Which tickets would you suggest?

[gbaz44]

Hi all

we have trip planned for July next year and were wondering what tickets you would suggest. We have 20 full days to play with plus until about lunchtime of departure day. We'll be in a villa with rental car.

We are a party of 5 - 2 adults, 14 year old, 5 year old (who is autistic) and a 4 year old.

So far we're looking at

Universal - 4 days.

Disney main parks - 7 days (maybe 8) plus the water parks for partial days.

Seaworld/Aquatica/Busch - 3 days.

I don't mind getting myself an annual pass for some of these if it's worth it - parking/discounts. It's starting to make my head hurt looking at the different ones available and then you factor in that you can get discount for guests on some of the annual passes. We're not as bothered about Wet'nWild but if it's included in something else...

We have about 6 and a half "rest" days built in but really some of these will be used for the water parks for a morning or afternoon (not a full day) and of course shopping. :

I'm already toying with 2013 but my contract is up shortly before this holiday and it will depend on whether I have a job

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[Disneymad]

Are you planning to eat many meals onsite at wdw during your trip?

An AP wouldn't be worth it alone for wdw for the number of days you're planning (though if you do find that your contract is renewed and go back in 2013, if you could plan that to fall just 2 weeks earlier then you'd be able to get 2 trips in one pass and it would likely be different), however as you're offsite an AP would get free parking (can't remember how much that is a day but it's substantial enough to add up very quickly) and also are entitled to get a Tables in Wonderland card for an additional $75 which gives 20% discount on restaurants - with a party your size it would only take a couple of character meals to break even, everything over that would be a saving though.

Add to that other (granted fairly limited) discounts on other things, you may find that it's worth buying an AP for one of your party just to access these extras.

It's something that you'd have to do the math on though.

Edit: Added link to Tables in Wonderland card.

 

[disneyholic family]

i would get the 14 day ultimates for WDW...that will give you unlimited access to all the parks at WDW - the 4 theme parks, the 2 waterparks and the indoor disneyquest....keep in mind that once you start using it, you have to use it for 14 days straight....so once you've started using it, it will expire 14 days later...
but since you're going for 20 days, and are planning on several days at universal, it seems the 14 day ultimate would be enough....
alternatively you could get the 21 day ultimates - so that you would be sure of being able to go into disney on any day of your trip...being the disneyholic that i am, that's probably what i would go for....but you could probably do ok with just the 14 day..

as for universal - i'm not familiar with their multiday passes....
i think there is a 14 day pass that's not much more than those for fewer days, but i'll leave the universal advice with the universal people..

 

[gbaz44]

If we were going to get an AP I think I'd only get one for myself as that way we'd get parking and food discounts. We'd be more likely to eat in parks if we were getting the discounts. The rest of the party could avail of other ticket offers.

Uncertainty about 2013 is why I wouldn't go for annual passes for everyone. And if it's cheaper to not do an annual pass then so be it.

Initially we'd been looking at 14 day tickets for each park so we had kind of planned to do universal/seaworld first and not start to use disneyland pass until second week. That way we'd have a crossover week in middle and last week would be all disney.

 

[zippy99]

We have bought the freedom tickets this year for £385 each which consists of:

14 Day Disney - 14 consecutive days after first use
2 Park Bonus Universal (IOA & Studio) 14 consecutive days after first use
3 Park Busch, Seaworld & Aquatica 14 consecutive days after first use

Allows you a nice split -

The price for next year for this ticket is £405 per adult and £360 for a child with Attraction Tickets Direct (they will also price match) (£1935)

Otherwise if you are a quidco person, you could buy the tickets from Attraction Tix for £410 adult & £ 373 (£1976 less 4% cashback = £1896)

We went with ATD as I could pay the 10% deposit - made the scary cost less painful!

It is worth shopping around and looking at the the combo packages ie Flex & Disney or Disney/Universal Combo + Seaworld/Aquatica/Busch.