Tickets question from a newbie

[capenor]

HI, as you can see this is my first post, I've been lurking a lot (and learning a lot!) for weeks now. DH and I are taking our 3yoDD March 14-21 for her first trip to WDW, and DH's - and my first time back in 15+ years. Can't wait!

So I'm finally ready to decide which tix to get and this might be a dumb question, but if we think we'd like to park-hop but probably not every day of the 6 full days we're there (and we plan to skip parks at least one whole day altogether to rest), can we buy 7 or 10 day tix and just "hop" that way? It seems to me that the longer non-PH'ing tix are considerably less than, say, a 5 or 6 day PHer. I'm looking at the disney site itself and ticketmania.

Example from Disney (wouldn't buy there, it's just easier to navigate): 5 day park hopper tickets for 2 adults and one child, $626 (plus tax, about $666). But a 7 day non-hopping set of 2 adults/1 child is $594.28 with tax.

Maybe I'm belaboring this here, but what I mean is, say we want to spend the morning at AK and the late afternoon/evening at MK; can we use 2 days of tickets to do so or will the biometrics thing stop us?

Many thanks - I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions as the details fall into place....

AV

 

[LovePug]

No, you can't do that. You can re-enter the same park the same day, but you can't use another day off your ticket to enter a different park.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

Maybe I'm belaboring this here, but what I mean is, say we want to spend the morning at AK and the late afternoon/evening at MK; can we use 2 days of tickets to do so or will the biometrics thing stop us?

Many thanks - I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions as the details fall into place....

AV

I won't be the biometric thing that stops you. The biometrics will identify you as the individual associated with the ticket. You'd certainly be okay there.

What will stop you is the way Disney has the turnstiles set up. When you put that ticket thru the reader at MK, the magnetic strip on the back will be read. The information in that strip is then sent to the computer which looks at it and basically says, "this ticket has X days remaining. This ticket was used this morning at AK. This ticket is not a hopper". At that point, the ticket would be flagged to deny you admission and the turnstile will not be released.

Yeah, Disney thought of almost every angle when they invented these passes. I say "almost" because I'm sure that someone will find a way to work within the rules to make them a better value. But if they, no one has posted it yet.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

WDW used to have what was called a "bounce back" pass. It was good for two, three or four days (and expired either four, six or eight days after first use). Technically it was good for one park each day. However, if you wanted to go to a second park in one day it would allow you but would use a second day's entry.

However, with the bounce back pass, the price of a four day was only about $30 less than the price of four one-day, one-park passes. Using current pricing but with the bounce back concept, a four-day bounce back would cost about $209 compared to the one-day of $59.75. Since even the seven day is less than this the system will not allow it.

Under the new pricing structure any park hopper, adult or child, for any number of days, is only $35.00 (plus tax) above the price of the base ticket. If you go to WDWIG there is a complete list of all ticket pricing combinations (prices include tax).

 

[ncbyrne]

First decide exactly how many days you will go into the parks. Then decide how important it would be to hop to another park at any point. If you really think you would want to spend time in two parks, for even one day, then it would be worth it to purchase the hopping option to make the most of your vacation. The prices are geared to encourage you to buy more than you need, especially the 7 day passes for a those who are there exactly one week. But, if you know in advance how many days you will actually be in the parks, then stick to paying only for that amount of days.

 

[capenor]

Thanks, everyone! I couldn't really believe I'd found some super-saver idea....I think we'll stick to 5 day park hoppers.

AV