Disney Tickets - Undercover Tourist NOT the Cheapest Option

[JessLyn]

So, please correct me if I'm wrong here.

I did a quick comparison of buying tickets (6 day hoppers for 2 adults and 1 child) from Disney directly vs. Undercover Tourist. Undercover Tourist offers a price of $1128.99 while Disney offers $1173.63. It seems that Undercover Tourist is about a 3.8% discount (please, correct my math if I'm off). Seems like a no-brainer to buy from UT, right? Well....

Undercover Tourist accepts credit card, but not Disney Gift Cards, right? While Disney accepts both credit cards and Disney Gift Cards.

I've been buying Target gift cards at a 7-8% discount rate through Raise.com. Then, I've been taking those Target Gift Cards and buying Disney Gift Cards online while using my 5% Redcard discount (yes, you can do this when ordering them online). So, I'm buying Disney Gift Cards at an approximately 12-13% discount.

So, even though I would be paying a higher price through Disney, I would be saving 12-13% by paying with gift cards.

Does anyone see a flaw in this logic? It seems to be universally agreed upon that Undercover Tourist is the cheapest way to buy tickets.

Thanks in advance for any comments, suggestions, or for pointing out any flaws in my math/logic.

 

[kymom99]

What you are saying sounds logical, but don't take offense. That is way too complicated for me. Also, I have heard way too many stories about issues with Disney GCs bought from Target not working. So the most straight forward way to save money on tickets, in my opinion, is still UT. If you can save more your way, great, and good for you for pointing it out. We need to know all our options.

 

[JessLyn]

Thanks for the response. You can go to DisneyGiftCards.com to verify that your gift cards have been activated. So far I have $200 worth and i just confirmed today that they are all activated and the amount on the cards are correct.

No offense at all though! I'm willing to do an extra step or two to save a few hundred dollars. But, my vacation isn't until Oct 2015, so I have time to plan, save, and find these discounts.

 

[MaleficentRN]

Works out fine, if you have a Redcard. Not everyone does.

 

[auntmeme7577]

We wait until Kroger offers 4x the points on Gift cards and use the Chase Disney Visa to pay . Here's how it saves, $250 purchase counts as groceries so we get 2% back on Disney Visa.($5.00) The 250 card purchase allows us 1,000 points from Kroger. 1,000 points allows us to purchase 35 gallons of gas at $1.00 off per gallon ($35.00) so that one $250.00 purchase equals a $40.00 discount.
That being said, we visit about 2-3 times a year and use the gift cards for food, husband's AP, resort, etc.
I just bought a ticket from UT last week, 10 day, park hopper ,WP&M, no expiration $769.53.
I thought it was a great price and much cheaper than Orbitz

 

[JessLyn]

Wow, that Kroger deal sounds awesome. Too bad we don't have Kroger anywhere near us. (But, I wouldn't trade Wegmans for anything. It's my second home.)

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Don't forget that the price quoted on UCT includes tax.

 

[JessLyn]

I DID forget that, Shelly. Thank you. Back to the calculator...

Edit: Ok, I checked. The prices I have listed BOTH include tax. Thanks for pointing that out though!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Plus if you buy UTC tickets through MouseSavers they offer a discount and I see your tickets via MouseSavers would be $1125.99 with tax

 

[MIZZOU Tigers]

TouringPlans has an awesome calculator (I can't put the link but a google search using key words will bring it up) tool that searches all of the authorized ticket places based on days, number/age of guests, and options and provides you the cheapest option. For the scenario you talked about above (6 day hoppers for 2 adults 1 child) they've got a price of $1098.75.

 

[JessLyn]

Thanks! I really appreciate all the replies.

I'm a member of Touring Plans, so thanks for pointing that out (I didn't know about that feature - I just joined) - $1098.25 is the cheapest option. That's a saving of $75.38. If I order through Disney, I can get at a minimum 12% discount, which is a savings of $140.83. It's an extra 2-steps (ordering the GC through Raise, and then ordering Disney GCs through Target, and then, finally, ordering our tickets with the GCs). But, if I get on it now (before the ticket price increase), I think this is still the way to go.

 

[hapandpam]

I don't understand how you can use your redcard if you are using a Target Gift Card. When you order online, and use a gift card, do you get an extra 5% off if you have a Target Credit Card?

 

[dundey]

I want to buy a 10-Day Disney's Magic Your Way Ticket with Park Hopper® Option: - No Expiration.

In the past I've used Working advantage and they were the cheapest. Today, it is $779.93 at Working Advantage. They are $782.89 from Tickets at Work, both are with tax and shipping.

That same ticket at UCT is $769.53. I'm seeing the same price through Mousesavers. How do you get the extra discount through mousesavers?

 

[finny1981]

I don't understand how you can use your redcard if you are using a Target Gift Card. When you order online, and use a gift card, do you get an extra 5% off if you have a Target Credit Card?

If you have it listed as your payment method you can go online to Target, order Disney giftcards, pay all or some of it with a Target gift card and you will get the 5% off. If you go to the store however you will not get the discount. You can still pay with a Target gift card, but you only get 5% off on the part that you paid with your Red Card.

 

[cmrdgrs]

These are definitely ideas that I haven't thought about. Thank you for the money saving tips everyone!

 

[nalajms]

So, even though I would be paying a higher price through Disney, I would be saving 12-13% by paying with gift cards.

I've been doing the same calc! Except I think 12% may be on the high side. Raise has been averaging 6%, and last fall it was around 4%. Not sure how long the 7%+ will last

My question now is, where do I get no expiration tickets from Disney? I'm considering getting those to use along with APs for the next few years.

 

[Flynnismine]

I sort of did the same thing, minus buying through raise. Ordered 13 Disney gc's ($650) through Target.com using Target gc's purchased at Kroger during 4x fuel event, so received the Kroger fuel points and saved 5% on the Disney gc's by ordering through Target. 3 days later I received all 13 Disney gc's from Target and all 13 were activated and ready to use. I went to the local Disney store the next day and purchased two 5-day base tickets, which I scanned into the MDE app without a single issue. It does sound like alot of extra steps but worth it to save the 5% through target.com plus get the fuel points for $1.00 off per gallon for the next month.

 

[amcnj]

Another consideration is, if you have a limited number of those discounted gift cards and the tickets are not too different in price either way, you can save the gift cards to pay off other expenses at WDW instead, and possibly save even more in total, if the combination of the ticket discount at UCT and the food, etc discount achieved by using your gift cards is even more than just the ticket discount using the cards for tickets from Disney. Try it both ways and see. Of course if you have enough cards to cover all expenses anyway, then this isn't a factor.

 

[cmrdgrs]

I've been doing the same calc! Except I think 12% may be on the high side. Raise has been averaging 6%, and last fall it was around 4%. Not sure how long the 7%+ will last

My question now is, where do I get no expiration tickets from Disney? I'm considering getting those to use along with APs for the next few years.

I just asked for opinions on this idea on a different thread. Looking forward to hearing everyone's input. Figuring these things out is not my forte.

 

[BethanyLynnFit]

I purchase direct from Disney since I am then able to make payments on the entire package. This buys me the time to search and take advantage of gift card deals. I do the 4x fuel points at Kroger frequently. Our school also used to offer Kroger gift cards via SCRIP which earned me 3% towards my kids tuition. They've since gotten rid of the Kroger cards so I'm on the hunt for somewhere else the school offers SCRIP and will allow me to buy the Disney gift cards with a store gift card. I like earning $$ towards tuition while I'm paying for vacation! I haven't done the Target thing yet as I don't have a Red Card but my mom does, so I'm going to see if she wants to let me use hers

I've never officially calculated my savings...but it's a great idea and I'm assuming I come out on top!