Why buy the non-expiration feature?

[EEyorelover22]

On the other hand, my teenage son accompanied me to WDW last month for his spring break. Our maximum number of days for visiting a theme park was 8, so I bought him an 8-day expiring hopper for only $1 more than a 7-day hopper. He used all but one day, so I got my money's worth. There was no way I was going to spend $117.15 to add non-expiration for the one leftover day.

This is why I never found it good for us. We only have a day or two left and it doesn't seem worth it since I could get that one or two days by buying a 10 day ticket instead of a 7 day ticket for only a few dollars more the next time. Since we are there for so long, it doesn't make sense.

I can see some advantages though if someone has multiple trips, etc.

 

[goofyernmost]

Why do people buy the non-expiration feature on their tickets?

I know so they don't expire, but it is more cost effective?
Forgive me if my question seems dumb, but I've always wondered this and I don't know what the advantages are.

I can't speak for everyone but I can tell you why I do! I don't get to go anymore than once a year, if that, and I want to take advantage of the discounted price for multi-day tickets. If I bought an AP it would be a waste of money since I can't go that often. I bought a 10 day, park hopper, no expiration for just a little over $400.00. I used only three days of it this year. I still have 7 days left that I can use whenever I want and the daily cost for admission averages only $40.00 per day. I can use it 10 years from now if I wish and it will still only have cost me $40.00 per day.

If I were going for 10 days then it wouldn't make any sense to do that. So my guess is that it is people with similar situations to mine that make it a cost effective option.

 

[abner1776]

I am seriously considering the no-exp option simply because of the way in which we will be visting WDW. We just bought into DVC and I expect that we will visit WDW off and on over the next few years usually for 3-4 days at a time. Annual passes make no sense for us since we will not use them enough over a 12 month period. Also, buying a 3 or 4 day pass each time we go will end up costing us more and we fully expect that we will not want to go to a park everyday in which we are WDW. Therefore, having the no-exp option will allow us to skip the parks one day or without feeling pressured to "got to the parks cause the pass expires in 3 days." I like the flexibility of not having to go to the park if it's too cold or pouring outside. If instead, we were planning on going to WDW for 7 days at a time, then the non-exp option would not be as attractive. It all depends on how you plan to vacation at WDW.

 

[flechette]

My hubby and I are looking to buy into DVC and given we'll most likely start with visiting every other year the 10 day no expiring will work out cheaper for us. We usually visit WDW for 5 days and spend 1 day elsewhere.

5 day ticket with hopper + water parks
211.94+40+50 = 301.94

10 day tick w/hopper +water + non expir
223.65+40+50+135= 448.65

I get 5 more days for $146.71 : that basically makes the tickets for our next trip half price.

Not to mention you lock your ticket prices in. If we buy the 10 day ticket in 2006 and use half in 2008 I'm pretty sure there will have been a price hike or two

and for us - hubby is a member of the National Guard so we can get tickets at SoG for a slight discount (no tax- I think) the 10 day non expir are definitely the way to go for us!

 

[Corryn]

My two cents......
I still have hopper passes from 2000 with one day left on them. We always bring them with us thinking we'll use them, but then we wind up purchasing another hopper pass. We're going down again this fall, but I don't know whether we're going to use it this trip or the next one in April. If we do purchase separate tickets this fall, we're going to get the non-expiration feature because you never know what will happen and you can always use it another time.
It's too bad they're making us pay for this feature now when it used to be free.

My brother in law's best friend has worked for Disney in different capacities over the years (with computers) and his job the past few years has been over in Hong Kong getting their ticketing system up and running and working out all the bugs. He said that they still get very old passes (in all the parks) and they have to honor them. With so many different types of passes given over the years, and also their fingerprint ID scanning system, it has become a very complex issue. I guess that is one of the reasons why they have decided to start charging for the non-expiration feature, because it costs them so much to handle the old and the new and still be modern.

 

[MyZoeJane]

When we went in Jan the deal was that Disney added hopping and plusses for free. There was no way we were going to go to the waterparks in Jan and wouldn't have used any of the other plus perks so we decided to buy 10 day no expiration. We now have 6 days of hopping and 6 plusses to use on our next trips. It was worth the extra money then for the money we will save in the future.

HA! I was just gonna post that. I guess the fact that we went TOGETHER in January has something to do with it.

Hey, it's our first "meeting" on the Disboards! Thanks again for tipping me off about free dining! I'm looking forward to our 9.30-10/6 trip!

 

[Twinprincesses]

My dad always buys non expiring tickets. This way if someone decides they do not want to go to that parks that ticket does not go to waste.

 

[wtpntigger2]

HA! I was just gonna post that. I guess the fact that we went TOGETHER in January has something to do with it.

Hey, it's our first "meeting" on the Disboards! Thanks again for tipping me off about free dining! I'm looking forward to our 9.30-10/6 trip!

And the fact that you had no choice since we were all on the same reservation.

I really wish we had some days overlapping on this upcoming trip.

 

[huskies90]

There is a break even point where adding the no expiration makes sense. Obviously it also depends on if and when you are going back and how you want to tie up/utilize that cash.

But keep in mind that EVERYTHING can be added later - Water parks, hopping, extra days and the no expiration feature. So it always makes sense to buy the least amount of ticket and add on later (unless of course there is some kind of package discount like the free add-ons etc). Also, if you add on later, you pay is if you added on originally. So, if you bought a 10 day expiry ticket and only use 7 days you can add the non expiration but it will still cost $100 as if you did it at the beginning...In the Fall we were there 10 days but bought a 7 day ticket. After using the 7 days we added an extra day and it only cost the incremental 7-8 day difference. If we wanted to add the 10 day to be used for a later trip it would of cost a few bucks for the incremental days plus the $100 non expiration fee. Obviously, that was not worth the cost...

 

[Quinn222]

Another reason is that you lock in a price. The price of admission tends to go up every year. If you know for sure you're going again then you can lock in the ticket price for your next year's trip (or the one after) at this year's price. So not only did you get those days at a discount (because you bought them as part of a ten day ticket or whatever) but you also bought them at what is sure to be a lower base price.

 

[cgcruz]

Its seems though that WDW increased the price of the park hopper way too much this year. The difference now between a 7 day and 8-10 non-expiry tickets is crazy! When we go to WDW in august we will only hit the park 2 days, I might upgrade to a 7 day park hopper non expiry for like $68. Last year we upgrade our tickets from a 5 day park hopper to 10 day park hopper non expiry for $110 and it covered our trip this march. Now its like $145 for 10 day non expiry, wow! $100 savings is just not worth it to me and risk losing the tickets before our next trip. I think now you get the same plusses in a 7 day ticket as a 10 day, so thats not an extra perk. WDW is basically gonna keep on raising prices so people wont want to add the non-expiry.

 

[torinsmom]

Why do people buy the non-expiration feature on their tickets?

I know so they don't expire, but it is more cost effective?
Forgive me if my question seems dumb, but I've always wondered this and I don't know what the advantages are.

I bought my son and I, 5 day plus tickets. Cost was right around $500. We used 4 days on our trip and the cost to upgrade to 10 day non-expiring plus tickets was $320. So, in essence, I saved at least(considering ticket prices go up each year)$180 between the two of us for the next trip(s) we will take using these tickets. That is substantial to me and besides, I won't have to worry about buying tickets when we go back.

Marsha

 

[wdwguide]

I haven't done the exact math on the MYW tickets yet, so I don't know what the break-even point is, but many people like to lock in ticket prices so that they can enjoy future park visits at present-day prices - WDW admission prices generally outpace the rate of inflation by a comfortable margin.

 

[mousy_in_canada]

My question about adding on days once you get there
Can you add the non expiry to 5 day tickets and then a day or two later add 5 more days? Do you have to pay the additional non expiry price? the 1-800 I called for Disney said I did not but I wanted to check with you guys since sometimes we know more than them.
Thanks!

 

[Hollymom1229]

For DH and I the non-expiration 10 day no hopper makes the most sense. We do not park hop and we typically go to the parks on 5 days of each trip. So we would by a 5 day MYW basic pass for around $205, or we can get the 10 day MYW with no expiration for about $344. The 10 day lasts us two trips and saves us about $66 a person over two trips.

 

[shafke]

My question about adding on days once you get there
Can you add the non expiry to 5 day tickets and then a day or two later add 5 more days? Do you have to pay the additional non expiry price? the 1-800 I called for Disney said I did not but I wanted to check with you guys since sometimes we know more than them.
Thanks!

You would probably pay the difference between a 5 day non expiring and 10 day non expiring ticket...

Using round numbers here is what I think would happen...

5 day hopper, expiring ~ 250.00
add non expire to 5 day ~40.00

a 10 day non expiring hopper will run about 410 so you would need to pay the difference btween 410 and 290 or about $110.. ($10 for increase from 5 -10 days + $100 for the difference in 5 and 10 day non expiring cost).

 

[TLC371]

We get the non expiration feature, because first we have a timeshare off property that we stay at, and we go to Disney every year. We don't spend our whole vacation going to Disney parks, we'll go to Sea World, sometimes Universal, or we just take our time to see what else the area has to offer. We buy multi day tickets that don't expire, so we don't have to keep buying tickets every year, since we know we'll be back the next year.

 

[DadtheKid]

If we get the 7 day non-expiration and add water parks to that, does that mean that any of those 7 days, I can use it for water parks instead of the main theme parks (and that counts against the 7 days)? Or, are the water park days, in addition to that (so we would really have more than 7 days)?

Not sure why I would get the water park option for a non-expiration ticket, since the water parks are cheaper, unless they are for additional days (over and beyond the 7 days).

 

[seashoreCM]

Blizzard Beach during the day, Disney Quest at night, no other places visited -- Requires and consumes zero park days and two water park fun visits.

So for a 7 day expiring or non-expiring ticket, which comes with 6 water park fun visits, you could get up to 13 days of fun.

The general rule for non-expiration being worth it is when the remains of one or two tickets will completely cover some future vacation.

Non-expiration is usually not worthwhile unless at least three days will remain on a 10 day pass or at least two days will remain on a 7 day pass.

You can add days to a non-expiring pass but you pay the non-expiration rate of (about) $14. for the sixth day, $17. for the seventh day, $50. for the eighth day, $24. for the ninth day and $2. for the tenth day.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/dispass.htm

 

[LorieR]

I purchased 2 10-day hoppers with no expiration for our Nov. 2005 trip - total was approx $661 for both. We were there for 8 days and went to the parks 5 days. This year the price of 10-days hoppers with no expiration cost approx $803!!! We will be at POR in Nov. 2006 for 8 days again and will use the remaining 5 days (we also have 2 days remaining on old hopper tickets with no expiration from our 2004 trip). If we purchased 2 5-day hoppers this year for our trip with no expiration it would have cost us approx $500. If you plan on going back, and have the extra money at the time, I think it makes sense to buy as many days (that do not expire) as you can. The ticket prices, to my knowledge, have never gone down!

Lorie