Discount Tickets Disney
Free information on discount tickets Disney style!
If you are doing some research on how to get a discount ticket for Disney, you probably already know that the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando truly a huge place. The resort contains four complete theme parks, two highly themed water parks, and literally hundreds of restaurants and thousands of hotel rooms. All this fun and magic is spread across a huge 20,000 acres – twice the size of Manhattan!
In this sprawling vacation paradise you have some options. We call this a discount ticket Disney style!
Before you read on, I need to give you a little warning. Disney is expensive. Nearly everyone knows that Disney does things very professionally – and that also means very expensively. A vacation at the Walt Disney World resort in Orlando is not so much like a night out at the movies. Going to Disney World is more like a holiday on a really nice cruise ship. But for that cost and expense you have a world of entertainment options. Personally, I think the prices at Disney are high, but they are also fair for all the value that you get.
You already know that, even after you deal with admission, you will need to plan extra money to buy meals, trinkets, and a hotel. For more information about transportation see our article on Disney’s Magical Express. But for now, let’s talk about discount tickets Disney style!
Important Tips
Here are some important things to keep in mind before we look at discount ticket options:
Tip 1 – First and foremost, make sure that you do your homework before you arrive at Disney World. There are so many ticket options that it can quickly become confusing. You don’t want to get a headache at the ticket counter! To start, you should decide which Disney World Ticket options you want before you get to Disney World. To get a discount ticket Disney style, you should probably plan to buy your tickets before you leave home. That way, you can focus on having fun when you arrive. Plus, you are guaranteed to pay the highest price at the Disney ticket counter. And the whole idea is to get a discount ticket Disney, right?
Tip 2 – Make sure that you purchase your Disney World ticket only from a trustworthy source. You don’t want to begin your vacation by getting ripped off! Unfortunately it has happened many times before. I recently read a story about a crook in Orlando selling Disney tickets at the side of a major road in Orlando – Highway 192. The tickets the scoundrel was selling were no fake. Unfortunately, a few unsuspecting vacationers lost their hard earned money to this horrible criminal. And to their credit, the victims contacted the police to cooperated with them to arrest the thieves. Please, make sure that you buy directly from a source you trust. The Automobile Association of America (AAA) is a good starting place. Also, watch out if you are planning to buy your Disney tickets on eBay or Craigslist. Disney’s Magic Your Way Tickets are nontransferable and must be used by the same person on any and all days. Disney even scans your fingerprint at the entrance to enforce this!
Tip 3 – You will pay less per day if your purchase more days. The Disney Company is quite motivated to get you on their property and to keep you there for your entire stay. They know that this tactic keep you and your wallet focused on Disney. Disney designed their ticket packages to persuade you to stay more than just a few days visiting “The Vacation Kingdom of the World”. Since there is so much to do, this is not necessarily a bad thing – but you need to understand how it all works. You will learn more on this below.
Options
Not let’s take a look at the various options for a Walt Disney World Park Hopper Tickets. You need to understand this first before you can make a discount ticket Disney style purchase. To begin you need to plan to purchase a Magic Your Way base ticket. From there you will add options as needed.
What is the Magic Your Way base ticket? It allows you to visit one theme park on one day.
After you purchase a Magic Your Way base ticket for a number of days admission, you can elect to add options, such as:
Park Hopper Option
What it is: This option allows you visit to more than one theme park on a single day.
What it costs: Currently, there is a flat cost of $45 for this option, no matter how many days you purchase.
Water Park Fun & More
What it is: This option adds the following attractions:
- Two Disney water parks: Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach
- DisneyQuest, the interactive indoor theme park (more like a fancy arcade) at Downtown Disney
- Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex
What it costs: Currently, there is a flat cost of $50 per ticket. The number of extra admissions you get depends on the number of days in your Magic Your Way base ticket.
No Expiration Option
What it is: This option ensures that your tickets don’t expire. Otherwise you ticket days expire 14 days from the first time you use them. With this option, you can save your unused days for later.
What it costs: Currently, the cost varies with the number of days. It is $15 on a two day base ticket but a eye-popping $180 for a ten day ticket.
Price Per Day
All this means that it is expensive to go for only one day. A ticket for one day only is $71. But, going for 5 days is just $43 per day.
As noted above, the price PER DAY really plummets as you buy more days. Surprisingly, there isn’t much of a difference in price between a 3 day ticket vs. a 4 day ticket.
Example: I ran a sample that showed 3 days with Park Hopper = $248 while 4 days = $257, an increase of only $9 for an extra day.
How can this be? It is because Disney wants you to spend your entire holiday at Disney World, dropping your cash with them.
Disney has also designed the current pricing to encourage you to purchase your days now and use them now. Remember that the base Magic Your Way days expire just 14 days from your first admission unless you’ve bought the No Expiration Option.
Example: I ran a sample that shows you could purchase two 5-day tickets (not adding the “No Expiration Option”) for $215 each, or a total of $430. If you purchased one 10 day ticket with the No Expiration Option, the cost is $405 – just $25 less. That is a little savings, but is it enough to invest $400 today? You decide…
Where Should You Start?
To learn more about current pricing options, check out the Disney’s official ticket web page. Do this well before you leave for your vacation. Their web site has a useful pricing calculator. You can use it to try out different combinations of days and options:
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/tickets/ticketsLandingPage?id=TicketsLandingPage
Our Take / Summary
In my opinion, adding Park Hopper is nice (if the park you want to visit on a particular day closes early, you can spend the evening at another park that doesn’t close early). However, if you are a first time visitor, there is plenty to do in each park so that you will be occupied for the entire day. If you’ve visited Disney may time, the Park Hopper option becomes more valuable.
The Water Park Fun & More option really depends on your preference. If you like water parks and want to spend some time there, it may be a good deal for you.
The No Expiration Option might not be necessary if they you plan to purchase and use the exact number of days they need during your trip. If you want to purchase days to use in the future, you can do so but as outlined above you won’t save huge money doing this. And make sure that you don’t lose those unused days in your sock drawer once you get the tickets home!
More Information
Disney Ticketing Page on the official Disney World web site:
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/tickets/ticketsLandingPage?id=TicketsLandingPage
Disney World Ticket FAQs Page on the official Disney World web site:
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/common/helpFAQ?id=HelpFAQTicketsPage
Note: Prices change often (almost always going up!). Be sure to check the Disney web site for the latest prices. And have fun doing your research with our sponsors on the left so that you can get a great deal on you discount tickets Disney style!
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