OMGosh! How do you know!?

[Mama to Three]

Hello all! I'm in the early stages of planning our first family trip to Disney. I think we will be renting a house so I'm looking at ticket prices. The ticket prices look nice right now since it seems the price of a 7 day ticket is the same as a 4 day ticket. We aren't going until next August so when should I buy the tickets. It seems very premature to buy tickets now, so what do you think? I'd hate to buy tickets and then see the price drop; on the other hand, I don't want to miss a good deal. Any advice? Thanks!

 

[sayhello]

Hello all! I'm in the early stages of planning our first family trip to Disney. I think we will be renting a house so I'm looking at ticket prices. The ticket prices look nice right now since it seems the price of a 7 day ticket is the same as a 4 day ticket. We aren't going until next August so when should I buy the tickets. It seems very premature to buy tickets now, so what do you think? I'd hate to buy tickets and then see the price drop; on the other hand, I don't want to miss a good deal. Any advice? Thanks!

Are you talking about the price of entry tickets to get into the parks? I'm no expert, but, in my experience, I have NEVER seen the price of tickets go down, or be discounted by Disney. Whenever there are discounts, it's for the room or the dining plan, but the price of the tickets are the same online, via a package, purchased separately, via AAA, everything. So the answer, in my opinion, is buy them *now* before the price goes up. The end of the year is coming up, and it wouldn't surprise me if the prices go up in 2009.

Sayhello

 

[Mama to Three]

Thanks for the info. That is just what I was looking for.

 

[mecllap]

Since you're looking at 7-day tix, I'm guessing you're going to WDW in Orlando. The phrase "a good deal" is pretty much nonexistent when talking WDW. We love going, but have a lot of experience in how to cope with it. Expect to pay for everything, and more than you'd pay pretty much anywhere else. For some people, getting the Disney Dining Plan can work out to be kind of a good deal, but its only for people staying "on property." If you're committed to going, go ahead and buy the tickets -- they don't start until the first time you use them, even if you buy them now, and there's 99.99% chance the price will go down (it's much more likely to go up again before next August).

Be sure you do a lot of advance planning; read all the family info and tips on this site. August is very, very hot -- it will be challenging to be there with 3 little ones. WDW is huge -- lots and lots of walking, and it's not as stroller-friendly as one would like (but doable of course). You will need a stroller; I've been known to take one along even after DGS got too big to spend much time in it. Take water, spray bottles, ponchos and umbrellas.

Be flexible and know that you will not be able to do/see everything -- you'll need to prioritize. It is a lot of fun, and you'll have lots of wonderful pics (be sure to use Photopass -- search on that term) -- have a great time!

 

[BradyBz12]

Typically the cycle for ticket price increases is early August. So if you wait until the last minute, you may actually end up paying more (HIGHLY unlikely they'll be going down IMO)

If you're interested, here's a chart of recent prices...
http://allears.net/tix/MYWhistory.htm

As pp mentioned, the clock doesn't start running on your tix until the first day you actually use them, so not a problem getting them early, and if anything changes in your plans next year, they'll still be good.

 

[jen3082]

Hi, sign up for mousesavers.com newsletter. It gets emailed to you on 15th of each month and will give you a link to special discount tickets at "undercover tourist". We got our tickets this way and paid $258. for 6 day park hopper at WDW. This was right before the August price increase so the prices are a little higher now but these were the cheapest legitamite tickets I could find!! The mousesavers website is also a good place to look for other discounts. Have fun planning, I've been planning for 8 months and finally going in 10 days!!!

 

[kileybeth]

Go ahead and get your tickets as soon as you can. Always good to spread all that spending out. Mousesavers discount is about as good as it gets.

UNLESS, you think you might want to get a package and stay on site with free dining. It really can be way cheaper than staying off site.

People always want to assume it cost more at Disney for everything but we do not find it to be so. A large combo meal with a burger and fries for $7 is about par for the course in my town. A kids meal with a side and dessert for $4 is normal around here too. Free Dining makes it all the better. (usually offered in your time frame, deal will come out around spring time)

Then there is the room cost and transportation. Values are fairly inexpensive, some moderate resorts hold families of five and even deluxes are not bad when you add in free food. If you are driving in you can have the best of both worlds. Use Disney transport to relax and take your car when you want to get someplace quickly. We prefer to park it all week tho and let Disney do the driving. If off site, you will pay daily parking as well as getting back into a hot car each day.

There are also room discounts right now for North Carolina residents. Just google it up and you can find them.

We stayed off site for years but now that we've done on site stays there is simply no going back. The convenience and fun are hard to beat.

Keep coming here and asking questions and you will get a feel for what it is that is important to you and what you can do without.

 

[angelat]

Hi, sign up for mousesavers.com newsletter. It gets emailed to you on 15th of each month and will give you a link to special discount tickets at "undercover tourist". We got our tickets this way and paid $258. for 6 day park hopper at WDW. This was right before the August price increase so the prices are a little higher now but these were the cheapest legitamite tickets I could find!! The mousesavers website is also a good place to look for other discounts. Have fun planning, I've been planning for 8 months and finally going in 10 days!!!

I TOTALLY agree! I love mousesavers. I found them when I took a trip to Florida a few years ago - not to WDW though. They have saved me tons of money on car rentals, hotel rooms and tickets to WDW.

good luck!

 

[Hootch]

I have bought from Undercover Tourist a couple of times via their link. I think I saved $50-$60 both times. Not a great amount of money but not any real work either. Plus Undercover Tourist keeps your ticket numbers in case you lose your tickets.

 

[TerrytownGrl]

We bought from UT via Mousesavers back in July. Got the same 6 day passes that a pp bought. One thing to remember when comparing ticket prices is that not all sellers include taxes or shipping in their prices (UT does). Just to make sure you're comparing apples to apples.

 

[dana1696]

I would at least purchase your tickets 6 mos. out so that you can start making dinner reservations for anywhere you'd like to go. Many of the popular character meals fill up quickly. We were there last week for our first time with the kids. It was so much fun! We can't wait to go back in a few years! Have fun planning

 

[powellrj]

I would at least purchase your tickets 6 mos. out so that you can start making dinner reservations for anywhere you'd like to go. Many of the popular character meals fill up quickly. We were there last week for our first time with the kids. It was so much fun! We can't wait to go back in a few years! Have fun planning

I'm not sure if this is what you were saying, but anyone can make ADRs. You don't need to have a room or tickets to make them. Heck, many locals eat at the WDW resorts all the time and don't have any tickets!

If you KNOW for sure you are going to stay off-site. If you will still stay off-site even if they offer free dining, then I would go ahead and buy my tickets early. If there is any chance you would change your plans and decide to stay on-site, I would wait because most of the offers like free dining require at least a one day park ticket purchase.

 

[dana1696]

bummer...I was under the impression you had to actually have tix before making reservations to dine at the Disney parks!! When I called to make reservations 6 mos. out, they always asked for my reservation #--so I assumed you had to have your trip booked.

 

[tjmw2727]

bummer...I was under the impression you had to actually have tix before making reservations to dine at the Disney parks!! When I called to make reservations 6 mos. out, they always asked for my reservation #--so I assumed you had to have your trip booked.

WDW dining reservations have nothing to do with park tickets and anyone can make dining reservations 90 days prior. If you have a reservation at a WDW resort you have the added benefit of making dining reservations 180 days in advance and can make them for up to 10 days after your check in date. You don't need park tickets however, just a room reservation.

Another issue that was mentioned is the dining plan, in order to get the dining plan you have to book your WDW resrvation as a package and that will include park tickets. If that is an option then you should hold off on purchasing park tickets in advance.

Lastly, WDW park tickets have never decreased but there is always a chance that a 'better discount" may come about. That said if you see a good (legitimate) deal I would take it.

I usually purchase my tickets through Undercover Tourist and have always had great service and good discounts. You can put almost any ticket media onto your WDW resort key if you wish (I never do).

HTH
TJ

 

[Mama to Three]

Wow, thanks for all the responses.

We are staying off site. We want to be able to spread out into separate bedrooms since will be there for a week, plus my parents are going with us.

I have my ticket prices from MS/UT. I'm still not sure what to do about purchasing. I think I'm going to wait it out for now. We won't have is saved until December anyway.

From what I understand, they probably won't go up until August 09 and there is a chance of additional discounts. I don't need tix for reservations so I'm good to sit and wait for now?

Speaking of the character meals... any suggestions? We will plan to do one during our stay. I have 2 girls and a boy so it will need to suit both. Any suggestions on that?

Thank you all SO much!

 

[estherhead]

Just buy a few at a time. We have had our tickets since spring. We just buy them as we have the money. We're staying offsite as well & we did the same thing with that. We put down our down payment on our rental house & then just sent them the money as we had it. Kind of like lay-a-way. We bought through the Mousesaver's discount. And the prices have gone up since we bought so we aren't sad at all.

 

[disneybound2010]

So how far in advance can you buy park tickets? We arent going for 2 years, but at the same time if I can get them now(and cheaper!) and they are still valid, thats the route I think I may go.

 

[Hootch]

tickets at any time. They are not activated until you first scan them. I bought our tickets for the next trip just before the price increase in August. Because the no expiration option went up quite a bit it saved us some money.

Here is probably the best source for ticket information. Cheshire Figment works in ticketing at Disney.

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

 

[VAN]

Your tickets will be good forever if they haven't been used.

If you think you want to buy (for example) a 10-day ticket and use it over the course of 2-3 trips, you would want to add the non-expiry option. [My DH and I usually go every year and stay for 2 weeks at the campground ... we only go into the parks 2-3 days each trip, so we have typically bought non-expiry tickets.]

I currently have tickets with days left that I bought years ago ... with the finger scans, though, they are tied to the person that used them.

Am also holding a 10-day non-expiry ticket that I got with a package deal for March 2008 where the PH and Water Park and Fun was free. Not including the water parks, each entry averages to about $41/day.

Just do your homework. Based on what you've said though, I think I would safey recommend to buy your tickets now if you have the cash on hand. Agree with UT ... have used them and think they're great!!

 

[couponlover]

this is a nice topic. i've learned a lot already just by reading the thread.