Disney World Blog Discussing Parks, Resorts, Discounts and Dining | Only WDWorld

Finding Cheap Walt Disney World Park Tickets

2009-06-17T14:48:00.005-04:00

It appears that everyone is searching for cheap Walt Disney World Tickets. The high cost of the theme park tickets to this popular Florida vacation destination leads to over 500,000 internet searches per month to find the best discounts on Disney World tickets.

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All of these different variations with one goal in mind: Paying the lowest price possible for Walt Disney World tickets.

What most people don’t realize is that with Disney’s current Magic Your Way ticket system the way to save money is not by finding the lowest cost ticket seller, but by planning your vacation so that you can get the best ticket deal.

Disney Park Tickets
Here’s how it works: Disney World sells tickets directly and they also sell tickets to legitimate resellers who buy blocks of tickets in bulk. Examples of legitimate resellers include: AAA and Undercover Tourist.

If you shop around you may be able to get at most 2% - 5% off of the Disney World price. If you see a price discounted more then you are probably not buying legitimate tickets. They are nearly impossible to detect before you get to the park gate and then you are out hundreds of dollars.

There is an easier way to save money on your Disney World park tickets.

Money Saving Strategy
The best way to save money on tickets is to understand Disney’s pricing system and plan your vacation accordingly.

Disney uses a tiered pricing system that depends upon the number of days that you plan to visit.

For 1 to 3 days you will average around $74 per day.

Starting at day 4 through day 10 you will see dramatic reduction in the per day costs for the tickets (see table below). By planning to visit Disney World for a minimum of 6 days and up to 10 during one visit instead of multiple shorter visits , you can save a lot of money.

For a family of 4, with 2 adults and 2 children between the ages of 3 – 9, the cost of tickets for one 6 day visit is $830 versus $1,564 for two 3 day visits.

The savings is $734. Also with the longer vacation, there is less need for the $50 person Park Hopper add on, that you would be tempted to add when you take the shorter trip and want to do everything. Add that to the original savings and you are talking about a total ticket savings of $1,134!

For each adult the per day rate for the 6-day trip is: $37.50; for the 3-day trip:$70.67 or $87.34 with Park Hopper option. The savings is 47% compared to the 3-day or 57% for the 3-day with Park Hopper.

Summary

If you want the best deal on Walt Disney World park tickets then plan your trip to be from 6 to 10 days and avoid paying extra for the Park Hopper option.

You will save far more money by understanding Disney’s ticket pricing and planning to use it to your advantage, then you will by comparison shopping discount ticket brokers.

Disney World Ticket Tips To Help You Save Money

2009-06-03T05:51:00.000-04:00

The tickets for the Disney World theme parks are one of, if not the most expensive portions of your vacation.

Here are some basic tips to keep in mind when you are looking to purchase your tickets:

Disney World does not offer much in the way of discounts on theme park tickets. The current system is called Magic Your Way.

They instead offer a tiered pricing system that favors longer stays. You get a much better deal for stays that are 4 days or longer. See table below:
For days 1 through 3 you average over $70/day. Starting with day 4 the average cost per day goes down dramatically.
You are much better off planning one 6 - 7 day trip instead of two 2-3 day trips.
The park hopping option costs $50 per ticket, no matter how many days you buy the ticket for. This really only makes sense for the longer visits. Otherwise save your money and don't get this option.
You can always upgrade your tickets at the parks, even after you have used them, as long as you upgrade within 14 days of initial use. If you are unsure about Park Hopper option, don't get it and add later if you really need it.
You can not downgrade tickets, or get refund for unused options. If not sure buy lower amount and upgrade when needed, no cost penalty to do so.
When you are ready to purchase your tickets, stay with a reputable ticket seller. There is too much money at stake for minimal savings.
I recommend these 3 options for buying your tickets:
- On-line with Disney World: http://www.disneyworld.com/
- Purchase through AAA either on-line or at local office
- Purchase through: Undercover Tourist at: http://www.undercovertourist.com/
There are a few other reputable dealers out there, but I have used these three and I trust them.

Once you understand how the system works you can make intelligent decisions that will help you save money.

For more ticket information go to: http://onlywdworldtickets.blogspot.com/

Disney World Magic Your Way Ticket Buying Tips

2009-03-19T06:02:00.008-04:00

When you plan a trip to the Walt Disney World Resort, the theme park tickets are often the most expensive component of your trip. It is important to understand how the system works so that you plan your vacation accordingly.

Sorting your way through the Magic Your Way tickets and choosing the best value for your family can be difficult if you are not familiar with the system.

Magic Your Way is Disney World's term for their ala carte system for purchasing theme park tickets, allowing you the flexibility to choose the number of days and types of options that you want to pay extra for.

Here is a table of current prices (without taxes) for Magic Your Way Base tickets:

If you look closely at the average cost per day information in the table you will see that it starts to go down dramatically starting with 4 days. Disney has made the park tickets extremely expensive for short trips.

The Base tickets allow you to attend one of the four Disney World theme parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, or Disney's Animal Kingdom) each day with unlimited entry and re-entry to that same park during that day's operating hours. The Base ticket also will expire 14 days after the use, which pretty much limits it to being used during only one trip.

With the ticket pricing strategy that Disney World has chosen, you are much better off scheduling one longer trip as opposed to two shorter trips.

With a budget in mind, it is usually in your best interest to skip the options (Park Hopper, Water Parks & More, No Expiration ) that are available. This is especially true is your are planning your first Disney World trip. There is plenty to see in the four main theme parks to fill your time, so there is no need to add the extra expense for these additional activities.

Best Value
Based upon ticket pricing alone, I would recommend an ideal trip length to be 6-7 days. This allows you to get to an average Ticket cost of around $35 per day vs the $70+ per day for the 3 day or less visit.

Where to Purchase?

A common question is where to purchase your Magic your Way Tickets. Since Disney World does not provide much in the way of park ticket discounts, there are limited options.

Here are the ways to get your best deal:
1. Check the pricing on the Disney Website ( http://www.disneyworld.com/) make sure you get the pricing with taxes, so that you have a good price to compare. Buying online is usually slightly less expensive than buying at the gate.

2. Check AAA. If you are a AAA member you should check their ticket pricing. They typically do not have the full range of tickets available, but you may be able to save a couple of dollars.

3. Check Undercover Tourist (see link on this website). They are one of the very few legitimate Disney World ticket resellers. I recommend them, but be very wary of any other reseller you find on the internet. It is very difficult to tell a fake ticket until you try to use it at the park entrance. As a general rule if the deal is too good to believe, you should stay away.

No matter which you choose the savings will be minimal. Disney World offers regular discounts on Resorts and packages, but not tickets.

Conclusion
When you are spending as much money as it takes to visit Disney World, it pays to do your homework and be prepared. The 6-7 day vacation length will dramatically lower your per day cost for one of the most expensive parts of your trip.

Later I will be posting advice for those who wish to consider puchasing the Magic Your Way Options.

Disney World Tickets - When Do Annual Passes Make Sense?

2009-01-30T06:18:00.014-05:00

Determining what type of park ticket to get for your Disney World trips can be a difficult decision if you are a frequent visitor. Not only do you have to look at all of the Magic Your Way ticket packages, you have to work the Annual Pass option into the mix.

Let's take close look at the numbers to help determine, when an Annual Pass makes good sense to buy.

All of the numbers that I am reporting are prices without tax.

The Annual Pass currently lists for $469.

Here are two tables of Magic Your Way ticket pricing for various options:

The green areas show where the totals are less than the price of the Annual Pass and the red shows when that option is more than the Annual Pass.

Breaking It Down

To get your money's worth, you definitely need to plan on taking 2 or more trips within a one year period.

In the 1st table you can see that if you get the Park Hopper option (which is built into the Annual Pass), the Annual Pass option is better than buying tickets twice, and is only a slight penalty compared to not buying the PH option.

The interesting comparison is in the 2nd Table. This looks at buying MYW tickets with the No Expiration option. If you plan on spending 10 or fewer days in the parks during the one year period, you are better off not buying the Annual Pass and just getting the number of days required with No Expiration during your initial trip for the year. The other positive with this choice is that if you have to delay or cancel your 2nd trip, your tickets do not expire and you can reschedule your 2nd trip at your leisure.

If you plan on spending more than 10 days in the parks within a 365 day period, then the Annual pass definitely is the way to go. The other benefit with the Annual Pass is that you are not afraid to "waste" a day in the parks by only going to a Park for dinner or just an hour or two. This is a nice option to have on your arrival or departure days. It can also make for a more relaxing experience so that you don't have to closely manage your days. That way if you initially planned to not go to the parks on a certain day and just go to the pool or shopping, you could change your mind or just go to the parks for a little while without any penalty.

Conclusion

If you plan on spending 10 days or less in the parks during a 365 day period or unsure if you will be able to take that 2nd trip, look closely at the MYW tickets with the No Expiration option. If you are spending more than 10 days go with the Annual Pass.

Sorting out the options for Magic Your Way Tickets

2008-12-10T06:00:00.004-05:00

One of the major expenses for a Walt Disney World vacation is the theme park tickets.

A couple of years ago Disney revised their ticket program into a confusing menu of ala carte and mix and match options to determine: What you can and can not do and How much it will cost you?

Walt Disney World Theme Park tickets are rarely discounted, and if they are it is only a small amount, so it is important that you only purchase what you really need.

Help is Here
Let me take this opportunity to help you sort out this mess that is called Magic Your Way ticketing.

Base Ticket
They start out with a base ticket. This allows you to choose one of the 4 major theme parks on the Disney World Property (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom) to visit per day.

The ticket is priced for the number of days that you wish to visit. The system is set up to encourage week long stays. It is very expensive for the 1,2,& 3 day versions. At day 4 you start to see a major reduction in per day fees. Days 5 through 7 are practically free. Once activated (by entering a park on the first day), the tickets will expire after 14 days.

The tickets are also linked to the initial user, so days cannot be shared.

Add-ons
Once you have determined your base ticket, then you can add options at a hefty premium:
Park Hopper: An additional fee to “hop” to multiple parks per day. Since this is a flat fee regardless of number of days, it is very expensive for short stays.

No Expiration Option: The ability to use part of the ticket this trip and save the used days for a future vacation. This option only makes sense if you always visit for short 1, 2, or 3 day stays. If you stay longer, then do not get this option.

Water Park Fun & More Option: Additional fee to visit Disney’s Water Parks for a certain number of times during your trip.

Cut to the Chase
For most people, the best option is to plan for a full week and get either the 6 or 7 night Base ticket only. This allows your stay to be long enough to reduce your per day rate and allow you time to visit each of the parks, thereby reducing your need for park hopping.

If you are on a budget I would definitely recommend avoiding any of the add-on options.

As always, do the math! Compare your choices and pick the best one for you.