newbie confused on tickets, help?

[gibsontrio]

Ok , i'm going to disney 5/5 and leaving 5/9 . I planned on getting 3 day park hopper tickets . Now does that mean if I get my ticket and go to the park on the afternoon I arrive that will count as one full day?? Should I do the 4 day hopper?? Does it go by the time your ticket is scanned or just a day is a day regardless of time?
Also, Is there a limit on how many times we can hop? Say if we want to return to on park to eat dinner? then go back to a different one?
One more question, Is wishes and illuminations every night? I hear people talk about a schedule but I cant find it on dw website. Is my trip to far in advance? thank you so much!

 

[tjmw2727]

The tickets are based on number of days and have nothing to do with your resort stay. So a 3 day ticket is good for entry on any three separate days and yes if you use your ticket in the afternoon you will have used an entire day. You can park hop as many times as you like - as long as you have the hopper option on the ticket. I have done three parks in one day some here have done all 4.

Here is a link to the park hours on the official site. You can change the park, the month and then click on the date to see the events that day.
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wd...alendarParkHoursMonthlyViewPage&date=20080501
Illuminations does run every night at 9 and it looks like you can see Wishes all but one of your dates.

TJ

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

If you go to a park for the afternoon, it does count as one day. They are calendar days, not 24 hour periods. The four-day hopper is about $10 more than a 3-day hopper. If you are getting to WDW early enough, I would personally get a four day. The 5-day is just a few more dollars as well if you are going to have some time your last day. You can hop as many times as you would like during the day (if you have the hopper option), but it takes a fair amount of time to go park to park. We usually don't do more than two parks per day, but you could do three if you went to evening extra magic hours for a park that stays open past midnight (if you are staying onsite).

For example, Magic Kingdom is open until 11 on May 8 and has evening EMH. I think that means it is open until 2 am for resort guests. (We have never done evening EMH, but I think the 11 is regular closing time and the EMH is not reflected in the posted hours. Someone will correct me if that is not right.)

Illuminations is held every night at 9:00. During your stay, wishes is held 5/5, 5/7 and 5/8. MK closes at 7:00 on 5/6 and 5/9 - there is speculation that Disney will be holding Pirate and Princess parties on those dates. Those parties require a separate ticket (about $45 for an adult), so if you don't have a ticket, you would have to leave the MK on those dates by 7:00. If they do have parties that night, there will be special fireworks at 9:45 (or so).

Here is the link to the park hours:

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wd...alendarParkHoursMonthlyViewPage&date=20080501

Hope this helps! Have a great trip!

 

[gibsontrio]

thank you BOTH so much .. all my questions are answered. My only regret is that I planned to quickly I shouldve booked it for more days, but I guess since its my 2 and 5 yr olds first time 3 full days will due. You guys are great thank you!!

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

To maximize the time you have, plan to be at the parks at opening (or an hour before for morning extra magic hours if you are staying on-site). You can get more done in two hours in the morning than in four hours in the afternoon. Don't plan on more than two parks per day.

A few specific tips:

Ride Dumbo first. Almost every child wants to ride Dumbo, and lines get very long, very fast. Since there are only 16 elephants, only about 32 people ride each time, and the ride has to completely finish before the next 32 get on. By contrast, rides like Peter Pan and Pooh always have ride cars moving, so they are constantly loading.

You can spend lots of time searching for characters and waiting in character lines if you or your kids are into that. Consider booking a character meal or two to get hugs and photos with favorite characters. You have to eat anyway, and this saves some time in lines (time conscious more than budget conscious). Since your trip is in May, you should be calling now to book character meals.

Given the ages of your kids, you might not spend a full day at Animal Kingdom or MGM/Hollywood Studios, although both parks have great things for little ones. If you plan to hop that day, pick a day when the MK doesn't close at 7:00 so you can go there to see fireworks and the Spectromagic parade.

Disney's parades are very well done, but you will also find shorter lines for rides during that time. It's a trade-off.

Happy planning!

 

[gibsontrio]

great advice! I'm trying to stay on the ball. The first day we get there the only thing planned is a character dinner, I thought this would be good to get it out of the way and get the kids warmed up to dw. Since the granny's are coming along DH and I might hit the extra hrs at MGM the first night (if we are up to it) and leave the little ones behind, that way we can focus on the kids when we get there.
As a first timer let me tell you I was AMAZED that when I did call to make the reservations 110 days in advance (chef mickeys) the only times left were later than I imagined they'd be!! WOW. vet diz people are on the ball!!!! here's my plan so far
full day 1
epcot EMH then MGM
full day 2
AK dinner at epcot (biergarten) then MK for all or just mom and dad
full day 3
MK all day
Like I said , I kinda wish I booked more days in there but I think this wont be are last trip to disney!!