extra day ticket vs. park hopper

[kaze1sd]

Hi DIS'ers!

We are planning to spend five full days in the parks on our upcoming 7 day, 6 night trip. We plan to commit one day to MK, one day to DHS, two days to Epcot, and a half day to AK. We aren't really interested in park hopping except for the day we are visiting Animal Kingdom.

Now for the question...
Would it be possible to purchase a 6-day (versus 5-day) base ticket and just burn two single day tickets on the day we visit animal kingdom versus adding $200 to our package for the park hopper option when we are pretty positive we won't utilize it.

Thanks for the help in advance DIS'ers!

 

[sam_gordon]

No. You'll get a lot of explanations in the following posts, but the answer is no.

What you can do is purchase a 5 day ticket and a SEPARATE one day ticket (for $80 & change) and do that. But park hopping is a $54 add on, so you do the math.

 

[NBFUN]

I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure you cannot use 2 one-day tickets in a single day. I think they do that so you have to buy the hopper pass.

With our kids being younger we don't buy hopper passes yet, haven't needed them, however, I understand you wanting another park day the day you visit AK since they close so early.

 

[sam_gordon]

I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure you cannot use 2 one-day tickets in a single day. I think they do that so you have to buy the hopper pass.

How would they know? If I have two DISTINCT tickets, Disney would have no idea the two are linked. Why anyone would spend $160+ for two tickets when you can add parkhopping onto one for a cost of around $130 makes no sense to me. If you have some single days left over from other trips, different story.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

A base ticket is one major (theme) park per day. You are allowed to re-enter the same park if you leave it on one day, but it can only be used at the one park.

Note that the ticket will state on it either "Not Valid For Park Hopping" or "One Theme Park Per Day". That should be a hint.

If you put the ticket in the turnstile of another park the display on the Guest side of the turnstile will be "ACCESS DENIED". The top line of the display on the Greeter side will give information about the ticket, and the second line of the display will say "CROSSOVER NOT PERMITTED". The turnstile will not unlock.

This is because Disney charges $5.00 per day over four days on a ticket, but charges $54 to allow hopping. It does not make economic sense for Disney to allow this.

If you actually have multiple tickets (more than one physical ticket per person) as opposed to multiple day tickets, you can use these tickets for multiple entries. But it makes absolutely no economic sense as a separate ticket costs a lot more than adding hopping to a ticket.

Or, as I recently told a Guest who was arguing with me about using a different day on the ticket:

The turnstile computer thinks today is Friday. The turnstile computer at the other park also thinks today is Friday. The two turnstile computers talk to each other. If you can convince this turnstile computer that today is not the same Friday as the other computer thinks, it will let you in.

 

[sksjasams]

Instead of spending the extra on park hoppers, why not go to downtown disney for the second half of your animal kingdom day?
Great toy store, lego store and t-rex restaurant.
Still a fun disney day, with out the extra cost of park hoppers.

 

[hsmamato2]

why not switch days around to maximize your park time?

 

[kaze1sd]

Thanks for the clarification guys. Was pretty sure we couldn't as it sounded too good to be true but I knew the DIS'ers would know for sure.

We aren't going until the fall so most likely what we'll end up doing is scheduling AK for a night that MNSSHP runs which will cost about the same as the park hopper anyways. We don't have park tickets for our arrival/departure which gives us plenty of time to enjoy Downtown Disney, the resorts, and mini-golfing.

Appreciate the help. Hope I'll be able to return the favor after our trip.