How many park tickets days?

[Tpeila]

We fly in 2/14. Our flight gets in a 4pm. I don't think we can avoid not going the day we get there because they will be SO excited.
We fly out 2/23 but not until 4:30pm.
And we want to hit Universal for one day
Should we get the 9 day pass or just an 8 day?

Lastly this being our FIRST trip to WDW. Is this too many days? And should we get the park hopper?

I know lots of questions sorry and thank you

 

[MrsJamesPSullivan]

What are the ages of your kids? That makes a big difference sometimes. Something to keep in mind about the first day is if you are taking ME it could be 5:30 before you get to your resort. Are you going to be hungry? Will you have had a long day of travel? Everyone is different and you know your family but we get in around that time also, for us it means we have left home around 8am central time and we're excited to be there but tired also. The pools are heated so we pack swim stuff in carry on so if the weather is good we can take a relaxing swim, eat, explore the resort and get to bed at a decent time so we're well rested to start the next day.if the weather is bad we take the bus to Epcot and do a loop on the monorail instead of swimming. Just something to consider.

 

[Tpeila]

What are the ages of your kids? That makes a big difference sometimes. Something to keep in mind about the first day is if you are taking ME it could be 5:30 before you get to your resort. Are you going to be hungry? Will you have had a long day of travel? Everyone is different and you know your family but we get in around that time also, for us it means we have left home around 8am central time and we're excited to be there but tired also. The pools are heated so we pack swim stuff in carry on so if the weather is good we can take a relaxing swim, eat, explore the resort and get to bed at a decent time so we're well rested to start the next day.if the weather is bad we take the bus to Epcot and do a loop on the monorail instead of swimming. Just something to consider.

7 yr old girl and 12 yr old boy. We are coming from the West Coast. If you take the monorail do you have to use a park ticket? We will probably be hungry but so far trying to find reservations on Valentines Day is not fun

 

[IrishNYC]

I would not go to a park on the first day after flying from the West Coast. Get settled, go to bed at a reasonable hour, so you can be ready to go go go the next morning. I would either explore Disney Springs and have quick service there, or TS if you can find it, or if you're staying in a monorail resort, do a monorail tour, including the Epcot line just to go through Epcot, and back again, and stop at a QS in one of the monorail resorts.

 

[jcdean]

The monorail does not require a park ticket.

It is possible to add days or the park hopper option when you are at WDW. I would only purchase a ticket for the number of days you are certain to use (8, maybe just 7 if you are also going to universal) and then decide towards the end of your vacation whether or not you need an extra day in the parks.

For a first time visitor each of the parks offers enough to fill an entire day. Park hoppers aren't at all necessary. But, if you are staying at one of the Boardwalk area resorts it might be nice to have access to Epcot every evening just for the dining, and staying at the Monorail resorts makes popping into the MK at the end of the day easy and tempting.

 

[CAS239]

By the time you get to Orlando and get all your luggage in the room it'll be fairly late in the day. I wouldn't use the money on a ticket for that day and instead would just head to Disney Springs. Eat there and check out all the shops.

As far as park hoppers...that's up to you but I would recommend them. Since you'll be there for an extended trip the price for the park hoppers breaks down to being pretty cheap since its spread out. Having park hoppers is also a great way to avoid any EMH crowds. If a park has night time extra magic hours you can hit that park in the morning, then hop to another park at night and avoid the EMH crowds

 

[Accident]

If you want to schedule fastpass+ in advance this will not work but might save you money..

I would recommend holding back 2 days of tickets on everyone and spread out some more not disney park days. . As your on vacation if you decide to do more park days, just go upgrade the tickets really quick to add the addtional day and again if you need that second one also It's about $12ish per person per day so not a huge savings but disney won't refund unused days but it won't cost you more to add them later.

Generally someone in the group would need 1 more day than everyone else (which you can't buy on a package deal but you can do in upgrades) and everyone else liked the flexibility of more options. I probably saved about $100ish in tickets per trip doing this.

Same deal with hoppers, don't add it onto the ticket until you need it. takes a few minutes at the ticket booth on the way out of the park or into the next park and no cost saving benefit getting it before you need it.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I agree with Accident. I think I would start with a 6 or 7 day base ticket because, with such a long trip, you may want to take a few days off. You can then book your must-do FP+ with those tickets and, if you decide to add more days or the park hopper option, you can always schedule more FP+ when you are there.

I actually would go to a park on your first day there! I wouldn't be able to restrain myself. It looks like EP has extra magic hours that night, so I would go there! If you can't find a TS reservation, there are some great QS in EP.

Also, some unsolicitied advice. I would recommend getting a park-to-park ticket for Universal so you can ride Hogwart's Express!

 

[PSUGuy]

Last Oct we bought an 8 day hopper in advance, made our FP+ choices then up graded to an AP when we got there for our 10 day stay. We were able to get good FP+ choices for the last 2 days once we upgraded. We always go right to WS when we arrive be we're there a lot earlier thay you and Food&Wine is on. As mentioned, as the number of days go up, the cost per day goes down we Go Big.

Bill From PA

 

[jmkjr72]

When we went with the kids on a 9 day trip we never went on travel days and always planed an off day if you are thinking of doing universal then I would think 7 days

We love the hopper dhs with everthing that is closed isn't a full day park any more in n our eyes
Plus we haven't been sense ak started staying open later

Plus with February look at the refurb less stuff is open and the hours aren't as long

 

[clm10308]

Chech out the difference in price of a 7 or 8 day ticket vs. the 9 day ticket.
When you are at that many days, the price per day is low. If budget is not a big concern, I would go with the 9 day ticket just to have the option to go every day if you want.

 

[dmband]

Chech out the difference in price of a 7 or 8 day ticket vs. the 9 day ticket.
When you are at that many days, the price per day is low. If budget is not a big concern, I would go with the 9 day ticket just to have the option to go every day if you want.

Bingo
We are looking at like $10 for the extra day but our situation is doing we go on the day we leave??
Last time we did D Springs and it was kind of a pain but worked.
We will need to pack and catch DME around 4:30 but for $10 or so I think we will just get the ticket in case

 

[NYCANC]

Bingo
We are looking at like $10 for the extra day but our situation is doing we go on the day we leave??
Last time we did D Springs and it was kind of a pain but worked.
We will need to pack and catch DME around 4:30 but for $10 or so I think we will just get the ticket in case

Same here! We had 8 days but could not decide on going first or last day in the park. I checked and it was an additional $10 per person for the 9th day. So we are going all days (2 days at Universal). But we are a family that if we are there, we are in a park!

 

[Canooknic]

I would get the extra day ticket.
Our home bound DME will be around 3:30 so I do a majority of packing the evening before then finish after showers etc in the morning and head to MK for a last Buzz Lightyear battle and lunch/shopping before heading back to POR. We might be using a full day ticket for just a few hours but it gives us our final 'Disney fix' before heading home

 

[mi*vida*loca]

It'll be about $10 per person. I would add it. Even just to go into the MK and watch Wishes. For me $10 is worth an hour or two in the park. If we are there we have to go to a park. My kids would be bouncing off the walls.

 

[IrishNYC]

Bingo
We are looking at like $10 for the extra day but our situation is doing we go on the day we leave??
Last time we did D Springs and it was kind of a pain but worked.
We will need to pack and catch DME around 4:30 but for $10 or so I think we will just get the ticket in case

You can always add the extra day before the end of your last day if you're unsure about buying it in advance.

 

[Pmlocke]

Here is a little bit of info, based on our travels, that you may find helpful. When we arrive we always start the day at the Magic Kingdom with a dining reservation at the Crystal Palace. That way we get a good meal with Winnie the Pooh and friends and we experiance Main Street which gives you the almighty view of the Castle and some shopping. Should be enough for anyone's first day to quell that excitement factor you mentioned and after dinner you can head back to the resort where your bags should be available and go to bed. As for the Park Hopper question. It makes for an easier visit if you do what we do. We experiance a park in the morning, head back to the resort for some rest poolside and then hit another park in the evening. That way your day is broken up and you are not overwhelmed by working only one park for the entire day. Rest is important and if your kids are anything like my kids and now my grandkids, pool time is important.

 

[CJN]

Where are you staying? We also come from the west coast and where we stay is the deciding factor on what we do the first evening. If offsite, we settle in, explore our resort, grocery shop, swim, etc. If onsite, we always (always!) visit a park just to get in at least one ride and watch fireworks. Usually that means Epcot, Illuminations and some fish and chips It helps to burn off some adrenaline, get our Disney legs underneath us, and get us converted over to east coast time.

 

[Motsy]

I tend to find myself in the minority sometimes, but my family goes to Disney every year (typically every January), and even with going to so frequently we don't usually take a day off. For our upcoming trip we're going for 12 nights. We're spending one day at LegoLand, and since Disney only allows you to get a maximum of a 10 day ticket (without starting back over by adding an extremely expensive 1 day ticket to your 10 day ticket) we're actually going to have a day off this time. However, I would have rather had the 11th day ticket just in case. We still are never bored and tired of the parks with 10 days in them. My kids are ages 9, 8, 5 and 3, and they do really well at the parks every day. We don't always do open to close, but we are usually there at or before opening because of ADRs. During that time of year the parks aren't usually open too late anyway, so we get back to the hotel at a reasonable time (never been back later than 10 but usually by 9:30). Our younger two just nap in our double stroller as they need to throughout the day.

For your first day I'm not sure that you'll have time to do much depending on what time you get to the resort and get checked in to get your Magic Bands, but if the park closes later it might be worth going especially for what it would cost since the tickets are already so cheap to add on. You can certainly play it by ear and only get a ticket for how many days you'll definitely go and add later as you decide. Either way would be fine. If you don't feel like going through the process of upgrading just go ahead and get it for however many days you might do. It won't be that much anyway, so if the money isn't an issue, why not?

 

[bopper]

I would not go to a park on the first day after flying from the West Coast. Get settled, go to bed at a reasonable hour, so you can be ready to go go go the next morning. I would either explore Disney Springs and have quick service there, or TS if you can find it, or if you're staying in a monorail resort, do a monorail tour, including the Epcot line just to go through Epcot, and back again, and stop at a QS in one of the monorail resorts.

I agree...by the time you get to your hotel, why waste a ticket day on a park? (unless you have the package where you have tickets for every hotel day).
You will want to stay up late..and then will have a hard time getting up.

I say try exploring your hotel...let them go in the pool if that works.

Also we always have to take a day off after goign all day at parks for two days.