Your Questions Answered: How to Get Cheap Disney and Universal Tickets

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We’ve been inundated with questions from our readers lately — which is GREAT! We’re happy to help you with your queries about saving money on vacation or the best things to do in favorite destinations. We love it when the Traveling Mamas community chimes in with comments offering even more tips and advice.  So, keep those questions (and answers) coming!

One of our latest emails concerns Disney and  Universal Orlando in Florida:

My husband and I (both retired) are looking for tickets to Disney and Universal. I’ve looked online and they are so expensive! Any suggestions for less expensive admission tickets would be appreciated! Thanks, Donna

disneycastleI feel your pain, Donna. A one-day Magic Your Way ticket (admission to just one of the Disney’s four theme parks) is $79 on the online Walt Disney World Ticket Store. That said, if you buy multiple days worth of Magic Your Way or ParkHopper (allowing you to go to multiple parks in one day) tickets, the daily price drops up to 50% when you plan a week’s worth theme park visits. (But, frankly, do you really want to spend 7 days at Disney World? I doubt it!)

Here are some Disney ticket tips I gathered from a little online research and some posts on the Traveling Mamas Twitter account and my personal Facebook page. Thanks to everyone who offered advice!

A high-school classmate who lives in Florida noted that for the remainder of 2009,  you can register online and visit Disney World (or Disneyland) for FREE on your birthday. (Very cool – I hadn’t heard of this.)

She also suggested you find a hotel you’d like to stay at and ask if they have room packages that include discounted park tickets

DeliciousBaby’s Debbie Dubrow recommended checking for tickets through your membership at Costco.

One warning: do not buy park tickets from a third party on eBay. Apparently you cannot confirm how many days are left at the park on the ticket AND there is some sort of high-tech fingerprinting scan (!) used to determine if the ticket has been transferred (which is verboten). Just sounds too risky to me. (Thanks, Suzanne Rowan Kelleher of WeJustGotBack.com, for chiming in on that!)

Writing Travel’s Lanora Mueller says her go-to resource for anything Disney is Mary Waring’s Mousesavers.com. “It’s been my bible for Disney travel for nearly 10 years.” Indeed, Mary’s section on Disney World Tickets & Passes is chock full of advice, tips and tricks.

Lanora also recommends wdwinfo.com, passporter.com and allears.net for more Disney advice.

Regarding Universal Orlando (comprised of Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure), @tsekuech on Twitter says that auto association members can get discounts at the ticket window, so pack your AAA card. According to the ticket page on the official Universal Orlando site, you can save a few bucks by purchasing in advance online and printing tickets at home. And, like Disney, the more you commit — here, to a two-park pass that can be used for up to a week’s time — the more you save.

Good luck, Donna. We hope you have a GREAT vacation!

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August 11, 2009 | Filed Under Budget Travel 

Comments

5 Responses to “Your Questions Answered: How to Get Cheap Disney and Universal Tickets”

  1. Meghan Porter says:
    August 13, 2009 at

    Thanks for the great tips! I didn’t know the birthday special applied to Disney World as well, but that’s wonderful. Yes, I’ve heard about people trying to get tickets on eBay and how that didn’t go over so well. I will definitely look back to this article the next time I plan a trip to see Mickey Mouse! You should consider setting up a http://bit.ly/4bybHr poll to get readers opinions. They’re useful and I love voting!

  2. L. Diane Wolfe says:
    August 16, 2009 at

    Another place to check is at the Rec. Center on any military base. We’ve gotten discounted tickets for Universal and Busch Gardens there often.

    And no, I would NOT want to spend a week at Disney!

  3. Stephanie says:
    August 22, 2009 at

    I’ve bought tickets on ebay with no problems…I think the whole fingerprint thing is an urban legend. The other ideas are great, and we also discovered it’s quite difficult to find cheaper disney tickets!!

  4. Sam Haley says:
    September 10, 2009 at

    Thanks for all these tips on how to Get Cheap Disney and Universal Tickets. Hope that other travelers will find them helpful as well.

  5. oliver chapman says:
    November 8, 2009 at

    I am a source for cheap Disney / Universal tickets. They are 100% genuine and traceable form a ticket agency in the U.S.

    Give me a call for a chat and some more information on +447952017884.

    An example of my prices is:

    7 DAY PREMIUM TICKETS WITH 5 EXTRA DAYS FOR — £185
    5 DAY PREMIUM TICKETS WITH 3 EXTRA DAYS FOR — £155

    Looking forward to hearing from you.

    Kind regards,
    Ollie Chapman

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