Theme park tickets - cost

[lbrannma]

Hi All...We (family of four) are planning a one week trip to the Orlando area (staying at the Reunion resort) in April. It's been difficult for me to find a comprehensive summary of theme park ticket options. We could buy passes in advance but that appears to lock us in for three or more days at the Disney resorts or the Universal Studios resorts. We would rather have more flexibility. In addition, it's difficult to compare the add-on features with each ticket (e.g. Fastpass, parking, perhaps meals).

Do the resorts/hotels in the area also sell tickets, maybe even at a lower cost than we would pay online?

We probably would like two days at the Disney parks and two days at the U. Studios parks.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[elaine]

you will pay close to full price for WDW tickets, no matter where you get them. You can add park hopper, waterparks later when at WDW, if you want, just make sure you have 1 day left. you cannot add on after the ticket is used up. you canb also add extra days, but a 3rd day is still about $70 more. Once you get to the 4th+ day, it's about $10 more per day to add. If you buy a ticket with PH, WP, etc. on it and don't use it, you cannot get a refund. IF you buy tickets in advance, you can make 3 fast pass reservations at 30 days out. If you are going before/after Easter, esp. before, WDW will be very crowded and you should make FP in advance. WDW does not have a meal add on. You pay for parking when you get to the parks.
For Univ., if you want to do the new HP stuff, you need a park to park ticket. No need to buy in advance, but having before you get to the gates will save you a lot of time, plus give you a slight online discount, and probably a slight discount at your resort. Univ has a front of the line pass, but it is $$$ person, likely $75+PP during Easter.

 

[tschwa2]

We have a place booked for Orlando at Easter and are struggling with the same issues. I almost immediately decided against trying for any kind of Disney visit. Looking into Universal for 2 or 3 days tops and even that seems prohibitively expensive and looks to be too crowded not to do some kind of front of the line pass. We just aren't looking to spend $900+ for 5 (not including food) for 2 days at a crowded theme park when 2 out of the 5 (DH and 97yo GM) do not like rides. Still looking into SeaWorld but ready to give up on that too and and just enjoy the resort and keep busy with other activities.

To the OP, I can't imagine getting 2 days Disney and 2 days Universal for less than $800 including only basic tickets and parking. If you pick one or the other (which still could include 2-4 different parks just in the same family of parks) for 4 days you might get it down to $600.

 

[bogey21]

I know nothing about Disney pricing. What I do know is that my Son and his Wife buy annual passes. My recollection is that their explanation was they go twice a year for about a week each time and that the annual passes are their best alternative. I don't know if they are right or not but I think this is what they told me.

George

 

[VegasBella]

I'm in Orlando now for the primary reason to avoid the crowds. I personally would not touch anything Disney during a prime season. Just too crowded for me. Even during off season we're waiting to go til it's weekdays to avoid crowds.

As for costs, the best people to talk to about that are the kind people at DisBoards. They have great info.
Also check http://www.mousesavers.com

I found for my family of three that the best option was simply to buy 3 tickets for 3 days plus magicbands online and that's it. I made a restaurant reservation for one day as soon as I could - this restaurant meal will give us an opportunity to meet many characters and really make my little one's day. I booked fastpasses at 30 days out exactly because they fill up. (People staying at Disney resorts get to book them 60 days in advance.) I'm the only one in the family who likes thrill rides so we just don't do them. I booked us things I knew we'd all enjoy like slow rides and experiences.

One thing you can do to shave off a few dollars is to get a Disney credit card and use that for meals and souvenirs - you get a discount. Plus when you sign up there's often a bonus of $50 - $100 cash back. So that's a little trick we used.

Parking is just what it's going to be. You could save that money by staying on site at a Disney resort but all in all the cost probably isn't worth it. Your resort may have a shuttle that might save you the parking costs.

 

[LannyPC]

You can also buy discount tickets at Orlando-area Wal-Marts. It might save you about $5 per person per day but, hey, it's a discount plus you don't have to stand in line for tickets at the theme park gates.

 

[Talent312]

Mousesavers recommends www.undercovertourist.com for ticketing.
They have a decent display of options and planning tips.
They also offer a 1% rebate through www.ebates.com

You could also check out AAA which has online pricing and minor discounts, mostly for dinner-shows.

.

 

[kwelty]

After retiring a couple of years ago, my wife and I bought Bush Gardens Annual passes for a little over $200 each. I think there are 11 parks this covers but we went to Williamsburg VA and Orlando/Tampa for several timesharing weeks and made many repeat visits to Bush Gardens, Seaworld and Water Country. Not only did we get unlimited visits but free parking and discounted meals.
Since Orlando and Williamsburg have a surplus of timeshares, rentals were very cheap-often just $200 through RCI. And with the cost per visit very low with the passes, we enjoyed some very cheap vacationing. Not quite the same league as Disney and Potter but for us, it worked really well.
The annual pass for Colonial Williamsburg is only a little more than a days pass and the visits we did there was a nice contrast to the theme parks.

 

[elaine]

wdw the week prior to Easter will be packed, the week after Easter still crowded but less so. You MUST make FP in advance for 3 rides. We usually make fp for noon and later and go by 9 am. It will not be crowded until 11am and later, so we stand in line from 9-12, then do 3 fp rides and then walk around, shop, etc. and leave early back to resort. This works pretty well.
Seaworld is the best deal. If I wanted to avoid crowds, but still have a park to go to , I would get SW annual pass for under $100 and go each day for a few hours--early AM or 2 hours before they closed. Univ will be super crowded as well. We prefer WDW, as we can make 3 free FP vs. Univ long lines. We are not paying for front of the line for 5 persons, plus it's not good for certain rides or HP stuff.

 

[JPD]

Have you looked into the Discovery Cove tickets? We find that they are the best ticket these days. Last year we paid about $225. per ticket, included is one trip to Discovery Cove, reservation needed, and up to 14 days once you activate the tickets, to Seaworld, Aquatica, and if you pay the extra cost around $25. you can also go to Busch Gardens in Tampa. So that's 4 parks for about $225. not sure of the price right now. Kids loved Discovery Cove and at D.C. only, all meals and snacks, and drinks are included with your ticket.

 

[Bailey#1]

Hi All...We (family of four) are planning a one week trip to the Orlando area (staying at the Reunion resort) in April. It's been difficult for me to find a comprehensive summary of theme park ticket options. We could buy passes in advance but that appears to lock us in for three or more days at the Disney resorts or the Universal Studios resorts. We would rather have more flexibility. In addition, it's difficult to compare the add-on features with each ticket (e.g. Fastpass, parking, perhaps meals).

Do the resorts/hotels in the area also sell tickets, maybe even at a lower cost than we would pay online?

We probably would like two days at the Disney parks and two days at the U. Studios parks.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

What are the age group of your family? Check out the park hours for your stay. I find that the crowds thin out after 4-5. If MK is open to 1 am or later maybe head to the parks later, and set your fastpasses up in the afternoon. When its crowded I usually go to the early morning opening then around 11 leave, and rest up at my resort for 4-5 hours, then come back later in the afternoon and stay till closing. Learning the fastpass game is a must for crowded days. I usually rest the next day! before starting another commando day.

 

[Bailey#1]

We have a place booked for Orlando at Easter and are struggling with the same issues. I almost immediately decided against trying for any kind of Disney visit. Looking into Universal for 2 or 3 days tops and even that seems prohibitively expensive and looks to be too crowded not to do some kind of front of the line pass. We just aren't looking to spend $900+ for 5 (not including food) for 2 days at a crowded theme park when 2 out of the 5 (DH and 97yo GM) do not like rides. Still looking into SeaWorld but ready to give up on that too and and just enjoy the resort and keep busy with other activities.

To the OP, I can't imagine getting 2 days Disney and 2 days Universal for less than $800 including only basic tickets and parking. If you pick one or the other (which still could include 2-4 different parks just in the same family of parks) for 4 days you might get it down to $600.

You are vacationing with a 97 GM, "good" for you and "good" for her. I like hearing about families like yours! My only recommendation for you is a freebe. Go to the Grand Floridan Resort in WDW around 3-4 pm. In the main building the piano player starts playing and after that the Jazz band plays. You may want to make a late lunch reservation at the Grand Floridian Cafe so you can park at the resort. Afterwards, go explore the resort grounds and the docks. There a nice free boat ride that goes from GF to the Poly resort to MK and back to the GF and you can take the Mono from
GF to MK to Contemporary to the Poly back to the GF for free. You can earily spend 5-6 hours just doing that.

 

[VacationForever]

I don't know that much about the theme parks as I have only visited a few times. The last time we were in Orlando, we repeatedly said no to owners' "update" at Sheraton Vistana Resort, then we were offered huge discounts off park passes. We relented, went for owners' "update" and saved almost $300 for the 2 of us. Not recommending this route but it worked for us.

 

[jlp879]

Making a trip to the theme parks in Orlando take a lot of advance planning. I always chuckle when I see Disney park ads on TV that make it look like everyone is having a carefree, easy time. Wrong. A trip to WDW requires quite a bit of advance planning if you are going to get good value out of your tickets.



Yes, you will be locked into a 2, 3, 4 or more day ticket. However, you need to know what you want to see park-wise and when you want to see it. Disney posts their park opening hours online months in advance so you can see what park you want to be in on what day.



There are 4 Disney parks. Easy; plan for one park per day and buy a 4 day non-park hopper ticket. Parkhoppers cost extra and require you do a lot more running around. Not so easy with a 97-year old. Disney parks are a lot better for multi-generational trips than Universal. I have teenagers, we absolutely love Universal. However, when grandparents are around, we can do more rides all together at Disney and take in lots of shows and musical opportunities. Universal has much less of that. Sea World would be better if thinking of how to include Grandma and do more as a family.



You need to have your tickets ahead of time, especially for Disney, because that is the only way you can book a Fastpass. Since you’re traveling at peak time, Fastpasses are essential.



Don’t pack too much into your week if you don’t want to wear out Grandma (and yourself). When we go with grandparents, our schedule is day on/day off for theme parks.



Some background reading and good sites to get you started:

http://www.disneytouristblog.com/disney-world-trip-planning-guide/

http://allears.net

http://www.mousesavers.com

http://www.disboards.com



A great book to check out from your local library is The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World by Bob Sehlinger.



Here are some websites that sell tickets to Orlando attractions:

https://www.undercovertourist.com/orlando/4-park-magic-ticket/

https://www.mapleleaftickets.com/disney-world-tickets-help.htm

https://parksavers.com/product-cate...orderby=popularity&perpage=-1&campaign=wdwall



I know it seems overwhelming, but the time you put in planning now will pay off in spades when you’re in the parks.

 

[VegasBella]

OK chiming in again because I remembered a few things...

One way to save some money on park tickets is to buy Disney gift cards at your local supermarket with a high cashback credit card (for example I have an AMEX that gives 6% back at grocery stores so I used that) and then use the gift cards to buy your park tickets. Read up on how to do it - it's a reliable way to "save" 6% or so.

Regarding fastpasses...
The way we did it is I linked our tickets to magic bands (that I purchased a while ago) and then scheduled fastpassess as early as possible (30 days out if you're not staying on property and 60 days out if you're on site at Disney). I chose the most popular attractions that are the things we want to do (my family isn't up for anything with big drops just yet). Then we arrived when the parks open and go straight to whatever ride/experience we want to do that is most popular even if we have a fastpass for it already. Since this was our first time, we then decided if we wanted to do it again (keep a fastpass) or not. If not, I rescheduled that fastpass immediately from my smartphone for something else we wanted to do.
After you do your 3 fastpasses you can schedule more. So while you're in line for your last fastpass you can schedule another one from your phone. We did that in all three parks to get a total of 6 fastpasses in Magic Kingdom, 4 in Hollywood Studios (could have done more but we spent 2 hours at a special breakfast), and 4 in Epcot. Anyway, my point is that there are two fastpass strategies. The one mentioned above by some people is to get them set for the afternoon and spend the AM doing lines since many will be shortest in the AM and you will have the most patience then too. But my strategy was to get the fastpasses as early as possible in the day and then run through them and schedule more from my phone on the go. My son got so used to it that he really didn't understand why we ever had to stand in line - I may have spoiled him!

 

[Deb & Bill]

If your GM doesn't use a wheelchair, make sure you rent one from an offsite company so you'll have it at the resort, at the bus stop and at the park. They do have some to rent at the parks, but they might be gone when you get there.

I also recommend Undercover Tourist. They have all sorts of tickets for all the theme parks in Orlando and Tampa.

 

[Jan M.]

Hi All...We (family of four) are planning a one week trip to the Orlando area (staying at the Reunion resort) in April. It's been difficult for me to find a comprehensive summary of theme park ticket options. We could buy passes in advance but that appears to lock us in for three or more days at the Disney resorts or the Universal Studios resorts. We would rather have more flexibility. In addition, it's difficult to compare the add-on features with each ticket (e.g. Fastpass, parking, perhaps meals).

Do the resorts/hotels in the area also sell tickets, maybe even at a lower cost than we would pay online?

We probably would like two days at the Disney parks and two days at the U. Studios parks.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

The best price I've found on tickets is from tickets2you.com and if you go to their website you can see the different options. You can set up a Disney account for yourself and link these tickets to the account to make your Fast Pass picks. Also load the Disney app onto your phone or iPad that you will take into the Parks with you.

To get the best use out of your Disney tickets it is important to make the best use of the Fast Pass picks. You can make 3 for each day and you want to make them for as early in the day as you think you can be there. If you cannot make one of them don't let it "expire". Go into your Disney account and change that pick to something else at a later time even if it is just something to hold it until you can look over what else is available because if you let it expire you don't get to pick something else to replace it. Once you have used all three you can make another one or maybe it is two now at a time. You can use the app on your phone or iPad to make your picks without having to find a kiosk. You can make the additional pick as soon as you have scanned your tickets or magic band for the last of the first 3 picks, and can even do while you are standing in the line for that last ride.

The first Fantasmic light show at Hollywood Studios tends to get filled up when the Park is busy but on the nights when there is a second show it is usually easy to get into without having to use a Fast Pass pick. The light show at Epcot is worth using a Fast Pass pick for as it gets you into a much better viewing area. Most people don't use a Fast Pass pick for the Magic Kingdom fireworks.

Hope this helps and you have a good time.

 

[VegasBella]

If you are going to Disney then you really do want to buy your tickets in advance. Unless you really don't care about any of the attractions and waiting in line then you need fastpasses, which don't cost any money but IMO it's best to get your tickets in advance to line up the fastpasses.

 

[elaine]

SW annual pass at under $100 is the cheapest and you could go for a few hours multiple days, in the AM or 2 hours before closing to avoid crowds. WDW with free FP+ is the next best thing, IMHO. Univ pass is OK, if you go for a few hours in AM and then back at 6pm. Univ is more of a day park, and lots leave at dinnertime.

 

[paxsarah]

Disney currently has a new(ish) 4-park ticket that costs less than the other 4-day options. The catch is that you can only use it to go to each of the 4 parks for 1 day each - so not two days at MK while skipping another park, etc., and no park hopping. But if one's vacation plans were leaning toward four park days anyway, it would be a good option at a value price.

 

[elaine]

parts of April around Easter are blacked out on this ticket.

 

[silentg]

For the 4 day ticket, you have to be a Florida Resident

 

[vacationhopeful]

My personal favorite ... get an adult relative to travel with you to help with the kids ... and to enjoy some quality adult (H&W) time.

Else, you will need a vacation after you get back from Florida.

 

[elaine]

IT is a special 4 day, open to anyone, but have to purchase by March 5. April 10-21 blacked out.

 

[WatsonC2]

Not directly related to where you stay but did the park over Easter in 2014 and were surprised to find all of the local grocery stores closed on Easter (bible belt). We ended up fighting with the other tourists over the last string cheeses and yogurts at a gas station mini mart .