Question on ticket purcahsing

Hello all - new to the forums, and am looking for help with a question about getting tickets.

I had my first WDW trip last fall, with my wife and (then) 4-year old, We went with my cousin and her husband and their 3 kids, 12, 8, and 5. My cousin planned the entire trip out for us, lodging, tickets, etc. We were more or less along for the ride.

We had such a great time, we started planning another trip back with the same group, adding both my parents and my wife's. That trip is a full week, and we'll be going in December.

Last month, the wife and I decided we needed a little get-away, so we are planning a short WDW run the first week in May, going down on a Monday, coming back on Friday, just the wife, little one and I. We're looking forward to it because we're staying @ a Disney Resort, which we didn't do last time (Nick Hotel) and aren't doing in Dec. (renting a house).

Now to the question part - I was getting ready to book the package through Disney.com, getting the room (@ Port Orleans) and the tickets all at once. After doing some reading though, it seems that it might be a better deal to book just the room now, and buy 10-day non-expiring tickets that we can use on this trip, as well as the trip in December.

Money-wise this seems like a no-brainer, but I'm wondering if there are any pitfalls or 'gotchas' that I'm not seeing or thinking of in getting the 10-day tickets now.

Thanks much for any advice.

As a somewhat expert on this (I worked in central reservations for several years) it all depends on your plans and based on what you are saying the 10 day park hopper sounds like the best deal. Are you a member of the magic Kingdom Club? they used to do discounts on tons of stuff including tickets although I am not up to date on that whole issue. The best bet used to be to buy tickets at the Disney store with your Magic Kingdom club discount prior to buying, also are you a Floridian if so there are discounts for Floridians both for tickets and rooms, if you have a family member or close friend that is a floridian they could probably buy the tickets for you.

sorry i'm no help.. i just went on my first trip last year and it was only 2 days.. and we did everythign through AAA

Hello, the magic kingdom club is gone now. The last 6 times we have visited WDW I've booked the room by itself and bought either park hoppers or lenghth of stay passes for the family. I have purchased an annual pass because you can save big on a room only discount plus if you time it right you can use it again on your next trip. Going in May and then back again in December. I was able to use it in late March in '04 and then because of spring break changes used it the following year for another stay in early March '05 just before it expired. We received the discount on the room for both stays because of the passholder rate. The one draw back of a room only reservation is that you cannot book the dining plan with a room only reseervation. :dizzy:

the only pitfall in my mind would be the price of a10 day non-expiring ticket with park hopping option is $409 plus tax. I believe the annual pass is $462 something including tax and you would be eligible for the passholder benefits. room discounts, dining discounts at lunch, discounts on tours. you can buy the annual pass at the disney stores before you go, you get a voucher and activate at guest relations at one of the parks.

plus you don't have to limit yourself to a total of 10 days. You have to do the math to see if it works for you. I saved alot between the room discounts for 2 visits, tour discount, dining and you can save 10% on purchases at world of disney in downtown disney.

sorry carnifex, I didn't see the fact that you were renting a house off property in December. But check out the annual pass it may be a better deal even if you stay off property. I believe you get free parking at the parks with the annual pass, too.

I've thought about the annual pass, and even saw (on some site, maybe allears.net) where they did a breakdown that showed the cost of the annual pass vs outright tickets. It seems that if you're staying on Disney Property the whole time it's a better deal, but if you're not (and we aren't for the second trip) it doesn't pan out as well.

I have a feeling that the 2-trips per year is going to be something that continues for a while, so I'll probably look into the annual pass for next time. Do you need the pass in-hand when you make the room reservations, or can you just let them know at check-in time? If you need it up front, then it's too late for this trip, as we've already got the rooms booked, but if you can just show it at check in then maybe I should go ahead. We're talking about extending the December trip by a few days so we can do the Sunrise Safari on the concierge level @ AK Lodge (it was booked up this trip)
Thanks much.

Hi, when I purchased my annual pass at the disney store they give you a hard plastic voucher, allearsnet says you may need the actual annual pass in hand but I was not even asked for it at either check-in. If they did ask I had a couple of options; show them the voucher and receipt that proves I had bought the annual pass already. I guess if they demand it I could have checked in without it and then take the actual annual pass back to the front desk later. The only problem with buying the annual pass as a voucher is you have to visit guest services at one of the four theme parks or downtown disney, but on the other hand when you get the actual pass the first day of use and 365 more days starts the day you activate it with guest relations not when you bought it.