Ticket options are giving me a migraine

[jpwest]

Please help me think this through.

My family of four is going to WDW in April 2011 for five days at the parks followed by a short cruise. At the moment, we have the resort portion of this booked as a Magic Your Way package. We aren't planning on park-hopping and aren't going to the water parks.

We're also thinking about five days at the parks in October 2011. In both cases, we will have no flexibility on dates, so we can't wait too long to book.

Here's the question; sorry for the complexity. Is there any advantage to buying our park tickets separately from the hotel package, either as two 5-day tickets, a 10-day ticket with no expiration, or even an annual pass?

One more variable to consider: I can purchase park tickets through my work for 12% off of the official price. Should I take advantage of this discount, buy the 5/10/annual tickets, and book room-only hotel stays? Or are the package deals in April/October good enough to make that a better deal?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[madelyn]

A 12% discount off of tickets is a good discount. Pulling up www.undercovertourist.com website (discount ticket broker recommended on these boards and that I've used personally) I see the price of a 5-day expiring non-hopper to be $237.95. The price of a non-expiring 10-day non-hopper is $480.95. It is actually a small bit less to buy two separate 5 day expiring tickets. Be sure to compare the actual prices(taxes included) through your company. If you do end up going through Undercovertourist, sign up for their newsletter and they will include a link for slightly discounted tickets. I believe an annual pass will cost you more but if you want one member of your party to buy a pass to take advantage of passholder discounts or be able to purchase a Tables in Wonderland dining card (gives 20 % off most sit down restaurants) that might be a plan.

 

[worm761]

Have you run all of these options past your travel agent? Or are you booking on your own?
There is no way to know what the discounts will be in April and October of next year. It is always a gamble. For some, they bank on free dining and with the size of their families and the way they eat, it is a good deal. Me? I am a Florida resident and I am banking on AP discounts for the time frame I want to go next year. But I know I am going for 8 park days in May, 3 park days (maybe longer) in October, and then another 8 park days in May 2012. So I am getting an AP regardless.
Really, you just have to run the numbers and see what comes up. I would suggest the 12% off through work and get the 10 day no expire if I were in your position.

 

[madelyn]

Are you trying to take advantage of free dining in October (available 10/1/10 - 10/7/10, 10/22/10 - 10/28/10)? Or room only discounts - a 25%-40% discount off regular "rack" rates at Walt Disney World resort hotels, for stays now through 11/23/10, 11/27/10-12/25/10 and 1/1/11-2/16/11.

 

[Marionnette]

Please help me think this through.

My family of four is going to WDW in April 2011 for five days at the parks followed by a short cruise. At the moment, we have the resort portion of this booked as a Magic Your Way package. We aren't planning on park-hopping and aren't going to the water parks.

We're also thinking about five days at the parks in October 2011. In both cases, we will have no flexibility on dates, so we can't wait too long to book.

Here's the question; sorry for the complexity. Is there any advantage to buying our park tickets separately from the hotel package, either as two 5-day tickets, a 10-day ticket with no expiration, or even an annual pass?

One more variable to consider: I can purchase park tickets through my work for 12% off of the official price. Should I take advantage of this discount, buy the 5/10/annual tickets, and book room-only hotel stays? Or are the package deals in April/October good enough to make that a better deal?

Thanks in advance!!

If you do not buy your tickets from disney then you will no longer have a package. So if you want to have the dining plan or a premium plan then you will have to get your tickets thru disney. The problem is that there is no one size fits all approach to figuring this out. Alot depends on not only the size of the family but also on the number of disney adults in the family. And then theres a question of whether you can get a better deal by booking free dining (when available) or a discounted room and pay out of pocket for meals. Usually your better off doing the latter if your staying at a deluxe resort. Then theres the question of annual pass room discounts thrown in there for good measure. I hate to give your migraine a boost but you really have to run the numbers for yourself and decide which offer works the best for your individual situation.

 

[madelyn]

Totally missed that the OP was referring to Oct 2011 and not this month. For some reason when she said she couldn't "wait long to book" I thought it was for this month! Ticket prices will probably go up Aug 2011. I would say look at the prices for the 5-day expire and the 10-day no expire through the company and if two 5-day expiring tickets cost less than the 10-day no expire and you are pretty sure you will use all 5 days for each trip, then buy 2 5-day expiring tickets for each person in your party now and that way you won't have to worry about the 2011 price increase. But yeah, if the OP wants the dining plan then she needs to keep the package.

 

[dmank]

If you don't need the package for the dining plan this upcoming trip, you could buy the 10 day no expiration. If a deal for the second trip comes up, you could just save those last 5 days for another trip at a later date. It would provide some flexibility. You could always upgrade to the 10 day no expiration during your first trip too. That's what we did last year - we had a package with 7 days; it became apparent we were only going to use 4 or 5 of those days so we upgraded it to a 10 day no exp with water parks and more.

 

[csharpwv]

If I were you I would go with either all annual passes - or at least one or two annual passes (you and your spouse can plan a getaway!)

We bought PAP's this year and on average we have paid approx $22.00 per park day.

(6 park days in December, 6 park days in May, 5 park days in September, and then 7 park days coming up in December before they expire)

We are unsure at this point if we will be renewing or not, we still have to have that 'conversation'.

I think we may - but we need to think about how much time we will have after out 14+ night vacation this December (7 nights at WDW, nights Disney Cruise)

We are getting so excited!

 

[cbg1027]

If you decide to buy your tickets from a a vendor other than Disney, you can no longer have the MYW package. So that's the first decision you need to make. Is the package you have at any kind of discount? Does it include dining?

If you want a dining plan, than you HAVE to book a package that includes at least 1 day tickets.

If you're not doing a DP, then you have the option of buying room and tickets separately. But you would have to cancel the package you have now in order to do that and possibly save money.

If you can't wait to book, this is what I would do:

Cancel you package and book room only through Disney.

Buy your tickets at the 12% off.

So there is advantage to buying the tickets separately and NOT as a package, because you will get a discount this way (on the tickets at least).

As for which tickets to get:
It's less than a $1 difference between one 10 day No Expire and two 5 day base tickets. But ticket prices usually go up in August, so knowing that I would go for the 10 day No Expire tickets ($505.88 Adult and $481.38 after tax, no discount)

This is a whole other can of worms here.... but an adult AP is $531.44. It may be worth looking in to buying one of the adult's ticket as an AP. If you could use any of the discounts they offer, like a Table in Wonderland card, then it may save you more money.

 

[canopynut66]

If you decide to buy your tickets from a a vendor other than Disney, you can no longer have the MYW package. So that's the first decision you need to make. Is the package you have at any kind of discount? Does it include dining?

If you want a dining plan, than you HAVE to book a package that includes at least 1 day tickets.

If you're not doing a DP, then you have the option of buying room and tickets separately. But you would have to cancel the package you have now in order to do that and possibly save money.

If you can't wait to book, this is what I would do:

Cancel you package and book room only through Disney.

Buy your tickets at the 12% off.

So there is advantage to buying the tickets separately and NOT as a package, because you will get a discount this way (on the tickets at least).

As for which tickets to get:
It's less than a $1 difference between one 10 day No Expire and two 5 day base tickets. But ticket prices usually go up in August, so knowing that I would go for the 10 day No Expire tickets ($505.88 Adult and $481.38 after tax, no discount)

This is a whole other can of worms here.... but an adult AP is $531.44. It may be worth looking in to buying one of the adult's ticket as an AP. If you could use any of the discounts they offer, like a Table in Wonderland card, then it may save you more money.

We have AP and the free dining was better than the discount for November trip so took it but had to buy two days base tickets to do that. Which just extends our AP on out. There are more and more times AP just not what it used to be. It used to be AP the only way to go for us but need to rethink this before next one due.

 

[mtblujeans]

To complicate things, I believe you only have to buy 2 day passes per person in order to get the MYW free dining package. You can purchase 2 days for each family member and purchase the rest of your passes via UnderCover Tourist but you have to calculate and compare. This is what I am looking at for our trip in May. There isn't free dining during our May, 2011 dates but if I purchase a package with 2 day passes for each person, then if free dining pops up, I can apply that offer.

Is your nose bleeding yet?

 

[jpwest]

Thanks, everyone. I think I am leaning toward cancelling the package, booking room-only, getting tickets through work for the family and one AP for me. The package "extras" don't mean much to me, nor does the dining plan, and the price for tickets is a wash.

Basically what it boils down to is this: I can keep my package and book another one for next October. Along the way, I'll keep an eye out for any new package discounts I can add (deals for Visa or public). OR, I cancel what I have, buy tickets +1 AP separately, book room-only and watch for room-only deals (deals for Visa, AP, or public).

Right?

Edited to add that I am a "he."

 

[seashoreCM]

You can purchase 2 days for each family member and purchase the rest of your passes via UnderCover Tourist but you have to calculate and compare. :

If you actually use two ticket cards per person (a 2 day package ticket and an Undercover Tourist ticket) during the same vacation, you will spend a lot more money than other ticket options woudl cost you.

 

[cbg1027]

Thanks, everyone. I think I am leaning toward cancelling the package, booking room-only, getting tickets through work for the family and one AP for me. The package "extras" don't mean much to me, nor does the dining plan, and the price for tickets is a wash.

Basically what it boils down to is this: I can keep my package and book another one for next October. Along the way, I'll keep an eye out for any new package discounts I can add (deals for Visa or public). OR, I cancel what I have, buy tickets +1 AP separately, book room-only and watch for room-only deals (deals for Visa, AP, or public).

Right?

Edited to add that I am a "he."

You can't apply a discount to an existing reservation. You would have to cancel what you have and book something again using the discount. Disney only allots a certain number or rooms towards a certain discount or promotion. So the discounts can't be applied after you book.

I think your dilemma will be needing to book to know you have a room on the dates you want, versus waiting for a discount you can use to come and then booking. If you can take a chance, wait for something to come out you can use. If you can't, then you have to book now, and hope you can change later. But you actually decrease the chance of a discount coming out by booking a full price package now - Disney releases discounts in order to fill rooms that have not sold at rack rates.

Sorry it's so confusing!