Buying park tickets from third party vendors

jlsHouston

jlsHouston

Well-Known Member
I did a search but couldn't find a thread on this...sorry if this is redundant. Are the third party vendors offering discount tickets to WDW legitimate ? I clicked on one company that was an ad link from this site and it was showing 10 day park hoppers like 30 dollars cheaper than purchasing through Disney...It also showed FP+ available with the purchase of tickets through them...Anybody ever do this for their tickets ? Thanks for any input and advice.
 
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Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
jlsHouston said:
okay what about OrlandoFunTickets.com, have you ever heard of them ? Are they legitimate ?
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They are legit.

One thing you will want to do after you choose a seller is to look at the final price including shipping. Shipping cost can offset any savings.

Also if you are staying at a Disney resort and want the dining plan you must purchase tickets through Disney.
 
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jlsHouston

jlsHouston

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Master Yoda said:
They are legit.

One thing you will want to do after you choose a seller is to look at the final price including shipping. Shipping cost can offset any savings.

Also if you are staying at a Disney resort and want the dining plan you must purchase tickets through Disney.
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Yah.. I will tell you what I did since I know you are very smart about this. I took the 30% off room only deal for WL instead of the 35% off offer for passholders. I did this because the rate and room was a cheaper category going with the 30%...so unless as we get closer to November 3rd and the Passholder rate allows an opening for standard view at WL I will have to do the dining with the TIW card and I have bought a bunch of disney gift cards with my target red card and saved 5% there.
The dining plan has always worked better for us than paying out of pocket because ...well I guess you could say we are eaters and we like the TS venues...but I am prepared for no dining plan because it was a $ 500 difference in the room rate when you added it up by nite being able to stay in the standard view category versus courtyard bunks.
So since I am the AP holder not my daughters or the kiddos I am preparing to purchase their tickets...I am pretty much inclined to get the kids AP's and debating on daughters.
And yes you are correct that OrlandoFunTickets.com DOES charge shipping which makes their discount more in line with Undercover Tourist.
Thanks for your help.
 
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jlsHouston

jlsHouston

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Master Yoda said:
They are legit.

One thing you will want to do after you choose a seller is to look at the final price including shipping. Shipping cost can offset any savings.

Also if you are staying at a Disney resort and want the dining plan you must purchase tickets through Disney.
Click to expand...

@MasterYoda I have one more question for you..if I buy say 4 6day park hopper tickets through a discount ticket service and then when I get to WDW I want to change 3 of those tickets to AP premiums, will I be allowed to do that? I understand that if I bought 6 day or 3 day tickets thru Disney BEFORE they expire I can always add on to them but can I do that with tickets bought through a 3rd party vendor ? Thanks
 
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Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
jlsHouston said:
@MasterYoda I have one more question for you..if I buy say 4 6day park hopper tickets through a discount ticket service and then when I get to WDW I want to change 3 of those tickets to AP premiums, will I be allowed to do that? I understand that if I bought 6 day or 3 day tickets thru Disney BEFORE they expire I can always add on to them but can I do that with tickets bought through a 3rd party vendor ? Thanks
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Yes. You will be able to upgrade them to AP's The only question is how much credit you will get from them. As I understand it if you upgrade them before you use them your credit will be what you paid for them through the reseller. However, if you use them before you upgrade them you will get full price for the tickets.

I have never tried this myself, but I have heard through multiple people that it is the case.
 
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jlsHouston

jlsHouston

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Okay so I buy 6 day tickets with park hoppers for kids and on day 5, I turn them into premium AP's. Say I paid 733.90 for these 2 tickets thru undercover tourist, which the cost from disneyis 775.00 tax in. SO if I upgrade on day 5, disney will actually credit me $775 towards the final cost of 1552.78 rather than the $ 733.90 I paid and so in effect I get this discount "passed thru" onto the final cost of my AP?
Am I getting this ?
 
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Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
jlsHouston said:
Okay so I buy 6 day tickets with park hoppers for kids and on day 5, I turn them into premium AP's. Say I paid 733.90 for these 2 tickets thru undercover tourist, which the cost from disneyis 775.00 tax in. SO if I upgrade on day 5, disney will actually credit me $775 towards the final cost of 1552.78 rather than the $ 733.90 I paid and so in effect I get this discount "passed thru" onto the final cost of my AP?
Am I getting this ?
Click to expand...
That is what I hear, but like I said, I have never done it myself so I can not confirm the validity.
 
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Rob562

Rob562

Well-Known Member
jlsHouston said:
Okay so I buy 6 day tickets with park hoppers for kids and on day 5, I turn them into premium AP's. Say I paid 733.90 for these 2 tickets thru undercover tourist, which the cost from disneyis 775.00 tax in. SO if I upgrade on day 5, disney will actually credit me $775 towards the final cost of 1552.78 rather than the $ 733.90 I paid and so in effect I get this discount "passed thru" onto the final cost of my AP?
Am I getting this ?
Click to expand...

The way you lay it out is essentially correct. I bought a ticket from Undercover Tourist specifically to upgrade to an AP last November.

If you're definitely upgrading, the trick is to find the ticket from the reseller that gives you the highest savings over the *gate price* of *that* particular ticket, while making sure the gate price of *that* ticket is still less than the price of an AP (because Disney doesn't give you a refund if there's an overage). It's like a game of The Price is Right: Closest without going over.

I believe my ticket was an 8-day Non-Expiring Hopper ticket. I saved about $45 off the gate price of the 8-day ticket. That was the ticket that UCT sold with the highest discount yet still cost less than a new AP based on current gate prices. And when I went to upgrade to the AP, I only had to pay an additional $4 and change.

Just make sure to *use* the tickets to enter a theme park *before* you do the upgrade. You should also make sure you should know approximately how much more the upgrade should cost. If they're asking you to pay significantly more than what you're expecting, ask them if they're "bridging" this ticket properly.

-Rob
 
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