Park Ticket and Meal Deals Good for DVC Members?

[philm]

Hello fellow DVC Members. My DS and I are coming down to BWV with three children in tow on June 29th thru July 9th. Now, we've been to Disney with the kids twice before, and plan on spending 4 days at the parks. The kids are currently 11, 9 and 7 and we want to get a 4 day park hopper plus. Now I realize Disney doesn't offer this pass directly, and that it has to be purchased thru a 3rd party broker, but 4 days seems to be ideal for us for a few reasons...(1) We want the plus because we love Pleasure Island's Adventurer's Club and will be going there at least one night. (2) We like the idea of possibly splitting it up at the parks in a given day. (3) we plan on spending 2 days at Epcot, and 1 at both MGM and Magic Kingdom. So....

Is the 4-day park-hopper pass a good deal for DVC members? I'm assuming so, since Disney doesn't offer us any park discounts, and it fits what we want to do...I'm not fond of purchasing memberships in various clubs, but still want the 4 day pass...Recommendations here to reputable places would be appreciated.

Secondly, my DS and I want to take the kids to a few sit down restaurants, but dining out is not the highlight of their Disney Experience, and we will be taking advantage of self-prepared meals in the room and snacks backpacked in the parks. Having said that, my wife and I want to go out to Disney's fine dining establishments for an occasional breakfast, Lunch and/or dinner both with and without the children. Setting them up in the room with a movie, and going to a local restaurant for dinner for a night or two is our plan with frequent phone calls to see how they're doing. I've been reading about the dining vouchers, and it looks like they may be good deals when we're having an all-out dining experience...especially at Beaches and Cream...Any recommendations on how many to buy, and where we ought to consider going (for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner) would be greatly appreciated.

 

[JimC]

Welcome to our little community on the DIS!

Given the length of your stay you might want to purchase APs. Particularly if you will likely return within 12 months (say a trip at esactly one year out to end June 29, 2005).

The AP passes offer hotel, dining and entertainment discounts, some different then DVC. Read here for more information:

http://allearsnet.com/pl/apass.htm

 

[zurgswife]

Ok, If you arrive June 29th and depart July 9th; not counting your day of arrive and departure that give you 9 days to fill...a four day hopper with one plus counts for 5 days...so you will have 4 days to fill plus maybe time on your arrival and departure day..

4day +1 adult $224.95
4day +1 child $184.95

6day +3 adult $293.95
6day +3 child $235.95

If you pick a different park hopper you could spend more day sint he parks and go to more plus activities...While the BWV pool is great won't the kids be frustrated if they have to spend 4 plus days hanging around the pool and hotel..

 

[gopherit]

Our family loves downtime between park days -- I assuming that with a 4 day PHP you're planning down-days? Unless you have Universal or Sea world on your mind, that is. In any case -- I would always recommend getting a 6 or 7 day PHP. Why? Cost per day is less, overall. The days / plusses you don't use never expire. And let's face it -- ticket prices only go up, never down. So just bring those PHPs back next time. As a DVC-er, you KNOW you're coming back. So let's say you buy the 7 day PHP now. Assuming you use four days and 1 plus (as you've planned), then next trip, you would have 3 days, 3 plusses... maybe hit a water park or two that trip, in addition to PI and 3 days at the parks! Or pick up a 2 day pass for Universal to combine it with... whatever. We always keep a set of PHPs in rotation. Why? We don't visit within 12 mos. AP just wouldn't pay for us. And we LOVE our days off (my kids never grow weary of a pool, and think DTD is the fifth park!) I think if we had unlimited access, we would go beserk. My DH would be commando 24/7 -- by golly if his ticket gives him access, he thinks he should be using it! He can't grasp the whole "leisure" concept where paid tickets are involved. And unlike fixed day passes like 10 day world or FITS passes or even AP, which is a 365 day pass, at least with a PHP you know that if someone gets ill or it thunderstorms for 24 hrs straight or some such thing, your pass didn't go to waste simply because you didn't use it that day. The days you bought are safely still on it, waiting to be used.

I'd say go with a 7 day PHP, if you can swing it. Places to buy from? Paramount is good (www.gopitravel.com). I just ordered a mess of passes from Hotwire myself for our August trip -- they had the lowest price I could find ($302.90 for adult, no shipping charges), and I am buying up Target gift cards to use at the Supertarget in Orlando for our groceries! It's like getting 20% off... hard to say no to that!

 

[philm]

I appreciate the comments, and I agree with 'Go' above...we enjoy the down days, and like the PHP passes because they never expire for unused days...I will try to swing the 7 day pass. We currently have PHP passes from 4 years ago with some number of days maybe one or two on them...cant remeber now, in addition to the new passes we want to buy...Any way we can find out how many days exactly are left?

Also, am I hearing this correctly? If I only used the 'plus' for pleasure island once on a 5 day PHP pass, and went to the parks 4 days, then I have 4 plusses left, plus 1 parks day left on that pass??? That would be great, since all of us love Adventurers Club.

Lastly, Can anyone comment on the various food vouchers available, and whether they best the DVC retaurant discounts that are available at certain restaurants?

Thanks in advance, and Kongoloosh!

 

[MDonley]

Quote: We currently have PHP passes from 4 years ago with some number of days maybe one or two on them...cant remeber now, in addition to the new passes we want to buy...Any way we can find out how many days exactly are left?

My understanding is that the only way to tell if you have days left on passes is by attempting to use them at the gate. Because of this, I've heard of a scam where crooks are asking people exiting the parks for their used up tickets and selling them to unsuspecting visitors. This was reported on a local Detroit television newscast awhile ago. I like that you had the sense to ask about a reputable vendor .... Good luck!

 

[CoolDisneyCat]

Can anyone comment on the various food vouchers available

If you hop over to the Budget board, those nice people have the scoop on vouchers.

The only ones I have used are the lowest price ones and it was a good deal at Beaches and Cream.

 

[nctiggerfan]

Quote:We currently have PHP passes from 4 years ago with some number of days maybe one or two on them...cant remeber now, in addition to the new passes we want to buy...Any way we can find out how many days exactly are left?

In the past I have taken old passes to guest services at the front desk of the hotel and they were able to tell how many days were used and how many remain. Considering the price you paid for those passes years ago, it would be a better idea to use them as is first rather than apply the remaining value of those passes to new tickets as I understand it. Then buy new passes as needed.

 

[ryoung]

My recollection is that you can bring passed (at least the newer one's) to a DIsney Store in your community and they can scan it into their computer and tell you.

Randy

 

[Dopey Sharon]

Originally posted by ryoung
My recollection is that you can bring passed (at least the newer one's) to a DIsney Store in your community and they can scan it into their computer and tell you.

Randy

I don't think so. As far as I know, the only place to check old hoppers is down in WDW.

 

[EeyoreJMH]

According to our local TDS (for what it's worth) you can only check used passes at WDW (guest relations, resorts, DTD).

(we found out the hard way)

Originally posted by ryoung
My recollection is that you can bring passed (at least the newer one's) to a DIsney Store in your community and they can scan it into their computer and tell you.

Randy

 

[Dean]

Remember if you trade in old tickets, you get what was paid for them way back when, not the current cost of the same type item. So if yo paid $150 for a 4 day ticket that now costs $200 and want to trade it in on a 7 day PH, you only get a credit of $150. Pretty shabby in my book.

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by philm
...(snip).....Also, am I hearing this correctly? If I only used the 'plus' for pleasure island once on a 5 day PHP pass, and went to the parks 4 days, then I have 4 plusses left, plus 1 parks day left on that pass??? That would be great, since all of us love Adventurers Club........

The standard 5 Day PHP tickets come with 5 days of admission to the major parks (MK, AK, Epcot & MGM) and 2 plus options (good for admission to one fo the waterparks, WWOS or PI). If you've used 4 park days and one plus option, then that ticket still has one park day left and one plus option left.

If you bought the PHP ticket from one of the ticket brokers, it is possible that it came with 4 plus options. Some of the brokers had special tickets that included 4 options rather than the usual 2. No way to know which ticket you have until you get to the parks or your on site resort and have a CM scan it to see what is still valid.

Enjoy the trip!

 

[RweTHEREyet]

Originally posted by ryoung
My recollection is that you can bring passed (at least the newer one's) to a DIsney Store in your community and they can scan it into their computer and tell you.

Randy

As others have posted, you cannot check this at your Disney Store. They do not have the computer program available to do this. Only at the Parks. You used to be able to call and find out, but that service from WDW has been discontinued.