Newbie needs help please re Park Tickets

[Ant2012]

Hi Everyone,

I have been monitoring the boards for the last couple of months since we booked to go to Orlando in April after Easter! I have picked up some great tips so far but feel I need a bit of help please.

I have reached the point where I want to order our Park tickets. We want to visit Disney, Universal Studies & SeaWorld.

Can anybody recommend some good reputable websites for ordering park tickets please. Companies who you have successfully used in the past.

I have had a look around and the price differences can be massive! The best value I have seen myself is at....

park-tickets.com

Has anyone used this company successfully before?

Many thanks in advance!

Ant

(father of 3 beautiful girls aged 6, 11 & 13 who are very very excited!)

 

[~Piglet~]

Hi - welcome to the boards!

I've used attraction tickets direct before and had no problems - they also supply actual tickets, not vouchers. Have a look here

 

[madmumof2]

Attraction tickets direct too for me, excellent service, can order and pay in full or pay 20% deposit and pay it off that way. I used these in 2009 and they were fab, as soon as I'd paid it off the tickets were sent and arrived in a couple of days.

I've ordered with them again this year (Orlando Ticket Deals, their sister company).

 

[Pegasus928]

I have, in the past, done a thread comparing the most commented on ticket brokers on these boards. The list is by no means exhaustive but it will give you an idea as to the companies that people on here are happy to deal with - and would recommend to a friend.
The most recent thread can be found HERE
The links are still relevant although you will probably need to check the prices yourself for the best ones.
I am off work for a week starting tomorrow so if I have some spare time I will post an update.

 

[wayneg]

Welcome to DISboards.

Last couple of times I have found Travelrepublic to have the best prices, excellent service both times. Check the links in Kenny's ticket thread, its a good place to start.

 

[disneyholic family]

i've also used attraction tickets direct without problem.
they sent a real ticket.

 

[Trespassers William]

I've used Attraction Tickets Direct too and as mentioned above you have good service and real tickets. It does pay to shop around though, last time we went I found that the cheapest US/IOA ticket was on the Universal website because they had a deal for UK residents.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Definitely shop around and keep out for offers for the likes of Universal and Sea World, who often have special deals on such as extra days free.

Don't be afraid to explore US sites for tickets as for example the Disney 'Magic Your Way' type can be extremely useful if you wish to return, making the tickets essentially last more than just one holiday.

Attraction Tickets Direct are one of the best though.

 

[flortlebap]

Oh no, I used attractiontix and got emailed vouchers for universal! Is that going to be a problem?

 

[~Piglet~]

Oh no, I used attractiontix and got emailed vouchers for universal! Is that going to be a problem?

I don't know about the Universal vouchers - like where you go to exchange them etc but I wouldn't imagine you will have any problems as such, its just with vouchers you have to spend more time to go and exchange them for your tickets rather than just get up and go straight into a park.

Last year we bought our Disney tickets through Disney UK and had a voucher, for some reason these couldn't be added to our KTTW at the hotel. We went (and queued!) at the MK ticket office - really early as we wanted to see the opening ceremony with our friends and family, after waiting ages and missing most of the ceremony the ticket man then said I would have to go to DTD to get our tickets I was nearly in tears, it was our first day, we wanted to see our families faces when they saw the castle for the first time etc and they were refusing to give us our tickets. In the end he took pity and issued us with one day tickets so we did eventually get in, but it wasn't the magical 'first day' we had imagined - and we had to go to DTD later that evening to get our tickets!!

A bad experience and I would rather have the actual tickets in hand from now on

 

[flortlebap]

Well, I guess that's not the end of the world! Just means an even earlier morning... Thanks

 

[wayneg]

Personally I prefer vouchers, we enjoy going to DTD on our 1st evening and exchanging to tickets.
Universal they have machines outside you goto to get your tickets or guest services , never had to wait more than a minute or 2.

Alison, can't understand why you had problems at a park exchanging, Info from Disney.co.uk website "You need to take with you to the Will Call window at one of Disney's Four Theme Parks to exchange for your Hard Tickets" I have never heard of any problem exchanging at a park.

 

[Pegasus928]

I'm like Wayne and have no problem being issued with vouchers as they are easy enough to sort out - especially as we too enjoy heading off to DTD for our first night.
Just make sure you give yourself some time on arrival at Universal to get the exchange done and it will be fine.

 

[Stitch1979]

Hi,

We have used florida escapes the last 2 times as they are very competative on price and send real tickets not vouchers or e tickets

 

[~Piglet~]

Alison, can't understand why you had problems at a park exchanging, Info from Disney.co.uk website "You need to take with you to the Will Call window at one of Disney's Four Theme Parks to exchange for your Hard Tickets" I have never heard of any problem exchanging at a park.

I know, I don't know why either Wayne, especially as our friends had exchanged theirs with no bother at the Pop Century (put onto their KTTW). When we tried to do the same at the Pop the CM was having trouble with the numbers on the barcode if I remember rightly, and told us to exchange at the park. So we went to MK expecting no problems getting it sorted out, but the guy in the booth was very insistant that we needed to go to DTD

Obviously it was just one of those things that can happen from time to time, maybe with a different CM we would have had the tickets added without a hitch, who knows? but that was my one and only experience with a voucher - I would rather have a ticket. As I said in my reply to Flortlebap there is no problem in having vouchers, it just uses up a bit more time (or a lot in my case!) when exchanging them

 

[wayneg]

Sometimes it is down to the cast member you get.

 

[nevanddonna]

I'm not wanting to hi-jack this post, but I didn't think it was worth creating a new thread to ask a kind of follow on question to this.

I'm also looking at buying WDW tickets (I'm not too bothered about Universal as it's probably a bit old for my tolder).

The best value seem to be the Disney 14 Day Ultimate ticket as it's 14 days for the price of 7 days (and about £240 per adult). However all the sites say this offer ends on Jan 31st. Is this true or are these offers like DFS sofa sales and pretty much last for ever? I don't want to miss out on half price tickets if possible, however I'd rather stagger the costs of the trip and get an offer like this late in the year iff possible.

Thoughts? Should I snap them whilst I can or hang fire?

 

[wayneg]

Disney's own site is saying book by 30th Sept 2012 "The 14-day ticket will be offered at the price of the 7-day ticket for 2012 arrivals if booked by 30 September 2012"
http://wdtc.disneyinternational.com/Special-Offers.asp?ID=7

If you are happy with the price book now to be sure although it can happen ticket prices rarely drop.

Direct with Disney are usually around the cheapest you can buy (£235pp less £4.70 Quidco = £230.30) http://www.quidco.com/disney-world/