his pals. And if you have any more questions for us, We're All Ears!
~Kristen