New to DW and FW

[akacake]

Hello,

we have booked a week at FW on Nov 27th. This will be our 1st time to Disney!

We are not sure about where to buy the tickets? Do we have to buy them online if we want a 7 day pass or can we get them at the gate? Is it a lot more expensive at the gate?

I have read about the meal plans, can you buy for one or two days out of the week and how much is it per day?

We are all very excited about our 1st trip to DW!!

Thanks!

Kelly

 

[WDWisTheBest]

Hello,

we have booked a week at FW on Nov 27th. This will be our 1st time to Disney!

We are not sure about where to buy the tickets? Do we have to buy them online if we want a 7 day pass or can we get them at the gate? Is it a lot more expensive at the gate?

I have read about the meal plans, can you buy for one or two days out of the week and how much is it per day?

We are all very excited about our 1st trip to DW!!

Thanks!

Kelly

I suggest that you do some homework on the DIS threads. Look up the "stickies" on the Disney Dining Plan". Use the search function. And you can get lots of information on ticket purchasing by using the search function as well.
have fun.

 

[auntie]

Hello,

we have booked a week at FW on Nov 27th. This will be our 1st time to Disney!

We are not sure about where to buy the tickets? Do we have to buy them online if we want a 7 day pass or can we get them at the gate? Is it a lot more expensive at the gate?

I have read about the meal plans, can you buy for one or two days out of the week and how much is it per day?

We are all very excited about our 1st trip to DW!!

Thanks!

Kelly

to the camping forum.
I'm pretty sure dining plans are linked to your reservation dates. You could, if you wanted, use the dining plan for part of your stay by breaking your stay into two separate reservations. One with a dining plan, and one for a "room only, or site only". You would have to check out and then check back in again as well.

 

[BradyBz12]

We are not sure about where to buy the tickets? Do we have to buy them online if we want a 7 day pass or can we get them at the gate? Is it a lot more expensive at the gate?

Generally the same price at the gate as online and yes, you can get the tix once you arrive.

Only exception on price is if you purchase your tix from one of the authorized WDW resellers. You can sometimes save a few $$ that way, but not generally a ton.

I have read about the meal plans, can you buy for one or two days out of the week and how much is it per day?

To get the meal plan you must purchase a package - which means room reservation (on property), dining plan and at least a 1 day ticket for every member of your party.

The dining plan is tied to your room reservation - you get as many days of dining credits as you do nights in the resort. For example, 4 nights = 4 days of dining.

You would need to do a split reservation/package if you wanted dining for only 2 days, but keep in mind that the 2 days of dining start/end with the room reservation on that package.

For example, my package with dining is for Mon-Weds and then my second reservation is Thurs-Sun. My dining credits are valid when I check in Monday until end of day Weds. You can't carry them over beyond your checkout day

As PP noted, loads of great info also in the FAQ sticky and on the DIS itself. Check out the main site to search for info on everything from tickets to dining to ...pretty much everything else.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/

There's also a really great sticky on the Theme Parks board with everything you could possibly want to know about tickets...

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1452684

Welcome to the Camping Boards and have a wonderful trip!

 

[akacake]

thank you for the replies. I will check out the links and find out all I need to know! Sounds like fun!

 

[akacake]

If it is the same price online vs at the gate, is it recommended to purchase the tickets online to save time? We will be arriving on Saturday Nov 27th so it will be a busy day I am sure. Is the area to buy tickets close to where we get off the boat, and what about lineups?

We are getting very excited!

 

[mnsprk]

If it is the same price online vs at the gate, is it recommended to purchase the tickets online to save time? We will be arriving on Saturday Nov 27th so it will be a busy day I am sure. Is the area to buy tickets close to where we get off the boat, and what about lineups?

We are getting very excited!

I think you would be better off calling and have them added to your reservation before you get there.

Also you can have them added when you check in. They can handle all of it at the front desk no need to wait until you get to the park

 

[akacake]

thank you for the info, that is great news to hear we can just take care of it when we check in!

 

[des1954]

If you or anyone in your party is active or retired military, you will want to get your park tickets at Shades of Green. I'm amazed at how many of our military people have no idea that Shades of Green exists. You will receive a substantial discount on all theme park tickets, including Universal, Sea World and Busch Gardens. They have a couple of great restaurants (casual and formal), a mini PX, and a gift shop - all with terrific pricing. To get to Shades, follow the signs to the Grand Floridian. Shades will be on your left prior to the GF. You MUST have military ID to enter the resort. It's considered as a military base - complete with MP's.


I'm not a big fan of the dining plans for a couple of reasons...

1) The dining plan turns what should be a relaxing vacation into an eating marathon. I hear it over and over again that the dining plan turns a trip into "all about the eating" and not about enjoying all that WDW has to offer.

2) It's marketed as being less expensive. Well, that might be true if your family consists of a troupe of hungry teenagers, but most often, Disney is the "price war" winner of this idea. Nothing is "free".

3) The dining plans have greatly diminished the quality of food served at WDW. What was once well cooked, individually prepared dishes (at the better restaurants) are now institutional frozen and canned goods that you can get at any chain restaurant. Case in point - the food at the Trail's End Buffet was once hand prepared by chefs and short order cooks. Now, it's all pre-prepared and heated up by line cooks. Yes, the pizza is frozen and the ribs come from cryogenic sealed bags.

If you're camping, you will come out $$$ ahead by eating breakfast at your site, doing a few hours at a park, coming back to the site for a late lunch/early dinner, relaxing a bit, and going back into a park for the evening. Pick up a late evening snack at one of the parks or enjoy some popcorn from the movie theater at the Fort. With a little meal planning of your own & pre-prep of food, you will come out ahead over the dining plans.

That's just my view from almost 40 years of Disney and FtW experience. It's free advice - so take it for what it's worth.

Whatever you end up doing.....ENJOY YOURSELVES!!!

 

[Judy in Texas]

If you or anyone in your party is active or retired military, you will want to get your park tickets at Shades of Green. I'm amazed at how many of our military people have no idea that Shades of Green exists. You will receive a substantial discount on all theme park tickets, including Universal, Sea World and Busch Gardens. They have a couple of great restaurants (casual and formal), a mini PX, and a gift shop - all with terrific pricing. To get to Shades, follow the signs to the Grand Floridian. Shades will be on your left prior to the GF. You MUST have military ID to enter the resort. It's considered as a military base - complete with MP's.

I talked to the Disney Reservation folks and also MWR (I think they call it ITR or ITT now??) at the local base and they both said the new WDW military discount tickets that were just announced last week can be purchased at all the parks' general ticket booths. I hope that is so. The local base doesn't have their WDW discount tickets in yet and we're leaving for a quick trip to WDW staying at Pop Century next Monday.

 

[des1954]

I talked to the Disney Reservation folks and also MWR (I think they call it ITR or ITT now??) at the local base and they both said the new WDW military discount tickets that were just announced last week can be purchased at all the parks' general ticket booths. I hope that is so. The local base doesn't have their WDW discount tickets in yet and we're leaving for a quick trip to WDW staying at Pop Century next Monday.

I think at the ticket booth the military discount only applies to the person who is serving or served in the military. At SOG the discount applies to any tickets bought. I could be wrong - have been before!