The mouse is holding me for ransom!

January 1, 2007 12:13 PM

There must be a way!!! How can I actually get a deal for Disneyworld tickets?

Going to Orlando March 10 with my wife and 5 year old daughter. I hate paying retail, like Kramer says, "retail is for suckers".

Like idiots we are going in prime season which means expensive flights (already booked) and I am renting a house via craigslist to save and to have a full kitchen to save on meals.

But I can't get over the fact I can't save $$ on disney world passes. ebay is thwarted due to finger print scanning on any tickets half used, but there has to be a way!

If it was up to me I'd skip the whole trip but there are others here who are demanding it.

Thanks in advance for your help!

posted by thilmony to travel & transportation (14 comments total)

You get deals on park admission if you stay at a resort on property, but that is not an option for you since you are renting a house. The only other way I am aware of is all of the discount ticket sellers in the area, but the catch with them is you generally have to go to a high-pressure sales pitch for timeshares.

The simple truth is, Disney is the dominant player in the market and does not need to discount. You can get deals on the other attractions in the area, like Universal or SeaWorld, but the Disney parks are doing very well without discounting.

Some people who are frequent visitors save money by buying an annual pass. Even if you only come once a year, you can save money by timing your trips so that one annual pass covers two visits.

Also, the entire pricing scheme at WDW has changed dramatically in the past year or so, and can be very confusing. If you are only going to go to one park in a day, don't spend the extra money on the park hopper add-on. Plan your days out in advance, so you know what you are doing. I.E. - the Magic Kingdom is definitely a full day park, whereas the Animal Kingdom and the MGM/Disney Studios are both really half day parks (start at AK in the morning, and then finish the day at MGM).
posted by Lokheed at 12:23 PM on January 1, 2007

Do any of these apply?
posted by Tacos Are Pretty Great at 12:24 PM on January 1, 2007

Shareholders in DIS used to get discounts. Not sure if they still do.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 1:30 PM on January 1, 2007

Other than buying them in advance (which I'm not sure still gets you a discount), weighing your ticket options carefully, or suddenly becoming close friends with a cast member who's willing to get you in on their blue or silver pass, it's unlikely that you'll find any discounts or deals that time of year.

Depending on how long you're staying (and if you plan to return within a year), there are further discounts on food and merchandise that come with an Annual Pass.

There are also occasional discounts and rewards that can be used at Disney if you have Chase's Disney Visa, but none of the actual discounts apply to ticket purchases.
posted by ThatSomething at 1:42 PM on January 1, 2007

Some large corporations offer discounted theme park passes through their employee associations. Know anyone who works for a big company?
posted by phatkitten at 1:46 PM on January 1, 2007

Costco in SoCal offers discounted 3-day passes to Disneyland. Maybe something similar exists in Florida warehouse stores.
posted by infinitewindow at 1:51 PM on January 1, 2007

Just a word on Disney's Visa - you earn "reward dollars" that can be used toward buying a pass (or buying a pass at a discount), but of course that's not a practical option for most people who want to go in the near future.
posted by Liffey at 1:56 PM on January 1, 2007

I'll take a shot in the dark ... Disney employees with certain degrees of seniority can sign in groups of people for free. Do you know any?

If not, are you willing to make an under-the-table deal with one? Make a craigslist post offering a cash payment to a Disney employee willing to break the rules and sign in your family for a day.

As a former Disney guy from Anaheim ... such deals are not unheard of.
posted by frogan at 2:20 PM on January 1, 2007

We have the Chase disney card and have a whole $35 reward dollars, so that could save, but when I'm looking at $700-800, $35 is chump change - I would use it if I can't find any other deals.

Frogan, you have the right idea!!! Thanks!
posted by thilmony at 2:23 PM on January 1, 2007

Sometimes you can find $5-$10 off type things on Coke cans, but that's all I've seen if you're not a Florida resident (for Disney World).

When I went, my g/f was a Florida resident and I was not, but they gave us both the discount when she showed her FL driver's license. It's still rather expensive, even with that, though.

You might think about only going to Disney World one day, and doing other things (which doesn't have to be a theme park) the rest of your trip. Magic Kingdom, at least, only takes one day to fully appreciate, IMO.

You could always go to Cape Canaveral and do a tour or something, or go to Mount Dora and do a little small towny shopping/relaxation thing. That's a pretty nice place for a bike ride, if you can find someplace that will rent you bikes, although I don't know that a 5 year old would appreciate that very much. The point is that there's a lot of other stuff to do in the Orlando area, if you don't want to feed the monster more than you have to.
posted by wierdo at 4:47 PM on January 1, 2007

You could attend one of those "free breakfast seminars" that are supposed to sell you a time-share condo in the swamp. They seem to happen in the lobby of every hotel in Orlando.

As long as you can say "No. No. No. No. No." for an hour, you will end up with free day or weekend passes.

I think I actually said "Look, buddy, I feel bad for you, but you can either keep wasting time on me for the next hour, or you could cut your losses, gimme my free tickets and move on to those next folks now."

Worked. :)
posted by rokusan at 6:39 PM on January 1, 2007

Some friends and I went to Disney a few years ago and managed to get 4 free tickets and free lodging for 4 nights/5 days. At the time, there was a timeshare company who gave you those goodies at the cost of having to sit through a day of their sales pitch. The tickets really were free as was the lodging though the sales pitch did take an entire day and one person per free ticket had to show.
posted by jmd82 at 7:04 AM on January 2, 2007

I'm going to second Rokusan. Often, saying "Look, I'm not interested, I don't want to waste your time, I just want free tickets" works like a charm. I can't tell you how far a little shamelessness will take you. Or, you know, take pride in the fact that you're shutting down sleazy time-share nerds. Either/or, whatever gets you to sleep at night.
posted by GilloD at 7:20 AM on January 2, 2007

I second pp who mentioned mousesavers.com. I get her newsletter, and there are discounts in there that aren't on the website. It is hard to get big discounts to WDW, unless you don't mind wasting a vacation day on timeshare sales. However, I have to say that I think the tickets are worth every penny :)
posted by purenitrous at 6:27 PM on January 2, 2007