Universal Studios in Orlando

[Steve]

Anyone know where I can find some discounted tickets for the parks?


I know some of you are really good at searching for things online, so I just thought I would ask. I'm not at all that good at searching for things like this.

[michelleCTSV]

Try undercovertourist.com- they have discounted disney and universal tickets- you save a few bucks, but not a ton.

[Leah]

Anyone know where I can find some discounted tickets for the parks?


I know some of you are really good at searching for things online, so I just thought I would ask. I'm not at all that good at searching for things like this.

Actually Ebay is a great place for discounted tickets. I've been looking there for our Disney trip and found some excellent deals. Also-I know someone who did the condo sales pitch thing and got a 5 day disney trip with passes for 4, hotel and meal tickets for under $400. If you can spare a few hours, it may be worth it.

[SMKR]

loved our trip to disney world and universal studios in orlando.

[michelleCTSV]

Actually Ebay is a great place for discounted tickets. I've been looking there for our Disney trip and found some excellent deals. Also-I know someone who did the condo sales pitch thing and got a 5 day disney trip with passes for 4, hotel and meal tickets for under $400. If you can spare a few hours, it may be worth it.

just be careful buying disney tickets on ebay. Only 'authorized' disney ticket sellers are supposed to sell them. They do make you do a fingerprint when you use your ticket the first day (if you buy a multi day ticket), so they can't be resold after using them. you can't even let another family member use your ticket, since it is tied to your fingerprint. So I'd be highly suspicious of buying multiday tickets online for disney, i've seen a lot of fakes in my time working there and travelling there. They don't sell 'discounted' ones to anyone other than the authorized disney ticket centers.

here is more info on buying disney tickets that might help:
Where NOT to Buy Disney World PassesThere are lots of legitimate ways to get discounted Walt Disney World passes. Unfortunately, there are also many ways to get ripped off.

You should never buy partially used passes. For instance, perhaps someone bought a 7-day ticket and ended up using only 5 days of it, so he or she is reselling the remaining 2 days. (Unused days on the old Hopper tickets sold before January 2, 2005, and on Magic Your Way tickets with the No Expiration Option sold on or after January 2, 2005 will never expire.) Sounds good, right? The trouble is, there is absolutely no way to tell whether the pass does, in fact, have the number of days remaining that the seller claims, until you get to the gate and see if it works.

Disney tickets are nontransferable. That means they can be used only by the original purchaser. Disney uses a biometric finger scan system (which takes a partial fingerprint) that prevents you from selling or sharing a ticket. Only one person can use each ticket. While the old Hopper tickets did not use the finger scans originally, as of June 20, 2005 Disney is requiring the scans with ALL tickets. So if someone has used that old Hopper ticket recently, that person's scan is now recorded on the magnetic strip on the ticket.

In Florida it is illegal to resell partly-used multi-day admission tickets: click here to read about the arrest of some people who were doing just that. Used ticket brokers are everywhere in the Orlando/Kissimmee area. They are generally fly-by-night operators with small storefronts or a desk in another business, such as a motel or restaurant. They mostly sell partially used passes. It's likely that you'll get to the gate and find out the passes are no good. Needless to say, Disney is not going to help you with this. It is a great way to ruin a holiday. Here's a link to a news story describing a recent fraud involving worthless tickets.

There are now many web sites out there that seem to be offering super low prices on Disney tickets. Many are total scams. Since at least late 2005 there have been con artists and fraudsters (mostly operating from Romania) running web sites and eBay auctions that offer ridiculously low prices on Disney tickets. There is no way they can offer tickets at such low prices without losing money. Most require you to pay by Western Union or other cash-equivalent services, which means you'll never be able to get the money back. ALWAYS pay by credit card (not debit card) when making purchases on the Internet! This is your best protection.

Disney does not allow its authorized ticket dealers to use the word Disney in their URLs (domain names or web site addresses). Also watch for URLs ending with .ro (the designator for Romania). Many of the shady sites offer tickets that are no longer sold by Disney (i.e. Park Hopper PLUS, which hasn't been sold since 1/2/05) and/or offer items like "free meal vouchers" with your purchase (meal vouchers were phased out in 2005).

It is a very bad idea to buy Disney passes on eBay or Craigslist. Unfortunately both of these online resources are extremely popular with con artists. The passes being sold are often partially or completely used up (if they even bother to send you anything at all). There is no way to find out if the tickets are any good in advance of your trip. You are very likely to arrive at the gate and find out you have invalid passes.

Web sites that offer exceptionally low prices for Disney tickets may be promoting timeshares. Look at the very bottom of the site -- it probably says something like "This advertising material is being used for the purpose of soliciting sales of vacation ownership interests." That means you would have to attend a timeshare presentation in order to get tickets at the advertised price.

Yes, many timeshare resorts will give you some sort of discount on Disney World passes -- or maybe even a couple of free one-day passes -- if you will sit through a hard-sell "90-minute presentation" (which usually takes 2 hours or more). Some people don't mind spending part of their vacation doing this, but to me this is not worthwhile. I do not list any ticket discounts that involve timeshares.

[Lyn]

As Michelle said those "great tickets" are usually tickets that are hopper passes that weren't fully used. By the time they have your money and you go to Disney you're shit out of luck because they do a finger scan.

On the Universal tickets that are sold usually the same type of thing, except Universal makes you sign the back of the ticket when you get it, and each day your ticket is valid the signatures must match.

Lyn

[Leah]

just be careful buying disney tickets on ebay. Only 'authorized' disney ticket sellers are supposed to sell them. They do make you do a fingerprint when you use your ticket the first day (if you buy a multi day ticket), so they can't be resold after using them. you can't even let another family member use your ticket, since it is tied to your fingerprint. So I'd be highly suspicious of buying multiday tickets online for disney, i've seen a lot of fakes in my time working there and travelling there. They don't sell 'discounted' ones to anyone other than the authorized disney ticket centers.

here is more info on buying disney tickets that might help:
Where NOT to Buy Disney World PassesThere are lots of legitimate ways to get discounted Walt Disney World passes. Unfortunately, there are also many ways to get ripped off.

You should never buy partially used passes. For instance, perhaps someone bought a 7-day ticket and ended up using only 5 days of it, so he or she is reselling the remaining 2 days. (Unused days on the old Hopper tickets sold before January 2, 2005, and on Magic Your Way tickets with the No Expiration Option sold on or after January 2, 2005 will never expire.) Sounds good, right? The trouble is, there is absolutely no way to tell whether the pass does, in fact, have the number of days remaining that the seller claims, until you get to the gate and see if it works.

Disney tickets are nontransferable. That means they can be used only by the original purchaser. Disney uses a biometric finger scan system (which takes a partial fingerprint) that prevents you from selling or sharing a ticket. Only one person can use each ticket. While the old Hopper tickets did not use the finger scans originally, as of June 20, 2005 Disney is requiring the scans with ALL tickets. So if someone has used that old Hopper ticket recently, that person's scan is now recorded on the magnetic strip on the ticket.

In Florida it is illegal to resell partly-used multi-day admission tickets: click here to read about the arrest of some people who were doing just that. Used ticket brokers are everywhere in the Orlando/Kissimmee area. They are generally fly-by-night operators with small storefronts or a desk in another business, such as a motel or restaurant. They mostly sell partially used passes. It's likely that you'll get to the gate and find out the passes are no good. Needless to say, Disney is not going to help you with this. It is a great way to ruin a holiday. Here's a link to a news story describing a recent fraud involving worthless tickets.

There are now many web sites out there that seem to be offering super low prices on Disney tickets. Many are total scams. Since at least late 2005 there have been con artists and fraudsters (mostly operating from Romania) running web sites and eBay auctions that offer ridiculously low prices on Disney tickets. There is no way they can offer tickets at such low prices without losing money. Most require you to pay by Western Union or other cash-equivalent services, which means you'll never be able to get the money back. ALWAYS pay by credit card (not debit card) when making purchases on the Internet! This is your best protection.

Disney does not allow its authorized ticket dealers to use the word Disney in their URLs (domain names or web site addresses). Also watch for URLs ending with .ro (the designator for Romania). Many of the shady sites offer tickets that are no longer sold by Disney (i.e. Park Hopper PLUS, which hasn't been sold since 1/2/05) and/or offer items like "free meal vouchers" with your purchase (meal vouchers were phased out in 2005).

It is a very bad idea to buy Disney passes on eBay or Craigslist. Unfortunately both of these online resources are extremely popular with con artists. The passes being sold are often partially or completely used up (if they even bother to send you anything at all). There is no way to find out if the tickets are any good in advance of your trip. You are very likely to arrive at the gate and find out you have invalid passes.

Web sites that offer exceptionally low prices for Disney tickets may be promoting timeshares. Look at the very bottom of the site -- it probably says something like "This advertising material is being used for the purpose of soliciting sales of vacation ownership interests." That means you would have to attend a timeshare presentation in order to get tickets at the advertised price.

Yes, many timeshare resorts will give you some sort of discount on Disney World passes -- or maybe even a couple of free one-day passes -- if you will sit through a hard-sell "90-minute presentation" (which usually takes 2 hours or more). Some people don't mind spending part of their vacation doing this, but to me this is not worthwhile. I do not list any ticket discounts that involve timeshares.

Great info, Michelle and Lyn-thanks!

[Shorty]

My fiancee is friends with a girl that works at Disney World and she hooked us up with discounted tickets and hotel there.

[Lyn]

My fiancee is friends with a girl that works at Disney World and she hooked us up with discounted tickets and hotel there.

He probably signed you into Disney for free, and the hotel she got at an employee rate. Disney doesn't offer discount tickets.
Lyn

[michelleCTSV]

Great info, Michelle and Lyn-thanks!

no prob- didn't want you to get screwed. Disney does a pretty job controlling their tickets (and not giving big discounts) through only authorized means. If it sounds too good to be true, it is! :wink1:

they kill you on ticket prices though, it is pretty ridiculous. We finally bought annual passes last year to save a few bucks between two trips.

[Shorty]

He probably signed you into Disney for free, and the hotel she got at an employee rate. Disney doesn't offer discount tickets.
Lyn

I'm not sure how it all worked. She coordinated everything and I just booked the flight. We paid something for the tickets, I guess they were full price. I know the hotel was employee discount (hell of a deal).

[Lyn]

I'm not sure how it all worked. She coordinated everything and I just booked the flight. We paid something for the tickets, I guess they were full price. I know the hotel was employee discount (hell of a deal).

Employees get comped tickets per quarter, she probably gave you those and charged you what ever she wanted for them, otherwise she would have had to sign you in at cast entrance to get into any of the parks. Yes Hotels at cast rates are generally $25-$50 per night, depending on what property.
Lyn

[MIKEY]

Credit union

[Steve]

Thanks so much Lyn and Michelle.

Any advice on eating? Most of the sites I have read say to make reservations months in advance and there are so many choices its very overwhelming.

Are the character breakfasts worth the money for our little Emma to enjoy?

[94form2000z]

If you can find a special on the meal deal I recommend it. We did it and booked two character meals. My lil man loved it. You can get in to some of them without too much advance notice. We stayed at a economy Disney place and it was fine. We loved the free buses they provide when you stay at a resort hotel.