Orlando park tickets. Help please?
Park ticket advice please. We are a family of 6 and lucky be going to Orlando in October.
5 adults one 3 year old .
There are so many options Ive gone into overload lol.
Can anyone advise the most cost effective way to buy tickets, and safe purchase sites
Multi passes include parks we are not too bothered about visiting. Going for 14 days with a rest day between parks. We would like to visit
Discovery cove x3 swim with dolphins x3 not
Aquatica
Universal studios
universal islands of Adventure
Animal Kingdom
Walt Disney World
Blizzard Beach, Epcot and Sea World are not essential but would consider half day visits if no extra cost involved.
Thank you in advance for any help gratefully received.
Don’t purchase anywhere except from an authorized dealer, and there are very few of them. That’s the number one thing to remember, because there are scams out there. To be sure, just buy from the parks directly. Everbody is competitors, so you will have to buy them separately. There is not one ticket that you can buy to include everything.
Animal Kingdom IS Disney World. Disney World is Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom, and the two water parks, Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon. You can get a multi-day ticket to cover all of this from Disney.
Universal owns Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure and you can buy tickets from their website. Sea World is another company to buy Discovery Cove and Aquatica.
Everything costs – nothing is going to be free. If you cannot understand the websites, you may want to consider using a travel agent. If you work for a large organization, you may be part of Tickets At Work, where you can buy them all cheaper.
I can only speak of Disney World as I have never been to the others. Disney World includes, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios as well as the water parks.
I would suggest getting a multi-day pass with the hopper option. This way, you can buy two tickets and get to all 4 parks. Water parks are extra and kind of expensive if you only plan on spending part of a day there. If you think you will be returning to Disney World (ever again) you should buy a larger pass with hopper and non-expiring option. I always buy 10 day passes and use them for years.
Good luck with all the other parks. Sorry I can’t help you.
You can get slightly discounted park tickets for Disney World at http://www.undercovertourist.com/ I have used this site for several years. They are reliable and fast.
It’s always the best and safest to buy park tickets directly from the parks. I always purchase park tickets on park websites. Sea World owns Aquatica and Discovery Cove, and they usually offer small discounts on tickets purchased from their website; however, they’re not currently offering a package that includes just Aquatica and Discovery Cove. You can get $5.00 off gate price buying Aquatica tickets on the Sea World website; Discovery Cove is currently not discounted because it’s not exactly a theme park where you just buy tickets and go, it’s an immersive all-day experience that only a certain amount of people per day are allowed in for, so you should make advance reservations to be sure you and your group will be able to go.
http://www.seaworld.com/Tickets/Visitors.aspx
For Universal Orlando you will save $10.00 off gate price by purchasing from their website, but that’s only if you purchase a multi-day ticket. So for example, if you purchase the two-day ticket and spend one day at each park, you will get $10.00 off gate price if you’ve purchased your tickets online. Universal Orlando has several different ticket options on their website:
http://www.universalorlando.com/Tickets/tickets_2.aspx
Disney World does NOT discount their tickets, but it’s still a better idea (in my opinion) to purchase them online before you go and have them mailed to you because that will save you from spending half an hour in line at the gate. For Disney World tickets it doesn’t matter what parks you want to visit, just how many days you’re visiting and what ticket options you’d like (keep in mind there are four Disney World theme parks and two water parks). So for example, if you only want to visit two Disney World theme parks, then you would just buy a two-day ticket. A base ticket will allow you to visit ONE park per day; if you add the park hopper option you can "hop" between the four parks as much as you want during each day (although if you’re going during a particularly busy time of year for a limited amount of time I wouldn’t bother paying for that option).
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/
Blizzard Beach could be half a day (it’s a water park, not a theme park), but Epcot and Sea World are NOT half-day attractions; and of course there would be extra costs involved, you’re not going to be able to get into those places for free!
I think a lot of the overload is related to the idea that tickets are in one category. But you’re essentially dealing with three different companies, Disney, Universal, and Sea World, all of which want you to spend more time with them and less with the other parks.
I would decide how many days you want to spend at
Group one
(Discovery cove, Aquatica, possibly Sea World)
Group two
(Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure) and
Group three
(Animal Kingdom, "Walt Disney World"/Magic Kingdom, and possibly Epcot and Blizzard Beach.)
What are your priorities? Are you willing to pay less and go to Busch Gardens (owned by the Sea World/Aquatica/Discovery Cove people) or is the Harry Potter section the main reason you want to visit Universal, which, like Busch Gardens has tons of thrill rides?
Yes, this will take work but you’re the only one who can decide if a day at Epcot is worth more than a day at Sea World. Getting an idea of the parks in general will help. You can ask for advice here but it’s really a personal thing. For instance, if everyone in your group hates violent roller coasters, you might spend less (or no) time at Universal. On the other hand, if you love being flipped about like you’re in a washing machine, you’ll be in heaven. Epcot is great for those who love poking around and seeing interesting things, not as great for those who think you’re wasting time if you aren’t sitting on some type of ride.
I think most people decide to go to Orlando and naturally want to do all the theme parks. You’ll quickly realize the ticket system for each company is set up to encourage you NOT to do that. The more time and days you spend in each company’s parks, the more they will reward you with lower costs. (That’s why the multi passes include parks you’re not too bothered about visiting.) If you want to do all the major parks, be prepared to pay accordingly.