Undercover Tourist: Where's The Savings?

[xmas16]

I have never used UT, but I have no question about what a great job they do based on the many posts I've read. I also subscribe to Mousesavers and enjoy their work as well. When I comparism shop ( I used the standard 5 day ticket) I find that Disney.com has the same prices as UT. Mousesavers special rate only for subscribers seems to amount to a savings of $1.00. So what the price difference seems to be is in the taxes that's included in UT price.And Disney adds on taxes after. If you are spending $1,000 in tickets you could save approx 60-65 dollars in taxes by going through UT, plus a few dollars more with the Mousesavers doscount. Does this seem to be accurate?

[Planogirl]

I see that you already noticed what I said. That tax difference can be fairly significant in some cases.

[amcnj]

Each time I have compared ticket prices, UT was less overall. That being said, it is not like the tickets are half price or anything, but every little bit helps. Also certain tickets may be discounted more than others, so the particular ones you are interested in may have a relatively smaller discount than some others do.

[ktrask]

I've been wondering the same thing, so I'm interested in hearing the response. I am debating getting gift cards thru Target and buying the park tickets with those.

I have to see if the 5% discount using my red card is more than the mousesavers discount.

[kkandaj]

I read this in a finance book over the weekend--and it really hit home with me. Just a different perspective, not saying you don't already think like this. And when I say "you," I really mean most of us Americans.

If you see your favorite pair of shoes that are $120 on sale for $60, you would probably buy them. You are saving $60.

With the scenario above--the percentage saved is just different, but the savings is still the same. $1000 tickets that now save you $60.

$60 is $60--that could be used on a meal, toys, an experience like BBB or The Pirate's League. I am trying to train myself to think in terms of the money savings and not the percent savings.

[Fire14]

I know in my case I saved 8.00 over disney prices. I don't recall what tix I got but want to say 7 day hopper.

[4HppyCamprs]

UT and the Disney store at the offsite hotel are both a little under a $100 cheaper than the Disney package ticket prices for my family. We are getting 3 adult myw 6 day tickets and 2 child 6 day MYW tickets.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

[bumbershoot]

Originally Posted by kkandaj

$60 is $60--that could be used on a meal, toys, an experience like BBB or The Pirate's League. I am trying to train myself to think in terms of the money savings and not the percent savings.

Exactly. That $60 is the savings.

And that's fine with me!

[speedyf]

One more thing to add to the conversation...Disney actually allows you to upgrade tickets as long as the ticket you are going up to is more expensive than the ticket you currently own.

For example...on the Undercover Tourist Website...a 6 Day Expiring Hopper (w/o water parks & more) is currently $29 off the gate price. A 7 day hopper is currently only $10 off the gate price.

If you want 2 - 7 day hopper tickets, you could purchase 2 - 6 day hopper tickets for $29 off each (saving $58). You then bring the tickets to customer service right outside any of the 4 parks. They will "bridge" the price of your ticket up to the regular gate price and then only charge you the difference between a 6 day hopper and a 7 day hopper ($10).

So...instead of saving $20 on 2 - 7 day hoppers...you save $58 with a little more work involved.

I'm a DVC member and we normally get annual passes. You can do this with Annual Passes as well. I just purchased 4 - 6 day hoppers from UCT saving a total of $116. I will upgrade these to annual passes when we visit in a few weeks.

If you want more information about upgrading tickets, visit Chesire Figment's post on the Theme Park board here:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1452684

Basically...the one rule you really need to know is that you must use your ticket to get into the park before doing the upgrade. If you just bring the 6 day ticket directly to customer service, you will have to pay the difference between what you actually paid and what the gate cost is. You must use the 6 day ticket to get into the park first, then upgrade the ticket.

Last time, I was able to upgrade at Town Hall in Magic Kingdom after we entered the park...but, the CM's outside the park that deal with ticket issues all day seem to know how to do the "bridge" easier. The CM at the Town Hall needed assistance from a manager to get it done.

My $116 savings is paying for a big chunk of our Ohana meal

Speed

[xmas16]

What kind of ticket do you get when going through UT? I mean is it a paper ticket? If so how does that work with fast pass?

[speedyf]

Originally Posted by xmas16

What kind of ticket do you get when going through UT? I mean is it a paper ticket? If so how does that work with fast pass?

It is a "paper ticket". The ticket is actually made out of Tyvec which is the same material builders wrap houses with before installing siding or bricks. The tickets don't tear and they work fine in the Fast Pass machines. Some say they work better than the plastic tickets.

If you are staying onsite and you don't want to have to carry tickets and room keys, you can have your "paper tickets" transferred to your room key card at the concierge desk at your hotel.

Speedy

[ktrask]

Originally Posted by kkandaj

I read this in a finance book over the weekend--and it really hit home with me. Just a different perspective, not saying you don't already think like this. And when I say "you," I really mean most of us Americans.

If you see your favorite pair of shoes that are $120 on sale for $60, you would probably buy them. You are saving $60.

With the scenario above--the percentage saved is just different, but the savings is still the same. $1000 tickets that now save you $60.

$60 is $60--that could be used on a meal, toys, an experience like BBB or The Pirate's League. I am trying to train myself to think in terms of the money savings and not the percent savings.

Perhaps I should have been more clear. If the Disney ticket is $100 and I get a 5% discount from Target on the gift card I save $5 per ticket. If UT tickets are $96 I save $4 per ticket. In this case I would buy direct using Target gift cards because the savings would be greater.

[speedyf]

Originally Posted by ktrask

Perhaps I should have been more clear. If the Disney ticket is $100 and I get a 5% discount from Target on the gift card I save $5 per ticket. If UT tickets are $96 I save $4 per ticket. In this case I would buy direct using Target gift cards because the savings would be greater.

I know you aren't responding to me, but I understand what you are thinking. You just need to do the math to figure out which way is cheaper. It really depends on which ticket you are looking to purchase and what the discount is on the ticket. In my example, the 6 day park hopper ticket is $29 off a ticket that is around $350...so, that is a little over 8% off. The $10 off on a 7 day park hopper would only be about 3% off.

The other thing you have to factor is if you will be using a rewards card to purchase the tickets from Undercover Tourist. For example...if you use a Disney Visa to purchase the tickets from UCT and get 1% back...compared to using the Target card and getting 5% off...the difference is really 4%.

I was able to purchase the 6 day hopper tickets for $29 off per ticket x 4 tickets...so, I saved $116...plus I used my Disney Visa and received 1% back of my ~$1300 purchase which was another $13 savings...so, total of $129 savings.

Speed