Did you use the no expire option?

[Parrain]

We used to vacation at WDW 3 times a year! We bought a 10 day no expire with WPF&M and it lasted 3 or 4 vacations! We never actually planned to go more than once or twice a year but having the tickets was a great way to convince yourself that it was affordable. Of course we always spent the same amount of money as a "planned" vacation, and went home in debt but with great memories! Then the no- expire option was priced out of reason... I have friends who are Annual Pass holders, but I argue against the AP since they are only good for 365 days.... my work load may change unexpectedly and not allow me to vacation that often one year, and the AP will become an expensive scrapbook item! my question is: Did you use the No-Expire option, how did you use it, and do you miss it? I know WDW made a lot of money off of me on the no expire, until they raised the price and we dropped from 3 trips a year to 1 every year, and in fact we skipped 2013 altogether, which is unheard of in my family!

 

[DizneyPryncess]

I always used the no-expire before you had to pay extra for it. I did the same as you - bought the 10 day and used it over multiple trips. I don't buy the annual pass for the same reason. I have no idea if I'll be there in 365 days. It could be a little past that, or a few months past that. We usually travel at roughly the same time, but I don't want to be bound by that. I wish the free no-expire would return, but I don't think we'll ever see that. Now I just plan how many days I'll be going to parks, and get a standard magic your way ticket. We don't even use hoppers anymore - too much for the kiddo's at their ages.

 

[Parrain]

I always used the no-expire before you had to pay extra for it. I did the same as you - bought the 10 day and used it over multiple trips. I don't buy the annual pass for the same reason. I have no idea if I'll be there in 365 days. It could be a little past that, or a few months past that. We usually travel at roughly the same time, but I don't want to be bound by that. I wish the free no-expire would return, but I don't think we'll ever see that. Now I just plan how many days I'll be going to parks, and get a standard magic your way ticket. We don't even use hoppers anymore - too much for the kiddo's at their ages.

I wish it would return also! I didn't mind paying $100 for it, it was worth it to my family.

 

[DizneyPryncess]

Yes, I agree. Definitely worth it if you take repeat trips, but not often enough to need an annual pass. I'm not sure why they would do away with the no expiration option completely. It encouraged people to make their return trips to use the days they had remaining. Especially when paying for the option.

 

[GrinningCat]

I have tickets in my wallet right now that I bought about 8 years ago. I buy them whenever I can, pay the extra and figure it's money well spent. I used to have a job where random, unexpected trips to Orlando could happen any time, and it was nice to be prepared.

 

[Rob562]

The only time I ever bought the No Expiration option was when I bought a ticket from a reseller with plans to upgrade it to an Annual Pass. The 8-day No Expiration Hopper was the ticket whose gate price was cheaper than a new AP while also having the greatest discount off its own gate price. Overall I saved about $50 on my AP.

-Rob

 

[TXDisney]

My parents do the no exoneration option. They get the 10 day no exoneration. My wife and I do 5 or 6 days a time. WR do it that way bc when we go we go to disney and universal, notmally 8 days 7 nights. So we purchase a 5 day disney park hopper and a 2 day universal. Universal almost always adds a 3rd day for free when purchasing, but 3 days at universal is too much for us a lot of times so we play it by ear and just add another disney day if we have to for like $10 each.

 

[BrianV]

We really like (liked) the no expiration option. We have three no-expiration 10 day hoppers in play right now. One has 1 day left, one 8 days left, and one unused. Along with that we have many many water park days (16 I think).

For us we typically go to wdw 2 days, occasionally 3 days but usually the third day is a water park every year or two. And we always hop parks. Instead of the current gate price, we pay (well we already actually paid) anywhere from $55 (2009 pass) -$75 (2015 pass) a day. Add to that we have price security if they bump up the price or change to some tiered price structure. (Unless they change the rules).

The downside of the no expiration is that people who visit for 5 days at a time or longer don't see any savings, but that is not us. And there is always the risk that I lose the tickets, though less so now that they are linked to my magic bands.

So I can happily sit back and look at price increases and complain, but know that they don't apply to me.

 

[BrianV]

Yes, I agree. Definitely worth it if you take repeat trips, but not often enough to need an annual pass. I'm not sure why they would do away with the no expiration option completely. It encouraged people to make their return trips to use the days they had remaining. Especially when paying for the option.

I suspect that they did away with it for a few reasons.

For one, it encouraged shorter trips and split stay trips with other amusement parks. They want you on site the whole trip, this the reason extra days on a multi day regular ticket are not much more expensive per day. They don't really want me to do a two day trip, but if I am, they want me to pay a fortune on a per day basis to do so so I'll consider dumping my time elsewhere.

I think they also liked to be able to change the pricing structure (like the new tiered structure that is being discussed).they have to decide how to handle all the legacy tickets if they do this, and some non-expiration tickets could be in circulation for 20 year or more. (I expect ours to be)

Finally, I suspect that they don't like having to keep track of all those old tickets in my magic. They have to for all of us who still have them, but we'll work our way through the system eventually.

 

[DizneyPryncess]

I suspect that they did away with it for a few reasons.

For one, it encouraged shorter trips and split stay trips with other amusement parks. They want you on site the whole trip, this the reason extra days on a multi day regular ticket are not much more expensive per day. They don't really want me to do a two day trip, but if I am, they want me to pay a fortune on a per day basis to do so so I'll consider dumping my time elsewhere.

I think they also liked to be able to change the pricing structure (like the new tiered structure that is being discussed).they have to decide how to handle all the legacy tickets if they do this, and some non-expiration tickets could be in circulation for 20 year or more. (I expect ours to be)

Finally, I suspect that they don't like having to keep track of all those old tickets in my magic. They have to for all of us who still have them, but we'll work our way through the system eventually.

Very good points! I hadn't thought of the first one, but you're absolutely right on my part. We used to always visit Universal, and I haven't been there since we stopped having the non-expiration ticket. Knowing that my tickets will expire, I spend more time at Disney using those up.

 

[bigorangeandy]

We only did the no expiration option and that was back in 2005. Our trips run about 7 days and so paying so much extra for the 3 extra days did not make sense. In 2005 we had one extra day and 4 or 5 water park visits, we still have 2-3 water park visits left.

 

[Squigglove]

When we ordered our tickets in 2000 the No Exp option was FREE, actually I don't know if it was even an "option" per se, I think it was automatic but I could be wrong.

When I visited in 2009 we still had 2 days plus a waterpark on those tickets. They were also before Disney started their anti-sharing fingerprinting gig. I was lucky because two of the tickets were originally other people's.

When I was pregnant in 2013 I saw that they were now charging for the No Exp option on the website as I was playing around with the ticket options but I wasn't ready to order yet. The very next day it was gone, just gone! But I'd read it could still be added if you called. I said to my mother I believe it's an effort to phase it out completely. When I called I couldn't believe it would double the price of a 10-day pass!!!! I'm astounded and, honestly, quite miserable! We will visit with just a 3-day pass this summer and will have 2 waterparks. With a baby turning 2 while we're there we may not use all 5 admissions, which means we're going to lose.

We only get there about once every 7-9 years. I was lucky to haphazardly be invited to someone else's trip six years ago. Every single time we've gone has been a spur of the moment decision so having No Exp tickets is the way to go in my opinion but I just can't see $825 for one ticket! It's too difficult for me to get past paying twice the price for something that was, and should still be, free. But now that I'm starting my family it might be the only way to get future trips in.

 

[BrianV]

When we ordered our tickets in 2000 the No Exp option was FREE, actually I don't know if it was even an "option" per se, I think it was automatic but I could be wrong.

When I visited in 2009 we still had 2 days plus a waterpark on those tickets. They were also before Disney started their anti-sharing fingerprinting gig. I was lucky because two of the tickets were originally other people's.

When I was pregnant in 2013 I saw that they were now charging for the No Exp option on the website as I was playing around with the ticket options but I wasn't ready to order yet. The very next day it was gone, just gone! But I'd read it could still be added if you called. I said to my mother I believe it's an effort to phase it out completely. When I called I couldn't believe it would double the price of a 10-day pass!!!! I'm astounded and, honestly, quite miserable! We will visit with just a 3-day pass this summer and will have 2 waterparks. With a baby turning 2 while we're there we may not use all 5 admissions, which means we're going to lose.

We only get there about once every 7-9 years. I was lucky to haphazardly be invited to someone else's trip six years ago. Every single time we've gone has been a spur of the moment decision so having No Exp tickets is the way to go in my opinion but I just can't see $825 for one ticket! It's too difficult for me to get past paying twice the price for something that was, and should still be, free. But now that I'm starting my family it might be the only way to get future trips in.

While a moot point now because it is no longer for sale, you cannot think of it as costing twice as much. Only if you are planning to go into parks 10 days out of 14 was the 10 day price meaningful, and then the no expiration wouldn't be valuable.

The way to think about it is to look at the price of the admissions you need for your trip. (E.g on your trip this summer you want 3 days of admission with water park and more) and price that out. Then look at what the per day cost for a 10 day no expiration ticket is. Usually the 10 day no expiration has a cheaper per-day cost for 1-4 days, but the optimal place is 1 or 2 days. It is a real loser for 6-10 days, obviously. But of course you have to put all the money up front. I think the last ticket I bought from undecover toursit for 10 day hopper +wpm was $768. That works out to $77/day, far less than the 1 or 2 day hopper admission price.

 

[Squigglove]

While a moot point now because it is no longer for sale, you cannot think of it as costing twice as much. Only if you are planning to go into parks 10 days out of 14 was the 10 day price meaningful, and then the no expiration wouldn't be valuable.

The way to think about it is to look at the price of the admissions you need for your trip. (E.g on your trip this summer you want 3 days of admission with water park and more) and price that out. Then look at what the per day cost for a 10 day no expiration ticket is. Usually the 10 day no expiration has a cheaper per-day cost for 1-4 days, but the optimal place is 1 or 2 days. It is a real loser for 6-10 days, obviously. But of course you have to put all the money up front. I think the last ticket I bought from undecover toursit for 10 day hopper +wpm was about $760. That works out to $76/day, far less than the 1 or 2 day hopper admission price.

With all the scams re: Disney/Universal/etc. I've always been afraid to use any other site than Disney's for passes. But since I now have a reliable source I may try it. Thanks for the point of view and the tip.

 

[BrianV]

With all the scams re: Disney/Universal/etc. I've always been afraid to use any other site than Disney's for passes. But since I now have a reliable source I may try it. Thanks for the point of view and the tip.

We have used undercover tourist for years. Always prompt and reliable. Tickets have always worked. They quote price with tax and shipping included.

For the recent ticket purchase, I was concerned because I knew I might not use them for several years. You can contact disney, and I did, and they confirmed they were real and as advertised.

 

[Parrain]

We really like (liked) the no expiration option. We have three no-expiration 10 day hoppers in play right now. One has 1 day left, one 8 days left, and one unused. Along with that we have many many water park days (16 I think).

For us we typically go to wdw 2 days, occasionally 3 days but usually the third day is a water park every year or two. And we always hop parks. Instead of the current gate price, we pay (well we already actually paid) anywhere from $55 (2009 pass) -$75 (2015 pass) a day. Add to that we have price security if they bump up the price or change to some tiered price structure. (Unless they change the rules).

The downside of the no expiration is that people who visit for 5 days at a time or longer don't see any savings, but that is not us. And there is always the risk that I lose the tickets, though less so now that they are linked to my magic bands.

So I can happily sit back and look at price increases and complain, but know that they don't apply to me.

We vacation the same way! Our third day is always a WP day! We still have a WP or 2 left! We will go back one day. The No Expire will be missed.

 

[Parrain]

When we ordered our tickets in 2000 the No Exp option was FREE, actually I don't know if it was even an "option" per se, I think it was automatic but I could be wrong.

When I visited in 2009 we still had 2 days plus a waterpark on those tickets. They were also before Disney started their anti-sharing fingerprinting gig. I was lucky because two of the tickets were originally other people's.

When I was pregnant in 2013 I saw that they were now charging for the No Exp option on the website as I was playing around with the ticket options but I wasn't ready to order yet. The very next day it was gone, just gone! But I'd read it could still be added if you called. I said to my mother I believe it's an effort to phase it out completely. When I called I couldn't believe it would double the price of a 10-day pass!!!! I'm astounded and, honestly, quite miserable! We will visit with just a 3-day pass this summer and will have 2 waterparks. With a baby turning 2 while we're there we may not use all 5 admissions, which means we're going to lose.

We only get there about once every 7-9 years. I was lucky to haphazardly be invited to someone else's trip six years ago. Every single time we've gone has been a spur of the moment decision so having No Exp tickets is the way to go in my opinion but I just can't see $825 for one ticket! It's too difficult for me to get past paying twice the price for something that was, and should still be, free. But now that I'm starting my family it might be the only way to get future trips in.

This is so true! The no expire allowed us to go more often also. You can't take a spur-of-the-moment WDW trip anymore if you have a young family, just not affordable.

 

[BrianV]

I was just looking at undercover tourist. Not sure if it was an error, but plenty of no expiration tickets of many different sizes still for sale.

 

[HolleBolleGijs]

Related question: How does Undercover Tourist work with FP+?

 

[BrianV]

Related question: How does Undercover Tourist work with FP+?

Perfectly. Just link them to your MDE account and they work Ike any other tickets.

Really is probably the best place ou buy tickets.