Walt Disney World With Kids (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [10]
Confused yet? Hang on, it gets even more complicated. Although your tickets won’t expire if you don’t go to the parks, say, every day (indeed, most families like to space out their park visits), there’s the matter of the No Expiration option. Without it, Magic Your Way tickets expire 14 days after their first use. Adding it to a three-day adult ticket will cost an additional $28.
If you want the Park Hopper Pass and the Water Park Fun & More option and the No Expiration option—in other words, the whole ticketing enchilada—the cost of your three-day ticket leaps all the way to $360.
So, how do you know what ticketing options to buy? If this is your first trip to Disney World, keep it simple. If you have young kids, you’ll likely spend most of your time in the four major parks, so a base ticket is fine. As a mom with three preschoolers said, “We bought the Park Hopper option but the logistics of moving around with that many strollers and backpacks was just overwhelming. After one day of trying to park hop we decided it would be less stressful to stay in a single park every day. So we basically paid extra for nothing.”
Money-Saving Tip
The more days you buy, the less your per-day cost. If you’re staying for a week, your ticket price per day drops significantly. An adult buying a seven-day basic ticket ends up paying around $35 per day, a significant savings over the one-day ticket price of $82.
Not sure about upgrades? Buy the basic. If you get down to Orlando and decide that you’d like to park hop or go to the water parks, you can always upgrade your ticket there … which is much better than paying for options that you end up not using. “We paid for the water-parks option,” says one mom from Massachusetts, “only to arrive on a week full of thunderstorms when the water parks were closed at least half the time.”
Disney “adjusts”—that is, raises—prices regularly, so you should always confirm the numbers by calling 407/824–4321 or visiting www.disneyworld.disney.go.com. Also note that children under age 3 are admitted free.
But if your kids are older and able to withstand a long day, the Park Hopper Pass is worthwhile. The Park Hopper also comes in handy if you’re traveling during the off-season when the Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios close earlier; without it you may find yourself with little to do after 6 PM. And it’s also good for people who’ve been to Disney World before and know exactly what attractions they want to see or who know they like to move around swiftly, revisiting these favorites. (Many of the touring tips in this book assume that you have the ability to move from one park to another in the course of the day.) If any of these conditions apply to you, the vote on the Park Hopper Pass should be “yes.”
Helpful Hint
There are a couple things to keep in mind about theme-park tickets, which are also your room keys if you’re staying on-site. They demagnetize easily, so keep them in a separate pocket away from your credit cards and cell phone. If your ticket does become demagnetized and won’t swipe at the entrance turnstiles, Disney will gladly replace it. But this involves a trip to Guest Relations and it’s exasperating to have to make this detour when you’re itching to get to the rides or exhausted after a day in the parks.
Disney uses a biometric identification system to keep track of exactly who