Newbie Ticket Advice

[andychamb]

We're going on our first trip to Florida in May for 2 weeks. I've been looking into the advanced ticket purchase and I seem to have come to the conclusion that we may as well buy the Disney 14 Day Ultimate Ticket. Is it just me or are the other tickets a bit pointless? Being our first trip, I can see that we will spend a fair few days in the Disney parks and it seems that anything over about 4 days makes the Ultimate Ticket worthwhile plus having complete flexibilty. I was also thinking about buying Universal 2/3 day tickets as they have free child tickets that we could use as well.

What are the Must See parks/shows for first time trippers?

Thanks

Andy

[Leanne1977]

Hi Andy, welcome to the Dibb!!!:wave:

I agree regarding the ultimate ticket. We always get this ticket as we spend a lot of time at the Disney parks and we like to come and go as we please.

I would say definately dont miss Wishes which is the fireworks at Magic Kingdom, Spectromagic which is a light parade at Magic Kingdom and Fantasmic which is a show with lasers, fire, characters etc at MGM. All three are must sees.

There are loads of other things you must do and i'm sure you will get lots of suggestions.:grin:

[swampie]

All of the above shows and dont miss the Lion King show in Animal Kingdom.

I would say you are right if wanting to spend quite a bit of time in wdw then the 14 day pass gives you any options you want really for the whole of your stay.

[andychamb]

:grin: Thanks Leanne! Wow that was fast! :grin: I have never even heard of those! I have soooo much to learn! I can forsee many more nights of internet surfing coming on! I haven't even thought about ADR's yet........!

Andy

[Leanne1977]

:grin: Thanks Leanne! Wow that was fast! :grin: I have never even heard of those! I have soooo much to learn! I can forsee many more nights of internet surfing coming on! I haven't even thought about ADR's yet........!

Andy

I do try my best!;)

You will find all the info you will need right here. If you have any specific questions then make sure you post different threads so everyone will see them and be able to help out.
There is so much to see and do i would recommend you writing down a rough plan of things you definately dont want to miss. I think you will be pretty amazed by Wishes, Spectromagic and Fantasmic. The Lion King Show also as mentioned brings a tear to my eye.
Then you have all the rides. Tower of Terror, Rock 'n' Rollercoaster, Space Mountain etc etc the list goes on and on.

With regards to the ADR's, they are recommended if there are places you really want to eat at.

This will get you started with restaurant choices,

http://www.allearsnet.com/din/dining.htm

You will get lots of help here. Anything you want to know just ask.:thumbs-up

[mapman]

Don't miss IllumiNations, the fireworks display at Epcot - it's truly stunning.

As for tickets - if you're planning on spending a lot of time in Disney Parks then the Ultimate is a good buy - we have always bought Hopper tickets with no expiry, and these work better for us because we tend to spend one day in each park (and sometimes park Hop between MK and Epcot, and MGM and Epcot), with other days at SeaWorld and Universal. Coupled with shopping/rest days and other day's out excursions, that usually fills up our 14 days - and the great thing is that the Disney tickets never expire, so we always have some tickets lying around with days still to use on them . . I've currently got 1 Hopper ticket with 2 Park days and 2 water parks, plus 2 tickets with 1 day each on them.

Personally, I think the best value tickets are the 6 day base tickets with no expiry on them - but things change so rapidly that you always need to assess the situation at the time.

[xccy]

welcome to the dibb Andy
good choice...you wont go far wrong with the 14 day passes..
Dave..

[BEC]

welcome to the dibb, you picked the right ticket! there is so so much to see and do i agree with all of the above. I will be going in July for the 3rd time and i still havent got to see the Lion King yet!! Wishes (magic kingdom fireworks) wow i just love it i cry everytime !!! we did the wishes cruise last yr that was fantastic. Happy planning.

[jdybnsn]

IMO the Ultimate tickets are suited to Disney nuts and /or 'first timers', that want to do loads of Disney, and do not want to stick to any set itinerary and want to be able to come & go as they please from the Disney parks through out their holiday & particularly suited to anyone staying in Disney hotels. Also suited to people who are pretty sure this will be a one off holiday of a lifetime.....or so they think ;)
These are only available in the UK and expire X days after first use.


Where as, the Magic Your Way Tickets (MYW) are normally more suited to people wanting to do lots of other things appart from Disney parks....normally on a second, third visit or more ( ie repeat trippers) and /or have a set itinerary which incorporates one park per day....but only a few Disney parks in total during their stay.
These are the traditional US tickets which only a few UK suppliers sell (but there are plenty of credible US websites if you care to ask on this board). These allow you to buy a set number of 'park days' up to 10 and of course the more days you buy, the cheaper the park entry becomes. If you want you can, for extra cost, add on various features such as park hopping (ie visit more than one park per day) and/ or non expiry (so you could potentially buy enough park days for 2 or 3 trips all at once..thus getting very cheap park entry and protecting against inflation / negative exchange rate changes)

There are also a few other options such as Annual Passes (APs) -suitable if you are making more than one trip in a year & also upgrading expiry passes to non expiry when you get there.

Hope this is of some help......and welcome .......looks to me as though you have made the right choice ...but if you go again , you might want to consider some of the other alternatives :)

[andychamb]

Thank you very much everyone. So many valued and helpful comments. I think I willl definately go for the Ultimate Tickets. To be honest I'll be surprised if we see anything else when a few water park, shopping and rest days are thrown in! Two weeks is going to be no where near long enough.

OK, so that's the ticket choice sorted, now what's left, ADR's, shows, excursions, money.......:confused2

Anyway, thanks again.

Andy

[welshwiz]

Definately the 14 day ultimate on your first visit. Try ATD.

You've got some amazing information from the above posts (highly recommended info too from these folks)

We like all the fireworks & Lion King.

Must book some ADR's you won't regret it.

Write down a day to day plan before you go too.

Have fun! :wave:

[andychamb]

I will, I've seen some great things said about ATD. They seem to genuinely delight their customers. I'm just looking into some choices for ADR's now, I don't want to tie us down too much but the general advice is definately book up or miss out.

My 3 year old daughter keeps asking when are we going to 'Mickey Mickey House' She can't quite get her head round 100 sleeps! Bless.

Andy

[Leanne1977]

I will, I've seen some great things said about ATD. They seem to genuinely delight their customers. I'm just looking into some choices for ADR's now, I don't want to tie us down too much but the general advice is definately book up or miss out.

My 3 year old daughter keeps asking when are we going to 'Mickey Mickey House' She can't quite get her head round 100 sleeps! Bless.

Andy

Aww bless her.:)

She will enjoy actually getting to see Mickey and Minnies houses in Magic Kingdom then. My two boys loved it. They also have Donalds boat which she might like to run through and get wet.:D

[jdybnsn]

Definately the 14 day ultimate on your first visit. Try ATD.

We like all the fireworks & Lion King.




Yes, yes,yes, !!!! don't miss the Lion King show at AK ..one of the best park show that Disney does !:thumbs-up

[kirlie91]

We might see you there!! lol This will be our 3rd trip of a lifetime:grin:

Definitely made the right choice IMO with the 14 day Ultimate Ticket. You and your family will love it. As Leanne mentioned, your daughter will love wandering around Mickey and Minnies houses.

If you have the time try and read a few of the trippies as those will give you plenty of different ideas from different peoples perspectives.

Have a fab time :wavey:

Edited - Just a thought, you mentioned ADR's. I recommend Crystal Palace and Cinderellas Royal Breakfast. Your daughter would thoroughly enjoy the latter. We will be trying Chef Mickeys and PSB this year.