Discount Disney World Park Tickets

Many of you are asking the question: Where can I buy discount Disney park tickets? There are a number of legitimate ticket sellers that can be found online, but there are also those that you want to steer clear of:

• Anyone selling tickets on Ebay
• Anyone claiming to be unused ticket brokers
• Anyone offering the unused days on previously used passes

Between the legitimate ticket sellers, prices can vary from a few cents to around $10 on an adult 1-Day Magic Your Way Base Ticket. To help narrow your search for the lowest prices, The Practical Mom’s Disney Vacation Companion has surveyed nine (9) ticket sellers, including Disney, to determine who has the best deals. Rather than comparing every pass, only the 1, 3, and 5-Day MYW Base tickets were used. Tax and shipping charges were included. Shipping charges also varied greatly: anywhere from $5 – $16. The ticket sellers used in this comparison were:

• AAA
• Disney
• DWTickets.com
• GreatOrlandoDiscounts.com
• KnowBeforeUGo.com
• MapleLeafTickets.com
• OfficialTicketCenter.com
• OrlandoFunTickets.com
• Undercovertourist.com

We will only look at the end results and not at individual prices for each ticket sold by each of the vendors: that would only muddy the water. So, here are the results:

In the 1-Day MYW Base Ticket category the winner is: Disney.  The cost of an adult pass (anyone age 10 and over) is $87.33.  The price for a child (ages 3 – 9) is $78.81.  If buying your passes separately, rather than as part of a vacation package, you can opt to claim your passes at the Will Call window at any of the parks or for $5 they can be mailed to you.  The total cost for a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 children) including tax and shipping comes to: $337.28.

In the 3-Day MYW Base Ticket category the winner is: GreatOrlandoDiscounts.com, beating out MapleLeafTickets.com by only $.20.   Although the actual per ticket price was the same from other ticket vendors, what made the difference in the bottom line was shipping charges.   For our family of 4, GreatOrlandoDiscounts.com’s total price was $908.75.  That’s only $3.63 less than buying directly from Disney.   Most vendors give you the option of picking up your discount Disney Park tickets at their Orlando office to avoid the shipping charges, but you will need a car to get  there, (not to mention negotiating traffic and the price of gas).   Or, for an additional charge of between $6.95 – $11.50 several of the vendors will deliver to your hotel.

In the 5-Day MYW Base Ticket category, when looking at individual ticket prices, several of the vendors are tied or are within $.05 – $.10 of each other.  What makes the difference, again, is shipping charges.  For our family of 4, DWTickets.com and OrlandoFunTickets.com are less than $.50 apart.   The price used for comparing a 5-Day MYW Base Ticket from DWTickets.com, is actually their 3-Day MYW ticket.   Several of the vendors offer a buy 3 get 2 days free deal, so why pay the higher price of a 5-day ticket ?   The 5-Day MYW Base Ticket total price for our family of 4 comes in at $909.73.   Here we have a more substantial discount in price over Disney:  $55.90 less.

It is significant to note that all of our discount Disney World ticket vendors, including Disney, were very close. For example, the spread on a 3-Day MYW Base adult pass is only $3.26 between the lowest and highest prices. The difference is a bit greater for the 5-Day MYW Base adult pass: $9.92 (this is the difference between a 3-Day pass with 2 free days included and an actual 5-Day pass offered by other vendors).  For our family of 4, however, the gap increases to nearly $67 when comparing the lowest 5-Day equivalent pass (3 days plus 2 free) to the highest 5-Day pass.   In the 5-Day pass race, Disney came in next to last with a total price of $965.63, including tax and $5 for shipping.   But, here is something you want to consider before buying:  if you want to purchase the Disney Dining Plan you will need to purchase a vacation package that includes at least a 1-Day MYW Base ticket.  You may think that you can buy the 1-Day pass and purchase your other days from one of the online ticket vendors and save a few bucks, but look closer.

Let’s say your family of four (2 adults and 2 children under 10 years old) decide to purchase a 5-night Disney vacation package including the Disney Dining Plan.  In order to get the Dining Plan you opt to include only a 1-Day Base MYW ticket for each of you.  You then purchase 3-day tickets from an online vendor; you actually get 5 days since the vendor gives 2 days free with purchase of 3.   The total cost for the 1-Day tickets plus the 3-Day tickets would come to $1,227.44 including tax and shipping charges.   If, however, you purchased 5-Day passes with your Disney vacation package, the total price for your passes would be $905.59: a difference of $321.85 more that you would pay by buying passes separately.  Because you purchase a 1-Day pass and, in essence, 5-Day passes (3 + 2 free), which is a total of 6 days, we can make the comparison between buying 6-Day passes with your Disney vacation package and still have a difference of $309.06 that you would be overpaying.

Don’t be blinded by the words: Discount or buy 3 get 2 free. If you will not be staying at a Disney resort, or if you do not plan to take advantage of the Disney Dining Plan, then you may be able to save a few dollars.  But, when buying a Disney World family vacation package that includes the Dining Plan, your best bet is to include all of your park passes in your package. Remember: DO YOUR OWN MATH!

For more information about Disney World vacation planning, check out these articles:

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