Earlier this year, before I made my annual trip to Orlando, I bought a 10-day pass to Walt Disney Wo

Earlier this year, before I made my annual trip to Orlando, I bought european river cruise a 10-day pass to Walt Disney World. The decision which pass to buy for a Disney World vacation can confuse and intimidate people, so I thought I'd walk you through how I decided to buy the pass I did. I hope this post might help you make the best decision on which Disney World pass is right for you.
A one-day ticket to a Walt Disney World theme park for an adult is pretty expensive -- $71. And Disney european river cruise does not offer the 2-for-1 and cola can discounts frequently found at other theme parks. Nor can you find discounted Disney tickets through consolidators, AAA offices and other off-site sources the way you could in the past. But that does not mean discounts are not available. You just have to buy a lot of days at Disney World to get them. I recommend buying tickets directly from Disney's website . That way, you can get your tickets in advance, saving valuable time by avoiding ticket queues european river cruise when you arrive at the park. Florida residents also can find ticket discounts available to them on Disney's site.
Disney World has branded its various ticket packages "Magic Your Way." You can buy a "base ticket" for one to 10 days, which gets you into any one of the four Disney World theme parks on each of those days. The ticket expires 14 days after its first use, and you cannot european river cruise use the ticket to go to more than one park on any given day. Here are the base ticket prices:
The "Park Hopper" option costs an additional $45 per ticket, no matter how many days you buy. And the "Water Park Fun and More" option costs a flat $50 a ticket, getting you unlimited admission to Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach, DisneyQuest and the Pleasure Island nightclubs for 14 days after the ticket's european river cruise first use.
The "No Expiration" option is a bit more complicated, as the price for that varies, based on the number of days that you buy. And the no expiration option does not apply to the water parks, if you buy that option too. Your ability to use your Magic Your Way ticket european river cruise to get into the water parks and Pleasure Island goes away after the first 14 days, no matter what.
Let's look at the cost per day for these Disney World tickets. If you look carefully, you'll see that after four days, each extra day at the parks costs just a couple bucks. Basically, after four days, they start just giving the days away. So if you buy the 10-day pass, you are getting each day's admission european river cruise for the ridiculously *low* price of $22.50. That's beyond Six Flags-level discounting.
So... buy the 10-day ticket, right? Well, not if you don't have 10 days to spend at Disney theme parks in a two-week period. Remember that unused days will expire. And that if you buy days that you do not use, the price per day for the days that you did use just goes through the roof.
So the best cost-per-day you can get with the no-expire option is $40.50. You can get a better cost-per-day if you buy at least seven days on the base ticket, and use them within two weeks of starting your visit. (The same is true if you add the park hopper option.)
The water park fun and more option adds $50 to a ticket, regardless of the number of days you buy. But a one-day water park ticket sets you back just $39, so you unless you plan on spending more than one day at a water park on your trip (or spending a day at a water park and an evening european river cruise in the Pleasure Island clubs, you are better off just buying those one-day tickets in addition to your Magic Your Way pass. If you are not into water parks, but like the PI clubs, you would need to spend at least three nights at PI to make the WPFM option worth buying, since the one-night club pass is just $22.
For me, I visit a couple times a year, spending european river cruise a day or two at WDW, hitting a just a few new or favorite attractions at a couple parks each day. I need the park hopper, european river cruise and with such short visits, I am not going to be able to get any decent per-day price unless I buy the no-expire option. If I want to go to PI or a water park, I buy a one-day ticket for those.
If it is your first time visiting Walt Disney World, and you don't know what you're getting into there, I recommend buying the four-day base ticket, without the park hopper and without the no-expiration option. Spend one day at each park, then either buy additional tickets for one of the Disney water parks of other area theme parks (Universal, SeaWorld) on the other days of your vacation. It's not the rock-bottom deal, but consider european river cruise the extra per-day european river cruise cost as your tuition in Disney vacation training. Find what you like, and if you decide that you want to return to Orlando, select a different package for your future visit.
I would not advise buying fewer than four days on a Walt Disney World ticket, due to the high cost per day. If you aren't a frequent Orlando visitor and have just two or three days to spend at the local parks, you will get better value for your money visiting Universal Orlando ($86 for two days) or SeaWorld ($54 for two days, buy online one week in advance) during that time instead. Try a Disney park on a one-day ticket, or set aside at least four days to visit Walt Disney World.
If you will be spending at least seven days at Disney World on your next trip, buy a ticket european river cruise without the no-expire option for the number of days you'll spend at the parks during your trip. Otherwise, if you plan to return to Disney at some point in the future, try to buy the 10-day ticket with the no-expire option, to lock in the lowest possible european river cruise price and guard against future price increases.
european river cruise I think this was very well done. I think your advice for experienced Visitors is definitely accurate. I was there two weeks ago with a one day hopper and visited all 4 parks and didn't feel like I missed anything. Got to Epcot gates at 9 am and came back to my car at 11 PM. It was a great day but wouldn't recommend doing it with kids or if you haven't been to the parks at least 2 times prior.
I would not sell the Park Hopper that short! Yeah, if you are going to spend a day at only one Park, then yes, but you never know if you decide to go and see one of the fireworks show at night. Also, if going to AK, chances are you are not eating dinner there. You can go to EPCOT or go to MK for extra hours. I would consider Park hopping if you are doing the magic hours or want to go to another park at night (especially in regards to AK)
June 2006 was our first (and only so far) trip to Disney World. european river cruise We were there for 11 days including arrival day and departure day. We stayed at one of the value resorts and got the 10 day park hopper ticket. I tell you, if we ever go back, I would do it the same way. What I liked about it is that we didn't feel rushed at all. We never set alarms to get up in the morning, when we got too hot or couldn't take the humidity, we just went back to our room and hit the park up later, especially with the extra magic evening hours on those nights. Being able to visit multiple parks on the same day was HUGE for us so I definitely recommend getting the park hopper option.
Great write-up Robert. the only thing I would add would be that if you live in Florida and make a trip to Disney and plan on going more than 3 times and want to park hop, get the Florida Seasonal Pass (that is of course, unless you are going in the summer which would be HIGHLY unadvisable). The Florida Seasonal Pass is only $230 which is cheaper than the 4+ day options with the park hopper. Then you have the option to come more often later the year.
Our family went two days after Christmas with a one-day park hopper and we went to all 4 parks in one day as well. It was actually an accident, european river cruise but at least we can brag about riding all the new rides in one day.
If there is a chance european river cruise that you will again return to WDW for a comparable stay within the year, you may want to look into the annual pass. We go a few times a year for at least 7 days at each visit. I found that if we even go twice, we save money and it's worth the difference.
Very informative, great article. We go often enough that an annual european river cruise pass is great. We also have the parking option on the pass which means we don't have to pay the $11.00 to park our car each time we go.
I agree with Mitchel european river cruise I live in Pennsylvania, european river cruise but I always buy season passes to any of the Florida parks. The reason for this is, I always plan my vacations for a two year period. I go the first year in July or August. The next year, I go in June, that way, I spread out the expense over two years not one. Also, I don't have to rush through a park I can go for 6 to 8 hours, and then leave to go do something else Plus you get all the perks like Mitchel mentioned, free parking, discounts and other goodies. I usually go for 10 days to 2 weeks each year. The only drawback, is you must go for 2 years to make it worthwhile. That's no problem for me, since I'm now taking my grandson down, which is the fourth generation I've taken to Florida since 1978.
The article was very written and takes a lot of the confusion out of buying Disney tickets. I'm pretty fortunate that I'm a Florida resident and there are discounts for us through AAA. While my daughter and I are Seasonal Passholders, my husband isn't and I just purchased european river cruise a one day pass for him through AAA. With taxes, the total was around $68.00. When the passes european river cruise expire, I won't renew, (time to take a break from Disney) but we've certainly gotten our money's worth from them.
We may take a break from Disney as well. We try to alterante between Busch/SeaWorld, Universal, and Disney. european river cruise Although, I've been pretty european river cruise dissappointed with universal the last annual pass time. Universal just doesn't give a flip about it's AP holders - but that's for another blog.