Discounted Disney World Tickets

[ealimbuyao]

Please help me find a website for info on getting discounted Disney World Theme Park Tickets.

or.....

anything that will help allay the cost of Disney World Vacationing.


Thanks,
Ethel

[sweeps]

My first thought was AAA, they offer good discounts on Disney World tickets/packages. However, there may be better deals out there. I'm sure DisneySteve will have some suggestions.

[Aleta]

Go to myforida.com and click on to the visitors area and you will see alot of areas you can get into. You can also go to about.com and click on to theme parks and they have listings there. If you know where you are going to stay, you can email the Chamber of Commerce in lets say Kissimmee, or Orlando and tell them that you'll be visiting there soon and would like to have a travel package. It usually has alot of discounted offers , maps, and booklets with alot of coupons. If you know you are staying in Orlando, contact their Chamber of Commerce. Once you know the hotel where you will be staying; they will also by your request send you information and activities. Keep us posted.

[Hedy]

DisneySteve's the uber authority here-PM him if he doesn't see this thread.
Otherwise, sign up for the newsletter at Mousesavers.com (a great $ saving resource) for legitimate discount tickets. Mapleleaftickets.com also has reputable tickets.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by sweeps

I'm sure DisneySteve will have some suggestions.

Originally Posted by Hedy

DisneySteve's the uber authority here-PM him if he doesn't see this thread.

I see my reputation preceeds me. There are certainly worse things I could be known for.

Of all the costs associated with visiting Disney, tickets are the one that is hardest to save any significant amount on. Disney has pretty tight control over ticket prices and there are not any tremendous discounts out there. That said, you can save a few bucks at ticketmania.com.

Take some time there or at disney.com to familiarize yourself with how the Magic Your Way ticketing system works. It is actually the first time in 35 years that Disney actually lowered the ticket cost, but only if you do it right.

Basically, the longer your stay, the cheaper your tickets get per day. For example, a 1 day pass is $76. But a 3-day is $200, or $66/day and a 10-day is just $221, or $22/day. Of course, they do that to encourage people to stay longer. HOWEVER, you can pay extra and make the ticket never expire. A 10-day would then be $370, still only $37/day. What we do is buy a 10-day and use 5 days one trip and save the other 5 days for the next trip.

To really save money, though, forget about the tickets. Focus on accomodations and food.

Here's what we do:
We drive to Disney from NJ. That saves us about $1,000 between airfare, parking and rental car.

We stay offsite, usually in a rented condo or house. Using a site like vrbo.com or skyauction.com, you can find a 2-bedroom condo for $40/nite or less.

We eat breakfast in our room. We stick mostly to the nicer counter service restaurants onsite which have very good food and are much cheaper than the table service places. We also have some meals offsite to trim costs (and escape the hustle and bustle for a while). We mainly drink tap water rather than paying for bottled water or soda. We sometimes share meals or parts of meals (like one order of fries for the 3 of us). We also carry in some snacks like granola bars to lessen buying overpriced snacks in the parks.

Those are the biggies when it comes to saving. Happy to answer any other questions that arise.

[disneysaver]

The DIS Discussion Forums - DISboards.com - Powered by vBulletin

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by disneysaver

The DIS Discussion Forums - DISboards.com - Powered by vBulletin

How could I forget to mention that? Shame on me.

[minnie1928]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

How could I forget to mention that? Shame on me.

Steve, I am shocked that you would forget to mention the Disboards!

I second going to MouseSavers.com - Disney Discount Source - Disney World Discounts, Disneyland Discounts, Disney Cruise Discounts and registering for the newsletter. It often includes a link for discounted tickets, however as others have mentioned...discounted tickets are not heavily discounted. You might want to focus on other costs if you are looking to really cut some fat from your trip budget.

One word of caution regarding tickets...do NOT buy them on Ebay! Too many scams for Disney tickets. You don't want to be at the gates of the Magic Kingdom only to find out that the tickets you bought are worthless.

[pearlieq]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

We drive to Disney from NJ. That saves us about $1,000 between airfare, parking and rental car.

This is one to consider carefully. Driving doesn't always save a dramatic amount of money, and it's definitely worth factoring in the vagarities of spending 30+ hours in a car on for a round trip drive.

Orlando is a busy tourist destination and airline tickets can be quite inexpensive from major markets. It's been years since we've paid more than $200 per ticket on any trip we've planned more than a month in advance.

For couples and small families, the costs can be close between driving or flying, and if given the choice between paying an extra $100 - $200 and spending two loooooong days in a car, I know what I would pick!

Other things to think about for park tickets: Is anyone in your immediate family in the military or a DoD employee? Discounted tickets are available for them. Does anyone in your family work for a company that sponsors a Disney attraction (Siemens, Kodak, etc.)? They also have ticket discount programs.

[cicy33]

This is a place we are going within the next year or two and have been researching extensively. One of our friends went also recently, booked their trip through a local agent and part of the package was a FREE food package. That is a huge savings for our family with 4 kids! so when we go we are trying to get that. and so far they are still offering it. usually if you plan the trip around september or october, which is still plenty hot and not quite so busy. true, the kids will miss a few days of school but sometimes special occasions are worth it! for our family of 6 it was a cost of about $7000 with flying and tickets and a place to stay and tickets and everything. expensive but worth it. We would be staying on the resort which works better for us as we would be taking their transportation and the pool access and all. and so much less stress then having to drive anywhere.

[sweeps]

I love Disney World just like everyone else, but I'm a little puzzled why no one answers questions like this with: "Save money by not going!"

For example, when someone asks a question about saving money when eating out, there are always half a dozen posts with people saying "Don't do it! Eat at home!"

What makes Disney an acceptable splurge whereas eating out occasionally is a no-no.

[Scanner]

Here's what we do:
We drive to Disney from NJ. That saves us about $1,000 between airfare, parking and rental car.

I'll put you in my car with my boys (10 and 4) for 20 hours and you'll think the $1000 is the best money you ever spent.

We stay offsite, usually in a rented condo or house. Using a site like vrbo.com or skyauction.com, you can find a 2-bedroom condo for $40/nite or less.

That's cool to know - do you lose park time with offsite travel though?

We eat breakfast in our room.

My wife and I had a long discussion on this and the Disney Vacation Club. They keep saying, "Our timeshares have a kitchenette so you can eat breakfast." To which she says, "I'm not cooking on vacation."

What does a husband say to that?

We stick mostly to the nicer counter service restaurants onsite which have very good food and are much cheaper than the table service places. We also have some meals offsite to trim costs (and escape the hustle and bustle for a while). We mainly drink tap water rather than paying for bottled water or soda. We sometimes share meals or parts of meals (like one order of fries for the 3 of us). We also carry in some snacks like granola bars to lessen buying overpriced snacks in the parks.

A snack bag and water bottle is the best advice for cutting your food bill. I imagine you could shave $100-300 on snacks.

I personally am not sure the offsite lodging is worth it - the Disney eco. properties are pretty cheap - around $99/night. But if you are saying you can get lodging for $40/night, I guess that's pretty good (and have it be 2 BDR's to boot!!!).

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by sweeps

I love Disney World just like everyone else, but I'm a little puzzled why no one answers questions like this with: "Save money by not going!"

Sure, if you are looking to save money on vacation, you could just take a week off from work and sit at home watching tv all day, but what fun would that be. We can do a 9-day trip to Disney World for $2,000 total. To us, that is a pretty reasonably priced vacation (though I realize that's a lot of money for some people). I also know people who spend 3 times that much on their Disney trips, so there are definitely ways to cut costs and still make the trip, just as there are ways to dine out without spending a fortune (early bird specials, coupons, drinking water, sharing meals, etc.).

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by Scanner

do you lose park time with offsite travel though?

Absolutely not. From the condo where we are staying this fall, it takes 4 minutes door to door to get to Disney's Animal Kingdom, the nearest park. It takes about 6 minutes to Disney-MGM Studios. The ride to Magic Kingdom and Epcot is longer as they are at the far end of the property. From any of the Disney hotels, it would easily take you that long or longer if you are standing around waiting for one of their buses to come pick you up. So you can actually save travel time by staying offsite.

"I'm not cooking on vacation."

Eating breakfast in the room consists of pouring a glass of OJ and a bowl of cereal. No cooking involved.

I personally am not sure the offsite lodging is worth it - the Disney eco. properties are pretty cheap - around $99/night. But if you are saying you can get lodging for $40/night, I guess that's pretty good (and have it be 2 BDR's to boot!!!).

Hmmm. $99/night for All Star or Pop Century, 1 room, 2 full size beds, 1 tv, 1 bathroom. OR $40/night offsite for 2 bedrooms, king bed in 1, 2 twins in the other, living room, dining area, full kitchen, 3 tvs, vcr, stereo, washer and dryer, 2 full bathrooms (one with a whirlpool tub). Or splurge and spend under $100/night and have a 2-story, 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom house with a private pool. I know a lot of people insist on staying onsite, and that's fine, but we just don't see the appeal. Different strokes...

[pearlieq]

Originally Posted by sweeps

For example, when someone asks a question about saving money when eating out, there are always half a dozen posts with people saying "Don't do it! Eat at home!"

What makes Disney an acceptable splurge whereas eating out occasionally is a no-no.

Three things:

A.) I personally wouldn't say that.

B.) When someone posts "I'm going out to my favorite restaurant for a special birthday dinner!" No one posts "save money and stay home". When someone posts "Well, we ordered Domino's again tonight", that's when the "find a way to do something else" makes sense.

Vacations are "special" purchases, deliberately planned and thoroughly enjoyed. Eating out can sometimes be something that you just fall into from laziness or poor planning. It can be expensive and not all that satisfying. Vacations, while expensive, are at least usually satisfying.

C.) There's a fairly easy fascimile for eating out. Eating at home can often be just as tasty as eating out, meaning that oftentimes we can get the same caliber of reward for much less money at home. I can't replicate Disney World at home, no matter how hard I try. The Haunted Mansion simply won't fit in my backyard!

[pearlieq]

Originally Posted by Scanner

I personally am not sure the offsite lodging is worth it - the Disney eco. properties are pretty cheap - around $99/night. But if you are saying you can get lodging for $40/night, I guess that's pretty good (and have it be 2 BDR's to boot!!!).

You can often do better than that for the Value properties. It's not uncommon to get down around $77/night so make sure you look for specials.

For the same physical amenities (square footage, number of beds, etc.) offsite will ALWAYS be cheaper. Some truly spectacular values can be found in offsite hotels and rental properties. But it's not onsite and it never will be.

The question then comes down to what's important to the individual vacationer. Luckily there is an abundance of choice!

I would echo Disneysteve's comments that transit times really aren't a factor for offsite accomodations within a few miles of one of the resort gates. Driving from onsite will be quicker, but it's a matter of a couple of minutes--negligible in the decision process. Driving from offsite vs. taking the bus would be comparable. Driving will get you to the park gates faster, but the bus will drop you right at the entrance instead of in parking lot F, serviced by trams. When the buses are running well, it's probably a wash. If the buses are slow, driving wins every time.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by pearlieq

Driving will get you to the park gates faster, but the bus will drop you right at the entrance instead of in parking lot F, serviced by trams.

Maybe it's because we go off-season, maybe it's because we get an early start, but except for Magic Kingdom where one has no choice, we rarely use the trams. At Epcot, MGM and Animal Kingdom, we virtually always park close enough to walk to the gate in a minute or two, so the buses don't offer any advantage. In fact, I'm not sure I have ever been on a tram at Animal Kingdom.

Also, consider that depending on where onsite you are staying, the walk from your room to the bus stop can be quite long, whereas offsite the distance from our room to our car can literally be less than 10 feet. So we may lose a couple of minutes at the park gate but we gain it one the other end so it balances out.

It really comes down to what matters to you. Some people are onsite devotees. They want to be surrounded by Disney all the time and that's perfectly fine. We just happen to prefer the space, amenities and savings available offsite. I've stayed onsite 8 times at a variety of places but at this stage, offsite is more appealing to us.

[cicy33]

If we flew (which we will! we live in southern illinois), is offsite a total wash for getting to disney? is there any transport? If anyone wouldn't mind, to make a few suggestions. Four kids, two adults. So far I am looking at $7000. with a free food package thrown in. Includes air fare. Do we have a good deal?

1. we are planning on staying on site, as we are flying and have no transportation.
2. we are not planning on cooking as I am tired of being the maid on vacation., so what cost effectiveness with food? Possibly keep small snacks in room, but no meals!
3. want access to as many parks as possible.
4. planning on staying at least 6 nights perhaps more. not sure yet. When we go on vacation, we try to make it worth while.

If I think of more will post more questions. But would love to hear suggestions if there are any.

[disneysteve]

I want to comment on the "free" dining. As with any package deal, be sure to evaluate the value of each item in the package. If getting "free" dining means paying more for the hotel (and I'm not saying that it necessarily does), it might not be as good a deal as you think.

cicy33 - I would NEVER stay offsite without my own vehicle. Most hotels run shuttles, often free, but they have a very limited schedule. If you can't rent a car for some reason, then I would definitely vote for staying onsite.

[Scanner]

DisneySteve,

What's the chances of pulling something off last minute. . .like last week in August?

Oh, does that place at $40/night have a pool? The pool is pretty much a must with the boys.