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

[KAT4DISNEY]

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.

Urban legend? It's simple price comparisons. It takes a WHOLE lot of work to save the same amount on certain tickets direct vs buying from a reseller. Some tickets are close to $50 difference. Some are only a few dollars. You just have to look and see.

 

[Suprize2017]

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....

How, or where, do you learn of these huge sales? Do you need to check their sites often, get on a mailing list, or what?

 

[Robo]

How, or where, do you learn of these huge sales? Do you need to check their sites often, get on a mailing list, or what?

Yup.

Or, check on THIS forum frequently.

When there's a particularly good offer, there will usually be a discussion about it.
Sometimes a BIG discussion about it!

Sometimes, SEVERAL big discussions about it.

 

[bumbershoot]

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.

You're not going back?

We know about what we'll spend on food. We know we have to eat. We have one table service per day and at least a counter service. The math isn't hard for us.

 

[Robo]

Math.
Who knew?

 

[chartle]

Me researching Under Cover Tourist is how I found this website.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I purchased from Tickets at Work in 2014 and from UT last year. Everything was fine and I would do it again from either company.

 

[chartle]

3. WDW doesn't even issue paper tickets anymore.

Disney hasn't sold "Paper" tickets in decades.

Oh the good old days of Paper (really Tyvek) vs Plastic threads. Good Times.

 

[Suprize2017]

Disney hasn't sold "Paper" tickets in decades.

Oh the good old days of Paper (really Tyvek) vs Plastic threads. Good Times.

I kind of assumed they didn't have paper tickets, but am not sure what they have, so I wrote paper for lack of a better descriptive word. Do they use plastic cards (credit card size)?

 

[fla4fun]

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.

Many of them buy back partially used tickets from tourists, and then attempt to resell them to others at a cheap price. It's against the law, and when they get caught it's all over the news. But they have to get caught, either by law enforcement "shopping" the location or a customer filing a complaint when their tickets don't work. Back when I first started working with tickets and would be out shopping or whatever, these people would be brazen enough to advertise that they bought back tickets. Anyone who is an authorized reseller will refuse to buy back partially used tickets. In fact, the company I worked for wouldn't even issue a refund to the original buyer until they had verified with Disney that the tickets presented for refund hadn't been used at all so they would be valid for resale. The shady dealers make more money in the short term because they buy the tickets cheap (consider what the last four days of a ten day ticket are really worth) but then sell them as a four day ticket at a small discount off gate price. They don't have Disney keeping an eye on them like the authorized resellers do.

If there's a shady way to make a buck, someone will figure out how to do it. And it's the public who doesn't know any better who ends up the loser when their ticket won't work at the gate.

 

[Anal Annie]

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.

The gift cards don't expire - are you saying that you won't ever be back to use them if you don't finish them on that trip? I perpetually buy them to bring and TRY to bring enough for each trip to pay for all of our expenses (mostly meals). But if I have some left over then I just save them for the next trip. Less I have to buy for the next time....

 

[GPC0321]

You're not going back?

We know about what we'll spend on food. We know we have to eat. We have one table service per day and at least a counter service. The math isn't hard for us.

Well, obviously we know we have to eat. But what we'll eat will depend on how hungry we are and what we're hungry for when meal times roll around. We may have a table service ADR, but depending on appetites at that time, we might all order entrees and desserts or the three of us might share two appetizers and we all decide to skip dessert. There's no way to know until we're in that moment.

I prefer not to commit money to Disney when there actually is no way I can know for sure if I'll ever return. I have to save and scrape just to go at all. It had been seventeen years since we'd been when we went last Easter. This trip is solely to see it at Christmastime and to celebrate my mom's 75th birthday. I honestly don't foresee another trip in the near future, so I'd rather not tie up money in Disney gift cards that might be useless to me for many years to come.

It doesn't really matter though. Everyone has their own way of doing Disney, and there is no right or wrong way.

 

[chartle]

I kind of assumed they didn't have paper tickets, but am not sure what they have, so I wrote paper for lack of a better descriptive word. Do they use plastic cards (credit card size)?

This was for Robo. Before Magic bands there were two types of ticket media, the plastic credit cards the on site guests got and tickets that some called paper that mostly off site guests got. A certain type of thread would pop up around once every week.

What would happen is some one who only stayed onsite and only ever had the room key cards, Key to the World Cards, would order their tickets from UT. They would come in the mail and when they opened the envelope they would see what they thought were little flimsy pieces of paper. Some would even go so far as to title their post "XYZ Ripped me off". Thinking that someone took their tickets out and replaced them.

There would also be threads where people would ask how to get them put on the much sturdier plastic ticket media. Long story short it would be pointed out that those Paper tickets where actually Tyvek a type of flexible plastic used in house wrap and was used for almost every Annual Pass and that they generally out lasted the plastic cards.

So this is somewhat related to this thread. Back to your regularly scheduled posts.

 

[MrInfinity]

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.

Ok so the7-day hopper ($439+tax value) for the 4-day price ($394+tax) current promotion. Great. They're advertising this at $419. I would pay on Disney's site ($467 with tax). But I'd getting 2% off via DVA and 5-10% off via Target. $412. I've already paid less than the best deal UT has, and I've only used commonly available methods. Add in other more aggressive payment methods and I'd actually pay way less.

It saves, per ticket, about $48, with tax.

It saves only compared to Disney's rack rate. And you have to buy exactly the deal UT is offering... if you need 6 or 8 days the value falls off. My method works on any offer, takes advantage of Disney's best offers, stacks with other Disney offers like DVC discounts, 13-for-12 months and AP renewals, and gets them for less -- buying direct.

Urban legend? It's simple price comparisons. It takes a WHOLE lot of work to save the same amount on certain tickets direct vs buying from a reseller. Some tickets are close to $50 difference. Some are only a few dollars. You just have to look and see.

I know, right? It comes down to the cost. I just haven't found places like UT to be worth it, considering their price on all 3 theme parks I was interested in were not a good value. It doesn't take any more work buying direct. Less, if anything. I wanted to get an extra Hopper so I just did on a whim, today. I got it for less than the UT price. I did check UT first, but it wasn't a good deal.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Ok so the7-day hopper ($439+tax value) for the 4-day price ($394+tax) current promotion. Great. They're advertising this at $419. I would pay on Disney's site ($467 with tax). But I'd getting 2% off via DVA and 5-10% off via Target. $412. I've already paid less than the best deal UT has, and I've only used commonly available methods. Add in other more aggressive payment methods and I'd actually pay way less.

It saves only compared to Disney's rack rate. And you have to buy exactly the deal UT is offering... if you need 6 or 8 days the value falls off. My method works on any offer, takes advantage of Disney's best offers, stacks with other Disney offers like DVC discounts, 13-for-12 months and AP renewals, and gets them for less -- buying direct.

I know, right? It comes down to the cost. I just haven't found places like UT to be worth it, considering their price on all 3 theme parks I was interested in were not a good value. It doesn't take any more work buying direct. Less, if anything. I wanted to get an extra Hopper so I just did on a whim, today. I got it for less than the UT price. I did check UT first, but it wasn't a good deal.

With the DVA you don't get the $20 until you spend $1000 thru it - not everyone will. Or it might be a very long time. And you have to have had the DVA set up for a period of time before you qualify to get the $20 back for spending. One also has to have a Target card and go to Target now to get the 5% off cards. So, if you spend $1,000 and have a Target card and go to Target you have 7% off. The 10% or more is a bit more complicated to get these days. Then you have to load these cards onto the DVA. You can do it individually into the DVA or first combine the GC's together on the Disney Gift card website then transfer them to the DVA. Then you finally get to the Disney website to buy the tickets.

But on the UCT 7 day ticket which is the 2nd to largest discount it's slightly more than 10% off with just placing the order. Tax is included with all of UCT tickets so $418 thru the Mousesavers link (which I did have to sign up to receive but have been getting for free for years). Then I can use a rewards credit card and get cash back or points or whatever I have. An easy 11+% minimum. All I had to do was go to the website thru the link, place one ticket in my cart and pay. Considering a drive to Target for me (which is approx 20 minutes one way) it's way better for me to just order online in approx 2-3 minutes.

As previously mentioned, the value varies depending on the tickets.

 

[CJN]

Many of them buy back partially used tickets from tourists, and then attempt to resell them to others at a cheap price. It's against the law, and when they get caught it's all over the news. But they have to get caught, either by law enforcement "shopping" the location or a customer filing a complaint when their tickets don't work. Back when I first started working with tickets and would be out shopping or whatever, these people would be brazen enough to advertise that they bought back tickets. Anyone who is an authorized reseller will refuse to buy back partially used tickets. In fact, the company I worked for wouldn't even issue a refund to the original buyer until they had verified with Disney that the tickets presented for refund hadn't been used at all so they would be valid for resale. The shady dealers make more money in the short term because they buy the tickets cheap (consider what the last four days of a ten day ticket are really worth) but then sell them as a four day ticket at a small discount off gate price. They don't have Disney keeping an eye on them like the authorized resellers do.

If there's a shady way to make a buck, someone will figure out how to do it. And it's the public who doesn't know any better who ends up the loser when their ticket won't work at the gate.

We were solicited once when we were checking out of our off-site condo. It was obvious we were checking out and a woman got right in our face, practically demanding our tickets. She started with this story about how she desperately needed them for her grandchildren. We kept telling her the tickets were used up and, even if they had days left (which they didn't), they weren't transferable. She was extremely(!) persistent, claiming she wanted them anyway so that she could check them out in hopes her "poor little grandkids" could have a day at the parks. The more we refused the more upset she got, finally saying since we were heading home it was greedy of us to keep them.
It was ridiculous. We knew she was wanting to go scam somebody and from her reaction I suspected a lot of people said yes to her. I have a feeling lots of people like her troll the area hotels at check-out time.

 

[MrInfinity]

With the DVA you don't get the $20 until you spend $1000 thru it - not everyone will. Or it might be a very long time. And you have to have had the DVA set up for a period of time before you qualify to get the $20 back for spending. One also has to have a Target card and go to Target now to get the 5% off cards. So, if you spend $1,000 and have a Target card and go to Target you have 7% off. The 10% or more is a bit more complicated to get these days. Then you have to load these cards onto the DVA. You can do it individually into the DVA or first combine the GC's together on the Disney Gift card website then transfer them to the DVA. Then you finally get to the Disney website to buy the tickets.

But on the UCT 7 day ticket which is the 2nd to largest discount it's slightly more than 10% off with just placing the order. Tax is included with all of UCT tickets so $418 thru the Mousesavers link (which I did have to sign up to receive but have been getting for free for years). Then I can use a rewards credit card and get cash back or points or whatever I have. An easy 11+% minimum. All I had to do was go to the website thru the link, place one ticket in my cart and pay. Considering a drive to Target for me (which is approx 20 minutes one way) it's way better for me to just order online in approx 2-3 minutes.

As previously mentioned, the value varies depending on the tickets.

DVA- True, but once you run a DVA tab, every time you hit the $1000, the 2% kicks out automatically. So this is not a concern. You get in the habit of running everything thru it so you hit those $1000's quick.

I get that the value varies... but I've taken lots of trips like you. I checked UT every time. Not once was it ever the best place to buy. Where I actually bought has varied over the years. There were days when you could stack Pharmacy rewards, and there were days when I could cycle gift cards and get tickets at massive discounts. There are times when I used travel agency exclusives. But not once was UT the best value. I have 3 trips planned, involving 3 theme parks. For all 3, UT is still not my best value. I don't see why people rave about it because their prices are not all that. I think margins are just so thin on these park tickets that there aren't a lot of savings to pass on.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

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

Not true. Numerous threads here sing the praises of ticket media savings via reputable resellers. Last August, we saved over $150 by purchasing steeply discounted park hoppers from Park Savers and bridging them at full price, as Disney allows, to upgrade to annual passes. People do that, and achieve such savings, all the time.

In terms of the fear about purchasing a ticket media via resellers which opened this thread, I think it's pretty misplaced. It's the same kind of fear that leads some people in 2017 to still write paper checks thinking that it saves them from doing electronic transactions. Every transaction is an electronic transaction these days, including paper checks which are simply run it as debit transactions, and Disney ticket media. It isn't as if you sit around and wait 10 days for a paper ticket to arrive in the mail. We're talking about virtual tickets. The only delay involved is waiting for Disney's database to refresh so that you can assign the tickets in your MDE.

I understand that people may see those shacks and think they have anything to do with the reputable resellers, but they're not the same thing at all. A minute on Google can tell you that.

 

[GeneralTso]

Repeating myself here, but you guys have truly shed light on this for me.
I think it's a lot like buying DVC. Some people swear by buying direct (what we did) and others swear by resale. I get it, I really do.

I realized I'm a direct kinda person. I want to go right the source, no middle man or anything resembling. I plan to buy my park tickets direct for our upcoming trip. I'm going to take advantage of the price before it jumps on the 12th.

 

[wdwlver]

Bought my UCT park hoppers today like I have for many years. Got the e ticket email link immediately then linked them to MDE account. No problem super fast. Paid 1837 dollars for four adult 8 day park hoppers. Direct Disney price was 1912.