Park Tickets and DVC

[marksniles]

When you buy into DVC do you also get your park tickets also or do you have to buy them separetly? Can you still get a length of stay pass if your a DVC when you go?

Thanks!

Mark

 

[Tagrel]

Tickets for the parks have to be purchased separately.

DVC members can purchase a Length of Stay pass, and get a 10% discount when doing so.

It is the only park pass discount available to DVC members. Although many of us would LOVE an AP or Park Hopper discount as well!

 

[marksniles]

Can you purchse the LOF pass before you get there?

 

[RobDoc]

The UPH with DVC discount is not available ahead of time. It can only be purchased at the resort when you check in.

 

[Connears]

When I bought DVC in 1994, one of the main perks was that you got admission to all the parks(3 then) until 2000! It was such a great perk and you could use it for anyone who used your points(# of passes depening on size of your villa)! Boy did we have a sticker shock in 2000 when we had to buy passes(we did buy one day passes for AK before). so sad to see that go!
Connears

 

[chris1gill]

This is one of the saddest parts of DVC... no real discounts for passes.... there is a measly 10% on UPH which are more expensive than hopper passes anyways!!!

 

[skelooch]

Try some of the on-line Disney ticket sellers, Their prices are pretty good compared to buying from Disney.

Just bought adult 7 Day Park Hopper Plus passes for under $300 including tax.

Makes more sense than a lenth of stay pass because it never expires.




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[crisi]

When you buy UPH (Length of Stay passes) are they on your room key?

DVC usually allows you to drop one day off your UPH - and sometimes both the arrival and the departure day.

We discovered that for us the difference (by the time you paid for shipping and the rest) between an online broker and buying the UPH from Disney with the DVC discount was only about $7 a ticket when a day is dropped. Since we plan on being in the parks every day anyways, the savings isn't worth the hassle - particularly if we have the convienence of the park pass on the room key. Its worth $7 to me to have a single card that I can charge on and is my park pass and room key.

 

[Caskbill]

One option many DVC'ers do is purchase annual passes, and stagger their DVC vacations to use a single annual pass for two vacations.

Example: Go in July 2003, purchase annual passes. Next year, go in June 2004 while your annual passes are still good. Then repeat the process again in July 2005.

This way you purchase annual passes every other year, but use them each year for your vacations.

Most consider the break-even point for annual passes at about 8 or 9 days, so if your two combined vacations will be longer than 8-9 days, then the AP might be something to consider.

 

[DemoBri1]

Caskbill,

You read my mind. That's exactly what we're doing. We are staying at BCV for 8 days this December and we will be going back in November of '04 for another 8. The APs at this point make perfect sense.

The one thing you want to make certain that you don't do is renew them simply to get the cheaper price because when you renew APs, they start from the day you renew them, not the day you first use them.

Brian

 

[laceemouse]

I am really gonna have to do some "cypherin" here! We usually buy our tickets through SOG as hubby is a retired reservist. We also have the DC until it goes away. Now we have just bought DVC. We have 4 kids, but when we go again next spring the 2 oldest girls will be 12 and 11, adults in Disney terms (ridiculous!) To bad they did away with free admission, this is going to cost us a mint. Anyone out there in a similar situation that has done the math? thanks, Lacee

 

[skelooch]

Demobri1,

I agree that the Premium AP makes sense if you plan to do parks every day and use a lot of "plus" stuff.

I personally like to chill out a little and only do a couple of day of parks and maybe a "plus" or two. A premium annual pass is $489 plus tax from Disney, which I believe is the only place you can get it, vs $298 for a 7 day Park Hopper Plus, which should last me 3 trips which is all I'll probabally do in a calender year anyway.

I guess it all depends how much time you plan to spend in the parks, water parks, or Pleasure Island.

Enjoy your next trip home.

I'll be there 5/10 to 5/17 and 10/17 to 10/25
For my 3rd and 4th trips home, can't wait.

 

[ahoff]

Another thing to consider is that when you purchase your LOS passes at check in they will drop the first or last days, or both. Helpful if you arrive late, and there is plenty to do without going to the parks. We usually drop both the first and last days, and just go to the pool, or mini-golfing. This is one thing that wasn't allowed on our early pre-DVC trips that we booked as a package

 

[crisi]

laceemouse,

You'll have to do your own cyphering to figure it out - too many variables:

Can you do the one trip a "year" but space them 11 1/2 months out to get the benefit of an AP (break even point something like eight park days)?

Are you the type of person to hang onto hoppers - they don't expire, but you do have to bring them along and not loose them (I'm horrible, I'd be misplacing them the moment I returned from my trip)

Are you a "parks every day person." If you aren't, you can get a better deal than the discount on the UPH.

Are you willing to work through an internet broker, or do you want to buy your tickets directly through Disney?

Are the extra's valuable to you? Some brokers offer deals like rounds of mini golf or character breakfasts. If they have value to you, you'll want to figure that in. If they don't than don't. Don't forget to figure in any shipping and handling charges with the brokers.

How price sensitive are you? Will $10 a ticket make a difference in your vacation budget, or is it not worth any additional hassle?

Visit the budget board, the people over there are experts at getting the best ticket deal.

For us, the UPHs make some sense - at least for the next trip. We could do better with an internet broker, but by the time I factor in my hassle, and the high probablility I'll misplace the tickets between trips, I'll just pick up UPHs at check in. But I'll be the first to admit that this is not a good choice for every DVCer.

 

[laceemouse]

Thanks crisi. I am new here and have never checked the budget boards. I will do that ASAP!!! Lacee