Disneyworld & Universal Florida ticket advice

[Brian Fantana]

We're planning a family trip to Florida next July/August, and I just wondered if the mighty wisdom of NSC could give any tips on the best/most reasonable place to buy Disney and Universal tickets from?

Cheers in advance, folks.

 

[matt]

You may want to think about how many days you will spend at each of the parks (will probably depend upon the age of any children you are taking) and work backwards from there, as buying unlimited tickets for both and then only spending a couple of days at Universal for example may not give you the best bang for the buck.

 

[Bozza]

Where will you be staying?

 

[ozseagull]

Money saving expert has a great article on this subject and has lots of advice on the cheapest way to do it.

We have a place out there so have annual passes which gives you free parking at the theme parks. Otherwise this is £15 a day extra!!

Check out the money saving expert site. Also check dads guide to wdw website. Has an excellent crowd calendar which helps you avoid long queues etc

 

[Birdie Boy]

I have used these for park tickets before; http://www.park-tickets.com/

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Where are you staying?

The new Disney ticket system is amazing, flawless.

 

[Brian Fantana]

Cheers all - really useful.
[MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] and [MENTION=522]Kinky Gerbils[/MENTION] - most probably staying at the Buena Vista Palace.

 

[Shirty]

We used:

http://www.attraction-tickets-direct.co.uk/

They were reasonably priced (and allowed us to pay a deposit to secure tickets and then pay the rest off in instalments if necessary), helpful on the phone, and issue you with real tickets rather than vouchers which you still have to queue up to swap for tickets when you get to the parks.

As others have said, its worth working out what you really want to do first though....

 

[Birdie Boy]

^^^^^^^ I have used attraction tickets as well with no problems.

As others have said, work out what you want to do and marry that up with the ticket deals. I have been 3 times and first time was day one, park, day 2 park, day 3 water park, day 4 off (anything else) for two weeks and then 3rd week on the beach. Second time was the same without the 3rd week. The last time was last year and my kids were 14,16,17, they were only interested in the big rides and water parks, hotel pool. I wasted a lot of money on unused tickets, although I got some back by selling them.

A tip for Busch Gardens, which is a must-go, is buy the fast passes and sell on when done. My missus and middle boy don't do roller coasters, so my other two and I got fast passes and ran around busch gardens in around 2 hours. As you go on each ride they tick off that you have been on, most of them didn't bother. I went back to the ticket machine and asked someone in the queue if they wanted mine for half price with nearly all rides still included Disclaimer: I cannot guarantee that this will work for you or will work at any of the other parks.

 

[Vegas Seagull]

Go to Sardinia, better weather, better beaches, better food, shorter flight

 

[Blackadder]

We have a place out there so have annual passes which gives you free parking at the theme parks. Otherwise this is £15 a day extra!!

Jeez. That has gone up. We only paid $4 back in '96.

 

[ozseagull]

Jeez. That has gone up. We only paid $4 back in '96.

Yep 17 US dollars a day. Which with the more favourable exchange rate isn't quite as much as £15. But still 17 dollars if you do 14 days of theme parks is a lot of money!

 

[casbom]

Another good site to check out is www.undercovertourist.co.uk. We're (12 of us) going out end of April and I'll probably use undercovertourist to get my tickets.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Cheers all - really useful.

[MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] and [MENTION=522]Kinky Gerbils[/MENTION] - most probably staying at the Buena Vista Palace.

None of my business, but have you looked at staying at Disney itself?

they have some decent deals on at the moment with Dining Plans and the like.

 

[Blackadder]

Yep 17 US dollars a day. Which with the more favourable exchange rate isn't quite as much as £15. But still 17 dollars if you do 14 days of theme parks is a lot of money!

I think that's absolutely scandalous. People pay enough to get into the parks. 14 days at a theme park would do my head in, but the cost of parking would be enough for a nice little break somewhere!

 

[supaseagull]

www.attractionticketsdirect.com

excellent door to door service.

 

[Lethargic]

www.attractionticketsdirect.com

excellent door to door service.

Yep another vote for www.attractionticketsdirect.com they throw in a couple of freebies which although doesn't make a dent in the big price ticket do help.

 

[Brian Fantana]

None of my business, but have you looked at staying at Disney itself?

they have some decent deals on at the moment with Dining Plans and the like.

I have, but the deal I've got for the Buena Vista Palace is outstanding, even taking into account Dining Plans. Cheers for the suggestion, though!

 

[Brian Fantana]

Many thanks again everyone for the suggestions. Plenty for me to be researching!

 

[Blackadder]

The first time we went to Florida, we received free entry to one of the parks for attending a Time Share presentation.

They honoured their pledge but it was fairly hard sell (as you would expect in the U.S). My Mrs didn't enjoy the experience, and it did take half a day out of our holiday, so we didn't repeat it on our second visit. (I don't know if the Time Share tickets are still available?)