14 day australian disneyland ticket vs park hopper + extra days

[alicia1506]

hi all,

i find i'm conflicted about our disneyland tickets.

we will be there for approx 10 days, so we have the option of purchasing a 6day hopper ticket + adding extra days at the park gate, or purchasing the 14 day aussie vacation pass.

the price of the 6 day hopper is around $250 at present, plus about $5 per day, per person for the extra days, bringing the total to approx $270.00 per person for our trip.

the 14 day vacation pass is $272 per person.

i was under the impression that the vacation pass was exactly the same as a hopper pass, allowing hopping from one park to the other, unlimited times per day + one magic morning entry.

my TA today tells me that the 14 day pass only allows entry to one park per day, so it's essentially just a 14 day disneyland resort ticket, not a hopper. she also said you can go in/out of each park per day, so one visit to disneyland each day + one visit to DCA each day.

as this is different to the info i've read before, and what i've seen on the boards, can anyone shed some light? any of those aussies & NZ DISers who have purchased the 14 day pass -- have you been restricted to one park or one entry per park, per day, or are they like a hopper pass?

i just don't want to purchase, go to use, and then find out we didn't get what we thought we paid for. i'd much rather pay for the hopper & the flexibility & go through the upgrade at the gate process than buy something that doesn't give me what i want

 

[aussietravellers]

hi all,

i find i'm conflicted about our disneyland tickets.

we will be there for approx 10 days, so we have the option of purchasing a 6day hopper ticket + adding extra days at the park gate, or purchasing the 14 day aussie vacation pass.

the price of the 6 day hopper is around $250 at present, plus about $5 per day, per person for the extra days, bringing the total to approx $270.00 per person for our trip.

the 14 day vacation pass is $272 per person.

i was under the impression that the vacation pass was exactly the same as a hopper pass, allowing hopping from one park to the other, unlimited times per day + one magic morning entry.

my TA today tells me that the 14 day pass only allows entry to one park per day, so it's essentially just a 14 day disneyland resort ticket, not a hopper. she also said you can go in/out of each park per day, so one visit to disneyland each day + one visit to DCA each day.

as this is different to the info i've read before, and what i've seen on the boards, can anyone shed some light? any of those aussies & NZ DISers who have purchased the 14 day pass -- have you been restricted to one park or one entry per park, per day, or are they like a hopper pass?

i just don't want to purchase, go to use, and then find out we didn't get what we thought we paid for. i'd much rather pay for the hopper & the flexibility & go through the upgrade at the gate process than buy something that doesn't give me what i want

I got a brochure from Flight Centre the other day and the 14 day pass was $297. I think it was the infinity brochure. What TA is yours with them at $270? Is it a flight centre?

We have had the 14 day pass, a couple of years ago now and it was a park hopper. We were staying at GCH so would often go in that entrance, then go out CA park entrance as it was quicker for us to go that way. We also got an AP for the discounts.

Is it definately only $5 a day to add to the 6 day park hopper? Wow, if that's the case, then it's cheaper to go that way, buy a hopper, then add At the price I got of $297, it's cheaper to get a 6 day
hopper and upgrade for the next 8 days if there for 14!

Mind you, the difference is the 14 day pass is valid for the 14 days. If you got the 6 day hopper and then added another day 7, then on day 8 were wanting to do a tour outside DL, you would have to go and upgrade your pass for that day otherwise the pass will expire

 

[Aust]

The 2 times I've bought the 14 day passes (in 2007 and Jan 2011) they have been hoppers, with no restrictions on number of times per park per day. In 2007 I bought them from a travel agent and last year from Expedia (where they were quie a bit cheaper but I believe they don't have them anymore). I'm hoping they haven't changed the rules as I plan to get them again for our trip this year.

 

[alicia1506]

i contacted flight centre & asked them to quote me. apparently the price of the 14 day pass is determined by which period of year ( i guess = season) you want to use it...

my flight centre quote for dec is $272.00 pp for the 14 day pass.

the TA said it's not a hopper, but the info brochure says that it can be used for entry in both parks on the same day which to me = hopper. hence my confusion.

i asked my TA to check it out & get back to me.

i asked on the Disneyland forum of the boards around upgrading the hoppers. every response i received stated that it is $5 per hopper per day to add, but that's $5.00 on top of the gate price of the hopper... ie, if you pay $250.00 per hopper online, but the actual price is $270.00, then you have to pay the $20 difference first, then $5.00 per day. so the first day will cost you $25.00, but the second day is another $5.00, then third day is $5.00 etc.

i thought the 14 day would be significantly easier to buy and use, but if it can't be used as a hopper, i'm thinking that it might be worth doing the hopper + upgrade option

will update once the TA at flight centre gets back to me

 

[aussietravellers]

Just got home. Have just checked the 2012-13 Infinity Holidays brochure that I picked up from Flight Centre the other day and the 14 day pass (it's $294 not $297 that I quoted before, sorry), and it is a park hopper

 

[cola]

I think the confusion is that you are assuming the Flight Center TA knows what she is talking about - if you assume she doesn't know what she is talking about there shouldn't be any problems.


Do you really want to go to LA and spend 10 days ONLY in Disney? You definitely don't want to see anything else at all? No Universal, no Hollywood, no San Diego, no shopping, no Getty Centre, no tar pits, absolutely nothing other than Disney, no rest days??? The 6 day ticket is valid for 14days, so you could have 4 days of non-Disney - even if you just try 1 day of non-Disney and decide it's not worth it, you will have saved park entry that day. It also means if anyone gets sick again you'll be able to take it easy for a couple of days without thinking 'but we paid for the park ticket already!)

 

[alicia1506]

I think the confusion is that you are assuming the Flight Center TA knows what she is talking about - if you assume she doesn't know what she is talking about there shouldn't be any problems.


Do you really want to go to LA and spend 10 days ONLY in Disney? You definitely don't want to see anything else at all? No Universal, no Hollywood, no San Diego, no shopping, no Getty Centre, no tar pits, absolutely nothing other than Disney, no rest days??? The 6 day ticket is valid for 14days, so you could have 4 days of non-Disney - even if you just try 1 day of non-Disney and decide it's not worth it, you will have saved park entry that day. It also means if anyone gets sick again you'll be able to take it easy for a couple of days without thinking 'but we paid for the park ticket already!)

lol. yes. maybe i've put too much faith in the TA knowing what is going on. I will definitely drop in to my local TA and ask for the inifinity brochure so that i can research myself... I much rather knowing for myself than relying on someone else knowing for me.

we are talking about a 6 day hopper + adding extra days at the hopper rate for $5.00. i've asked many people on the disneyland forum (over 30 responses who have all confirmed the same thing) who have done this and they have confirmed that the 6 day hopper + extra days at the hopper rate get added for about $5.00 per day. saves having to book a 6 day hopper + 3 day hopper to get a 9 day hopper etc.

we've done universal etc before and this time we want a fully immersive disney experience. although we may take rest days, we would prefer to have disney tickets for the whole time in case we change our mind while we're over there or want to do a part day... nothing worse than waking up & thinking i want to go to disneyland today but knowing that you've run out of days on your ticket etc.

i would much rather buy the ticket that covers our full span of days there, and let a few go by the wayside than have a ticket which only covers some of our days.

 

[Caroline NZ]

Hi,
We have had the 14 day passes 2 times, 2009 ( form Expedia) & 2011 (from Flight Centre). They were definitely hopper passes and we were able to come go an unlimited # of times during the 14 days.

 

[aussietravellers]

Alicia, I think the other company who does the 14 day passes is Creative Holidays. They may be the company that is $270. I asked for that at FC when I went the other day and they didn't have their brochure. But you could ask you TA which company the $270 14 day is with as that is a better price than the infinity $294. Oh and Qantas Holidays do them too. Up to 31st Dec they were $246 with Qantas

Gosh I wish they still did them through Expedia! It was so easy through them. Just get it online, print up the voucher and exchange the voucher for the ticket on arrival, and it was a great price through Expedia too. I remembered checking with Creative and Infinity and Qantas and Expedia pass was cheaper than all of them. I wonder if they were selling them to those outside AU/NZ and had to stop selling them Wish they would start selling them again

 

[Caroline NZ]

Alicia - would you mind posting the link to the topic regarding adding on to the 6 day park hopper for $5/Day? I am curious to read about it as I never realised it was an option

 

[aussiegirls]

We have bought the 14 day passes 3 times, the latest being Oct/Nov 2011 and yes they are hoppers. You can come and go as you please from both parks on any day

xxxx

 

[alicia1506]

just got the following email back from my TA:

Hi Alicia,

I have spoken with our wholesaler, who has confirmed with the park directly, that the vacation pass is like the hopper pass where you have unlimited access to both parks at anytime you wish. So yes, you can leave and come back on the same day to either or both parks. The vacation pass is like a hopper pass where the Hopper Tickets expire 13 days after 1st use and each day of use of a Disneyland Ticket constitutes one a full day use, and the same with the Vacation Pass. This pass requires a photo ID.

Upon booking, we are issued a voucher for the passes, which you will then exchange with them when you arrive.

***

so yay. now they are prepared to confirm that they are hoppers.

 

[alicia1506]

so for some reason i cannot find my previous thread on the disneyland forum re the hopper upgrades...

so i reposted my query and got responses from several on there confirming they have done it all recently, and it's still all good.

here is the link to the new thread

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=44100420&posted=1#post44100420

 

[Kiwianna]

Alicia, the 14 day passes may cost less than in the brochure.
The NZ price in the Infinity catalogue was $NZ 360 but the actual cost at Flight Centre today for was $NZ 319 for passes that will be used in June.
At today's exchange rate that is around $AU 245.

 

[alicia1506]

yeah, i got a quote from our TA for the 14 day passes - $285 each = $570 total for 14 days from 1st dec to 14 dec.

our TA has confirmed that this price is for the holiday season for the pass -- apparently the price of the pass can be slightly different depending on which season.

our TA also says that that price is locked... even if disney raise their ticket prices in june like they do most years, our 14 day pass is locked in at that rate

 

[Kiwianna]

Disney passes are listed on Expedia again, although the 14 day ones are not on the New Zealand site.

(edited to add): The New Zealand Expedia site says that the 14 day passes are available only to Australians and that proof of residency will be required when redeeming the vouchers.

 

[alicia1506]

hey kiwianna thanks for the tip... i checked them out and they are cheaper by approx $50 than what my TA had quoted me.

the rates listed on expedia.com.au are:

adult (age 10 +) AU$237.85 each
child (3-9) AU$218.90 each

that puts us at $475.70 for our 2 x adult tickets, and our TA had quoted us $570.00.

that's almost $100 savings, which is great. i'm gonna see if our TA will price match

 

[cola]

And just to complicate things even more A Deluxe Annual Passport is $379US and it does have some blackout dates, but I think you are avoiding most of them), obviously $379 is much more than the 14 day pass, BUT it gives you discounts on dining 10% (20% Downtown Disney's House of Blues), merchandise 10%, guided tours 20%, AND Disney Resort Hotels up to 30%, spa 10-20%. That roughly $180 price difference, with the accommodation discount, it wouldn't take much spending to easily cover the price difference. You would only need one Annual Pass to get the discounts for both of you (I think) ......

 

[WAMUMOF4]

hey kiwianna thanks for the tip... i checked them out and they are cheaper by approx $50 than what my TA had quoted me.

the rates listed on expedia.com.au are:

adult (age 10 +) AU$237.85 each
child (3-9) AU$218.90 each

that puts us at $475.70 for our 2 x adult tickets, and our TA had quoted us $570.00.

that's almost $100 savings, which is great. i'm gonna see if our TA will price match

flight centre quoted me over $290 a ticket for our dates when i put it in the expedia site it gives me the $237.85 for our dates as well i think i will test the waters with there price match

 

[periwinkle20]

Wow that is a great deal. Unfortunately I have already bought our 14 day pass via the travel agent.

Expedia also has Universal and Legoland tickets - do you think it is a good idea to buy these before you go or can you pick up cheaper deals once over there?