What park tickets to buy?

[Wondrmom]

The hardest thing about planning this vacation is deciding what kind of park tickets to buy and how many days we need. Can someone please give me some advice???

Okay so we are going to be there from 4/9 - 4/16. We will be taking our 16 month old. At first I was thinking the 4 day park ticket. Then I started looking into prices. I was thinking of getting my tickets from Ticket Mania through the Mousesavers newsletter. We don't think park hoppers or the extras will really benefit us, so we are probably scratching those. So a basic 4 day MYW is $194 and a 7 day MYW is $197. So for 3 dollars more it would make no sense to get the 4 day. However, I can't imagine using all 7 days. I don't know that the no-expiration makes much sense b/c we probably won't be going back within the next year.

What do you think?

 

[EthansMom]

I can't emphasize enough how much I think you should get the park hopping option. You're going during Spring Break, there will be crowds. If you go to one park and it starts to get really crowded, you can "hop" on to a different park. Also, if you take your 16 month old back to the hotel for a nap, you may want to go to a different park in the evening. You may not use the hopping option constantly, but it is definitely worth having!

Also, you're going to be at WDW for 6 or 7 days, but were only planning on getting the 4 day ticket. Did you have other plans for the extra couple of days? Are you going to SeaWorld or Universal? If you are getting tickets for other parks, then you may be happy with just 4 day MYW tickets. You still might want the 7 day ticket in case you want to go to SeaWorld during the day and then go see the fireworks at MK at night.

If you are only doing WDW, then definitely get the extra days on the tickets! Especially, with a young child, you WILL NOT be able to do everything you want to do in four days.

So, I guess my answer is that I would get the 7 day MYW with Hopping Option. I wouldn't pay the extra for No Expiration.

EthansMom

 

[Wondrmom]

Thanks so much for your feedback. No we were not planning on doing any other parks. We just though it might be nice to have a few relaxed days. If we get the extra days it will be nice to not feel obligated to cram everything into long days. I will certainly consider the park hopper option.

 

[EthansMom]

Hi again Wondrmom,

Yes, especially since you're not going to other parks, I would get the 7 day MYW. The parks tend to get more crowded toward late morning and will probably be very crowded in the afternoon.

We'll be headed down to WDW April 24 - May 1 with our DS3 and DD13mos. I'm hoping to get us up, eat a sit-down breakfast at the hotel and get off to the park in time for opening. I have PS's for lunch every day so we don't have to pull the "I don't know, where do you want to eat?" thing. Then, if the kids are doing well and crowds aren't bad, we may try one or two more rides/attractions before heading back to the hotel. We'll spend the afternoon at the hotel for a nap/pool break, then head back the parks (not necessarily the same park as a.m.) for the evening.

I'm not sure whether my kids are going to be able to stay up for the fireworks/Fantasmic/etc. every night and still make it up for park opening the next day, but would like to take in a couple of them. Except for wanting to get to the parks early to avoid crowds, I really want to take things easy and let the kids set the pace.

I would have gotten the 7 day MYW with Park Hopping for our trip, except we figured we would be heading back down to WDW in the fall, so it made sense to buy Annual Passes for the first time ever.

I hope this helps!

EthansMom (and Molly's too)

 

[2tinkersmom]

I too was so undecided about what tickets to get for our first trip in Jan....I drove my DH nuts going back and forth with the options! We were there for seven days but didn't actually get in until late afternoon our first day. The difference in the 6-7 day MYW tickets was a couple dollars so we just did the 7 day. It was worth it because that night we went to MGM which was open late and it was fun just to be there after a long day on the plane.
I too would recommend the hopper option. I went back and forth about that too and almost decided not to add it but we did. I'm SOOOO glad we did. We spent our first four days, long days, at each of the four parks without hopping except for one night to see the MK fireworks. But then our other two days we spent half days going back to our favorites in each park. That was so much fun. We wouldn't have been able to do that without the hopper obviously.
It was also great to be able to go where we wanted to see the fireworks and Fantasmic and the parades if we missed one.
One thing that surprised me the most was how full our days were. I had thoughts of spending a few hours in the afternoon relaxing, etc. but when you factored in the time it took to shuttle back to the hotel and back to the parks, most days we didn't do that.
I really feel our money spent on the hopper option was so worth it!

 

[LovePug]

I'd definitely get the 7 day just because it's only $3 more and it leaves you the option of popping into a park for just fireworks or dinner, etc. Even if you don't use a day or two, it's $3 . If you do decide you'd like to just pop into a park on a whim and you only have the 4 day, you'll kick yourself. Have a great time!