Doing things a little backward this time

**Thumper10** · 08-03-2010, 08:10 PM

Well it's been a little while since I've posted on here but I still check the site daily. I have a couple questions in regards to my family's next Disney trip.

We were really hoping to be able to go this coming up September but my dad is in construction and work for him has been so unpredictable for him this past year that we never really know when he'll be working steadily. So instead of booking our vacation months in advance like we normally do, this time we're just buying everything as we are able to save the money up, and when everything is bought we get to pack up and go. That way we won't have to make payments on anything if work gets slow for my dad and money gets tight.

The trip will be
my dad (46)
my mom (46)
me (21)
my boyfriend Nate (21)
my sister Amber (19)

We finally saved up enough money for our Disney tickets-- 10 day MYW with park hopper and water park options. I went ahead and bought those last week since I knew ticket prices were rumored to go up. Those alone cost over $1800 so it's a big relief to know we don't have to worry about them now. We still need our airfare, hotel (we plan on splitting the stay between POR and the Poly), SeaWorld tix, Islands of Adventure tix (we're dying to see WWoHP), and MNSSHP tix if by some slim chance we are able to make it this fall.

We have the money saved up for WWoHP and almost enough for SeaWorld. Does anyone know if these tickets are the same as Disney and are valid at any time once you buy them? I'm assuming they are, but I want to make sure they aren't going to expire any time soon before I go ahead and actually purchase them.

**GoofyRulez** · 08-03-2010, 10:07 PM

Smart...I wish my 19 y/o had that much sense or cared that much about the family finances. I hope you get to go soon. Happy planning.

**Thumper10** · 08-03-2010, 10:57 PM

Thanks. Even though we have no definite dates of when we get to go, its still fun to plan. I did find out the SeaWorld tickets expire within one year of when you purchase them...anyone know about Universal?

**NC_WDW_Daddy** · 08-04-2010, 08:28 AM

You might want to call Universal or a travel agent to confirm how long the tickets are good for. I hope everything works out for you and you can visit this fall.

**supernova** · 08-04-2010, 09:35 AM

Ridiculous that park tickets for a family of five, ten day or otherwise, cost nearly $2,000 huh? But you're doing a great thing by planning it all out, and then taking dad's work potential future work situation into account. Not sure if you added on the no-expiration feature to the Disney tickets, though hopefully you did. This way, even if things do get tight later on money-wise, you can cut the trip back a bit and still have those tickets forever. Keep us posted as your planning comes together.

**Thumper10** · 08-04-2010, 06:13 PM

Yeah, it is crazy that tickets for a family of five are so expensive. There's usually only the four of us going, and adding just one more person increased the price of the trip by about $1200 for everything that we want to do. It's also hard because now we have to stay at one of the more expensive on-site hotels since the values and most mods will only accomodate 4 people to a room...