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[Courtney892]

Several members of my family are basically "running by" Animal Kingdom in 2 weeks since we're already going to be in Fla we decided to spend 2 nights at the Lodge and do the sunrise safari since we hadn't done it before. We go to Disney a couple times a year and I didn't pay attn to having used my last day of my pass on our last visit. I don't understand the new ticketting system. I keep hearing it ends up cheaper if you do it right, but I am not sure I am getting it through my head.

Hubby and I are considering a romantic Disney vacation for anniversary in the fall, so we are debating the merits of multi passes with the new system. Can anyone offer any advice?? pls pls pls

[Courtney]

Courtney - If you go to Disney several times a year, you will probably do better off with an Annual Pass than the new tickets.

With the new tickets, sometimes it's cheaper than the old Park Hoppers, sometimes it isn't, depending on what you get. If you can explain in a little bit more detail what tickets you were planning to get, maybe we can crunch the numbers and see what will make you come out ahead.

[Courtney892]

Hmm I don't have a "regular" way of travelling to Disney. All of my family used to buy 7 day passes and then use them for our next several years' worth of Disney trips. We don't generally do "commando disney" and hit parks day after day although we tried one trip with 4 back to back Disney days and then a 5 day Disney cruise that was a blast! We tend to go to the resort and relax at checkin, do a day or two at the parks, and then golf, do the resort, or even leave Orlando entirely for the rest of our vacation.

Since we can drive to Orlando in about 10-12 hours, I have been looking at the cost effectiveness of the Annual passes, but a lot of our Disney trips are planned and accomplished in less than a month, so it is difficult to predict how much we'd go. We go several times in a year (no less than 1), but my last 7 day pass probably lasted me 3-4 years.

Definite trips this year are 2 nights in the Animal Kingdom Lodge the end of this month with a possible park day after checking in to the Lodge and 1 definite day at AK the following day after our Sunrise Safari. Since AK closes so early we'll likely go to Le Cellier (our very fav!!) for dinner and hit a fireworks show, in which case we should get a Park Hopper option. And then later this year for our anniversary we'll likely spend a week at the Caribbean Beach Resort (2nd fav after the Lodge) and go to the parks for several days (I'd guess 4-5 days total).

Since it isn't definite and we don't get serious about anniversary planning until April, our origional plan for this quickie trip was to just buy one day passes right now and figure out the numbers later. My research tonight makes that seem stupid since the one day passes are GOD AWFUL EXPENSIVE in my opinion. I feel like whether we go later this year or not we should definitely buy several non-expiring days to use whenever we decide to do the Disney trip--we definitely will be spending a week at Disney within 2 years.

Sheesh I am confusing even myself with the options. Do any of you travel agents have similarly insane customers with similar problems deciding how many days they'll need and for when? I never expected the entire ticketting system to change on me right when it was time to purchase our tickets....I wish I'd just bought old-style when my mother got hers for this year! Can anyone offer advice?

[Courtney]

Courtney - I wouldn't call you insane...some people aren't planners, and you are one of those people! No problem with that!

If you know you're at least doing one day where you're going to need to park hop (AKL), and then your week at CBR where you're thinking maybe 4-5 days, let's crunch the numbers and see what will work best.

If you did one one day Park Hopper, that expires, it would be $94.75 (pre tax). And then a 4-day Park Hopper that expires is $220 (pre tax). So together they are going to cost you $314.75.

If you did a 5 day Park Hopper with the no-expiration, to cover both trips, the price comes to $256 (pre tax), which is $58.75 less than purchasing two different sets of tickets.

Now, that being said, an Annual Pass is $395, and you're going to have to go to the parks for more than 10 days (a 10 day Park Hopper with no expiration is $332) to start making the AP pay for itself (of course, this doesn't take into consideration any AP discounts, which may make the AP more attractive).

But really, you're just going to have to guess at how many days you'll be in the parks this year...

Did that help at all?

[Courtney892]

Very helpful thanks Will talk to hubby about it and if we aren't going to commit to 10-12 days this year, we'll get 5-7 no expiration passes.

Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings

[CRCrazy]

Courtney - the Magic Your Way tickets might be a great deal for you if you want to keep doing things the way you are used to.

The 10 day MYW ticket is only slightly less expensive than the 7 day, and gives you those 3 extra days! I'd recommend getting the MYW ticket for as long as you can afford, and purchasing the Park Hopper and No Expire options. Then you'd have your pass at the ready whenever, and however, you want to plan your trips!

[tinkfan3]

I am also confused!! We are going to Disney the first week of May, and I had already booked the Dream Maker with Prince and Princess package. We are staying 7 days-first Disney trip with a then to be 4 yr old and a 2yr old-how do I decide which way to go?

[Courtney]

Tinkfan - will you guys be visiting just the theme parks, or were you planning on visiting the water parks and/or DisneyQuest as well?

Another big question with these new tickets is how important the no-expiration option is to you. With the old Dream Makers, the tickets expired on the last day anyway, but with the old Park Hoppers, you could used unused days at a later time. That no-expiration option will make a difference in the price of the ticket.