Buy tickets ahead of time?

[bellastella227]

Is there any benefit to buying our WDW tickets ahead of time??? I am ordering our MNSSHP tickets because we want to go on a Friday night but DH is worried about getting our park hoppers early in case there is bad weather that day. Do you buy tickets early? Wait until the gate? Why or why not???

Thanks in advance for any advice!!!

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

Is there any benefit to buying our WDW tickets ahead of time??? I am ordering our MNSSHP tickets because we want to go on a Friday night but DH is worried about getting our park hoppers early in case there is bad weather that day. Do you buy tickets early? Wait until the gate? Why or why not???

Thanks in advance for any advice!!!

We have AP's, but when we take other family members or have off years where we didn't renew our AP's, we bought our tickets in advance since it offered a little bit of a discount if you go through brokers like mapleleaftickets, ticketmania, undercover tourist or AAA. THe savings isn't huge, but enough to make it worthwhile IMO.

As far as MNSSHP, we always buy as soon as those go on sale, our nights never seem to get sold out, but I wouldn't want to tempt fate by waiting.

 

[3littleHalls]

We always purchase our tickets as a package(AAA) hotel/tickets. They are discounted. If you were worried about bad weather you could get the tickets that don't expire. Storms don't seem to last long there, the parks won't close and of our 5trips we haven't had an issue with really bad weather. When we went to MNSSHP at the end of Sept '06 we had purchased tickets early. Good thing, b/c they were sold out at party time and we saw many turned away. Have a magical trip!!

 

[jh_wells1994]

May be a silly question, but what is MNHSPP?

 

[bellastella227]

MNSSHP=Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

 

[trennr]

Do you buy tickets early? Wait until the gate? Why or why not???

The Company I work for offers select tickets at a discount. So I order mine as soon as we know we are going. But you can also order from other places and get discounts. There are several thread with good links around on this board.

As far as I know all tickets are good until you use them...then they expire 14days after the first use...unless you purchase the no-expiration option...which can get pretty expensive.

 

[pbharris4]

Since we are DVC we don't buy packages w/ tickets attached to them. Late 2005 we purchased 10 day park hopper, Non Expire, plus water park passes from undercover tourist. It was right before the price increase and then there was another increase a few months after. So we saved that increase and also saved by buying a multi-day ticket. We're spreading it out over a few years as well. 10 parks plus 5 water parks/disneyquest= 15 park entries.

There's no way I'd wait in line at the gate or pay gate prices. Although I like having the tickets on my Key to the World card (because if it gets wet it's ok) when you buy the tickets ahead they are paper and you can't laminate them.

 

[bellastella227]

Oh, I also should add that we are only going 1 day and want a park hopper. So...I am not finding many discounts for a 1-day pass. If I could find discount tickets, I would buy them ahead of time.

 

[trennr]

Not sure many discount ticket places carry single day tickets...certainly not single day hoppers. Your best bet would be @ the gate I suppose.

 

[THE-ELLA'SMOM]

Do you know you don't need park admission when you have tickets for the party, you can get in the park at 4pm.

 

[Princess Roo]

Do you know you don't need park admission when you have tickets for the party, you can get in the park at 4pm.

This is correct. So I think you should be able to buy a regular 1-day ticket and visit 1 park until 4PM and then still get into MK at 4PM. I don't think this is the same as purchasing a 2-day NON-hopper ticket and using it to visit 2 parks in the same day, which is NOT allowed.

Do you think you'll be back anytime soon? You may also want to look into the no-expire option that others have mentioned, especially if you still decide to purchase the hopper.

Also, to answer your original question, the most expensive tickets are at the gate. You save by purchasing them in advance through disney (like at one of the resorts) or even a little more by purchasing through some of the ways mentioned above.

 

[PJinNYC]

I got my tickets already. After about day 5 or 6 on the passes, it is only a few more dollars to add extra days. I think it was like $20 to add 3 or 4 more days onto our passes!

And if it rains one day and I want to go back to the room a little early, then I won't feel too badly. I will just think of it and one of those extra days that I got for really cheap.

Or if it is really rainy, we may head over to MGM or EPCOT that day since it looks like there is alot of indoor things to do.

 

[bellastella227]

I do know that we can enter the park as early as 4pm with our Halloween tickets. We have some crazy idea to get a lot done that day, though.

DH and I went back in 2005 when I was pg with DD . Prior to that, my last visit to WDW was probably in 1993 or so. There are so many new (to me) rides that I had to hold off on since I was pg. Our plan this time, in one day, is to take DD to Magic Kingdom that morning to Fantasyland. Then, send her back with the ILs for lunch, to nap, swim, etc. While she does that, we will quickly go to all three other parks to literally ride 1-3 rides. We will meet up again for dinner and then attend MNSSHP with DD and some friends.

Is this crazy???? I know it is, you don't have to tell me. If we could afford the longer, no-expiration passes (and I could talk DH into it!), I would definitely go that route. I always like another excuse to return to Disney!!!

 

[Princess Roo]

If you don't want to hear it...skip this post

I'm sorry, but I just don't think there is any way that will work. It will take you AT LEAST 30 minutes to get from one park to the next, when you figure getting out to the transportation, waiting for it, and riding it (or driving and re-parking). Most of those new rides are the most popular rides, so the waits will be 60-90 minutes each. For some of the new ones (Test Track, Mission Space, Soarin, Everest) depending how busy it is, they will run out of Fast passes before you even get there.

Is there any way you can extend your vacation by even one day? The cost of adding a second day of non-hopper ticket is not much more than adding hopper to the one day.

 

[bellastella227]

Thanks for the input! I like hearing all different perspectives.

I know it will be difficult and we will have to stay flexible. I plan to prioritize which parks/rides I want to try (DH has done them all so it is mainly for me). If we don't get to some, we don't get to them.

We are arriving on a Thursday and leave on DCL Saturday so Friday is really the only day we can go. And, traveling with a 21-month old for the first time, I don't know what to expect and don't think it would be a good idea to do Disney the first travel day.

Thanks again for your advice and I welcome any other input...like which rides I can't miss!