Parks Ticket Question

[MikeandSusan]

This will be our second trip to Disney. Our first we went all out, held nothing back and spent a ton of money had a spectacular time.

This trip, different story. We want to do a budget trip if possible at Disney

First we did the whole park hopper ticket the first time and we really did not use the hopping option. We did one park per day. So I am wondering, are the tickets to the park cheaper if you buy day passes only????

It seems like booking the trip through the Disney dirrectly is quite pricey but I really like the Dining option. So should we go through the them directly or go a different route? It is just very confusing. We booked through a travel agent the first time and were so pleased with everything!

It scares me to try and plan it on my own but I am hoping we can save some money and yet have the same wonderful experience we had before.

 

[Safari Queen]

The highest possible price is a single day ticket. It's cheapest is to buy a MYW ticket for as many days as you can afford. The more days you buy, the cheaper each day is. The dining plan is changing, so check carefully before you book. From what I understand, it's not nearly such a good deal with the new pricing.

 

[MagicMe]

I'm guessing you are refering to the base ticket of one park/one day. If you check out the WDW website you'll see that a seven day base ticket is $219 per person (adult prices). If you add the park hopper it raises to $264 per person. If you break it down by day, it's about an extra $5 per day for that option.

I find that most people can get by with a base ticket especially on their first visit since everything is all so new and there is so much to see. After being lucky enough to be there multiple times, I find that the park hopper works for me. It gives me the option of being able to move to another park if one is too crowded. We also find that we tend to stick to one park each day at the very beginning of our trip and hop around alot at the back end of the trip (jumping on the rides we especially like).

It's really one's own preference. A $45 per person difference with a family of 4 (uisng adult prices for +10) comes to $180 which can be used elsewhere if needed.

 

[Southernswthrt1]

First we did the whole park hopper ticket the first time and we really did not use the hopping option. We did one park per day. So I am wondering, are the tickets to the park cheaper if you buy day passes only????

Yes, they're cheaper without the PH option. It's a flat $45 + tax for each ticket for this option. I, too, am debating whether or not this option is worth it for us.

It seems like booking the trip through the Disney dirrectly is quite pricey but I really like the Dining option. So should we go through the them directly or go a different route? It is just very confusing. We booked through a travel agent the first time and were so pleased with everything!

It scares me to try and plan it on my own but I am hoping we can save some money and yet have the same wonderful experience we had before.

I have planned all of our Disney trips myself. I work ALL the time, but this planning is my escape and I love to do it. There really is no need to use a travel agency, unless you REALLY want to. Read these boards, check out other website like Mousesavers, search for the codes and you can get great deals on your vacation.

 

[dburg30]

As far as booking thru WDW direct, the only real difference would be on room rates, ie: maybe an AAA discount. Tickets / dining packages etc are pretty fixed.

 

[winniethepoohsmom]

Our last few trips we have purchased MYW base tickets and that worked out fine. The only time I have booked a package was when we did the free dining. The dining plan for 2008 does not include an appetizer or a tip, so it's not as good of a deal as it was in the past, but if you like to do a sit down dinner every day you can look at the menus to see what the prices are for the food you would order and figure out if the dining plan works for you. If you choose not to do the dining plan than I would book everything separetly. I have booked our room in the past with a AAA discount and I have also used a room only discount that disney offered at the time we were traveling. I've purchased our tickets at a discount broker for less than disney prices. There are some buffet dinners that are good and not as expensive as some other sit down restaurants, if you wanted to save money you could do a counter service one night and a sit down dinner the next. We rent a car on our trips and have eaten off site for much less. Our last trip I sent a box ahead with some breakfast foods and snacks so we could eat breakfast in our room most mornings. If you decide to book a package and you have AAA I have heard of people getting a discount booking it through them, I would get a quote from Disney first and then see what the AAA quote is. Linda