Originally Posted By mainstfan5 I'll be in the WDW for a few days on business next month and thought I might stay an extra 3 - 4 days and see the parks. Just a solo traveler wanting to stroll the parks and sightsee. I've never been to WDW (well, I made a trip back in the '70s) and would like to plan a family trip in a year or two. So I get on the WDW website and what do I find out? The cheapest ticket alternative will cost me $300 for four days with parking! If I want a park-hopper (remember, I'm just wanting to sightsee and plan a fture trip) it will cost me nearly $400!! My first impression is, You have GOT to be kidding me!! If you stay 5 or more days, they are almost giving away the extra days worth of tickets. Because of this, it looks like if you stay 7, 8, or 10 days the per-day price becomes reasonable. But for a short 3 - 4 day visit Disney seems to be just gouging the customer with completely ridiculous prices. $100 a day just for park-hopper entry to the parks?? Why are they so ridiculously overcharging customers that visit for only 2 - 4 days? Are there any alternatives for saving money at these parks?
Originally Posted By sherrytodd I went online to the Walt Disney World site and a four day base price magic your way ticket was $195.00. With the park hopper option it was $233.00. I'm not sure where you are getting the price quotes.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom sherrytodd is correct. However park passes can be expensive for trips between 1-4 days. There are different ways to save some money of park passes. 1) if you have AAA and get your park passes through AAA they can save you 10%. Its always better to purchase your park passes in advance you can purchase them at any Disney Store (there is one at the Orlando airport). Park passes purchased at the gates are ALWAYS more expensive. There are other sources to purchase park passes as well. I would recommend checking out www.mousesavers.com web site for a comprehensive list of park pass options and venues.
Originally Posted By mainstfan5 I was looking at <a href="http://www.wdwinfo.com" target="_blank">http://www.wdwinfo.com</a>. At this site, the one-park 4-day pass is listed as $207.68. Add on tax and $9/day parking and you end up with at least $270 - $275 just for entry. If you choose the full park-hopper including water parks, the price is listed as $304. Again, add $9/day parking and tax and you end up with around $370 - 375. I double-checked on the Disney site, and once you add in the park-hopping options, parking, etc. it works out to about $85/day (I love how they break down the costs for the 4-day pass into little incremental pieces so you never really see the total cost you are actually ending up paying).
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom I would highly recommend doing the one park one day, multi day pass. Each park is going to have plenty of attractions and rides to keep you busy. You should only be intrested in park hopping if for instance you have your heart set on perhaps eating at several resturants at EPCOT for example. Keep in mind there are ways to save on the parking fee as well. You can park at DTD for free and take Disney Transportation to your destination park or TTC. That alone will save you $9. Worth the effort is your up for it.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom You also want to keep in mind that Disney is not necessarily inexpensive. This is why many here plan their trips to WDW sometimes years in advance in order to save up the money for a Disney vacation.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>However park passes can be expensive for trips between 1-4 days.<< True. The cost per day really drops as you approach the 10 day mark.
Originally Posted By schoolsinger >>>I was looking at <a href="http://www.wdwinfo.com" target="_blank">http://www.wdwinfo.com</a>. At this site, the one-park 4-day pass is listed as $207.68. Add on tax and $9/day parking and you end up with at least $270 - $275 just for entry.<<< The $207.68 number is the price with tax included!
Originally Posted By Labuda "You can park at DTD for free and take Disney Transportation to your destination park or TTC. That alone will save you $9. Worth the effort is your up for it." Except for the fact that you can't get direct transport from DTD to the parks or to the TTC. In order to park free at DTD and then get to a park, you'd have to get a bus to a resort, then a connection from the resort to whatever park. Then when getting back to DTD, you'd have to get to a resort, then wait up to 45 minutes for a bus to DTD. mainstfan5 - what you MAY want to do since you're planning a family trip in a couple years is buy a ticket for a longer stay and get the no expiration option on it. Yeah, that adds quite a bit of money up front to the ticket, but your unused days will still be good whenever you bring the family back, so a little less money to spend then.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss <<But for a short 3 - 4 day visit Disney seems to be just gouging the customer with completely ridiculous prices. $100 a day just for park-hopper entry to the parks?? Why are they so ridiculously overcharging customers that visit for only 2 - 4 days?>> Disney is not gouging anyone for charging $70 to enter a park. It's worth that amount. They are merely offering discounts for those who stay longer. If you were able to go every day, you could buy an AP and the cost per visit would be less than $2.00. Does that mean they are ripping off everyone else who pays more per day? Of course not.
Originally Posted By pixiedust1 <<Disney is not gouging anyone for charging $70 to enter a park. It's worth that amount. They are merely offering discounts for those who stay longer.>> I would have agreed with you a while ago... I'm a resident first off...so it doesn't effect me anymore, I guess my only gripe for non AP's is they keep talking away stuff... If you check the threads here .. it seems that their closing things and really replacing them with nothing or something less attractive to guests.. I think your getting less for more $$$$... It reminds me of a restaurant with new menus.. You expect a price increase and are willing to pay for it... but when your food comes, the portions are smaller...
Originally Posted By mrichmondj I've said this before, but considering that the total amount of admission fees collected by Disney only amounts to 1/3 of their park operating expenses, the cost of admission is cheap in comparison to the total cost to operate the parks. If guests only paid the $60 or so a day admission fee, and spent nothing else, Disney World would be shutting its doors tomorrow and in the throes of bankruptcy.
Originally Posted By a1stav Another option is to purchase a 10 day ticket with the no-experation option so when you and your family come back in a couple of years you will have your admission paid for in advance at a much lower cost then it will be by then. Also for buisness trips Disney has special convention tickets. Last but not least you may consider Universial Studios / Islands of Adventure as an alternitive to Disney for a short trip. They have a 4day pass online now for a litte over $100.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip If you just want to <<stroll the parks and sightsee>> there is no reason to buy the pass including the water parks. Also, if you stay on-site there is no charge for parking at the parks. For a solo traveler just there for a few days the All Stars or Pop Century would give you more than enough room. The cost would probably be no more (and perhaps less) than staying at a typical "business hotel".
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< I've said this before, but considering that the total amount of admission fees collected by Disney only amounts to 1/3 of their park operating expenses, the cost of admission is cheap in comparison to the total cost to operate the parks. If guests only paid the $60 or so a day admission fee, and spent nothing else, Disney World would be shutting its doors tomorrow and in the throes of bankruptcy. >>> I think the figure is that they only make $4 or $5 on average *total* per guest at the parks, including admission, F&B, and souveniers. It's a lot lower than people might guess. But when you have tens of millions of guests a year, plus the hotels, it's a good way to make money.
Originally Posted By englishboy (1) I believe that the 7 day no expiration ticket is a slightly better deal. The extra charge for the 10 day, last I checked was $100, where as it was about 1/3 of that for the 7 day. (2) I you park at DTD and use the bus system---if you can get to the Contemporary, Animal Kingdom Lodge, or Boardwalk, then you are about a 5 minute walk from a park entrance. If you can get to the Polynesian or the Grand Floridian, you'd at a monorail stop, which is just as good.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>(1) I believe that the 7 day no expiration ticket is a slightly better deal. The extra charge for the 10 day, last I checked was $100, where as it was about 1/3 of that for the 7 day.<< The no expire option really hits the 10 day pass. Without it a 10 day pass just costs $7 more than a 7 day pass. I wonder why they do this? Who cares if you do a single 10 day trip vs. a couple of 5 day trips? Either way you are captive in their parks buying their food and merchandise, and probably staying at their hotels.
Originally Posted By t1lersm0m The 10-day no expiration Park Hopper is $377.00 The 7 day is $301.00. The 10-day is $37.70 per day, and the 7 day is $43.00 per day. The 10-day is the better deal. I think to get a 7 or 10-day without adding the no expiratin, I'd need to spend at least 14 full nights at WDW. Because spending that much time there, I'd need days off to relax. I couldn't go to the parks every day that many days in a row.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost Here's my thought. If you are just there to site see then all you really need is a one day park hopper pass. Seeing shows and riding attractions is what takes all the time and if you do that then you are no longer site seeing you are actually attending and using park attractions. I always plan for future trips when I am there but I also do the stuff while I am there that makes me a user not a looker. Since they cannot send someone around with you to be sure you only "look" they have to assume you will be partaking in the activities. Since a huge percentage of WDW is a visual thing then I don't think it is possible to make a separation. If, for example, you wanted to do a "Keys to the Kingdom" tour and that was all you would still have to pay full admission to get in. Unless I am missing something the math doesn't seem to work for me. You said that the tickets were $207.00 and the parking was $9.00 per day. If for three days that is $27.00 additional or $36.00 for 4 days. If you truly want to just look around then what I suggested is doable in one day. Take the monorails or buses to the different areas and look around and see but if you were expecting a free preview then I don't think that is going to happen.
