Ticket purchase dilemma

[4luv2cdisney]

I currently have a WDW package booked with only a 2 day ticket, because we may be visiting U/IoA and a water park.
(approx. Disney ticket cost: $740)

We are planning on going to LA and Disneyland within the next year (needing 2 park days w/hopping).
(approx. ticket cost $800)

We typically only use 3 - 4 day tickets on any given trip - sometimes hopping, sometimes not.
(avg. $1200 /trip)

Total approx. ticket cost for 4 future trips = $3,940

Sooooo....I'm thinking about changing my 2 day base ticket to a 10 day NE PH to cover 4 vacations:
Approx cost: $2630.

Savings=$1,310. and I'd have hoppers for all trips, which is something we don't always get.

And yes, I can use my WDW tickets at DL! I've checked into it already.

My concerns:

The initial outlay of cash....ouch! About $1900 more.

If Free Dining is offered for the other 2 future WDW trips. FD is always our best discount, but then I'd purchase even more tickets!!
Pro: I have bought tix I didn't need to get FD in the past and saved them for trips when we've stayed room only. Honestly, it's worked out well.
Con: If I purchase 10 day NE PH, I'll be covered for 4 trips and one of my kids will likely be in college by the 4th trip, so I don't know if I want to go down that road.

We skipped Disney for Spring Break this year and Thanksgiving last year because there were no discounts - and my family was not happy with my cheap ........ If we'd already had tickets, we'd probably have taken one of the trips.

Of course, there is always a possibility we won't be able to vacation as planned due to unforeseen circumstances and I'll have $ tied up in Disney tickets! (We do have the cash for the NE PH tickets and all other expenses for the 1st trip - we don't typically vacation without having the funds up front.) I just know the vacation fund is usually the first to take a hit / cut if something does come up. We also have a short and long term emergency fund, but really try not to touch it! We haven't saved for trips 2 - 4 yet.

I know this is long. Thanks to anyone who made it to the end! What would you do or what do you think I should do??? I feel pressured because of the (rumored) ticket increase.....it's stressing me out!

 

[Marionnette]

I currently have a WDW package booked with only a 2 day ticket, because we may be visiting U/IoA and a water park.
(approx. Disney ticket cost: $740)

We are planning on going to LA and Disneyland within the next year (needing 2 park days w/hopping).
(approx. ticket cost $800)

We typically only use 3 - 4 day tickets on any given trip - sometimes hopping, sometimes not.
(avg. $1200 /trip)

Total approx. ticket cost for 4 future trips = $3,940

Sooooo....I'm thinking about changing my 2 day base ticket to a 10 day NE PH to cover 4 vacations:
Approx cost: $2630.

Savings=$1,310. and I'd have hoppers for all trips, which is something we don't always get.

And yes, I can use my WDW tickets at DL! I've checked into it already.

My concerns:

A.The initial outlay of cash....ouch! About $1900 more.

B.If Free Dining is offered for the other 2 future WDW trips. FD is always our best discount, but then I'd purchase even more tickets!!
Pro: I have bought tix I didn't need to get FD in the past and saved them for trips when we've stayed room only. Honestly, it's worked out well.
Con: If I purchase 10 day NE PH, I'll be covered for 4 trips and one of my kids will likely be in college by the 4th trip, so I don't know if I want to go down that road.

C.We skipped Disney for Spring Break this year and Thanksgiving last year because there were no discounts - and my family was not happy with my cheap ........ If we'd already had tickets, we'd probably have taken one of the trips.

D.Of course, there is always a possibility we won't be able to vacation as planned due to unforeseen circumstances and I'll have $ tied up in Disney tickets! (On a side note, we have the cash for these tickets / this 1st trip. We don't typically vacation without having the funds to cover it up front.) It's just the vacation fund is usually the first to get hit / cut if needed.

I know this is long. Thanks to anyone who made it to the end! What would you do or what do you think I should do??? I feel pressured because of the (rumored) ticket increase.....it's stressing me out!

A. If it has to go on a credit card that doesn't get paid in full at the end of the month, then the savings aren't worth it. It you have the cash available to spend more on the tickets now, then it's worth considering.

B. If one of your kids is going to be college-age soon, you they will either become an extra adult in the room at Disney, which will add to your nightly cost. If they don't go with you, free dining may no longer be the better discount for you.

C. Look at it this way, you were willing to go during holidays, when the hotel rates are at their highest. The tickets cost the same, regardless. If you had purchased the 10-day no-expiry tickets back in November, you would have had enough park days to cover those 2 visits plus your upcoming trip. It's something to think about the next time that you nix a trip because you don't have tickets.

D. I would never "invest" in tickets for future trips if I thought that there would be a time when I needed that ticket money for more important things. You have to regard ticket purchases as you would any other luxury purchase. Once the money is spent, you have to accept that it's gone and not look back.

Here's what I would do:

I'd get whatever tickets that I could pay for now without having any regrets, making sure that I got the biggest discount off of the gate price for my money.

I would do an all-out press to save as much money to upgrade the tickets when I got to Disney for the first visit. Then I would upgrade those tickets to whatever I could pay for at that time. Just make sure to use those tickets once before you upgrade so that they get bridged to the current gate price. This will protect you from the price increase plus it gives you a little more time to set the money aside for those 10-day no-expiry hoppers that you want.

As for the soon-to-be-college freshman, they can always use the ticket if they want to do a senior trip to Disney or any other trip with their friends.

ETA: In order to save even more on those tickets, buy Disney GCs at Target just before you leave for your first trip. Use the Target REDCard for a 5% discount. If you have pharmacy rewards from Target, you can stack that with your REDCard discount to get close to a 10% discount off of the face value of the GCs. Use the GCs to pay the difference between the price of the tickets you bought from a reseller and the current gate price for your upgrade.

 

[hsmamato2]

I've done this in the past,tho it was back in the days when a NE pass was much cheaper..... 1st off, I think it might work,b/c once you buy a certain number of days for tix, the price per day drops a lot.
My only thought with using WDW tix for DL is that WDW tix are more valuable....so calculate the cost per day to buy DL tix vs. just using 2 days off your WDW passes,and do whatever costs less.
I have had the NE passes,and then bought a 2 day pass,or even a YES pass b/c it was so much cheaper for THAT TRIP. and then I saved the NE pass for another trip. (we've taken a trip almost yearly for 25 years now)
I have to say,I'm at the tail end of some 2004 passes that we've used like you plan to,OP,and I was never sorry to have those to use when we had a tighter budget,etc. FOr me it wasn't an investment,it was buying the park tix I could afford,using them for what I needed NOW,and the bonus of having those extra days to use when I needed some more.
I always calculate the cost per person,per day...and I like it to be as low as possible.
FWIW, when the kids were small, we'd go on trips to WDW,and use only 2 days of a park pass,and just hang out the rest of the time- it works well if you only need 2-3 days to use for a trip. have fun with your disney math.....

 

[hsmamato2]

I would do an all-out press to save as much money to upgrade the tickets when I got to Disney for the first visit. Then I would upgrade those tickets to whatever I could pay for at that time. Just make sure to use those tickets once before you upgrade so that they get bridged to the current gate price. This will protect you from the price increase plus it gives you a little more time to set the money aside for those 10-day no-expiry hoppers that you want.


I like this idea a LOT- buy the 10 day now, upgrade when you get there, thus gives you more time for that upgrade $$$

 

[HM]

Are you absolutely sure you can use a WDW ticket at Disneyland, because I thought it was not an option??

 

[akcire]

I have used wdw tickets at Disneyland. I will say it can be done but was a bit of a pain. The guy did not want to touch my non expiring ticket and remove a day. I also had a couple one park one day tickets. He upgraded the one park to a 2 park ticket for no charge rather than mess with the non expiration hoppers. You have to go to the ticket turnstiles, not the sales windows and ask for a supervisor. It took nearly 30 minutes of standing around, so lost park time. Also you'd have to do this daily.

Personally I would not upgrade my vacation tickets for the possible future use at Disneyland. They are too expensive. If I had some one day tickets from a package while having an ap I might use those again.