Information About Disneyworld

Hi D.! Here's hoping you have a wonderful trip to the World....I'm wishing some pixie dust your way!!

Unfortunately, if you are planning on only getting a 2 or 3 day park hopper, you will not find many discounts. The discounts don't really happen unless you buy 4 or more days. A pretty reputable broker, Maple Leaf tickets, is one set up this way. DO NOT under any circumstances buy anything listed on Craigslist or Ebay. Many, many people have been scammed this way - imagine the horror of paying for your tickets, getting to the turnstiles & finding they don't work, then paying again for the real thing!!

Some of the little booths scattered around Orlando are OK to use - they sell magazine subscriptions, timeshares or local retaurant coupon books and then you can get reduced Disney tickets. I personally wouldn't want to spend 2 hours listening to a timeshare presentation to get discounted park tickets, but maybe you would?

AAA is a good option if available and many websites can give you some good ideas. My favorite is www.wdwinfo.com and their partner message board site www.disboards.com. You will find a section on there called the Budget Board and another section called Codes and Rates that may help with your specific dates. The guys who own this site also have a travel agency called Dreams Unlimited that is really great to work with.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Disney can and will change their park admission at will. Usually rate increases are in the spring, but it can happen at any time really. If you wanted to order your park tickets in advance from www.disney.com, you will pay whatever today's prices are - even if they have a price increase between now and June. This is what I usually do - buy them in advance to get a few dollars off.

Think also about what you intend to do during the trip. Do you really need a park hopper? You can save alot by not getting a park hopper. A 3 day Magic Your Way Base ticket for an adult runs 67.67 per day. The park hopper option adds 15.00 per day to that price; it adds 22.50 per day to a 2 day MYW Base ticket! You will save between $50-100 per day just by choosing one park to visit each day and not hopping in between. And if you have ever been to WDW before, you know that you can easily spend a full day at each park - just walking around, not counting waiting in lines or waiting for shows/parades to begin!

And yes - you will be buying 3 adult tickets and one child. A child at Disney is 3-9 years of age.

Feel free to PM me or send an email if you want some more insight to the World! As an official founding member of the Mickey Mom's Club,.....I love to talk anything Disney!

We went to Disney in 2004. I bought our Park Hopper tickets before we left for our trip at the Disney Store in the mall. That way we didn't have to stand in line at the parks. Something else that people didn't tell me until after we came home, whatever you do, don't go to Magic Kingdom on Friday through Monday. That's when most out-of-towner's are there and they hit the Magic Kingdom on those days. If at all possible do your other parks first and save Magic Kingdom for Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. If you plan on having any character meals (certain restaurants throughout all the parks take meal reservations {breakfast, lunch & dinner}), you need to call 1-407-WDW-DINE ###-###-####). If you have girls (especially the 9 yr. old) I would suggest dinner in Cinderella's Castle. Make your character meal reservations and then plan your itinerary around your meals. Example: if you go to dinner at Cindy's castle on Wednesday eve. then spend Wednesday at the MK so you don't have to scramble to another park to get to your meal. Also, go to Disney.com and order the FREE Vacation Planning CD. It's very imformative.

I'm jealous, we're planning on going back next year. By then we'll have a 10 yr. old and a 5 yr. ols (both girls). Now that I know a little more, we're going to experience a lot more and actually do a more specific itinerary. Good luck planning!

We actually went to Orlando in Sep. 2006 and we looked EVERYWHERE to find discounted tickets. Disney does not do coupons or discounts other than what they offer. So you are pretty much left with their website. They do have deals that you can get that make your tickets good forever, which is what we did. It's a much better deal. If you choose to do SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, or Universal parks there are coupons out there for that. Good luck!

Two good sources for information on DisneyWorld, including discounts are AllEars.net and Mousesavers.com

We went to Disney in Sept and both of these sites helped save me some money and time.

Hope you have a wonderful time!

Hi D.,
Just to add to Chrissie's info: My husband and son and I are going to Disney this May. Ticket prices will go up on May 21st, therefore purchasing them now, would be your best bet.
Also, as she suggested, question do I want the park-hop option or can I pocket that money and stick with the one park per day plan?? Also, The tickets do become cheaper when you buy them as a package and with multiple days. I just pulled up www.disneyworld.disney.go.com, tickets for the 9 year old start at $60. for day 1 and go down to $30.17 on day six, for anyone over 10, meaning 11 and up price starts at $71 to $36.17 for each by day six. You get the idea. Also if you stay in the resorts discounts will apply as well, like if you stay at an economy resort and pay $99. per night, your park tickets are discounted as well. The out-of-park hotels are always alternatives savings for your family as well. We were originally staying in the resort, but were offered a time-share, therefore we will get to save on food cost too. Another money saver: Disney will allow you to bring picnic food in the park, a nice plus. There are saving web-sites out there, and saving book ideas at the library about Disney, but none of these are supported by Disney and as one mom listed you may just end up being ripped off, so be aware.
My thoughts on the price per day of tickets is this: $71 for an adult at Disney is really an awesome deal considering some of the prices I have paid for other amusement parks, what you receive at Disney is sooo much better and sooo much more worth the price. Disney really does their best to offer multiple discounts for families at various accommodating rates, it just gets overwhelming when you go though the web-site. You may have enough time to get their free CD, but also take a moment to talk with a rep, they are very friendly.

I do have an FYI about June, though, and the Disney Reps will tell you this as well. I clause this by saying: unless this has changed in the last year: June is Gay and Lesbian Pride month at Disney World. My husband and I are not homo-phobic (due to some friends and my Sociology degree) but we are not ready to expose and/or explain those choices to our son at this time in his life. Basically what this means is GL's and groups according are given free passes to the park at this time of the year.
If you and your family are okay with this, then just be sure to purchase your tickets prior to May 21st.
I hope all of our info's have provided you a great fairy-dust path to Disney World---we Can not Wait until May 6th, oh and Sunday to Thursday passes are cheaper too.
Check out the Disney Calendar.
Good Luck, Have a Great Vacation!!!! M. N.

I heard that if you sign up or are a member of triple A, you can get great discounts. A friend of mine did it last year!