US Citizens/Residents Buying tickets from European 3rd party sites

[Purduevian]

Moving the chat from the previous thread because it was not relevant.

I'll remind everyone if you are either going 6+ base days or 4+ park hopper days... I would look into buying a European ticket...

I have confirmed with them that they are allowed to sell to Americans without any issue...

I don't work for any of them, but always good to get the best deals!

Interesting. Where can I find this European ticket?

This is what I was getting at earlier. They should be giving us West Coasters the same type of deals as the Europeans. We’re about the same distance away and it’s nearly the same hassle.

I've been talking to https://www.attractiontickets.com/. I can't personally vouch for them, but I'm pretty sure others on this forum have used them.

There might be others that have the same deal.

Which site? In the past I bought a 14 day UK ticket deal for a 10 day trip, which was great, but I’m finding the 7 day pass to be very similar cost as 5 day direct through Disney. Is there another place that has better pricing?

Wow 14 day ticket for around 750 USD. That’s what I’m talking about! Thank you for sharing. As someone flying to WDW for the first time from LA these 4-6 day trips don’t cut it. Not that I need 14 days but it’s nice to have if I’m out there for 9-10 days at WDW to allow for some rest days. Negates the need for parkhoppers. Would I be able to double dip on the 30% off rooms too?

A much better deal…

But to be honest…15 days is about 6 too many

I'm doing some math out for a trip coming up in April... I'll be in Orlando for 8 days... but at first was only planning on 4 park days max.

Buying direct through Disney for 2 adults and 1 child I'm getting the following prices

Ticket options (2 adult+ 1 child)	2 day base	3 day base	4 day base (we would skip AK and do MK twice)	3 day D+ deal+ Single MK day at the start
Direct from Disney	$1,093	$1592.93	$2069.49	$1668.93
Undercover Tourist		$1549.71	$1997.66
AAA		$1542.20	$1990.17

https://www.attractiontickets.com/en says I can get 14 day park hoper+ access to memory maker+ access to water parks for £1,624.35 or ~$2,192.28. I was going to get Memory maker for $185 anyways so its really more like $2,007.28

I'm basically looking at an $338.35 to go from 1 day at each park... to complete freedom of the parks for my 8 day trip.

If I want 2 MK, 1 EPCOT, 1 DHS day... its an extra $17.11 for that freedom.

Sorry to derail the thread... just wanted to let people know if you want 6+ park days... the European deals are probably better

You know they have another park, right?

Oops those were Pounds not Euros so $875 USD but still a good deal. I clicked on European tickets and then on WDW (as I didn’t see any long stay deals) but it brought me back to UK deals after doing that. @Purduevian will they honor the UK deals or only the ones under “European tickets?”

Not sure what you mean? I'm going to be in Orlando for 8 days... I was planning on either 1 day in each of the 4 WDW theme parks... or skipping AK and doing MK twice.

The tickets from europe are for WDW.

You would have to email/call them. In the past, I specifically asked about the "Disney 14-Day Magic Ticket" and they said there was no problems selling it to a US Resident/Citizen (I have no ties to Europe other than I want their prices)

Please let us know how this works out. Never heard of someone doing this (also, never really looked in to it).

Would you really need it?

Yeah I looked at Sept and the 7 day ticket from attractions is more than the 4 day hopper promo (get 6 days) ticket direct through Disney.

It was. Great deal though when we went last time for 10 nights and bought the 14 day ticket with MM.

You can do either. I purchased as euros last time because the exchange rate was better than dollars to pounds.

Oh ok thanks I didnt see any of the 14 day tickets under "European tickets" when I checked on my phone earlier but Ill check on my computer later.

I just switched the country at the top of the page to Ireland I think. I will say, I had an issue with my card going through and someone from their office had to call me the next day and take payment via phone. She made it sound like the EU system is worse than U.K. system for taking payments online. Just in case that happens to you.

Seems like @jennab55 has done this, I think last time I discussed it some other people on the forums had done it as well but I can't remember.

I'm still not 100% sure I'm going to do it. If it was just my family I would... 4 other family groups going on this trip with us... all on my wife's side of the family.

Some of them are only staying 5 nights and only want to do 2 park days... and I'm not sure if my wife will want to go to the parks while her family is hanging at the airbnb/Disney Springs.

If she does... that would leave us 3 more days to visit the parks. We could either to the Europe bundle (full 3 days of freedom) or have 1 day at DHS and 1 day at AK and save ~$340.

I don't think anyone needs 14-days at the parks... but if you are in Orlando for about a week and want to go to go to the parks at least 4 days... it might be cheaper even if you leave 10 days unused.


I'm playing with the site right now... check 3 things before you decide.
1) They are currently running a code NEWYEAR which gives a discount
2) oddly for my dates the 14 day is cheaper than the 7 day
3) using a longer ticket window than you need might allow you to bump into a cheaper ticket date (14 day ticket needs to start 18 days before you last park day).

playing around with it now. The UK deal is actually better than I thought. After the discount code it comes out to $733 per person for a 14 day ticket. Why does this seem too good to be true? haha

Oh yes, good idea as the promo is more for the 14 day ticket vs 7. I also like that you can add on the cancel for any reason option for $25ish. Means I’m not quite as locked in as I would be direct through Disney (without a package).

Just wish I could pay with discount Disney gift cards

I guess one question I have @jennab55 is would I still be able to booking lightning lanes and restaurant reservations on the app with a 14 day UK ticket? And if so, would it be during the same window as I would have been able to with a more conventional ticket?

Yep! They email you the tickets and you just link in MDE, so looks like any other ticket. Can book ADRs and LL as usual in MDE. Now I think I could book early based on ticket start date, but only for the day because my hotel stay didn’t start until later (booked tickets to start a few days before hotel). So didn’t really give an advantage much there, but no problems linking in MDE.

Thank you! Really appreciate you sharing from experience

I don't get how you're able to buy European tickets from America and they don't care about this? Wouldn't they have closed this loophole?

Yeah I’m confused too but if you think about it they end up winning, especially if you stay onsite.

Also it's a whole lot of money to be giving to a third party company and hoping the ticket linking process works...

True but in JennaB I trust. I was going to say could you imagine getting to Orlando and they tell you your tickets are invalid? lol. But if you can link them in the app and start booking things that’s a pretty good indication it’s going to work out.

They SHOULD…

But at the end of the day what they covet is revenue up front to try and post quarterlies…

Which is why they’ve deliberately tried to come up with everything under the sun to prebook and lock in non-refundable travel revenue for 15 years

That Bob is such a sly devil

In theory (again I haven't done this yet) you could really utilize this to get some pretty awesome LLs.

Lets say you were only going for 4 days at this end of this month (1/28-1/31). In theory you could buy the 14 day ticket (18 day valid window) which could be valid for 1/14-1/31... since you are offsite you could book all your LLs 3 days before your ticket is valid on 1/11.

My guess is that it's just not worth the legal/logistical hassle of closing the loophole with 3rd party sellers, so they don't.

In the most extreme case, someone would buy this ticket for about 545pounds or $735.79... Assuming the 3rd party seller keeps 15% of the sale, Disney is making $624.42. The most Disney could make from this person is an annual pass at $1,967.06 (Incredipass + Photo Download + Waterparks). So they lose out on a maximum $1,342.64 per American.

So to even lose $1 million on this, 745 Americans would have to make this decision...

Considering this forum is some of the most Disney obsessed fans I know, and most people on here don't/didn't know about it, I would be surprised if the numbers are super high.

On the flip side, because this deal exists... I'm considering giving Disney $345 in ticket sales plus additional LL, parking, food, and souvenirs because it feels like a better deal and might draw me to the park an extra day or 2 (or stay longer some days because I can hop).

Right and thats a more extreme example- the potential loss of an annual pass sale. I’d imagine most people buying these 14 day tickets are people from far enough away that are only really in the market for a WDW vacation and a rare one at that. So if you now have someone spending 10+ days in the parks instead of 6 (or someone who wouldn’t have came at all without this deal) that’s probably a good thing for Disney.

The 14 day UK ticket and the 30% off rooms sounds like a nice pairing.

I mean I didn’t lie to them about anything. I give my US address and pay with my credit card in the country’s currency. They email me the tickets. I think they even had something in their FAQs about being able to buy.

So when I tried to do payment online I got an error and had to speak with them via phone the next day. She took my payment and I confirmed it was ok that I was in the US and she said yes!

I read a lot of reviews before I did it and I slightly panicked when my payment wouldn’t work, but it all worked out! I also kept all my receipts and purchased the extra cancel for any reason.

I didn’t have to see anyone when I got to WDW, just scanned into the park as I had every other time with my MB and fingerprint.

The people buying aren’t hiding anything and are abiding by the 3rd party’s rules. If anything, it’s the travel company that is doing something it shouldn’t, but per their website they can so

Im all for saving money & the hustle but im pretty sure these tickets are not meant for US citizens

"Not Meant" versus "Not Allowed" are two different things. It's a classic loophole.

I am not allowed to purchase a Florida Resident Ticket because the billing address for my credit card is not a Florida Address. The Disney e-commerce site has protections for that. However if my friend who lives in Florida purchases a Florida Resident Ticket for me and transfers it to me in MDE, the system won't stop it, and as we all know there is no ID verification required anymore for most ticket activations or pickups.

Because the UK sales go through 3rd party sellers that do not verify residency and there are no explicit penalties or restrictions for these third party sellers from Disney to enforce who or where they sell them to then it remains a technical loophole.

Now of course there are always risks and pitfalls. If you use a credit card that has foreign transaction fees for example to purchase the tickets. Also remember that Disney Terms and Conditions allows them to deny admission or cancel any ticket without refunds for basically any reason.

The fact that it does happen right now is because either Disney can not stop it or it isn't enough of a problem yet for them to care about it.

They probably aren't intended for US citizens... but they aren't blocked for US citizens.

Q-Tips aren't intended for cleaning ear wax out either.

Now should an American buy a 14 day UK ticket…no…not in the truest sense.

But why are there “only UK” tickets at vastly lower prices in the first place? There are lots of questions that come into play with that one

Can we move DAS discussions back to this thread?
https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/new-das-system-at-walt-disney-world-2024.983481/

Sorry I know I was the original one that derailed the thread regarding the European ticket... Maybe I should make a thread in the General forums about it since it really isn't news.

 

[nickys]

Apologies if later posts answered these questions, but I picked out some questions that jumped out at me.

Not sure what you mean? I'm going to be in Orlando for 8 days... I was planning on either 1 day in each of the 4 WDW theme parks... or skipping AK and doing MK twice.

The tickets from europe are for WDW.

You would have to email/call them. In the past, I specifically asked about the "Disney 14-Day Magic Ticket" and they said there was no problems selling it to a US Resident/Citizen (I have no ties to Europe other than I want their prices)

Please let us know how this works out. Never heard of someone doing this (also, never really looked in to it).

You can definitely buy the “UK” tickets from attractiontickets.com , even as US residents.

Background blurb:
Years ago it was only possible to buy them from the UK Disney official site, and you needed a credit card with a UK registered address.

At some point the attraction tickets.com site started selling them. And after a while they openly started selling them to anyone. If Disney wanted to, they could shut this down, but they haven’t. You no longer need to validate them in person, you just link them to MDE as normal.

I don't think anyone needs 14-days at the parks... but if you are in Orlando for about a week and want to go to go to the parks at least 4 days... it might be cheaper even if you leave 10 days unused.


I'm playing with the site right now... check 3 things before you decide.
1) They are currently running a code NEWYEAR which gives a discount
2) oddly for my dates the 14 day is cheaper than the 7 day
3) using a longer ticket window than you need might allow you to bump into a cheaper ticket date (14 day ticket needs to start 18 days before you last park day).

We once used 19 days of a 21 day ticket! Sadly that’s no longer sold.

The great thing is you could plan day 8 days in the parks, but also use other days for just the nighttime shows after doing non Disney stuff. Or for 2 hours on your last day.
Or indeed use it for only a few days during a longer stay in Florida / Orlando. Which was the original intention of them.

Also it isn’t unusual for the 14 day ticket to cost the same as 7 days.

I guess one question I have @jennab55 is would I still be able to booking lightning lanes and restaurant reservations on the app with a 14 day UK ticket? And if so, would it be during the same window as I would have been able to with a more conventional ticket?

They are no different to any other date based tickets.

You can book LLs for up to 14 days, dining up to 10. With a rolling extension. If you want to book dining for day 11, you wait until 59 days out etc.

 

[nickys]

Now should an American buy a 14 day UK ticket…no…not in the truest sense.

But why are there “only UK” tickets at vastly lower prices in the first place? There are lots of questions that come into play with that one

How many times have you asked this over the years???

Disney changed their rules for 3rd party sellers. If they didn’t want US residents to buy these tickets they wouldn’t have done that.

As for why Disney sell them. They know UK /EU residents come over for longer periods. They want us to visit Disney parks multiple days. So by extending the no of days and reducing the per day cost, they encourage us to dip in and out of the Disney parks more than 2-4 times. Whilst gambling that most will not use them every day.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

How many times have you asked this over the years???

Disney changed their rules for 3rd party sellers. If they didn’t want US residents to buy these tickets they wouldn’t have done that.

As for why Disney sell them. They know UK /EU residents come over for longer periods. They want us to visit Disney parks multiple days. So by extending the no of days and reducing the per day cost, they encourage us to dip in and out of the Disney parks more than 2-4 times. Whilst gambling that most will not use them every day.

As far as I can recall…once.

But I’m getting old.

The point was to highlight the completely silly imbalance in how they price when they need people…which is RIGHT NOW.

But since there’s a dozen or so people who still don’t seem to believe that…mainly those that are rarely there…that could be the disconnect?

I wouldn’t highlight stupid tactics and management failure so much if there wasn’t so many stupid tactics and management failures…I swear

And did you seriously try to lecture me on UK travel habits?

I was in the trenches at Caribbean during the late 90’s…there were more Brits there than at a Man U vs Chelsea match on the pitch…preach.

Here’s two:

 

[nickys]

As far as I can recall…once.

But I’m getting old.

The point was to highlight the completely silly imbalance in how they price when they need people…which is RIGHT NOW.

But since there’s a dozen or so people who still don’t seem to believe that…mainly those that are rarely there…that could be the disconnect?

I wouldn’t highlight stupid tactics and management failure so much if there wasn’t so many stupid tactics and management failures…I swear

And did you seriously try to lecture me on UK travel habits?

I was in the trenches at Caribbean during the late 90’s…there were more Brits there than at a Man U vs Chelsea match on the pitch…preach.

Here’s two:

Please explain how getting rid of the U.K. tickets would encourage more U.K. visitors to come and visit the Orlando Disney parks. Right now they need to cut the price even further, not increase them. And also cut prices for the “regular” US tickets too, obviously.

And no lecture intended. Just trying to explain why they have the longer tickets for the U.K. & EU compared to the ones for US residents. We get more vacation days in general than you do, so Disney are taking advantage of that.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Please explain how getting rid of the U.K. tickets would encourage more U.K. visitors to come and visit the Orlando Disney parks. Right now they need to cut the price even further, not increase them. And also cut prices for the “regular” US tickets too, obviously.

And no lecture intended. Just trying to explain why they have the longer tickets for the U.K. & EU compared to the ones for US residents. We get more vacation days in general than you do, so Disney are taking advantage of that.

I’m not suggesting getting rid of the UK tickets at all…

You’re looking at it completely backwards. I’m saying bring the US tickets closer in line based on the 5+ year trend. Not crying foul…I’m crying “stupid”. Not forever…until things “look better”

Parks need people (they do…I swear)…and they’d even sell more LLs (they would…i swear) - a product with zero tangible value to the consumer (but a YUGE one to Bob)

And to remind of a few things:
1. I love our friends from across the pond (check me)
2. I was half kidding (always…just assume it was so)
3. Never take me too seriously (a good directive to everyone). Though those born between 1998-2003 have been a might bit arrogant and loud - generally speaking - on a lot of threads lately…it’s “trying”