ticket question...

[gigi1313]

i've considered calling disney to ask this question but i doubt i would get the right answer the first time... so i'm going to the experts...

last year we encountered hurricane frances while at wdw... because we had a package (5+2) w/uphs and the parks were closed for two days, we were given 8 (2/person for 2 days) UPHs good for 20 years... now we are going again... w/the new myw pricing, it would not be much more expensive to just buy tix for our length of stay (like $5/person) but i don't want to pay the extra $ to get the pluses since our uphs have pluses on them... but once i use them, i lose them... so my question is... do i buy 5 days tix (for a 7 day stay) and use my uphs on our water park and disney quest days (plus go to other parks those days) or save them for a future trip? and, if i use them, will i have a problem using our myw dining card if i did not use that media for admission that day?

(i.e. wed we go to typhoon lagoon in the morning and epcot in the evening using old uph... and while at epcot we go to garden grill for dinner... will we have a problem using our dining "card" if that's not the media we entered the park on?)

 

[pezpam]

Since the dining plan is actually separate from your entrance tickets, it shouldn't be a problem to enter on any ticket and eat on the dining plan. For some, the dining plan may be coded on the same room key as the entrance tickets, but they are really two separate things. The dining plan should be good any time during the stay you purchased it for.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[gigi1313]

i was of the impression that w/the new plan your "room key" is your all-in-one key w/room key, ticket media and dining plan all in the same place... and i would hate to lose a day of hopping 'cause i ate dinner using a different ticket media, kwim?

 

[Luv2Roam]

I am sure if you went into a park to eat, that alone would use up one day. I would eat at a resort restaurant using the MYW dining plan. (Kona Cafe, as an example.)
It would not make sense to use a whole day of tickets for one meal.

 

[gigi1313]

i don't want to use a day's worth of ticket for just one meal... i want to go to typhoon lagoon in the morning thru the afternoon with the ticket, then go over to epcot and hang out and ride some rides and enjoy myself w/the same ticket (because it's a UPH) and then stop in a restaurant and have dinner while i am in epcot... can i use my package dinner ticket w/out using my package ticket media to get into that park (because i am using my uph leftover that day)?

 

[SnackyStacky]

i was of the impression that w/the new plan your "room key" is your all-in-one key w/room key, ticket media and dining plan all in the same place... and i would hate to lose a day of hopping 'cause i ate dinner using a different ticket media, kwim?

Your dining plan has NOTHING to do with your admission.

Yes, your dining, admission media, and room key are all coded on the same card, but each computer interacts with your room key in a different way.

The only computer systems that are directly tied to the admission computers are the Fastpass systems. If you try and use admission that wasn't passed through the turnstiles, it simply won't give you a fastpass. It won't take an admission day off and then give you the fastpass.

So use your complimentary passes from your last trip, and then use your room key to dine.

It'll be fine!

 

[gigi1313]

*whew* thank you!! can you tell i've never been anything but a "package thru disney" girl, scared to step outside my box?

 

[seashoreCM]

>>> once I use them I lose them

Are you saying that once you begin using one of those 2 day hurricane UPH's, you get that day and the day after and then it expires? (just like a length of stay UPH used to do)

Yes, what you propose will work out OK. You confine your water park and Disney Quest activity to two consecutive days. On those days you must be extra careful not to use your room key to enter a park, on the five regular park days you leave the UPH behind in your room safe. The value you get out of the UPH is $54 -- $48 for the plus pack you did not have to buy on your regular ticket media, and $6 for the 6'th and 7'th days you did not have to buy on your regular ticket media.

Sample ticket budgets:
(1) Suppose you did not have those UPH's. 8 people each with a $300. 7 day expiring pass with hopping and plus pack: $2400. (numbers rounded)
(2) 8 people each with one $250. 5 day expiring pass with hopping and one 2-day UPH: $2000. Savings of $400. over (1)
(3) 6 people each with a $300. 7 day pass only and two people each using four 2-day UPH's only: $1800. Savings of $600, over (1). Does not work with room and/or dining packages, shown here to illustrate some of the things you forego when you book packages.

A much better way to use the UPH's is, if possible, to save them for a vacation where no new passes need to be purchased. For example, since you have eight of the 2 day passes, if four people go on a four day vacation, or eight people go on a two day vacation, that will use up the passes exactly. The value you get out of the UPH's could be in excess of $200. apiece which is what a two day pass with hopping and plus pack costs new nowadays, except with a UPH the plus visits and theme park visits must all occur within the same (2) days.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/dispass.htm

 

[gigi1313]

i might have been unclear... i have 8 one-day passes but they are ultimate park hoppers and include unlimited pluses each day (i could technically go to typhoon lagoon in the morning, disney quest in the afternoon, epcot for dinner and pleasure island for late night fun, all on the same ticket)

i have considered getting tix for our entire stay because the savings is nominal, and save the uphs for some other trip, but i don't anticipate ever needing *only* two days of passes for each of the four of us... i have also considered getting an AP for me to get room discount, letting dh use the uph's and buying the kids tickets, which might come out cheaper in the long run (possibly even buying 8yo ds a 10 day non-expire to lock him in at the children's rate since chances are good that we won't be going back 'til he's 10+) but then i will need to buy pluses w/my hoppers as well as w/my AP, so i am not sure i will end up ahead... sigh... this is so much work! LOL!