WHEN to buy tickets and reserve park entry?

[kandlsutton]

Arriving Dec 11 for Riviera for 1st DVC trip! Let the planning begin...

All parks are currently available the entire week. The 11th and 18th are travel days, but not sure of details (flying or driving, early or late) yet. I know capacity is limited due to COVID and December is a long way away, BUT.. I would like to get 3 APs for return trip in May 2022. APs are not currently available. Also need 4 additional tickets (no return trip for rest of the family). Considering purchasing 6-day base tickets and upgrading later.

Couple of questions:
1. WHEN do I need to purchase tickets? Assume soon so that I can reserve parks for our stay, but big purchase and would like to spread out costs and maybe buy gift cards with Target Red card to save 5%.
2. WHAT type of ticket - base or park hopper? Lower initial price for base but will likely want park hopper for EPCOT dining (assuming dining has resumed to normal levels).
3. Is 6 days enough? Does a 6 day ticket allow ONLY 6 park reservations?
4. Any hints of ticket price increases?
5. Should I wait for APs to return?
6. Buy discounted tickets or direct? Does it matter when upgrading?

These park reservations are complicating my planning, especially with COVID keeping things in flux. Thanks!

 

[Robo]

Arriving Dec 11 for Riviera for 1st DVC trip! Let the planning begin...

All parks are currently available the entire week. The 11th and 18th are travel days, but not sure of details (flying or driving, early or late) yet. I know capacity is limited due to COVID and December is a long way away, BUT.. I would like to get 3 APs for return trip in May 2022. APs are not currently available. Also need 4 additional tickets (no return trip for rest of the family). Considering purchasing 6-day base tickets and upgrading later.

Couple of questions:
1. WHEN do I need to purchase tickets? Assume soon so that I can reserve parks for our stay, but big purchase and would like to spread out costs and maybe buy gift cards with Target Red card to save 5%.
2. WHAT type of ticket - base or park hopper? Lower initial price for base but will likely want park hopper for EPCOT dining (assuming dining has resumed to normal levels).
3. Is 6 days enough? Does a 6 day ticket allow ONLY 6 park reservations?
4. Any hints of ticket price increases?
5. Should I wait for APs to return?
6a. Buy discounted tickets or direct?
6b. Does it matter when upgrading?

These park reservations are complicating my planning, especially with COVID keeping things in flux. Thanks!

1. Not for quite awhile. Maybe July, or so, I'd guess would be OK.
We just don't know what the economy and/or covid regulations will do.
2. If you're not sure you will need to hop, then buy a base ticket (and that can be upgraded, if need be.)
3. Entirely up to you. Depends on your needs/wants.
4. None whatsoever.
5. See #3.
6a. You could save some money if you buy discounted.
6b. You can upgrade a discounted ticket.

 

[plutolovr]

Historically, Disney raises ticket prices once a year. Don't be surprised if they raise them soon, maybe February or March.

 

[Farro]

I always say ASAP.

Really though, if you've got the money I would buy sooner rather than later, if anything just to get them before a price increase. You can always add hoppers later!

 

[OurDogCisco]

I'm new to traveling to WDW during Covid. How can you tell if a day is sold out or not.? I looked and it said I couldn't go further without purchasing tickets. We are going during December too.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

I'm new to traveling to WDW during Covid. How can you tell if a day is sold out or not.? I looked and it said I couldn't go further without purchasing tickets. We are going during December too.

Here is where to see what parks are available on which days: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/a...ts&int_cmp=ILC-AdmissionCalendar_TicketConfig

 

[lanejudy]

I'm new to traveling to WDW during Covid. How can you tell if a day is sold out or not.? I looked and it said I couldn't go further without purchasing tickets. We are going during December too.

All green means that all 4 parks are available.
Yellow (like Oct. 1) means only some park(s) are available -- and below the calendar lists the parks with either a green check-mark (available) or a red "no" symbol (unavailable). In the screenshot below, MK is unavailable on Oct. 1, 2021.


Right now, I think Oct. 1 is the only day with limited availability for Resort guests and off-site guests without APs. There are a few days within the coming week with limited availability to APs.

 

[Akck]

We planned a December trip a year ago. At that time, I think February was the month most predicted prices would be raised. So we went ahead and got our AP vouchers and my son got discounted 7 day tickets at the end of January. Ticket prices were raised I think the middle of February and we all know what happened with AP availability. So we felt lucky when we bought tickets and ended up activating our AP vouchers in September as we canceled a Disneyland trip and replaced it with a WDW trip (cost actually cheaper than DL trip because of APs).

 

[nkereina]

3. Is 6 days enough? Does a 6 day ticket allow ONLY 6 park reservations?

A 6 day ticket means 6 park reservations. You don't need a park reservation for park hopping currently. I personally would purchase PH passes for the added flexibility. But anything could change with how this operates between now and December.

4. Any hints of ticket price increases?

Not currently. I do think it would be audacious to raise ticket prices now when everything is limited and they're trying to entice people to come. But, they did just announce the end of DME so anything really goes. Personally, I think when things are a little closer to normal, they may do a price increase (on everything) because they're going to need to recoup a lot from the losses of 2020 and 2021.

 

[kandlsutton]

Update - annual longevity check received!

I found discounted tickets at UT, 4 day base ticket with 2 extra days, for $565.04. Disney direct 6 day base ticket is $587.42. If I buy disney gift cards with my target red card, I save 5%. This reduces the disney direct price to $558.05.

So Disney direct tickets cost a little less, though not a significant difference. I think I am more comfortable with getting a refund from Disney if our trip needs to be rescheduled. Upgrading to park hoppers or AP (for 3 of us), if available, might be less stressful.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[Robo]

1. I think I am more comfortable with getting a refund from Disney if our trip needs to be rescheduled.

2. Upgrading to park hoppers or AP (for 3 of us), if available, might be less stressful.

Thoughts anyone?

1. Tickets bought from Disney are non-refundable unless they are booked as part of a WDW Resort Package.
2. Upgrading is less complex and less "risky" than "over-buying" features that you may not need.

 

[kandlsutton]

1. Tickets bought from Disney are non-refundable unless they are booked as part of a WDW Resort Package.
2. Upgrading is less complex and less "risky" than "over-buying" features that you may not need.

Yeah, I saw the non-refundable part once I got the tickets in my cart. We have typically purchased packages in the past. But you can modify the dates up until the first date of the ticket and the value of any unused ticket can be applied toward future tickets. Not going to WDW isn’t an option. As new DVC owners, we plan on at least 2 trips per year.

With UT, sounds like you have to get the snail mail tickets or you can’t change them..

Pre covid, we usually did park hoppers. But I’m waiting to see if there are will be any benefit to PH in December. Hopefully, APs will be available and we can upgrade when we get there.

 

[glocon]

Also, UT tix have tax included. I believe you still have to add tax to the WDW tix.

 

[holyrita]

We planned to go Dec 2020 but decided to cancel that trip for obvious reasons. We started planning that trip in February of 2020 and with rumored price increases (that happened right after we made our purchases) I purchased a discounted AP for myself from AAA and a discounted 7-day park hopper ticket from UT for my Mom.

Looking forward to this year () we have the exact same dates as you! The AP I purchased should be fine because it hasn't been activated yet, however the 7-day ticket appears to be a bit trickier. That ticket was extended for additional usage until September 26, 2021, but because we'll be going Dec 2021, I believe we have to exchange the ticket when we arrive in Disney and pay whatever difference there may be. The issue with that is I don't believe we'll be able to make our park reservations until we arrive in Disney

 

[lanejudy]

I believe we have to exchange the ticket when we arrive in Disney and pay whatever difference there may be.

Call. You should be able to upgrade over the phone. Then you can make park reservations before you arrive.

 

[katyringo]

Well we are going june 2022 and booked our package and already made park reservations. But I’m type A like that.

 

[holyrita]

Call. You should be able to upgrade over the phone. Then you can make park reservations before you arrive.

Oh amazing! Thank you I had no idea.

 

[kandlsutton]

Didn’t realize this before I purchased the gift cards, but only ONE gift card can be used per WDW ticket transaction!!! A couple of years ago I know I used multiple gift cards to pay down on my package.

I was on hold for 2 hours today trying to get to someone who could apply multiple gift cards on my ticket purchase for 7 people. So I spent the afternoon transferring funds between gift cards ($1000 max per card and 6 cards max on gift card website), purchasing 1 ticket at a time, transferring the remaining funds to another card, and on and on until I had 7 tickets purchased. What a pain - but I saved $205 and still $21 cheaper than UT.
Feel like I wasted an afternoon though...

 

[CTDisneygal]

Didn’t realize this before I purchased the gift cards, but only ONE gift card can be used per WDW ticket transaction!!! A couple of years ago I know I used multiple gift cards to pay down on my package.

I was on hold for 2 hours today trying to get to someone who could apply multiple gift cards on my ticket purchase for 7 people. So I spent the afternoon transferring funds between gift cards ($1000 max per card and 6 cards max on gift card website), purchasing 1 ticket at a time, transferring the remaining funds to another card, and on and on until I had 7 tickets purchased. What a pain - but I saved $205 and still $21 cheaper than UT.
Feel like I wasted an afternoon though...

Well, i guess you learn something new every day. Woah, that sounds like one heck of an afternoon. But at least they're purchased.

I don't typically purchase PH in advance, since it is so easy to do at Guest Services but that was pre covid so who knows