Buying Tickets for Big Group

[FeistyDisneyMom]

We have a party of 10 heading to Disneyland next month, and I need to buy tickets for everyone but the baby. I had thought we'd do a combination of Salute ticket and the promo ticket, but we will not be able to do any Salute tickets this trip. It will only let me buy 8 tickets online though - should I just buy them and then get the 9th one when we get to the parks? I've only ever bought park tickets direct from Disney or as part of an Alaskan Airlines vacation package, and I'm paranoid about falling victim to a bad reseller.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

What kind of tickets are you buying -- the promotional tickets? And from the Disney website? Can you buy your tickets in two separate transactions? If you're on the DLR website, the limit should be 8 tickets per transaction.

 

[Whistlebee]

I ALWAYS buy our tickets through LMT Club. Excellent prices and valid tickets.
UNLESS, you’re buying the current promo tickets. Those are a great deal and I’d buy those direct from Disney.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Yeah, buying the promo tickets. Was planning on using the website - still waffling over hopper or no hopper. We are doing 4 day, and I've never done DLR with the family without doing hoppers! but maybe i will stress less and be less likely to push the rest of the group to do more walking if we don't have hoppers. I just also want to do MP, which is a better value if you have the hoppers, but.... hubby not thrilled about an extra $360 that could go towards food and merch. It is funny - if I group the hopper and MP together and think of it as extra $90/ticket it doesn't seem as bad, but looking at the total $810 and even breaking it out as $360 for MP and $450 for hopper for the trip seems like too much.

I'm totally over thinking it at this point and just need to go drink a glass of water and chill out for a minute

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Do you have to have MP for all 4 days? Can you add it for only 1 or 2 days when you get there? What are your trip dates? You have enough people in your group to have FP runners and people who can do SR if they want to. So maybe do MP for 1 or 2 days, then use good planning and organization and trustworthy FP runners on the other days.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Do you have to have MP for all 4 days? Can you add it for only 1 or 2 days when you get there? What are your trip dates? You have enough people in your group to have FP runners and people who can do SR if they want to. So maybe do MP for 1 or 2 days, then use good planning and organization and trustworthy FP runners on the other days.

With the promo tickets I think OP is better off making the MP decision ahead of time because MP is still $10 per day with the promo tickets (unless Disney has caught up and changed that) but $15 per day when added daily. If they are considering 2 days of MP, may as well just pay $10 more and get all 4 days.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

March 11-15; it'll also be our first trip with no weekend days in park, but couldn't be helped. I plan on Tuesday being our off day (also would not have been my first choice as that's prime park day but scheduling things didn't work out for me this time around). If I buy MP online it is still giving me the $10 price but I heard it is $15 at the gate now. I wish I could just do MP for some of the days online.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

March 11-15; it'll also be our first trip with no weekend days in park, but couldn't be helped. I plan on Tuesday being our off day (also would not have been my first choice as that's prime park day but scheduling things didn't work out for me this time around). If I buy MP online it is still giving me the $10 price but I heard it is $15 at the gate now. I wish I could just do MP for some of the days online.

Yes, it is $15 per day when purchased in app in the parks now. Also though, it's $15 per day when added to a non-promo ticket. They seem to have left the price at $10 for the promo tickets, perhaps because that offer was out before the price increase. My feeling is that if you use it once, you will probably realize you want to use it a second time. I recognize that the price jumps are big when dealing with a big group, but if there's a good chance you are going to sink $270 into 2 days of MP, you may as well go for all 4 at $360.

That said, I do feel the greater value in MP is when combining it with a parkhopper. I would expect the parks to be busy but maybe not yet full spring break busy and certainly not Thanksgiving or Christmas busy, so if you aren't going to do hoppers, I could see that you could get by without MP too. So to my mind it's kind of an all or nothing. My personal choice would be to go for the hoppers and MP because my time is more important to me than extra souvenirs or certain food experiences. That's what's important to me though, and not everyone will feel the same. I also have the luxury of being able to go to the parks a few times a year, so my perspective is probably also influenced by that.

 

[Cal-Pie]

Promo tickets are limited to 8 per day online. Should be no problem buying in 2 transactions.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

I haven't been to the parks with either BIL who will be traveling with us, and I already know DH is NOT an option for FP runner. At this point, my only hesitancy with going for MP is whether I'll end up driving the rest of the crew too hard and try to do too much versus taking it easy and waiting in lines and doing less.

I've put a ton of planning into all of our previous trips. Not everything was regimented, but many things that probably appeared spontaneous or fortuitous to DH and the rest of our groups were actually planned out. Like 'wow, how lucky we ended up with such a great spot for the parade without having to camp out and wait very long' was actually the result of hours of online research, and discussion boards, and lining up attractions for us to be in the right place at the right time. I've always been the FP runner on previous trips (cuz of said research I don't get lost and even if the group manages to wander from prearranged meeting spots, I'm good at finding people in crowds), but I'm not quite the spring chicken I used to be. I think I've talked myself into biting the bullet and going with MP and hoppers. It'll probably mean floating a wee bit of CC debt until tax return time, but how often do I get to do Disneyland? And it'll save me time and energy and allow for more flexibility to go with the flow of the moment.

Anyone have a good argument to NOT add it when I buy online?

 

[theluckyrabbit]

... Anyone have a good argument to NOT add it when I buy online?

crickets...

 

[Winnowill]

Anyone have a good argument to NOT add it when I buy online?

If you're sure you'll want it every day, go ahead and buy it with your tickets - that way you'll save $5/ticket/day. Nothing to sneeze at.