Where & when to buy WDW tickets

[StressedOutDad]

Hi
We are heading to WDW in Orlando in June this year for the 1st time and I don't know whether I should buy the WDW & universal studio theme park tickets in advance. What would you recommend & what would be the best websites to buy from?
Thanks

 

[WAMUMOF4]

Welcome to the boards are you staying onsite at WDW if you are and have booked your accommodation through Disney it's just as easy to add it to you reservation, they are predicting a price rise in May so it's probably best to pre pay them. Here is a link about discount tickets and where to get them.
http://www.mousesavers.com/sources-for-discounts-on-walt-disney-world-tickets/

 

[Kiwifan]

I purchased ours last year from undercover tourist using the mousesavers link. Excellent service - tickets arrived in less than a week.

 

[Melbourne5]

We stayed on site at wdw and us. Added tix to booking. Makes it easy to have one credit card type ticket per person ( ESP at wdw as we had meal plan). Also good for chargebacks too and of course room key. ( on site at us = hard rock hotel)

 

[Mum from oz]

If you are staying onsite at a WDW or US resort then get them included with your package. We have always stayed off site and purchased ours from the Undercover Tourist website.

We have purchased both WDW and US tickets with no problems whatsoever. They post you the actual tickets (as opposed to vouchers) to Australia. The prices are good and they are reliable.

Tickets for WDW are no expiry so even if for some reason you have to cancel your trip you can still use them down the track, even years later. Another tip is tickets at WDW go up in price annually. No one know exactly when this occurs but it is happening soon, by mid year at most but they are speculating by April. Buy them now while they're cheaper price and they will still be valid after they raise the price.

 

[StressedOutDad]

Thank you for your help. We're staying off site so Undercover Tourist

 

[StressedOutDad]

Thank you for your help. We're staying off site so Undercover Tourist

Oops pressed the wrong button ....

I'll check out the mousesavers & undercover tourist sites.

Thanks again

 

[cola]

I'll check out the mousesavers & undercover tourist sites.

What you need to do is sign up for the Mousesavers newsletters. They include a special link to Undercover Tourist site with tickets a little bit cheaper again

 

[PrincessInOz]

Undercover Tourist will save you money compared to the gate price at Disney. If you sign up to the Mousesavers newsletter and wait for it, the link through there to the UT site will save you an additional $1 per ticket (a further discount off the UT pricing) for WDW.

 

[StressedOutDad]

The UT site says free postage. Does this include Australia? Do you know if they use registered post for the tickets? I am a bit worried about sending over $2000 worth of tickets half way across the world.

 

[Marlea98]

I believe it does. I haven't used them yet but will soon.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I ordered UT tickets 3 weeks ago and there is still no sign of them. I was feeling a bit nervous so emailed them Friday to see if they had a postal tracking number I could look up. They said to wait another week and if there's no sign of them they can cancel them and I'll be able to reissue them at the parks (whatever that entails?). Either way, it seems that they do have a system in place if tickets become lost.
Postage to NZ was free, but I do think they may have been sent everyday standard mail (I haven't been given a shipping tracking number). Not sure what I think about this. The tickets certainly aren't cheap items to be sending by standard mail and in retrospect I would have preferred to pay a little bit to have them sent tracked. I guess though that would have cut into the savings and made UT less desirable. And, let's face it, the savings are the reason most people pick UT over Disney.

As a comparison, I ordered some gift certificates from the WDW ticketing page and they arrived by Fed Ex in just under a week. I did, however, have to pay $25 in postage.

 

[StressedOutDad]

Wanderlust, please let me know how you go with the tickets. I wouldn't mind paying for the registered post myself. I'm going to email UT & see if this option is available & report back.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Wanderlust, please let me know how you go with the tickets. I wouldn't mind paying for the registered post myself. I'm going to email UT & see if this option is available & report back.

Will do. I'm obsessively checking the post everyday. I know if worst comes to worst, I can pick some reissued tickets up from the parks. However, I'm so excited about receiving them in the mail. I think when I see them, this holiday will feel more real than it has during any of my other bookings. Fingers crossed.

 

[cola]

The other thing to consider is that ticket prices go up every year, usually mid-year, but most people seem to be expecting the price rise in April, so once you decide where to get your tickets, do it sooner rather than later.

Also, if you are interested in a Park Hopper with non-expiring days, they seem to be an endangered ticket. UT has them, but apparently they are gone from the Disney site.

 

[StressedOutDad]

Got the following reply from UT

"We do offer regular free shipping to Australia but if you would like something more secure you can choose the 3 day International Fed Ex which is $30 U.S., it's under the Express shipping option."
Thank you,

Kelly | Customer Service

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Yay, tickets arrived today!
They were sent standard mail in a very plain envelope i.e. there was nothing on the envelope suggestive of what was inside.

Just a word of caution. Check the tickets are correct before ripping open the sealed plastic bag they're inside. There is a sticker on the bag telling you to do this, but in my excitement to get to my tickets I almost didn't read it. I think it becomes difficult to rectify any errors once the bag has been opened.
Not that there was anything wrong with my tickets. I just thought this was worth mentioning.

 

[StressedOutDad]

That's good to hear Wanderlust. Thanks for the update.

 

[Marlea98]

Yay, tickets arrived today!
They were sent standard mail in a very plain envelope i.e. there was nothing on the envelope suggestive of what was inside.

Just a word of caution. Check the tickets are correct before ripping open the sealed plastic bag they're inside. There is a sticker on the bag telling you to do this, but in my excitement to get to my tickets I almost didn't read it. I think it becomes difficult to rectify any errors once the bag has been opened.
Not that there was anything wrong with my tickets. I just thought this was worth mentioning.

Thank you for the tip.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

You're both welcome.

Just to reiterate what Cola said about prices going up in April, I got a mousesavers newsletter overnight and they're predicting the rise at start of April. So, if they're correct, price hikes could be as little as just over a month away. Maybe that's why my tickets took a bit longer than expected to arrive. These rumors of a nearby price rise might be making UT busier than usual. Not that I'm complaining anymore. I'm just excited that I now have them. This holiday is really starting to come together nicely.