Ultimate Park Hopper Ticket Questions

[JoeM]

Hello All,

Questions on purchasing UPH tickets:

1. Does everyone staying on the same reservation need to purchase the same type of tickets. or could SOME members have different types of tickets (e.g., 6 day Hopper Plus Tickets vs Ultimate Park Hopper Tickets)?

2. It is my understanding that DVC members get 10% off the ticket price of an UPH. If you purchase these tickets in advance (advanced purchased discounted price) are you also eligilble for the 10% DVC discount?

Thanks for any information folks could offer.

 

[Frozenfingers]

The type of tickets do not matter in the least.. as long as they are valid.

DVC members do not get the discount for advance purchases. The discount is only given at your resort. They may drop the first, last or both first and last days of the reservation.. rules say either the first or last day, but some say they drop both if asked..

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by JoeM
2. It is my understanding that DVC members get 10% off the ticket price of an UPH. If you purchase these tickets in advance (advanced purchased discounted price) are you also eligilble for the 10% DVC discount?

DVC members cannot even access the advance purchase prices. The advance purchase is normally handled through CRO--the same folks who make the resort reservations for the general public.

But the CRO staff cannot even access a DVC reservation in their computer system. And, DVC member services is not equipped to sell the UPH.

So, in effect, when staying on points your only option is to purchase at the time of check in. You will receive the 10% discount, which is greater than the advance purchase discount. But unfortunately there is no way to pile these two discounts upon one-another.

 

[mbhoxsie]

We have never used our discount to purchase UPH's...

Having the tickets expire at the end of the trip is just not a good fit for DVC members who frequently travel to WDW...

Instead, we usually will buy advanced 4 or 5 day PH's that never expire... That way, we dictate how often we go the parks...

With the UPH's, I think we'd feel the urge to try and get our monies worth by hitting the parks every day...

(Now if we only went to WDW often enough to justify buying AP's... )

 

[Pa@okw95]

To answer your first question--NO You can buy whatever tickets you like or none at all for different people that are staying at DVC. The same goes for non-DVC resorts. The UPH is about the worse ticket around for DVC members, because most of us do not care to go to the parks everyday.

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by Pa@okw95
To answer your first question--NO You can buy whatever tickets you like or none at all for different people that are staying at DVC. The same goes for non-DVC resorts. The UPH is about the worse ticket around for DVC members, because most of us do not care to go to the parks everyday.

Certainly there is no requirement for the entire party to buy the UPH (LOS) passes for DVC regardless of what type of ticket they have. I always thought there was some restrictions on non DVC stays for all members to get the UMP. I agree it's not a good choice for most people.

 

[JoeM]

Thanks to all for the input and I agree that normally the UPH are not a good choice for DVC members. However, some folks in our party are not members and this will be there only trip to WDW for several years. They have the expressed interest to experience it all.

My question/confusion about all members on a reservation being required to purchase the UPHs actually came from ticket information on this site that reads:

"These passes provide unlimited admission to the Magic Kingdom, Epcot. MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom, River Country, Blizzard Beach, Pleasure Island, Disney Quest and Disney's Wide World of Sports complex. They must be purchased by ALL members in your party, and must be for the full length of your reservation. Additional days are available through Guest Services or Central Reservations."

 

[Frozenfingers]

That sure sounds like a dream maker package. I haven't been on the WDW reservation site (CRO) but I would bet that requirement is part of a package purchase.

About your ticket question.. instead of LOS tickets, have you considered PHP pluses? If your guests purchase a 7 day, 4 option, but don't use it all, maybe you could reimburse them for the unused days... since they never expire, you can use them at your leisure. Could make for a cheap(er) trip down the road!

 

[Dean]

Disney has at times required all members to buy the LOS passes, that has never applied to DVC stays. It must be bought for the LOS but as noted, they will usually let you drop the first and/or last day. This improves the value dramatically but I still think it's only a decent value for those that will do it all the same day. By all I mean water parks, DQ, PI and regular parks. Unless they have experience of doing the Kamikaze method on other trips anywhere, I'd still recommend something like the plus passes or just a Park hoppen the al a care for the rest. I agree, it is nice not to have to worry about the cost if you want to pop over to a park for dinner, but one always pays in the end. One thing to note about CM at the front desk of all the resorts is that you frequently get incorrect or different answers. So just because someone says something doesn't make it so. Good luck.

 

[crisi]

UPHs only cost a few dollars a day more than PHs, if you use them daily. They aren't the "best" value. But they aren't a bad value.

They are a poor value if you don't visit the parks every day, or if you get sick during your vacation. However, PH with unused days are also a bad value if you "put them someplace safe" when you return home and never find them again, and didn't ever get around to photocopying the back. UPHs are really easy to replace if you loose them in a FastPass machine (been there, done that).

They are an easy way to get an "all-purpose" card. We can walk into WDW with our UPH (room key and charging privledges) and a drivers license (for when I get carded at nearly 40 buying a drink) and a camera.

UPHs are nice for guests who don't visit Disney often because there are no "rules" attached to them. Go where ever you want whenever you want. You don't have to worry about the number of "pluses" you are using. You can spend the day at BB and not feel guilty about going into Epcot just for dinner, or MK just to catch Spectro. As PHs aren't technically transferrable - "saving" days for a future trip to Disney doesn't make sense for guests not likely to return in the next several years. (Course, they can give them to you, no need for Disney to know they were transferred - but that gets into the "rules" debate and belongs with five in a room, telling Disney your 3 year old is two and smoking in non-smoking rooms).

Please, just because PH are the best ticket for your situation, do not be patronizing to those of us who have made alternate well thought out decisions.