Discount Ticket Question

[dcamdad]

For our May trip( only 33 days to go )I am thinking of prepurchasing our park tickets from undercovertourist to save all I can because we will be feeding 4 teen boys. We most likely will not be returning for another 18 months or so, I would like to convert only my ticket to an AP so I can get the TIW card, again to save all I can feeding the bottomless pits. does this sound like a doable option? Or does anyone have any other ideas? I know we could prepare meals in the villa, and we probably will a couple, but hey its vacation.

 

[5forDiz]

iirc, if you sign up on mousesavers.com for monthly newsletter you can get additional discount from UCT. afaik, you'd need to use your ticket from UCT one day and then convert it over to AP to get most out of that switch (there's a thread here from not long ago on doing this ). We've got 3 kids who always seem to be hungry too - usually we do breakfast at the villa for the savings ( it can save more than you'd think ) but mainly for the convenience of not all trying to rush out door to get to ADR. We sometimes bring a takeout lunch back to the villa ( pizza, McDs, etc ) or poolside. Most quiet pool locations at DVC resorts have bbq grill.

We do tend to usually do table service meals for dinner but for good value counter serve that's a cut above most CS available try Coronado Springs Resort Pepper Market (it's self serve - Mexican, Asian, grill items, etc, utensils/dishes instead of plastic/paper ) - it is fast, interesting variety, cooked to order; at DTD Wolfgang Puck Express and Earl of Sandwich.

We stock up on ice cream, snacks, drinks for when we get back from parks at night.

 

[Chuck S]

Another good counter service location for diiner (and one that accepts the TIW card) is POP Century's food court. Will you have a car, or are you flying to WDW?

 

[sdzimm]

Thanks for the info. This situation is just like mine. Looks like I need to go search on info for the TIW card.

 

[kristinlynn]

We LOVE the TIW card. Once you get the AP once, you get a $50 discount to renew and that is in addtion to the $100 DVC discount. For us, it's only about $40 more to get the AP than a regular ticket. The AP gets us 10% off at world of Disney (and we can never seem to go to Disney without dropping at least $100 there) and it allows us to purchase (for $60) the TIW card and get 20% off our food and drinks. We normally have dinner at signatures and have a nice bottle of wine...so, we make up for the up front costs in 2-3 days.

I'd suggest you look at some menus and see if you think you'd be spending enough on TS meals to make up for the extra cost of you AP and the TIW card.

 

[dcamdad]

Thanks for the info so far, I guess I should have added that we already have adr's for 6 TS meals for dinner. During the day the boys are basically on their own (with cash supplied by me of course), their only restriction from my DW is that they must meet up with us every night for dinner.

I should know this but having a brain cramp, if I purchase from utc can the tickets be put on our KTTW cards at check in?

 

[kristinlynn]

hmm - if I were you I'd go for the AP and TIW card. 6 adults at 6 TS will add up very quickly! you should AT LEAST break even...and then you'll get the additional AP benefits and could look into renewing the pass for your trip next year.

I would figure an average of $25 pp for dinner, x 6 people is $150, x 6 meals is $900. If you spent $900 on TS, the TIW card would save you $180. I'm guessing it costs you about $80 to upgrade to an AP? + the $60 for the card...you're already $40 ahead, and I bet for 6 adults you end up paying more than $150 for dinner!

 

[dcamdad]

hmm - if I were you I'd go for the AP and TIW card. 6 adults at 6 TS will add up very quickly! you should AT LEAST break even...and then you'll get the additional AP benefits and could look into renewing the pass for your trip next year.

I would figure an average of $25 pp for dinner, x 6 people is $150, x 6 meals is $900. If you spent $900 on TS, the TIW card would save you $180. I'm guessing it costs you about $80 to upgrade to an AP? + the $60 for the card...you're already $40 ahead, and I bet for 6 adults you end up paying more than $150 for dinner!

Definately looks like our better deal. A 7 day PH w/ Wp costs 320.00, the AP upgrade would ony be $49 more and the $75 for TIW would be made up rather quickly.

 

[circhead]

I haven't had the TIW card but I know it was the DDE card just a name change. My DDE card just expired but they were saving 20% on the meal and adding 18% gratuity - still a savings overall, your tip is covered. The annual pass already gets you some discounts at restaurants - don't remember which ones though. Also, will you and your wife want to give the kids some money to pick up some counter service in the parks while the 2 of you sneak away for a nice dinner in a nice restaurant and let everyone have some time apart.

 

[kristinlynn]

A 7 day PH w/ Wp costs 320.00, the AP upgrade would ony be $49 more and the $75 for TIW would be made up rather quickly.

dcamdad - I just wanted to point out that a normal AP does not include WP...for that you'd need to purchase the premium AP (PAP). The PAP, after your DVC discount, is $505 including taxes and fees (per allearsnet.com). The regular AP is $393 (with your discount). If you wanted the WP option...you might want to reconsider this plan....

Here is the price chart for your reference: http://allears.net/pl/ticketchart.htm#other

On another note: Wow - the price of the TIW card really went up, I only paid $60 last year!

 

[dcamdad]

dcamdad - I just wanted to point out that a normal AP does not include WP...for that you'd need to purchase the premium AP (PAP). The PAP, after your DVC discount, is $505 including taxes and fees (per allearsnet.com). The regular AP is $393 (with your discount). If you wanted the WP option...you might want to reconsider this plan....

Here is the price chart for your reference: http://allears.net/pl/ticketchart.htm#other

On another note: Wow - the price of the TIW card really went up, I only paid $60 last year!

Thanks for pointing that out. I'm not really worried about the water parks or DQ either, I'll leave these to the kids, I may end up going once and just pay oop for me. As other have pointed out I should use the tickets from oct once before upgrading to the ap, would a wp visit count if we used it there the first day?

 

[dcamdad]

Another good counter service location for diiner (and one that accepts the TIW card) is POP Century's food court. Will you have a car, or are you flying to WDW?

Thanls Chuck. We are driving down this trip so we will have our own transportation.

 

[Sandisw]

Have you priced out using the DDP? If you are already planning 6 TS meals, it may be worth it to check out.

The price is $39.00 per person per day or $240.00 per day for your party size. But that will get you 1 TS, plus a CS meal (their lunch) and 1 snack each day. Since you are already planning on TS, you will be paying tips anyway. You wouldn't have to upgrade to the AP to get TIW (which is now $75) if you went this route.

While there are drawbacks to the plan, it sounds like you might be a good candidate for it and that it could possibly help maintain some of the costs for those 4 hungry boys!!!!

 

[dcamdad]

Have you priced out using the DDP? If you are already planning 6 TS meals, it may be worth it to check out.

The price is $39.00 per person per day or $240.00 per day for your party size. But that will get you 1 TS, plus a CS meal (their lunch) and 1 snack each day. Since you are already planning on TS, you will be paying tips anyway. You wouldn't have to upgrade to the AP to get TIW (which is now $75) if you went this route.

While there are drawbacks to the plan, it sounds like you might be a good candidate for it and that it could possibly help maintain some of the costs for those 4 hungry boys!!!!

I had looked at it but we are actuallya party of 7,($273 a day) our DD of 10 will be with me and DW most of the time, I dont think she would be welcome to hang around with the boys. The problem with the DDP is DW and DD normally dont eat that much and I too rarely eat lunch. Breakfasts will be taken care of in the villa, leaving mainly dinner.

Also you must get the ddp for the entire stay, I hav a couple of relatives close to wdw and had planned on spending 2 of our 9 days offsite visiting with them. A cousin I actually grew up with is having a kidney transplant in early May and I definatly want to spend time with him.

 

[BigDogMom7]

We are also going in May and I just received my tickets in the mail from Undercover Tourist; it took about a week and the tickets came exactly as I ordered them. I used the Mousesavers link, which I believe is the lowest price out there. Their monthly newsletter comes out on the 15th, so if you sign up now, you should get a newsletter next week.

I have read that if you use your ticket even once at a waterpark before you try to upgrade to an AP, you will ONLY have the option of upgrading to a Premium AP. So if you don't want to do that, use it at one of the parks first instead.

 

[fairetails]

is undercover tourist really cheaper than buying through disney online. I just looked up prices and seemed the same- at least for a 6 day park hopper?

 

[BigDogMom7]

I believe the Disney prices do not include tax and shipping, which Undercover Tourist does. Also, if you use the Mousesavers link, there is an additional discount which you can't get any other way (like another $5 per ticket).

 

[ILIKEWDW]

I believe the Disney prices do not include tax and shipping, which Undercover Tourist does. Also, if you use the Mousesavers link, there is an additional discount which you can't get any other way (like another $5 per ticket).

Is that true???.......... as fairetails (below), I did not found any difference in price. So what are the savings on UCT???...........

is undercover tourist really cheaper than buying through disney online. I just looked up prices and seemed the same- at least for a 6 day park hopper?

 

[kristinlynn]

Is that true???.......... as fairetails (below), I did not found any difference in price. So what are the savings on UCT???...........

I know it's true that UCT includes tax and shipping and the upfront prices you see on disney.com do not. I'm not sure about the additional savings with the mousesavers link. The best thing to do is to add the disney tickets to your shopping cart and proceede as far as you can through the checkout process without entering payment. Right before they ask for your credit card, Disney will show you the full price of the ticket. With UCT, the first price you see is what you will actually pay.

 

[dcamdad]

Is that true???.......... as fairetails (below), I did not found any difference in price. So what are the savings on UCT???...........

Tickets direct from Dis 7 day ph w/wp $349.34 each x 7= 2445.38
From UCT 320.95 each X 7 = 2246.65
Mousesaver from UCT 317.95 each X 7 = 2225.65

The tickets thru utc are complete with shipping charges, so by going thru mousesavers uct we save $219.73 for the same ticket. Seems worth it to me.