Where to buy tickets from?

[Lees75]

Kids and I are heading to WDW on Oct 1 this year for a week and hopefully staying at Pop Century.

Do you make your reservations on the general WDW site, or is there a better place for Australia's to book accommodation and ticket? I don't think we will do the dining plan, although will cross our fingers we end up on the free dining time

 

[PrincessInOz]

I tend to book everything myself so that I can control/change the bookings if the need arises. It does mean that I will end up making calls to Disney; as I don't like their website.

I have also used an American Travel Agent that specialises in Disney vacations. There are a number of them around; and I dealt with mine via email a lot. American TAs charge the same as Disney as they earn commissions directly from them. The benefit of using an Disney specialist TA; especially one that is good; is that they will keep an eye out on the discounts and contact you when a better deal is available.

I wouldn't deal with most Australian Travel Agents because they charge a lot more than through the Disney website or an American TA.


I have bought tickets through Undercover Tourists before the Magic Bands became available and was able to link the ticket number with my MB on the Disney website. UT will ship tickets to Australia and they are cheaper than the gate prices. I haven't looked at whether UT tickets can still be linked or if they sell something similar for linking with the bands or not since about April last year. If you sign up for the AllEars newsletter, they will send you a weekly/monthly email. There is a link in there to UT and it will save you an extra dollar per ticket off the UT price.

Whether you buy tix from UT will come down to whether you need to buy a package through Disney for a Free Dining offer or not. According to the rumours, there will be a room only discount coming out shortly. It's going to be up to 30% discount for the deluxes. Not sure what it will be for Pop. I'd recommend that you run the numbers with the room only discount and the UT tix, add an estimate for food and work out whether this option is better for your family or not.

To qualify for free dining in the past, you would need to purchase a package; room and tickets, at full rack rate.

 

[LisaAJ]

I am using Magical Mouse Holidays and they have been amazing so far! They are Australian based and a Disney specialist. I booked my cruise through them and they did it for the same price as what I could have done it for myself (through the DCL website) but she got me a great cabin on Opening Day and I didn't have to do anything!! I tried contacting a US based agency but they took forever to get back to me and some still haven't! I'd much rather deal with someone close.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I used Undercover Tourist as well to buy my tickets. No issues whatsoever.

In saying that, I wasn't eligible for free dining as I had rented DVC points.

 

[Tashinwdw]

I did everything for our last holiday on the WDW site. we went deluxe accommodation and got the free dinning included. We had no problems at all with booking over the internet. This year is a little different as we are doing DVC but still just doing everything direct over the internet.

Our DCL portion of our holiday we did transfer our booking over to an american travel agent.

 

[Sugarglider]

Most of the travel agents give you the same pricing as booking direct thru disney. I am like PIO - I just go online to disney and do it all myself. The agents usually contact their clients when specials come out - but I just keep track of that myself - usually off these boards!

I am a solo traveller so free dining doesn't make much of a discount for me. so I look for the room discounts or rent DVC points. free dining works best with the more people you can jam into that room.

I've also been tempted by UT for tickets - but the discount seemed so minimal for 1 person. Anyway - I now use an annual pass so that is also moot for me.

the best agent deals I have found are:
1) the UK disney deals which I purchased through a UK based travel agent,
2) Magical Vacations Travel - a US travel agent who seems to get access to bulk bookings at very limited times of the year. I priced one of their deals once and it was very good.

 

[WAMUMOF4]

I got our 2 day Disneyland tickets from www.mypersonaltravelplanner.com.au/disney.html they also sell the 10 day Passes for Aussies it was what I was originally getting but we ended up doing a split stay before and after our cruise, I've also booked my DCL cruise through them it was the same price as going through Disney or an American TA actually I booked this years flights Perth to LAX through them as well and it was cheaper than doing it online. I'm now finding I do a mixture of things some things I can get cheaper online I guess the thing is is to know your pricing before you speak to someone

 

[Snickals]

I found what I wanted on expedia, took it to Flight Centre and they price matched it by a dollar for me