Cost of Upgrading TicketMania Tix at WDW

[HydroGuy]

I want to buy my tix from TicketMania, but will probably want the parkhopper option and possibly non-expiry on the tickets.

On TicketMania using a discount link from MouseSavers:

4-day expiring non-hopper adult: $199
4-day expiring hopper adult: $232
7-day non-expiring hopper adult: $299

On WDW website pre-purchase:

4-day expiring non-hopper adult: $195+tax
4-day expiring hopper adult: $233+tax
7-day non-expiring hopper adult: $301+tax

If I buy 4-day expiring non-hopper adult for $199 from Ticketmania and want to add parkhopper option while at WDW, it will cost what?

If I buy 4-day expiring non-hopper adult for $199 from Ticketmania and want to add parkhopper option at WDW, add three days to make it a 7-day ticket, and make it non-expiring, it will cost what?

 

[NancyIL]

Without doing any of the calculations for you, I believe you will pay the gate price for any add-ons like park hopping ($40 plus tax) and non-expiration. You can find the gate prices here: http://allearsnet.com/pl/ticketchart.htm

If it were me and I wanted the tickets to be non-expiring, I'd get the 10-day ticket rather than the 7-day. In fact, I'd get the 10-day premium non-expiring ticket - and in fact that's what I ordered at the end of 2005.

 

[HydroGuy]

Without doing any of the calculations for you, I believe you will pay the gate price for any add-ons like park hopping ($40 plus tax) and non-expiration. You can find the gate prices here: http://allearsnet.com/pl/ticketchart.htm

If it were me and I wanted the tickets to be non-expiring, I'd get the 10-day ticket rather than the 7-day. In fact, I'd get the 10-day premium non-expiring ticket - and in fact that's what I ordered at the end of 2005.

I thought the rates shown on Allears were for pre-purchase. Are these the same rates as I would pay at the parks when I am there?

 

[molly2004]

I would go ahead and get the 7 day tix. If you look closely, you'll notice that the difference in cost between 4 and 7 day tix is really insignificant. Not sure about the cost of the non-expiry, but the hopper upgrade will probably cost you around $40 plus tax at WDW.

 

[HydroGuy]

I would go ahead and get the 7 day tix. If you look closely, you'll notice that the difference in cost between 4 and 7 day tix is really insignificant. Not sure about the cost of the non-expiry, but the hopper upgrade will probably cost you around $40 plus tax at WDW.

Thanks. I think I am going to do just that. But I wasn't looking for recommendations at this point. I wanted to know how the pricing worked out and was hoping someone knew.

 

[NancyIL]

I thought the rates shown on Allears were for pre-purchase. Are these the same rates as I would pay at the parks when I am there?

All Ears shows both the gate price and the prepurchase price - which is more than you'd pay if you bought your tickets through Ticketmania. At the parks you will pay gate price. Not positive about this, but if you buy a discounted ticket and then upgrade at the gate, I believe you lose any advance purchase discount.

 

[Allison]

We upgraded my husband's 8 day expiring ticket purchased from Ticketmania to a 10 day no expiration ticket at Epcot in December. We were charged the difference between the gate prices for an 8 day and a 10 day. What we were charged was not based on the fact that I had purchased the initial ticket at a discounted price. So, I didn't lose that discount when upgrading.

 

[NancyIL]

We upgraded my husband's 8 day expiring ticket purchased from Ticketmania to a 10 day no expiration ticket at Epcot in December. We were charged the difference between the gate prices for an 8 day and a 10 day. What we were charged was not based on the fact that I had purchased the initial ticket at a discounted price. So, I didn't lose that discount when upgrading.

That's good to know. In 2005, adding non-expiration to a 10-day ticket was $100 plus tax. In 2006 it's $135 plus tax!

 

[HydroGuy]

All Ears shows both the gate price and the prepurchase price - which is more than you'd pay if you bought your tickets through Ticketmania. At the parks you will pay gate price. Not positive about this, but if you buy a discounted ticket and then upgrade at the gate, I believe you lose any advance purchase discount.

I only saw gate price for AP type tix - not for what I am interested in. Does anyone know where I can find gate prices?

 

[HydroGuy]

I only saw gate price for AP type tix - not for what I am interested in. Does anyone know where I can find gate prices?

Oh, I see it now. Thanks.

Gosh, the discount for early purchase is almost nothing! At DLR you get like 20% off on pre-purchase for multi-day tix.

 

[NancyIL]

I only saw gate price for AP type tix - not for what I am interested in. Does anyone know where I can find gate prices?

The chart at AllEarsNet listed gate and advance purchase prices (on 4 days and up with at least hopping or water parks added). Since that one is giving you trouble, here's the chart from Mousesavers that should be clearer:

http://www.mousesavers.com/mywpricechart2006.html#gate

 

[HydroGuy]

The chart at AllEarsNet listed gate and advance purchase prices (on 4 days and up with at least hopping or water parks added). Since that one is giving you trouble, here's the chart from Mousesavers that should be clearer:

http://www.mousesavers.com/mywpricechart2006.html#gate

So a seven day non-expiring hopper ticket at the gate is

$329.09+tax

A four day expiring non-hopper ticket at the gate is

$207.68+tax

So if I pre-purchased the four day expiring from ticketmania, WDW would charge me at the gate to upgrade to a hopper non-expiry:

$329.09 - 207.68 = 121.41+tax

If I just buy it from Ticketmania ahead of time, the extra cost is $299-199 = $100.

So I can save $25-30 to just buy it ahead of time. Comments?