Our first - land and sea package - help?

[timbojo]

We'll be heading down in a couple weeks. Got the 3 day parks and 4 day cruise. We're planning to arrive a day early and stay offsite for that first night. We're supposed to get our park tickets at our hotel (caribbean beach) as i understand it - BUT can we stop in the day before we're to stay there and get the park tickets? As I recall reading somewhere the tickets are actually usable for 4 days?

What parks would you recommend for a couple with a 4 year old? How much time of the 3/4 days should we spend in each park?

Any particular links to posts with general tips for someone in our situation? Thanks for the help!

 

[BradyBz12]

We're supposed to get our park tickets at our hotel (caribbean beach) as i understand it - BUT can we stop in the day before we're to stay there and get the park tickets?

Since this is a package, I don't think you can get just your park tix until you officially check into your resort.

We did the same package several years ago and our room key and park tix were all put on our Key to the World card together.

 

[timbojo]

thanks for the info.
will have to find something non-disney to do there for a day.

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

If you want a dose of Disney the first day without using park admission, have you considered going to Downtown Disney? Goofy's Candy Shop is fun for the kids to watch the treats being made to order. Or you could make a ressie at one of the character meals at a Disney resort like Ohana's, Park Fare, Cape May, etc. Have fun!

 

[Jackie Psarianos]

You'll have to wait until you check in at the Caribbean Beach Resort to receive you Key to the World cards that will have your resort room, tickets and possibly dining (if you opted into the dining plan).

It's a four day hopper pass and unless you visit a theme park early in the morning the day of your boarding the ship, you'll lose the day. You might consider adding a no expiration to that extra day so you can use it for future trips OR book a few more days after your cruise at Disney so you can use up that extra day.

Before your cruise, when you're staying off property, you might consider visiting Downtown Disney. You don't need any tickets to get in there.

Have a great trip.

 

[timbojo]

thanks again, didn't know about downtown disney.

will have to see about doing that at least part of that first day at least.

 

[BradyBz12]

It's a four day hopper pass and unless you visit a theme park early in the morning the day of your boarding the ship, you'll lose the day. You might consider adding a no expiration to that extra day so you can use it for future trips

The no expiration option is actually based on the total number of days for your entire tix (in your case 4) - you aren't able to buy it for just the unused day alone. So you'd need to add it for all 4 days of your tix, even if you've already used 3 of the days.

Another fun Disney thing to do that doesn't require tix is to head over to the Boardwalk. Fun place to walk, shop, eat... and if you time it right you can even see parts of Illuminations at Epcot.

 

[all4fun]

Here's a site that has a list of things "beyond the parks" to do: http://allears.net/btp/beyond.htm

If you like mini-golf, there are two courses. Winter Summerland is probably the most age appropriate for a 4yr old. If you'll have a car, then there is plenty of shopping outside of WDW (Character Warehouse and Character Premier off site are good places to find Disney Merchandise for less). You might even enjoy riding the bus to a few of the deluxe resorts and walking around them to see the Christmas decor. We did that one year. edit: oops, for some reason I was thinking you weren't going to be there until after thanksgiving but now after re-reading your post, looking at Christmas decor may not be an option. sorry!

 

[TanyaLovesPooh]

We did this package and couldn't get our room at the Polynesian until around 3 on thursday afternoon. We arrived in Orlando on Wednesday and stayed off site for that night and checked out Downtown Disney. The next morning bright and very early we checked into the Poly and they gave us our room keys and a number to call later in the day to check on our room being ready for us. It was awesome and Disney made the whole process very easy.

We spent most of our time at Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios are always fast parks for us.

 

[jocolorado]

We just returned from our land/sea vacation yesterday! We're still exhausted! Just get to your hotel as early as possible. You'll check in to the hotel first and if your room's not available (it very well could be) they'll give you a card with a phone number to call to find out when it will be ready (usually between 3-4 pm), they'll keep all your luggage for you and deliver it to your room later if you call once you get in. After you check in you'll walk right over to the DCL check in desk and get that taken care of (very efficient). Then grab a bus a get to a park

They give you an option on that last day to spend a few hours in the morning at Animal Kingdom park and the DCL bus picks you up directly from the park at around noon (if you booked their transfers that is).

Have you considered adding some days to your tickets so that you could return to the parks after your cruise? That's what we did and it cost only $25 total to add two days to 3 adult and 1 child tickets. We booked a hotel through priceline ($48/night for Radisson Resort Celebration) so it was well worth it to have that extra park time.

 

[timbojo]

Have you considered adding some days to your tickets so that you could return to the parks after your cruise? That's what we did and it cost only $25 total to add two days to 3 adult and 1 child tickets. We booked a hotel through priceline ($48/night for Radisson Resort Celebration) so it was well worth it to have that extra park time.

We're aren't going to add any days on, so it looks like we'll be getting 3 park hopper tickets good for 4 days, but only using them for 3 days (and they expire 14 days after 1st use?)

Is it allowable/possible to sell the remaining day that would be unusued?

 

[BradyBz12]

they expire 14 days after 1st use?)

Correct.

Is it allowable/possible to sell the remaining day that would be unusued?

Afraid not. Tickets aren't transferrable and the new biometrics system which scans the finger of the person that first uses the tix ensures that no one else is able to use them.