Help! This is way too expensive!

[Sandy Feet]

Forgot to ask...

where is the best place to buy the FITS tickets?

Thanks,.

 

[Sarahsmom85]

Paramount Travel (www.gopitravel.com) or 1-888-281-6699

The new tickets will expire in April 2005. Cost is $311 per adult and $251 per child plus a $15 mailing charge. they had to be ordered, they would get them next week and they would ship out during the week next week.

let me tell you if you have kids and are staying more than 7 days the Fits pass and the Mastercard deal is the way to go.

If you want to add Seaworld they are having a special. Scan this board for the info. IT is a Pepsi code that will get you the admission plus a meal and a 20 oz pepsi for later for the price of admission. Seaworld also offers a second day free. That you get on your way out. And you can break that day up into two days that way. Go half a day Seaworld. Back for a rest then evening at Disney.

No it is better to still buy the universal mastercard deal plus the Seaworld. The Mastercard deal itself if less expensive than the reg.2 day price and then you are getting one free.

The FITS ticket will give you the flexablity to do what ever you want when ever you want. It really is a great ticket. It will give you a character breakfast. With you kids they will LOVE Disney Quest which is included. and the water parks. Kennedy Space center is also included.
For example with the fits pass you could go to the park for a few hrs in the morning, spend the afternoon at the waterpark and then evening at DQ for the price of the ticket you have.

The Universal pass 5 for price of 4 is another great deal.

Do lots of reseach, there are lots of tips here. If you are coming all this way and it is costing you a lot to fly you might as well make the most of it while you are in Florida. I'd buy the FITs pass and the mastercard deal and do Seaworld if you have the time and money. I'm one of the people who like universal just as much as disney.

 

[leebee]

The other option for Sea World is to go to Southwest Airlines' website and sign up for their frequent flyer club (Rapid Rewards- it's free). Print out your Rapid Rewards card and bring it with you to Sea World...they'll give you a 20% discount on admission.

KSC is great...FITS tickets include one KSC admission. It is a full day tour, just with the bus tour, visitor's complex, and Saturn rocket site. We didn't have time for astronaut hall of fame or IMAX theatre...if you buy KSC admission (i.e., if you don't get FITS for WDW) I think adult tix are around $27.

DON'T plan to do all full park days. You will be too exhausted! We are usually good for 2 consecutive days...by lunch time on day 3, nobody is having fun anymore. Also remember that travelling and the excitement is tiring...you might want to plan an easy day for your first day...definitely don't plan an early character b'fast for that 1st day!

BTW, Medieval Times IS cheesy, HDD is hokey, I've heard SOA is lame. Have dinner at a monorail resort instead (Cinderella headlines at the Grand Floridian, Chef Mickey and the original Disney gang at Chef Mickey's/Contemporary, heard O'Hana's or Kona Cafe at Poly are both great. After dinner go outside and watch the ElectricalWater Pageant, then the fireworks from MK if you are looking for some non-park activities...or skip the EWP and go into MK for Spectromagic/Wishes after dinner (which you can do with FITS, even if it's been a non-park day!).

I have used Hotel Kingdom and Sky Auction...both are reliable, just make sure you understand how Sky Auction works before bidding. I think you can save $$$ on the condo...also check out the MANY villa rental agencies in the area...we got a 3br pool home for the price of a 2br villa last year at closesttodisney.com!

 

[mikesmom]

Sandy -
You are still planning WAY too much stuff!! You are really, really not going to be able to do it ALL, unless you barely hit the high spots at each place and keep running! ("No, you can't meet that character, you have exactly 1 minute to get to the Dumbo ride which must be completed in 20 minutes because we have to get to Pirates of the Caribean"). Really, that won't be much of a vacation!

My opinion is dump Sea World, dump KSC, do the others. WDW is 4 parks- Animal Kingdom and MGM take one day each (maybe 2 at MGM for your older boys). Epcot and Magic Kingdome could take 2 or 3 each.

Your older boys can carry a small backpack or water bottle!

Speaking as the mom of a teenage boy.

 

[LIFERBABE]

FITS and Mastercard Deal are your best ticket options. Those 2 passes give you 15 days, 9 theme parks, a Char. Breakfast and KSC. You will run out of time before you run out of passes.

I also agree that you are still planning to do too much. Unless you are writing for a travel magazine and need to visit all those places you mentioned.

Your kids will poop out on you (although they are excited now) and you will be committed to getting your money's worth out of those passes. My boys that run from sun up to sun down were begging for naps by noon last Septmeber.

The FITS will give you the most flexibility to change your mind as will the US 5 day passes. I wouldnt commit to anything past that park wise.

Also extending the trip to 14 days will help absorb some of your airfare costs.
You may be able to get a better condo deal by owner, especially if you are booking for 2 whole weeks and not 10 days.

 

[cats mom]

Originally posted by mtblujeans
Having kids that age, you can do Universal in one long day. If you are there when they open, and stay till they close, you may find that is enough. My boys are 12 & 15 and they had a good time at US but were a bit disappointed, too. You will, however, kick yourselves if you don't spend the majority of your time at WDW! You can spend more than one day at Epcot alone! You will probably get hooked, just like the rest of us, and start planning your NEXT trip the minute you get home.

Too easy to have everyone give the same advice. I have to disagree a little.

We love WDW, but when we did an Orlando trip my girls (ages 11 & 14 then) wanted MORE time at Universal. They are big coaster fans though and loved the rides at US & IOA.

 

[tarmand]

Originally posted by cats mom
Too easy to have everyone give the same advice. I have to disagree a little.

We love WDW, but when we did an Orlando trip my girls (ages 11 & 14 then) wanted MORE time at Universal. They are big coaster fans though and loved the rides at US & IOA.

I agree. We much prefer US to WDW. If you children like thrill rides more than "theming", then I think that it would be a shame to miss US.

Here is a website that you might find a better deal on a condo.

FL Vacation Homes

 

[Sarahsmom85]

Sandy Feet

Sent you a private message.

 

[KristiKelly]

Wow, Tarmand, I looked @ the website you listed. I clicked on a few of the houses & condos listed and found nothing over $1000(for a week), some in the $600 range for a week - that would be a big savings for her.

 

[mad4themouse]

I may be the only one to disagree regarding the FITS passes.

We have someone here who is trying to cut costs back a little and purchasing the FITS passes vs. 4-day PHPs and KSC passes is not going to save her any money on a 10-day vacation.

The FITS passes will cost her $1510. Granted, that will entitle her to DQ, waterparks, KSC and the 4 major parks for 30 days. But she only has 10 days and wants to do Sea World and Universal, too.

Consider these prices from Ticketmania :

• 4-day PHPs - 4adult/1child ($227/$186) = $1094
• KSC Tickets - 4adults/1child ($28/$18) = $126
• shipping - $0.00
• Cost = $1220

Yes, I realize that there's no character breakfast and no DQ but with vouchers the breakfast would be another $84 and DQ passes from Ticketmania would be about $116, bringing the total to $1420. This would still be less than the $1510 for FITS passes. And does the OP even have time to do those or any of the other minor attractions that the FITS passes offer?

I agree that the MasterCard 5 for the price of 4 5-day passes are the way to go for Universal passes. They come out to about $76 per ticket before taxes and can be picked up at an e-ticket kiosk at Universal for $2 instead of paying for shipping ($11).

The Sea World passes thru Southwest Rapid Rewards is a good idea. You will need to sign two people up to get 5 passes because each Rapid Rewards member is limited to a maximum of 4 passes. You may be able to get a second day free with your one-day admission. Sea World runs that promotion from time to time.

In all, you would have 5 consecutive days at Universal*, 4 days in WDW parks, one day at a WDW waterpark, one at KSC, and 1 to 2 days at Sea World. Total park days = 12 to 13.
*However,there's no need to go each of those 5 days.

Shop around some more for your condo rental. I think you can do better than the $120 per day you have budgeted. Try AllStar Vacation Homes in addition to Fl Vacation Homes, just for comparison. You should be able to get two weeks for close to $1400.

Plan to eat breakfast in the condo as well as a few lunches and dinners. Try to trim your food budget down by 1/3rd. Remember that you would be spending money at home to feed your family, too.

Finally, reserve your rental car now at the best price you can find. It costs you nothing to make a reservation and you can always cancel or modify it if prices change for the better.

 

[HaleyB]

These are the parks we really want to see..What do you think?
How many days at each if we're in Orlando for 2 weeks and want down time as well as at LEAST 1 shopping day for Mom.

WDW
Epcot
Seaworld
Kennedy Space Centre
Universal
1 or 2 water parks, which one?

Are we missing anything?

Thanks,

Okay- by WDW do you mean Magic Kingdom? You list Epcot, what about MGM Studios and Animal Kingdom? Don't miss MGM!!!

Mad4theMouse is right about the FITS passes, if you decide to spend more than four days in WDW they start to make sense but not if you stick to the four day plan then the 4 day PHP are less expensive. Only I would not recommend limiting WDW to only 4 days...

Our first time to WDW we were very sorry we went to US. We only had a week, and lost the first day with travel and all, so really 5 1/2 days. The day we spent at US seemed like such a waste to us. We could have been in WDW (Epcot to be exact)! I do love roller coasters, so I would keep US for 2 days since you have more than 5 days! I would give Epcot 2 days. MGM 1, AK 1, MK 2. That is 8 big park days. I would do water parks and Disney Quest inbetween and I don't see anything wrong with going to the Space Center for an inbetween day (but my Dad worked for NASA, so I am biased). I would lose Sea World, but I may be in the minority here. I don't really like Sea World.

One last note- There is no rule that you have to all have the same ticket mix. If you and DD want more WDW time- you could get the FITS passes. If the boys want more US time they could get 4 day PHPs.

 

[crazelion]

This what I would do:

4 day Park hoppers With a Plus option include Blizzard beach or Tyboon Lagoon

2 day park pass US and IOA

Sea World one day ticket


Day 1 Majic Kingdom

Day 2 Epcot

Day 3 MGM

Day 4 Animal Kingdom or Water Park

Day 5 Water Park and Rest

Day 6 Rest

Day 7 US

Day 8 IOA

Day 9 Sea World and Rest

Day 10 Rest

A cheap Water park is Water mania and Wet Wild. I think both cut prices for after 4:00 p.m. in half. That is way to save money on a water park.

I would not go to the Space Center at all.

 

[MK Familystone]

Hi ALL!
Three children are the variable for this vacation?
Have they been to the places you have gone or would they all understand and ABSORB all the sights in one trip?
The more you ask them the easier it will be to trim the trip.
I just had my 11 and 13 year old plan this past WDW trip and all were satisfied and we did less!
I agree with other Disers that the two days of down time is a MUST FOR THE SAKE OF THE LAUNDRY! HA! HA!
Suggest you look for deals on a Mini Van instead of a Full Size so you can buy a good size foam cooler to keep beverages or small sandwichs for the hungery ones, on the way home from the parks every night.
Make the days off the days you go for the character breakfasts or diners at the WDW resorts they are buffet style, plus it won't cost you for parking.
I haven't said this in a while but: SPREADSHEET, SPREADSHEET,SPEADSHEET is a way to visualize your cost and compare the need nots.
Now get up and go to the wine cabinet and pore yourself a class of chardonay and kick back.

Tomorrow will come!

"THE MAGIC HAPPENS!!!

 

[Sandy Feet]

I could hardly wait to get on this site this morning and read all your responses. I've taken to printing them out to really absorb everything! You guys are the best!
BTW: A glass of red wine and chocolate do NOT mix well, so my head tells me this morning. Perhaps the chocoloate should be delted from my budget? (a little humor)
Already have my excel spreadsheet started , but obviously I'm not using it well enough.

Does the Mastercard offer have a time limit or should I bite the bullet and get them now?

And rent the car...

What is Disney Quest?

The kids may complain, but we are going to try getting to the parks early then leaving for a rest and going back in the evening. But then going in the evening might make them tired the next morning?? We'll have to try it out.

OK, off to look at the links you all sent and to amazon to buy the Unoffical Guide. Its been in my cart for weeks now. BTW: Recently bought a secondhand book from an amazon seller and its from a librairy. Does that seem right to you? Seemed kinda weird to me.

 

[tarmand]

Originally posted by Sandy Feet

OK, off to look at the links you all sent and to amazon to buy the Unoffical Guide. Its been in my cart for weeks now. BTW: Recently bought a secondhand book from an amazon seller and its from a librairy. Does that seem right to you? Seemed kinda weird to me. [/B]

Not really. Where I live, Libraries often have book sales. So, maybe they bought it at a book sale.


In regards to the suggestion recommending the 2 day passes to Universal - the two day pass costs more than the Mastercard deal so even if you don't use all five days it is still about $20 cheaper per ticket to buy them.

I agree about the FITS passes. I wouldn't buy them since you don't have that long and you are trying to cut your costs.

I don't know if you are looking for a way to make some money for your trip, but check out this thread. PM me if you have any questions although I think this thread will pretty much cover any question you could think of.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=524720

I don't know when the Mastercard deal is expiring. If you are definitely going to US, I would go ahead and buy them now. From what I understand, the tickets never expire, but once you activate them (meaning once you use them to enter the parks) they are only good for 5 days.

If you could post your exact travel dates, maybe one of us could come up with some good rental car rates for you. Also, keep watching for airfare sales.

 

[mad4themouse]

Originally posted by tarmand
I don't know if you are looking for a way to make some money for your trip, but check out this thread. PM me if you have any questions although I think this thread will pretty much cover any question you could think of.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=524720

The OP is from the Caribbean. You need to have a US checking account in order to open an ING savings account. I'm not sure whether the OP is from a US territory or would have a US bank account.

I don't know when the Mastercard deal is expiring. If you are definitely going to US, I would go ahead and buy them now. From what I understand, the tickets never expire, but once you activate them (meaning once you use them to enter the parks) they are only good for 10 days. So, you would have to use all five of your days during those 10 days.

The 5-day Bonus Passes are good for 5 consecutive days. Once activated, they will expire on the 5th day. You do not have 10 days to do 5 visits. However, the passes themselves do not expire until you have activated them.

There is no mention of how long the current deal will be available. It could be withdrawn at any time without notice. If you're positive that you will be going to Universal for more than one day, then purchase the passes as soon as you can to avoid losing out on the deal.

If you could post your exact travel dates, maybe one of us could come up with some good rental car rates for you. Also, keep watching for airfare sales.

Knowing your dates would be helpful. Also, when pricing airfare, consider flying into Tampa/St. Pete or Sanford Airports if you can find a lower fare.

 

[tarmand]

Originally posted by mad4themouse
The 5-day Bonus Passes are good for 5 consecutive days. Once activated, they will expire on the 5th day. You do not have 10 days to do 5 visits. However, the passes themselves do not expire until you have activated them.

There is no mention of how long the current deal will be available. It could be withdrawn at any time without notice. If you're positive that you will be going to Universal for more than one day, then purchase the passes as soon as you can to avoid losing out on the deal.

OMG! Thanks for correcting me! I don't know where I got that from. I have edited my post to reflect the correct information. I am so glad I posted though, because now I won't make that mistake again. Maybe I shouldn't try to work and check the boards at the same time!!!!

 

[LIFERBABE]

Imho
The difference in purchasing the FITS and the PHP and separate DQ and WP and KSC passes is $90 or 18 more pp which is the cost of a Character Breakfast for which you would receive vouchers.

You would not be limited to what you could do using the FITS. Your dates would be very helpful as we would know if you fall in the value season. Value season all the park hours will be shorter except Epcot. There wont be daily fireworks or Spectro or Fantasmic. US would close at 7pm in value season.

With the MC US ticket you could visit US/IOA during the day, and use your FITS for Spectro or Fantasmic in the evenings. With a PHP you would be wasting a day just to see those and would feel more obligated to stay in the parks all day.

With that age group it is hard to gauge their energy level and some may have more than others. Your group could break up for late evening outings and still have enough admission to do together outings also.

I agree to go ahead and purchase your Mastercard US passes as they can pull that deal at any time. I purchased mine last summer for this June but I dont regret purchasing that early with all the recent price increases and changes at WDW and US.

 

[Sandy Feet]

Hopefully going Aug 21 - Sept. 4

Help finding a good car rental rate would be much appreciated.

 

[mad4themouse]

Originally posted by LIFERBABE
Imho
The difference in purchasing the FITS and the PHP and separate DQ and WP and KSC passes is $90 or 18 more pp which is the cost of a Character Breakfast for which you would receive vouchers.

You don't need to purchase waterpark passes if you have PHPs. The "plus" feature on a Park Hopper Plus includes one admission to a waterpark or Pleasure Island for each 4-day PHP. 5-day PHPs usually have 2 "pluses", 6-day PHPs have 3 and 7-day PHPs have 4.

Buying the 4-day PHPs and KSC tickets from Ticketmania would cost the OP $1220. Breakfast for 5 at Cindy's (the most expensive character breakfast) would be another $110 (including tax and tip). DQ passes (from Ticketmania) would add another $116. Total = $1446. That's still less than the $1510 that her 5 FITS passes would cost her.

If the OP had more time to spend in WDW, or was looking for the most bang for her buck, then I would agree that the FITS are a good idea. They afford you more flexibility and offer greater convenience. But she's looking for ways to make the trip more affordable and the FITS passes aren't going to do that unless she decides to drop Universal and/or Sea World from her touring plan.