Advance purchase of tickets saves time or not?

[obnurse2003]

I have read that having your tickets purchased in advance saves lot of time at the admission gates. Is this true?

We are NOT staying on-site. I wondered because the Hopper passes have to be scanned and you have to be finger-printed too? and there is a line for that????

Is that line as slow a if you bought one day only tickets and had your spouse stand in the turnstile line while you stood in the purchase tickets line?

I need to relieve SOME of my anxiety here and having some things done ahead of time would really help. I know that you cannot purchase one day tickets ahead of time but if I bought them before we left I would get the hopper passes. This will determine my plan.....

Thanks again!!!!

 

[DebbieB]

They do not use the finger scan for park hoppers (4 -7 day). You can just go straight to the turnstiles.

 

[Rodrigo]

Advanced purchasing not only saves you a line in the ticket booths, but also saves you money.

See the prices clicking this link

Besides, you will receive nice plastic "credit card type" passes (water proof), I believe if you buy them in WDW you will receive paper ones.

I received mines a few days after purchasing.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by Rodrigo
Advanced purchasing not only saves you a line in the ticket booths, but also saves you money.

See the prices clicking this link

Besides, you will receive nice plastic "credit card type" passes (water proof), I believe if you buy them in WDW you will receive paper ones.

I received mines a few days after purchasing.

This is for Disney advance purchase. If you purchase them from one of the many online sources, it is a strong paper ticket.

And, yes, it does save a lot of time to purchase ahead of time, especially if there are long lines at the ticket sales booths.

 

[gfolchick]

Buy ahead of time!!!

We were there on a Saturday in May and I needed a one day ticket for my 4 year old (he didn't need a ticket the last time we were there and we each had one day left on our park hoppers).

From the time we entered the parking lot, waited for 3 trams to come and go (they kept filling up before we could get on one), waiting in line for a one day pass, and then riding the ferry over to Magic Kingdom took us exactly one hour!!!! The lines were long and slow at the TTC that day. I was easily in line for more than a half an hour.

Use AAA, ticketmania or the Disney Store and buy them before you go (or disney online).

 

[nataliesdaddy]

saves time and money

 

[obnurse2003]

Even at Epcot? Would you still wait that long in a line at that park??

 

[nataliesdaddy]

Even at epcot - but then I get the impression you are doing a day trip? or are you there for more then a day? If you are there for just a day - I would buy park hoppers anyway as the rest of the days do not expire... you can use them next time you go

but yeah it saves time - unless you are going at a dead time of the year -

way I see it - whatever you can do to have as much done before you arrive, the less opportunity there is for you to run into any hassles... I mean buying in advance you know all the issues are resolved - waiting till that day? who knows... maybe its simple...maybe its not.... maybe some tour group from latin america shows up in line just before you get there...we had that happen when we checked into the Contemporary - literally like 200 people showed up 1 minute before we got in line... lucky for us the concierge desk when they realized I was standing there pulled us out of line and checked us in

 

[HauntedMansionGeek]

It does save time to buy them in advance. You just never know when you'll be met by massive crowds who also haven't pre-purchased their tickets. Waiting in line for tickets JUST OUTSIDE THE GATES is an awful feeling...I'm always so anxious just to get into that park..........LOL

Oh! And welcome to the DIS obnurse!

 

[time101]

To me, advance purchasing your tickets is the only choice that makes sense. When you think about it, what advantage is there to waiting till you get to the gate to buy your Hopper Passes?

However, advance purchasing saves time AND money. And they make it so easy! You can purchase at a Disney Store, on the disneyworld.com website, or from one of at least a dozen outside vendors who all have websites. (Just a tip: I could be wrong, but based on my research, these outside vendors, like Ticketmania, Paramount, etc. only seem to save money on Park Hopper Plus tickets. Standard Park Hoppers seem to be most reasonably priced as direct purchases from Disney.)

Hope this helps!

Tim E.
Dreamfinder's Other Concoction