Would you buy the 10 day no expiration...

[katied]

I'm trying to decide on my ticket purchase for our Jan trip. I have an AP, so I'm set, but DH and DS need tickets.

Option 1 buy for this trip only - $280 for DH and $250 for DS - total $530

Option 2 buy for 2 trips (10 day no exp) - $498 for DH and $460 for DS - total $958 (or $479/trip)

I know I save money with option 2, but it seeems painful to shell out almost $1000 on tickets. Also, it may be 2 years before we go back. DH wants to go to Disneyland next.

What would you do?

 

[Kat&Dom]

I'm trying to decide on my ticket purchase for our Jan trip. I have an AP, so I'm set, but DH and DS need tickets.

Option 1 buy for this trip only - $280 for DH and $250 for DS - total $530

Option 2 buy for 2 trips (10 day no exp) - $498 for DH and $460 for DS - total $958 (or $479/trip)

I know I save money with option 2, but it seeems painful to shell out almost $1000 on tickets. Also, it may be 2 years before we go back. DH wants to go to Disneyland next.

What would you do?

If you are going to do the No Exp - it makes sense to add the WP feature too - you will get 10 visits that you can use over several years which will be a big cost savings.

For me, I decided to go with the 10 day, no exp, PH with WP option. We stay off-site and don't just focus on Disney. It costs a lot of money at the time but it makes for future visits to be so much more affordable. When we went in April, I had a AP and a 7 day child ticket that I had redeemed through a rewards program for my son so I upgraded him to 10 day NE, PH with WP. We used 5 PH days of it so have 5 PH days and 10 WP visits left on it.

We have another trip planned in November and we are staying on-site for 2 nights and off-site for 4 nights. We plan on 1 PH day and 1 day at MVMCP and 1 day at WP. We are also doing SeaWorld and Universal for a day each. I have a 5 day base ticket for me that I got for free through the rewards program so will upgrade to 10 day NE, PH with WP. We have annual pass for SeaWorld so no extra cost there. I am redeeming points for Universal tickets so just have to pay parking there. Only cost outside of upgrading my ticket to 10 day NE is buying the MVMCP yet we are able to do so much.

After this trip, we will have 4 days PH and 9 WP visits left for my son and I will have 9 day PH and 9 WP visits left for me. It makes it very attractive for future visits to have our park costs covered. If one is staying on-site and only doing Disney, then it is a totally different scenerio but for us, it is a perfect way to do it. I figure over the next 5 years that the WP option will be covered by having chosen to include it on the 10 day NE ticket.

 

[katied]

The WP feature is great point. I never thought about that, but since DS is now 3 (and will be nearly 4 for the next trip), going to the WP will be a fun thing to do.

Also, if we do that, we may only use 4 park days and then our pass may last even longer.

Thanks! I'll go ahead and buy them.

 

[Kat&Dom]

The WP feature is great point. I never thought about that, but since DS is now 3 (and will be nearly 4 for the next trip), going to the WP will be a fun thing to do.

Also, if we do that, we may only use 4 park days and then our pass may last even longer.

Thanks! I'll go ahead and buy them.

Glad I could help - my son is 4 (turning 5 in September) so I know the WP will be something that we will need for all the future visits.

 

[katied]

Wow! I just priced the 10 day PH NE with WP, and it's only $50 more - that works out to $5 per WP visit - what a deal.

Thanks again.

 

[Kat&Dom]

Wow! I just priced the 10 day PH NE with WP, and it's only $50 more - that works out to $5 per WP visit - what a deal.

Thanks again.

I know - especially when you consider a one day WP ticket is $46 plus tax. I think that it would be reasonable that if the weather is good, a person would do 2 waterpark visits per trip so having 10 visits covers you for at least 5 trips or more. Huge savings! Have an awesome trip.

 

[njsweetP]

I bought our 10 WP & More, no expire tickets three years ago and am so glad I did! We have used them for our past 3 trip and plan on finsihing them up next year....did you go thru the mousesavers link for undercovertourist.com?

 

[Reedi]

It worked for us. We got the WP & more and used them over 3 trips. It is a bit much at once but it really does save you big bucks in the end. We enjoyed TL & Disney Quest on our "off days".

 

[2luvmickey]

I bought our 10 WP & More, no expire tickets three years ago and am so glad I did! We have used them for our past 3 trip and plan on finishing them up next year....did you go thru the mousesavers link for undercovertourist.com?

I did this very same thing! After two visits, I still have some park hopper days left and many water park days remaining too.

Yep, and I did the mousesavers.com link for the discount. I would highly recommend the 10 day no exp., especially since the prices tend to increase each August.

In the long run, you are shelling out the money now, but since you will have the tickets for future visits, that leaves more $$ to spend on other things (like upgrading resorts ).

 

[Cheshire Figment]

You numbers are a little off. And I can see that you are using hopper pricing.

Five day ticket is $280 adult but $247 child, total $527 (= $1,054 for two trips)

Ten day NE Hopper is $504 adult and $471 child total = $945.

A difference of $109 over the two trips.

The NE will also protect against a future price increase, but will tie up funds.

Adding the WPF&M option to any ticket is $52 per ticket.

Two important things to consider are that for an NE ticket to be worthwhile it has to cover two (or more) complete trips as even having to buy one additional day will wipe out all the savings and then some. And, of course, the WPF&M entries will remain until used, even if all the theme park days are used.

Also, as long as you hold a valid AP, you can purchase one-day water park tickets at the gate at a discount of approximately 10% from the gate price, for you and others with you.

 

[njsweetP]

Yes, rumor has it ticket prices are increasing the first Sunday of August, so if you can, get your tickets now.

 

[kirstenb1]

We just shelled out 2000.00 for 10 day n/e p/h for the 4 of us. I got a hand cramp signing the credit card slip!

 

[jessica52877]

The WP feature is great point. I never thought about that, but since DS is now 3 (and will be nearly 4 for the next trip), going to the WP will be a fun thing to do.

Also, if we do that, we may only use 4 park days and then our pass may last even longer.

Thanks! I'll go ahead and buy them.

I think that is smart thinking. I always buy 10 day and they normally last 3 trips, two week long and another weekend. I enjoy having a day off and then enjoying a water park another day. Plus on our day off DH and DS will sometimes hit Disney Quest while I walk around DTD with friends.

I also have contemplated using our tickets for DL. It isn't the best deal necessarily, but really if I average out what I pay per day it is a little cheaper then actually buying DL tickets. My one hold back is you have to switch it out daily (at the gate though I think) and I don't get the magic morning then.

 

[kkwis2]

We are thinking about doing the same thing: buying the NE park hoppers now for our trip next summer. It would be nice to get that expense out of the way now and be able to focus on paying for other things as the trip nears. We want to go to Sea World and maybe Universal this time, so we won't be spending all of our days at WDW anyway.

Is there anything else that should be factored in before we buy? Do some discounted packages requires purchase of tickets?

 

[aceys_h0ney]

Is there anything else that should be factored in before we buy? Do some discounted packages requires purchase of tickets?

Yes. Like the free dining offer that is out right now requires two day tickets for each person. However you don't have to use those tickets on that trip so you can still used the tickets you are thinking of buying now and saving the ones from the package for a future trip.

Disney math makes my head hurt but this 10 day no expiration with water parks might be a great option for my family.

To make sure I am understanding this, if we get the 10 day with water park option we will get 20 water park/fun quest entries per person? Then even when the park tickets are gone we can still use those water park entries? So lets say my family only goes to a water park twice on each trip we could spread those water park entries out for a lot of trips?

 

[katied]

I bought our 10 WP & More, no expire tickets three years ago and am so glad I did! We have used them for our past 3 trip and plan on finsihing them up next year....did you go thru the mousesavers link for undercovertourist.com?

Yes, I used the mousesaves link. When I think I can have the WP visits for 5 yrs (or move) covered, it does help with the initial spend.

 

[katied]

You numbers are a little off. And I can see that you are using hopper pricing.

Five day ticket is $280 adult but $247 child, total $527 (= $1,054 for two trips)

Ten day NE Hopper is $504 adult and $471 child total = $945.

A difference of $109 over the two trips.

The NE will also protect against a future price increase, but will tie up funds.

Adding the WPF&M option to any ticket is $52 per ticket.

Two important things to consider are that for an NE ticket to be worthwhile it has to cover two (or more) complete trips as even having to buy one additional day will wipe out all the savings and then some. And, of course, the WPF&M entries will remain until used, even if all the theme park days are used.

Also, as long as you hold a valid AP, you can purchase one-day water park tickets at the gate at a discount of approximately 10% from the gate price, for you and others with you.

I used the pricing from the moussavers link to undercover tourist. We will get at least 2 trips out of each 10 day ticket - DH cannot make it more than 5 (and generally only 3 - 4) theme park days. Our our last trip, he had a 6 day PH and only used 3 days of it. I took DS on my own a couple days to the parks. Also, DH will want to take DS to Universal for a day on our next trip, and I'll probably take DD (at 6 mo) to MK for some pictures or to DTD to shop for a bit that day. If DH continues to only use 3 - 4 days of his ticket each time, we could get even 3 trips out of his ticket.

 

[njsweetP]

Yes. Like the free dining offer that is out right now requires two day tickets for each person. However you don't have to use those tickets on that trip so you can still used the tickets you are thinking of buying now and saving the ones from the package for a future trip.

Disney math makes my head hurt but this 10 day no expiration with water parks might be a great option for my family.

To make sure I am understanding this, if we get the 10 day with water park option we will get 20 water park/fun quest entries per person? Then even when the park tickets are gone we can still use those water park entries? So lets say my family only goes to a water park twice on each trip we could spread those water park entries out for a lot of trips?

I believe if you buy the 10 day water parks and more with no expiration hoppers, you get the 10 water park entries per ticket..9 day = 9 water parks, 8 days = 8 water parks, etc. They do not expire even though you may have used all 10 days at the regular parks (Magic Kindgom, Epcot. etc.) and can be spread out over many trips. When I bought our 10 day tickets we only rec'd 6 water park entries, not 10. We have 3 park tickets left and 3 water park entries. Next year we will probably use our last 3 park tickets and still have our 3 water park entries to use either that trip over another trip. HTH

 

[Kat&Dom]

We are thinking about doing the same thing: buying the NE park hoppers now for our trip next summer. It would be nice to get that expense out of the way now and be able to focus on paying for other things as the trip nears. We want to go to Sea World and maybe Universal this time, so we won't be spending all of our days at WDW anyway.

Is there anything else that should be factored in before we buy? Do some discounted packages requires purchase of tickets?

If you are thinking of doing SeaWorld and know that you will get at least 2 visits in over a 2 year period - the 2 year annual pass is a good deal - it is $149 and includes parking plus you get 10% off food, shopping even the pearl diving. We bought the 2 year annual pass last year and went in August, then this past April and will go again in November. My son who is 4 loves it - he loves Journey to Atlantis as much as Splash Mountain - it is really nice to break up a trip with a visit to SeaWorld as it is a nice, fun and relaxing park. It is nice to get a Disney fix by having the PH NE tickets but also nice to visit the other parks too. It makes planning a vacation a lot easier when you have your entertainment costs already taken care of on a previous visit.

Don't buy the SeaWorld annual pass until right before you go on your trip though. I bought last July for our trip in August but my pass has a July expiry date. I thought it would be activated upon first use but it was activated on date of purchase.

 

[Kimmumum]

We always buy the non-expiring park hopping 10 day pass with 10 waterparks. It lasts us 4-6 visits (depending on what we do that trip). We bought this same type of ticket even when my boys were little and didn't like the waterparks. We still have waterpark tickets they can use. We figure now that they are 12 and 16 they'll want to go to the waterparks even more than the parks. We are starting to use them up

One thing we have found makes it easier to budget is to buy one ticket every couple of months instead of all at one time.