question about purchasing tickets via UT + Mickey Party

[shorty123]

I am planning on purchasing 5 or 6 day park hopper tickets for Magic Kingdom. Is it better to get the tickets mailed or is it better to get them e-mailed? I will be arriving in the evening on Sat. and leaving a week later (Sat. morning). I will be staying off-site in Lake Buena Vista.

Do you think that the Mickey Party is worth going to? I see that it is a separate ticket. I will be travelling with a 10 and 11 year old. What do people usually do earlier in the day if they plan on going to the party? In mid Nov., it will probably be too cold to use the hotel pool.

My trip will be Nov. 14-21. For this timeframe, is it still important to have early admission? I am debating whether or not to change from off-site lodging to Contemporary Resort for the early admission hours.

 

[minnie mum]

At this date it makes no difference. You'll have them in plenty of time to make your FP selections 30 days out. Or even 60 days if you change to an onsite resort. One advantage of having your tickets before you arrive, if you're off site, is that you won't have to waste time picking them up on your first park morning. I usually buy then from UT to save a few $.

By the way, I assume that you meant going to WDW, and not that you were spending the whole time only going to the MK. There are 3 other parks, too!.

By the " Mickey Party" do you mean the Christmas Party? Lots of people pick that time of year to visit just because of it. Our family prefers to go in the fall when both the F&W festival and the Halloween party is on. Kind of a twofer. Personal preference.

As for what to do on a party day, lots of folks on a longer stay will have a no park day, just chilling by the pool or going to DTD. Don't discount pool time. You can still have warm enough weather in mid Nov for that. Others with shorter stays might choose a park like AK or DHS to visit for the morning and early afternoon, since you can do most attractions with a short day.

EMH mornings are a 2 edged sword. On the one hand the extra hour gets you on a few of the rides before the lines get long. And some rides always have long lines, no matter how small the crowds are. OTOH, EMH parks usually develop the largest crowds that day, making park touring later in day less magical. That's why crowd calendars don't recommend going to an EMH parks. Prevailing wisdom is to only do the EMH park if you can get there before RD, and then hop to the most recommended park in late morning, where you would start using your FPs. We don't choose to buy park hoppers, so we usually avoid EMH parks, even though we always stay on site. Crowd predictions are light to moderate for your stay, so the choice is up to you.

 

[shorty123]

I was not planning on purchasing FP. Do you still think that they are needed if we are going to be in a WDW park in the Nov. 15-20 timeframe? The Nov. 14 and Nov. 21 dates were travel dates (arriving late, leave early). I don't plan to go to theme parks on those days. I plan to have park hopper tickets for the other days.

 

[MADnNOLA]

I was not planning on purchasing FP. Do you still think that they are needed if we are going to be in a WDW park in the Nov. 15-20 timeframe? The Nov. 14 and Nov. 21 dates were travel dates (arriving late, leave early). I don't plan to go to theme parks on those days. I plan to have park hopper tickets for the other days.

There is no purchasing of FP+. It is part of your ticket price. Yes, you will need them. It is a matter of possibly waiting 30-45-60 minutes in line for an attraction or 10-15 minutes in line with FP+.

 

[minnie mum]

You need to do your homework regarding park touring, what FPs are, and how to use them. No one has to pay for FPs. As MadnNola said, they are a feature of your park ticket. Yes, you should use them. There are a lot of attractions that will develop very long standby lines even on low crowd days. FP helps you bypass some of these.

Here is a link to Mesaboy FP thread. You will want to familiarize yourself with it.
http://www.disboards.com/threads/fa...ed-priorities-and-strategies-part-ii.3326057/

Since you seem to be New to WDW vacations I would also suggest that you look at easywdw.com. it has a reliable crowd calendar, with daily explanations about best park recommendations and touring tips. He also has a very informative blog. And the cheat sheets give park touring itineraries and FP advice for each of the parks. These will all help you get the most out of a park day without needlessly wasting your time in lines.

 

[shorty123]

Thanks a lot for the link. It looks like a good thing to use for headliners.