I don't trust park tickets from resellers. Why do you?

[Robo]

What exactly do those ramshackle booths along 192 do? I see them everywhere, both as a booth or in a strip mall. What are the actually selling? I would never ever go there, but really curious what they have and how they stay in business.

They have been known to buy tickets from guests who are exiting WDW.
And, then re-sell them to other guests coming in.

The used tickets may or may not have any "days left" on them.
But, it is illegal to let another guest use an already in-use ticket, so...

BAD NEWS!!

 

[Robo]

OK right....magic bands are from the resort reservation. We add the tickets to the band.

Well, not really.
Not "to" the bands.

There are never any tickets "ON" a MB.
The MB only ACCESSES the info (and tickets) that are listed in your MyDisneyExperience account.
MB is like an electronic "key" to your MDE files and tickets.

 

[MrInfinity]

Please help me understand. Obviously, it saves a few bucks. But...... the last thing anyone wants is ticket drama, or that dreaded awful beep, at the turnstile.

Is the few bucks worth that hold your breath moment?
And don't get me started on the "unused days" cheap tickets. That seems like a disaster to me.

We have APs for Disneyland. When we travel to WDW, we purchase tickets direct through Disney. I'm not typically a Nervous Nellie but this one makes me twitchy

I believe it's mostly an urban legend that you will save money buying thru outside sites. Altho if you compare to rack rate, you can edge out a couple dollars. We just bought some to get in before the prices went up. 3-day hopper $367.43. UCT was $360.81. But before you say that's $7 saved, it's not because I paid thru my DVA. That makes the Disney tix $360.08. Cheaper with just the simplest of payment hacking. That money went into my DVA for a minimum of another 10% off, sometimes much more.

Add to that the other drawbacks you mention and I don't see the value.

Also checked for my Universal and Legoland tix. In both cases I was better off buying direct.

 

[Robo]

I believe it's mostly an urban legend that you will save money buying thru outside sites.

Wow!
That's not my experience.

And, I've been here awhile.

If you to get to buy a 7-day Hopper ticket for the price of a 4-day Hopper ticket, that's a pretty good deal.
It saves, per ticket, about $48, with tax.

That was the deal I got and just used on my Jan. 2017 trip.

 

[GPC0321]

I have no qualms about using someone like Undercover Tourist. But it made no sense for me to use them this time as I paid with discounted Disney gift cards and one FREE $200 Disney gift card (Disney Visa sign-up bonus). Can't use those gift cards anywhere but Disney. I got $1100 worth of tickets for around $800 out of pocket. No re-seller could beat that (I checked). But under other circumstances, I'd be just fine going with a re-seller.

 

[cigar95]

The best savings from UCT used to come for their non-expiring tickets, which are, of course, no longer offered. If that's still the case, then it may indeed be that their savings aren't what they used to be and something like the DVA will beat them in some cases. (Haven't bought tickets from them, or anyone else for a while. I'd built up a stack of unused tickets, and now it's time to use them.)

Having said that, there is indeed no reason to be nervous about buying from an authorized reseller, which was the General's original concern.

 

[hiroMYhero]

I believe it's mostly an urban legend that you will save money buying thru outside sites.

If you had seen the 16+ page thread regarding the very low-priced MYW "Buy 4 days get 3 free" tickets offered by SW Airlines, you would be a believer in great pricing by ticket discounters. SWA/Vacations beat the ParkSavers and UCT pricing and DISers benefitted greatly from the deal.

 

[pigletto]

Please help me understand. Obviously, it saves a few bucks.
But......
the last thing anyone wants is ticket drama, or that dreaded awful beep, at the turnstile.

Is the few bucks worth that hold your breath moment?
And don't get me started on the "unused days" cheap tickets. That seems like a disaster to me.

We have APs for Disneyland. When we travel to WDW, we purchase tickets direct through Disney. I'm not typically a Nervous Nellie but this one makes me twitchy

Not all resellers are created equally. A company like Undercover tourist have been around for years and years, are accredited, have a stellar reputation and I have never ever seen one review here (out of hundreds) say anything to the contrary. That isn't buying my tickets from a weird little shack in the parking lot of souvenir shop in Kissimmee. I've done my due diligence, and been more than satisfied with the results.

 

[ACJT]

Do any of the re-sellers offer the 25% discounted Canadian tickets?

 

[hiroMYhero]

Do any of the re-sellers offer the 25% discounted Canadian tickets?

Those can be purchased at CAA offices. That's been reported on the main thread over on the Canadian forum.

 

[FastPasser]

Wow! That's not my experience. And, I've been here awhile.

Ditto!!!

One of the WDW CMs that supplies the authorized sellers in the area with hard and digital tickets that have a brick & mortar location, is a friend and based on our conversations, there is no downside buying from any of the authorized sellers. Disney encourages it, promotes it, and in most cases you will save some money.

I prefer the Official Ticket Center, OTC in Kissimmee because if there is a problem, you can visit the store located just 10 minutes outside WDW, and yell at someone face to face. That's not the case with most of the other sellers. They're just a phone number somewhere in the US. OTC's prices can not be beat. They'll match any other sellers prices.

 

[Robo]

I prefer the Official Ticket Center, OTC in Kissimmee because if there is a problem,
you can visit the store located just 10 minutes outside WDW, and yell at someone face to face.

Say, that sounds like fun!

I may need to rent a car to just go and YELL at 'em for the sport of it!!

 

[bumbershoot]

So Disney actually authorizes ticket resellers?

I know it's been said, but I'll add another "of course" to the chorus.

OK right....magic bands are from the resort reservation. We add the tickets to the band.

You add it to MDE. Putting band to Mickey connects to your ticket. Ticket isn't on the band.

I have no qualms about using someone like Undercover Tourist. But it made no sense for me to use them this time as I paid with discounted Disney gift cards and one FREE $200 Disney gift card (Disney Visa sign-up bonus). Can't use those gift cards anywhere but Disney. I got $1100 worth of tickets for around $800 out of pocket. No re-seller could beat that (I checked). But under other circumstances, I'd be just fine going with a re-seller.

I would have used those gift cards in the park and bought discounted tickets for MORE savings.

 

[Anal Annie]

Last summer Parksavers.com had a huge savings for awhile on 7-day hoppers - it was like buy 4 days get 3 days free or something like that. We are DVC and usually buy our AP's from them but this deal let us buy tix to use later and upgrade to our DVC Gold AP when we got there on our fall trip rather than buying a renewal in July which would have kept us on a July renewal. What this did for us was let us change our renewal date from July to a fall date so we can now be on a fall renewal date going forward - works better for us for F&W trips. Had no problems at all upgrading these tix when we got there. And we got one for our DS too that we upgraded on our January trip so he could get the 13th month on his AP.

 

[Robo]

Last summer Parksavers.com had a huge savings for awhile on 7-day hoppers - it was like buy 4 days get 3 days free or something like that...

Agreed.
See my post #24 above.

 

[Suprize2017]

I'm so unfamiliar with all this, so forgive me for asking something I'm sure has already been gone over. My family of five is heading down to Florida in 12 days. We are staying at the CBR, so we have MB. My 12 year old daughter will be flying down to Florida, on her own, in June to stay with my aunt and uncle who are local. She gets to go back to the parks for four days. I haven't bought those tickets yet though.

So, please, let me know if I'm reading and understanding everything correctly. It would be financially smarter to buy those four day tickets from someplace like UCT. Then, once I have those tickets, I could link them to her MB. When she goes in June, she won't need the paper tickets (I'm not even sure if that's what she'd have. I've only been twice and both times we stayed on site and had MB) and go to the parks with just her MB? Am I correct on all that?

 

[GPC0321]

I would have used those gift cards in the park and bought discounted tickets for MORE savings.

My problem with using gift cards for anything besides tickets is I'm kind of obligated to spend that money at Disney once it's on the gift cards. I know I have to spend a set amount on park tickets, but I don't know how much we'll spend on food and souvenirs until we're actually there. If I set aside $1000 of Disney gift cards for spending on dining and shopping, and we only spend $850, that's $150 I now have to spend at Disney in some way on something I don't need, and I'm actually not saving money at all.

 

[Robo]

I'm so unfamiliar with all this, so forgive me for asking something I'm sure has already been gone over. My family of five is heading down to Florida in 12 days. We are staying at the CBR, so we have MB. My 12 year old daughter will be flying down to Florida, on her own, in June to stay with my aunt and uncle who are local. She gets to go back to the parks for four days. I haven't bought those tickets yet though.

So, please, let me know if I'm reading and understanding everything correctly.
1. It would be financially smarter to buy those four day tickets from someplace like UCT.

2. Then, once I have those tickets, I could link them to her MB. When she goes in June,
3. she won't need the paper tickets (I'm not even sure if that's what she'd have. I've only been twice and both times we stayed on site and had MB) and go to the parks with just her MB?
4. Am I correct on all that?

1. Or from the ticket reseller with the best deal on a 4-day ticket.**
2. Yes.
3. WDW doesn't even issue paper tickets anymore.
4. Well yes, as far as that info goes.

HOWEVER, the girl's Aunt and Uncle can buy her FLORIDA RESIDENT tickets, if they want to.
Locals can buy FL Res tickets for kids in the family who come to visit.

 

[hiroMYhero]

go to the parks with just her MB? Am I correct on all that?

Yes. Link the ticket to her Profile/line in MDE and all she'll need is her MB.

 

[bryanb]

The fact that third party resellers sometimes have HUGE sales on multi-day tickets makes me wonder if I should buy today (before the increase) or wait for the next special to happen.

In the past, the specials have been much bigger discounts than the typical annual price increase...