Help with tickets needed!

[kaufmancat]

Hi DIS folks,
I need help figuring out the tickets because I got screwed the last time.
I am leaving this Sunday 12/21 with 6 adults (2 teens0 and 1 child.
We are staying at OKW 12/21-12/23 and BCV 12/24-12/27.
We are all going to MK on 12/21, AK on 12/22
Adults at Epcot 12/23 for tour, kids at Disney Quest, poss. a park also.
All at Epcot on 12/24
MK on 12/25 and poss. Epcot
MGM, poss. EPCOT on 12/26 and adults (4) to PI in evening.
No parks on last day 12/27
I want Park Hoppers for the days we are at BCV because we love to walk to Epcot when we have a chance. I doubt we will park hop the first 3 days but I like the option open.

I just got off the phone with MS and was told the key cards won't transfer, so I would have to get separate length of stay passes for each resort, which will end up costing more. She suggested getting 2 nite/3 day ($180 adult) at OKW and a 3nite/4 day at BCV ($204) ending up with 5 nite/7 days covered? I was so confused talking to her.
Should I get the ones she suggested from the resorts, or buy a length of stay separate for the whole time? Or buy some from the resort and some separate? We do like the convenience of having the tickets on the key card, but is it going to cost me?

Also, should I buy ahead? Will they be at my resort at check in if I do?
So what tickets should I get, I don't really trust MS they have lead me down the wrong path about tickets before.
HELP!

 

[aero99]

Ok, I will try to answer this.

1) Working from the numbers the CM gave you, she gave you the walk-up prices for UPH passes and gave you the incorrect 3 night/4 day price (should be 241.77). She also didn't give you the DVC discount on them.

2) If you got the DVC discount you are taking about approx 380/adult for UPH

3) A six day PHP bought ahead of time would cost you 295/adult while a seven day PHP advanced purchse would cost you 327/adult.

4)2 adult & 1 child admission to DQ costs 92.67 (33.02/adult)

so if you bought the 6 day PHP instead of UPH you would save a total of $444 on the adult tickets. To me that is worth having seperate tickets. Also, if you get the tickets from the Disney store they are plastic and will last longer then the paper ones.

Good Luck!
Melissa

 

[RobDoc]

Ultimate Park Hopper (UPH) passes are available with the DVC 10% discount only at the resort- they cannot be purchased in advance. They are good for each day of your stay, but you can drop the first and last day from the pass.

Since you have two separate reservations, MS is correct- you would need to have a UPH for each reservation- but by dropping first and last days, you should be fine cost-wise.

If your reservations were made using points, you cannot get the UPH in advance- only at the resort.

You should figure out how many days you want admission to the parks and then decide whether the UPH (with 10% and dropped days) will be cost effective versus a multi day park hopper.

Here is some information about <a href="http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/tickets.htm">WDW Ticket prices.</a> Be sure to figure the DVC 10% discount on the gate price of the UPH.

Have a great trip!

 

[InstImpres]

I personally love to order my PH from Paramount. I buy a 7 day with 4 pluses (and it comes with a character breakfast voucher) $301 an adult $245 a child, $15 shipping for whole order. They are sent overnight delivery. If you call now they may be able to get them tonight still. (1-888-281-6699)

I just save up extra days for next time, usually 2 tickets does 3 trips for me.

JMHO
Sandy

 

[kaufmancat]

Thanks for the great responses!
I took your advice and called BCV and the reservations line and got several different answers, of course!
From what I understand though I will be able to buy a 5 night 6 day UPH for everyone at check in at OKW, then when we move to BCV we will get a new key card but will still use the OKW card for tickets the rest of the time.
The BCV lady thought I'd be able to get the Advanced tickets, but Doc was right, they were not able to do it because I booked with points thru DVC and she also had no info about DVC discounts on any tickets other than DQ.

So, adding everything up, I think the UPH with DVC discount are still a better deal than 1 day 1 park tickets paying extra for DQ and PI, and the Advanced PH with extra for DQ.
At least I won't have to buy the tickets twice from 2 different resorts. As long as the CM who sells me the tickets agrees with the BCV person I talked to on the phone, you never can tell!

By the way, when we were at WLV in Jan. The CM suggested we buy the 4 day Park Hoppers even though we were only going to spend one day in the parks before heading onto Vero Beach. He said they would be good when we came back another time which they are not, so we were really burned that time!
Goes to show you that you really have to do your research before leaving, because all the CMs are not knowledgable.

Thanks again,
Cathy in MI

 

[NCRedding]

kaufmancat: I am confused by your last post. Did you buy a 4 day Park Hopper pass and only used 1 day? Who told you it wasn't good when you come back. The park hopper pass I am familiar with never expires, so you still should have 3 days on the pass.

 

[Caskbill]

Any chance you'll be returning within 12 months of your visit? If so then you might want to consider the Annual Pass at $393/adult.

If you go to Disney once every year, it can make sense ticket wise to plan your trips so that an AP covers two trips. For example this year you're going 12/21. Next year go 12/14. An annual pass will be good for both trips. (AP = 12/21/03 through 12/20/04)

Just a thought

 

[kaufmancat]

To reply to NCRedding's post, we had purchased the Park Hoppers that are placed on your key card at the resort. They may have been Ultimates, I don't remember.

The card says the dates right on it, 1/19/03 to 1/22/03.
I had written that there are 3 days left on them because I thought they would work in the future, which is why we bought the extra days, but since have been told they were only good during the time we were there. Am I wrong again? I would love it if we could use them. I will bring them along anyway to have them scan, just in case.

Also, we never can plan our vacations a whole year ahead, so I never know if we should by the annuals, otherwise I would have.


Thanks for the help.
Cat

 

[RobDoc]

It appears that you had purchased UPH- as they do have an expiration date (they are good ONLY during the stay they were purchased for). 4,5,6 and 7 day Hoppers do not expire and may be used at any time until all days have been used.

Be sure to do the math and purchase the pass that will serve your needs for this trip.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Originally posted by kaufmancat
To reply to NCRedding's post, we had purchased the Park Hoppers that are placed on your key card at the resort. They may have been Ultimates, I don't remember.

The card says the dates right on it, 1/19/03 to 1/22/03.
I had written that there are 3 days left on them because I thought they would work in the future, which is why we bought the extra days, but since have been told they were only good during the time we were there. Am I wrong again? I would love it if we could use them. I will bring them along anyway to have them scan, just in case.

Also, we never can plan our vacations a whole year ahead, so I never know if we should by the annuals, otherwise I would have.


Thanks for the help.
Cat

Based on the information provided here, it's hard to tell if you have days left on your passes. There are actually three different "Park Hoppers" that can be coded onto room keys:

Ultimate Park Hoppers (UPH), formerly known as Length of Stay passes. These are good only for the length of stay, include all parks, water parks, Pleasure Island, and Disney Quest, and can be purchased only at the resort. DVC members get a 10% discount and can (usually) drop first and/or last day from the multi-day pass.

Park Hopper Plus (PHP). These are multi-day, multi-park passes that include park admission and a number of "plus" features: admission to water parks, PI, or DQ. The number of plus features included depends on the number of park days on the pass. These can be purchased at the resort (and keyed onto your room key; I've done this and made use of unused days on later visits), at Guest Services at the parks, and through various ticket brokers. They could also be purchased with a Disney Club discount, although the DC is gone after Dec. 31, 2003. Unused days for park admission and also plus features do not expire, so they can be used on subsequent visits.

Park Hopper. These are multi-day, multi-park passes (like the PHP) without the plus feature. Also can be purchased at the resort (and keyed onto your room key), at Guest Services at the parks, and through various ticket borkers. Again, unused days do not expire, so they can be used for subsequent visits.

Since all three of these ticket media can be encoded on a key card, it is not clear which you purchased. Perhaps you can determine from the price you paid, compared to the cost of these different passes.

The dates indicated on your room keys do not provide any particular help here, since this is simply the length of your stay. It would correspond to the days of a UPH, but would not reduce the total number of days of park admission for a PHP or PH. By the way, you can take the old key cards that you've made your note on to Guest Services and ask them to scan the card to determine if they were UPH, PHP, or PH when purchased. If they were PHP or PH, they can tell you how many days are left.

Ralph

 

[rocketriter]

If you simply bought the wrong passes, you might be out of look. The picture is different if you were misinformed by a CM. Disney is in the business of earning their money from you, not accidentally stealing it, so it's possible that you could complain (I'd start with MS and escalate) and get some sort of make-good.