Picking your tickets for a Walt Disney World vacation isn’t a simple process. The sheer size of the Orlando campus is intimidating. Until you’ve visited several times, you won’t fully appreciate the complexity of your trip. All you know right now is that you need admission tickets. Alas, you have lots of variables that muddy the process. Here’s a guide on how to select the right Disney tickets to buy.
How many days should you get?
Image: DisneyYou’ll face many decisions when choosing which tickets to purchase. A key facet that drives all other determinants if your vacation budget. You may need to take a short trip because that’s all the time you can afford to spend at Walt Disney World. It might be all the time you can afford to take off from work, too. That statement applies to approximately 90 percent of the population, and Disney vacations are certainly expensive.
Keeping the financial constraints in mind, let’s talk about a few important basics. Walt Disney World is larger than you can comprehend until you’ve spent a lot of time there. You’ll have more to do on your trip than you’ll have time to do it. Everyone accepts that as the reality of a Disney vacation, which speaks to the genius of your picking the Most Magical Place on Earth as your destination.
While every vacation is different, I do have a few guidelines that I’d suggest for a trip. Unless you’ve visited Walt Disney World frequently, you should plan on a minimum of four nights, preferably five. The thinking here is straightforward.
Image: DisneyThe Disney campus features four theme parks: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. While you could feasibly visit all the parks in less time, you shouldn’t skip any. Pandora – The World of Avatar and Toy Story Land have elevated the less popular parks to the point where you want to spend time in those places, too.
As someone who came up through the travel industry, I’m a fan of the basic six nights, seven days philosophy that has driven vacation strategies for generations now. By spending a full week at Disney, you’ll get to do most if not all of the stuff that you want to do.
So, my recommendations come down to four-to-six nights as the base for admissions. Anything less than that will force you to skip some great park activities, while anything longer borders on overkill. And I say that as someone who frequently spends 10 or 11 nights at Walt Disney World.
How do you prefer to vacation?
Image: DisneyThe next decision has several facets to discuss. Should you get tickets that allow only single admission or would Park Hopper work better? Park Hopper is precisely what it sounds like. You can visit any Disney theme park that you like during your trip, as long as your admission tickets are valid.
Basic Disney tickets are finite. You’ll receive admission that includes four parks over four days. On the plus side, it’s an easy vacation to plan. On day one, you’ll be at Magic Kingdom, day two at Epcot, and so forth. The order of the four parks is, of course, up to you, but that’s the gist.
A lot of theme park tourists prefer the simplicity of this structure. You know exactly what you’ll do each day. Even if you plan to leave that park during the day, it’s your home base, so to speak. You’ll base other decisions such as where to eat and where to go off of your primary daily park. You likely won’t stray far from this place each day, save for things like Disney Springs visits.
Image: DisneyA lot of guests who stay offsite (i.e. at hotels and timeshares unaffiliated with Disney) choose park-a-day admission. Due to logistics, it’s easier this way since transportation to and from the park is more agitating. The downside is that you have less choice. If one park’s having a lot of ride breakdowns, you’re stuck there for better or for worse.
Personally, I swear by Park Hopping. I love the freedom of improvisation during a theme park visit. I’m impulsive by nature and when the mood strikes, I want to switch parks. It’s pretty rare that I visit ONLY one park on a given day.
Anyone who prefers to keep plans fluid will want Park Hopper. It costs a bit more per day, although that difference gets smaller when you stay longer. Currently, the difference in Park Hopper vs. regular admission is about $150 for a four-night trip. That’s a per-person cost, which means it can add up quickly for larger families. There’s also another, even more expensive option…
Do you like water parks?
Image: DisneyDisney recently revamped its line of admission tickets. Previously, they offered a single Park Hopper and More selection. Since some guests didn’t take advantage of it, they split the choices. The Park Hopper option is now standalone. For a small fee ($50 per person for a four-day ticket), guests can choose Park Hopper Plus instead.
What’s Park Hopper Plus? This feature is akin to the prior Park Hopper and More, strong emphasis on the More part. During each night of your stay, you receive a Plus Visit. These bonuses are special admissions to places like Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon, ESPN Wide World of Sports, and the various miniature golf courses at Walt Disney World. You could even play a round of golf at Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course if so inclined.
During a four-night stay, you’d receive four of these Plus Visits. That, too, borders on overkill. With so much going on at the parks, you’re unlucky to find the time to play a round of miniature golf, catch a sporting event at ESPN Wide World of Sports, and go to a water park. Even if you did, you’d STILL have an extra Plus Visit remaining.
Image: DisneyWhy would you buy a package that you wouldn’t use to the fullest? Well, a single day at a Disney water park costs more than the four-day price of the Park Hopper Plus ticket. It makes a lot of sense if and only if you plan to visit a water park during your stay. And these are the two most popular water parks in North America. So, you might want to do that.
My thought process here comes down to length of stay. If you’re only buying a four-day admission ticket, you won’t be going to a water park. Around day seven, it becomes a consideration. That goes double during the hottest months of the year, which is most of them in Central Florida.
Would you like a package deal with a hotel room?
Image: DisneyThere’s one final suggestion I want to mention. It’s one that makes the most sense to a lot of theme park tourists. Disney wants to swallow your entire travel budget. They’ve built the entire Orlando campus under this philosophy. They want you to stay at a Disney resort and eat at Disney restaurants while you’re in town.
To incentivize you to spend all your money with Disney, they sell packages that will provide more than a basic admission ticket would. It’s a kind of all-inclusive package for a hotel room and admission tickets. Sometimes, Disney will even throw in a free dining plan, although those packages tend to sell out quickly. If you’d prefer to buy something that has everything you need in one tidy package, this solution is probably best for you.
