park ticket planning

[Soozeej]

arghghghg I have been pouring over websites all morning and cant decide what to buy, we are going for 3 weeks and want to go to universal and disney parks as catering for a 3,10 and 13 year old. I know we wont have time to do everything on the ticket packages as we will need rest days too especiall the little one but my question is should I buy the 14 day ultimate ticket idea which will give me more flexibility or an 8 day hopper idea as we will probably only use 8 days tickets out of 14 days or am I likely to find that too restrictive, its our first time so I dont know what to do!! , trying to figure out most cost effective way...help!

 

[Soozeej]

Think I've narrowed it down, floridatix going to go for 14 day wdw ultimate ticket plus seaworld 3 parks for 2 plus universal 3 park bonus ticket.. Can anyone with experience please advise if this seems ok? I thought if we start one lot of tickets straight away then they will run for 14 days then a week in we can start the others so we only have the middle week to access everything.

 

[chmurf]

Think I've narrowed it down, floridatix going to go for 14 day wdw ultimate ticket plus seaworld 3 parks for 2 plus universal 3 park bonus ticket.. Can anyone with experience please advise if this seems ok? I thought if we start one lot of tickets straight away then they will run for 14 days then a week in we can start the others so we only have the middle week to access everything.

If you go for the ultimate disney tickets, you get 2 waterparks. Do you really need the universal 3 park bonus ticket (incl Wet'n'Wild) and the 3 parks for seaworld (incl Aquatica) ? 4 water parks seem a bit overkill, and if you want cost effective tickets, you might want to only go for the 2 parks bonus ticket for universal, for example, unless Wet'n'Wild is an absolute must-do

Have you considered Discovery Cove ? Even if you don't do the dolphin swim you get 14 days at Seaworld and Aquatica included, (and 14 days at Busch Gardens if you take their ultimate package.)

 

[Elise79]

For me I would want access to Disney everyday so wouldn't be happy with a 14 day ticket and the 21 day isn't that much more

I would list exactly what parks you want and get the tickets for them - for example are you going to do all the water parks?

 

[k8Davies]

Make sure you read the small print as some ticket only last 14 days from the first use.

So you might run in to trouble if you use the ticket early in your first week and then want to use it later on in your third week.

We're going later on this year for 18 days and we opted for the 21 day disney ticket as we know it would last our full trip and it's less than £30 more than a 14 day ticket. Which is, I think, is good value considering how much it is for 1 day ticket to MK.

 

[chmurf]

For me I would want access to Disney everyday so wouldn't be happy with a 14 day ticket and the 21 day isn't that much more

I agree

I think it also depends if OP stays onsite at Disney's.

Staying onsite will justify going to Disney almost everyday for a couple of hours, to use FP+ and to as much as possible with minimal wait times.

But staying offsite, especially at places like the top of I-drive for example, would make it less efficient (time and money wise) to have a 21 days ticket. A Magic Your Way 10 days would be enough if OP only plans to spend that many days at Disney's.

In my opinion the tickets are the "cheapest" part of the global vacation package. And the more days on the ticket, the less you pay. So I would go all out on tickets. 21 days Disney, 14 days Universal and 14 days Seaworld

When you do the maths, having the flexibility to choose which park on which days is well worth the cost. (of course this is not my money so I'm free to "spend" OP's dough ...)
The main advantage of having a 21 days ticket is being able to pop in for a quick visit in a disney park at the end of another park's visit

also, planning rest days is a good idea, it's even necessary when you go for 3 weeks. But I've found that half days at the parks were more efficient.
Mornings in the parks when it's quiet and the heat is bearable, and afternoons at the hotel or doing other activities, and maybe a quick visit to a park in the evening for fireworks.
When you have a 8 days ticket you won't do half park days, you will probably want to spend the whole day there, because you only have 8 days. With a 14 or 21 days, you're free to call it a day come 2pm and do something else. It's not a waste of money. And if you plan rest days, it will probably be more tiring to do WDW in 8 days with a rest day in between, than doing 16 half days at disney and rest the other half of the day.
You'll do the same (maybe even more because you'd have 2 times more FP+ and 2 times more quiet times in the morning) and it will not cost that much more.

 

[Soozeej]

Thanks everybody, that's a lot to think about, will take another look, I was just thinking 14 days and the middle week we could access everything with Disney first week and universal last week but might be worth looking at it again, my older 2 are really keen to go water parks but might try to narrow that down a bit! Many thanks!

 

[Soozeej]

Chmurf .... I totally see what you mean and actually think the whole thing might be more relaxing if I'm not stressing about "wasting" half a day of tickets. Going to take another look once littlest is tucked up for the night

 

[Kath2003]

I'd skip Sea World and Wet n Wild - do Universal/Islands (14 day pass) and a 14 day Disney pass - that way, you can do both during the middle week. That's 6 parks and 2 water parks which should be plenty. 3 weeks and that number of parks should make things more relaxing - you wouldn't have to stay all day each time, and could hit the parks early or late for different experiences.

 

[Elise79]

If you are staying offsite it might be worth getting one PAP (or AP if you decide against the water parks) for Disney as you would get free parking. Depending on how many days you are planning the main parks will depend it it's worth it

 

[Soozeej]

I've managed to talk them out of wet'n'wild. Going to go for 21 day Disney tickets as its not that much more and seems like it'll be worth it. Going to also get 14 day 2 park universal tickets. My decision now is on SeaWorld as that's the one place I really wanted to go to but as I know I wont be able to fit it all in I'm debating leaving that out ( debating with myself it would have to be said )

 

[susieh]

Why do people say 2 water parks is plenty? We visit the water parks at least 4 times in the 2 weeks we are there and sometimes more than that. Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach and Aquatica are all brilliant fun and all completely different from each other. When we go in August we are doing the Dolphin swim in Discovery Cove which then gives us 14 days at Sea World and Aquatica for free and on top of that we've got 14 day unlimited passes for Disney and US/IOA.

We are going for 17 days and will make the most of all of it. (There will be 6 of us this time - DH (57), me (56), friends (he is 39, she is 37 and their children are 12 (boy) and 8 (girl) - and we are all in agreement about the amount of time we'll spend in the water parks and hotel pool)

 

[wilma-bride]

Why do people say 2 water parks is plenty? We visit the water parks at least 4 times in the 2 weeks we are there and sometimes more than that. Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach and Aquatica are all brilliant fun and all completely different from each other. When we go in August we are doing the Dolphin swim in Discovery Cove which then gives us 14 days at Sea World and Aquatica for free and on top of that we've got 14 day unlimited passes for Disney and US/IOA.

We are going for 17 days and will make the most of all of it. (There will be 6 of us this time - DH (57), me (56), friends (he is 39, she is 37 and their children are 12 (boy) and 8 (girl) - and we are all in agreement about the amount of time we'll spend in the water parks and hotel pool)

I don't think people are saying that going to the water parks only twice is plenty, they are just saying that having access to the 2 Disney water parks would be plenty without needing to add on more ticket options.

I know you say you will make the most of all the tickets you have (and maybe you will) but, in reality, with 4 Disney parks, 3 water parks, Discovery Cove, Sea World, Universal and Islands of Adventure how many visits are you actually going to get to each of them

 

[susieh]

I don't think people are saying that going to the water parks only twice is plenty, they are just saying that having access to the 2 Disney water parks would be plenty without needing to add on more ticket options.

I know you say you will make the most of all the tickets you have (and maybe you will) but, in reality, with 4 Disney parks, 3 water parks, Discovery Cove, Sea World, Universal and Islands of Adventure how many visits are you actually going to get to each of them

I wouldn't want to choose which Waterpark to drop as I love different things at each of them (and Florida is the only place we get to go to waterparks).
And as for how many visits to each park - the friends we're taking will probably never manage to get back there so they want to make this the trip of a lifetime and see as much as they can manage. The most expensive part of their trip is the flights (we're paying for the accommodation) so buying the tickets which gives us total flexibility was a no-brainer.