Question about base tickets

[durangojim]

If I purchase a base ticket that only lets you go to one park per day, can I use the ticket to go to two different parks in one day but do so by using an additional day? Kind of complicated but say I buy a 5 day pass and will only be at WDW for 4 days, can I go to Epcot and MK on one day, and then mk for all the other days? Thanks!

 

[Master Yoda]

Nope, you can not do that. Remember that it is a 4 "day" ticket not a 4 "park" ticket. The only way you can go to more that one park per day is to purchase the park hoping option.

 

[jjgoo]

Of course Mater Yoda is correct, but I wanted to ask a question. From your signature you seem to visit several times in a year. Why not get an annual pass? You would have to crunch the numbers, but I think after about 10 days the AP is more economical.

If you are buying a base ticket to get a package price, just buy a one day ticket, don't use it and apply the cost to your next annual pass.

 

[durangojim]

I wasn't sure because decades ago when they used to stamp your ticket with the date I believe you could buy a multiday ticket and go to more than one park in a day but you would be burning an extra day for each park you visited.
Thanks for the info.

 

[durangojim]

Of course Mater Yoda is correct, but I wanted to ask a question. From your signature you seem to visit several times in a year. Why not get an annual pass? You would have to crunch the numbers, but I think after about 10 days the AP is more economical.

If you are buying a base ticket to get a package price, just buy a one day ticket, don't use it and apply the cost to your next annual pass.

We are AP holders, however our APs expired in October. I'm renewing my AP so we will get the discount when we go in January. I'm just trying to work the numbers and see if it would make more sense financially to purchase base tickets or APs for my wife and son as we probably won't be going back until September or December of 09 and I'm not quite sure that I want to lay out $1400 for tickets right now (although in the long run it makes more sense).

 

[jjgoo]

Okay, that makes more sense. I would say, go to mousesavers and look at their ticket run down.

I used it when trying to figure out whether it would be more economical to by APs or tickets. We're going in December and April. We already have our tickets for Dec. and I was considering applying the cost to APs. However since we are going in April on the buy 4 nights get 7 promo and had to buy at least a one day base ticket to get the package it pretty much ate away all the savings of an AP.

Mousesavers lists the costs (with taxes) clearly so it helps figure it all out.

One thing you may want to consider is a 5 day hopper with no expiration. I may be wrong, but as long as you don't use that 5th day you could apply the total cost to an AP down the road. Though, check with someone with more ticket knowledge than me before you try that option.

Good luck.

 

[durangojim]

Okay, that makes more sense. I would say, go to mousesavers and look at their ticket run down.

I used it when trying to figure out whether it would be more economical to by APs or tickets. We're going in December and April. We already have our tickets for Dec. and I was considering applying the cost to APs. However since we are going in April on the buy 4 nights get 7 promo and had to buy at least a one day base ticket to get the package it pretty much ate away all the savings of an AP.

Mousesavers lists the costs (with taxes) clearly so it helps figure it all out.

One thing you may want to consider is a 5 day hopper with no expiration. I may be wrong, but as long as you don't use that 5th day you could apply the total cost to an AP down the road. Though, check with someone with more ticket knowledge than me before you try that option.

Good luck.

That is a great idea and one I had not thought of. Thanks!:wave:

 

[jjgoo]

That is a great idea and one I had not thought of. Thanks!:wave:

Every once and a while I come up with a good idea. :lol:

 

[Rob562]

I wasn't sure because decades ago when they used to stamp your ticket with the date I believe you could buy a multiday ticket and go to more than one park in a day but you would be burning an extra day for each park you visited.
Thanks for the info.

Before MYW tickets were introduced (in 2005, I believe) almost all multi-day tickets were Park Hoppers. It wasn't until the advent of the customizable Magic Your Way tickets that Park Hopper became an extra-fee option.

-Rob

 

[Rob562]

One thing you may want to consider is a 5 day hopper with no expiration. I may be wrong, but as long as you don't use that 5th day you could apply the total cost to an AP down the road. Though, check with someone with more ticket knowledge than me before you try that option.

That is not correct. A MYW ticket that has been partially used cannot be changed, upgraded or used as credit toward another ticket after the initial 14-day window, even if the No Expiration option was paid for. After 14 days the unused days don't expire, but they can't be changed in any way.

-Rob

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

After 14 days the unused days don't expire, but they can't be changed in any way.

Disneys thought of everything

 

[TinkerBelle8878]

This doesn't really make sense to me...what difference does it make to WDW if you use 2 of your pass days to do 2 parks in one day? They probably make out better moneywise I'd think..the extra day vs. park hopper option.

I wish they'd bring back the old tickets. That was magic 'MY' way. This nickel and diming stuff is nuts. Maybe with the economy being what it is and already with the 'Buy 4 Get 3 Free' offer, they'll look into going back to the old ticketing system. That was a far better deal for the customer. The tickets never expired and were good always. And you were able to park hop.

Some parks aren't all dayers. AK is half a day, max. And so is the Studios.

 

[CleveRocks]

This doesn't really make sense to me...what difference does it make to WDW if you use 2 of your pass days to do 2 parks in one day? They probably make out better moneywise I'd think..the extra day vs. park hopper option.

It makes perfect sense to Disney. After the 4th day, each additional park day costs only three dollars. Park hopping costs $50. They'd never sell another park hopper if you could pay 3 bucks to hop for one day, or 6 bucks to hop for 2 days, etc.

The important thing to realize, as was mentioned earlier, is that you aren't buying "admissions" to a park, you are buying DAYS of park admission. If a base ticket has 2 days on it, both DAYS can't be used in one single day.

Now, to really complicate things, it's the opposite for the Water Park Fun & More option. If you buy a 5-day ticket, you get 5 WPF&M "admissions." You could go to Blizzard Beach in the morning, Typhoon Lagoon in the afternoon and DisneyQuest at night, and you will use 3 WPF&M admissions on that single day.

 

[wvdisneyfamily]

It makes perfect sense to Disney. After the 4th day, each additional park day costs only three dollars. Park hopping costs $50. They'd never sell another park hopper if you could pay 3 bucks to hop for one day, or 6 bucks to hop for 2 days, etc.

The important thing to realize, as was mentioned earlier, is that you aren't buying "admissions" to a park, you are buying DAYS of park admission. If a base ticket has 2 days on it, both DAYS can't be used in one single day.

Now, to really complicate things, it's the opposite for the Water Park Fun & More option. If you buy a 5-day ticket, you get 5 WPF&M "admissions." You could go to Blizzard Beach in the morning, Typhoon Lagoon in the afternoon and DisneyQuest at night, and you will use 3 WPF&M admissions on that single day.

That's a great explanation.

 

[Rob562]

The other thing to remember is that a vast majority of WDW visitors only buy a ticket that's long enough to cover their trip. If they were going for 5 days, they bought a 5-day ticket. They didn't buy a 7-day ticket and save 2 days for later.

When MYW tickets were introduced, ticket prices actually went *down*. Not talking about the insanely high priced one-day tickets that the media always tosses around, but rather tickets that would cover you for a week-long trip.

Let's say you're on a 7-day trip and you want to go into the parks for 5 days. You need a 5-day ticket that includes park hopping (which all pre-MYW tickets had by default) but nothing else.
Using the "Way Back Machine", I got historical ticket prices immediately before (fall 2004) and after (January 2005) the introduction of MYW tickets on AllEars. (And these are gate prices, I'm ignoring the pre-purchase discounts they offered back then)

A 5-day Park Hopper ticket was $265.19.
A 5-day MYW ticket with Park Hopper was $242.82

Need a couple water park admissions?
A 5-day Park Hopper PLUS ticket (which came with 2 "plus" admissions) was $300.34
A 5-day MYW with PH and Water Parks (which at that point came with 3 "plus" admissions) was $290.75

As you can see, prices when they were first introduced went DOWN. (Yes, if you factor in the No Expiration which was included in the price, the overall price went up, but again, many many Guests didn't use that option) If two months ago when Disney came out with their ticket increases they said they were *lowering* the price of your 5-day ticket $20, wouldn't you be happy about it?

And because additional MYW days are only $2-$3 more, MYW became an even better value the more days you purchased. And that is precisely the reasoning behind Disney's move to MYW.
A family is thinking about taking a day to go down the road to Universal? Why pay $60 more per person for a day at Universal when you can pay $3 more per person and stay in the Disney parks (and spend their souvenier and dining money in a Disney park)?

-Rob

 

[heliumalias]

You know what though. It made life more expensive for people that visit regularly but not necessarily more than once in the same calendar year.

MYW is also insanely confusing even for a lot of regular visitors. I've had to explain it to a lot of people and it just confuses the hell out of them.
If you're having to add on extras the MYW doesn't actually become any more cost effective once you get past 6 or 7 days.

 

[dreamscometrue]

We bought our first annual passes in August 2007 and got in 3 trips. We did not renew in August because our next trip is at Christmas 2008, and I thought it made more sense to get new APs this December.

My question is: Do we 'start' over with new APs or can we renew even 4 months after our 'old' ones expired.

 

[heliumalias]

You can only renew your AP between 1 month before and 1 month after your anniversary (expiry) date. If you do renew then the expiry is 1 year from the original expiry date (rather than date of purchase). TBH though the discounted price is not worth it if you'll be losing 4 months worth of use!

 

[Master Yoda]

We bought our first annual passes in August 2007 and got in 3 trips. We did not renew in August because our next trip is at Christmas 2008, and I thought it made more sense to get new APs this December.

My question is: Do we 'start' over with new APs or can we renew even 4 months after our 'old' ones expired.

Officially you can only renew 30 days after expiration however this is one of those gray areas where Disney will bend the rules and let you renew well after that 30 days has past. But.....After around 90 days past you are much better off getting an entirely new AP and moving your expiration date up.

 

[dreamscometrue]

Thanks guys for the info about AP renewals. That helps me with my decision.