Deals on Disney World Passes for First Responders
Discount Disney World Tickets Buying Guide (2021-2022)
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Tickets to Walt Disney World are the least flexible part of planning your trip. With flights, hotels, and dining, you have a variety of really good options and ways to save. But your options for deals on Disney World tickets are more limited.
There are tried and true ways to find discounted Disney World tickets, though. In this post, we review different ways to find deals on Disney World tickets, comparing them according to savings, difficulty of obtaining the discount (this includes costs you have to front to get the discount), and risk that you'll run into problems with your ticket.
Quick Things To Know About Disney World Tickets
Before we get to your options for discount Disney World tickets, we want to remind you of a few details about Disney World tickets generally.
Ticket prices vary by start date. This is the most important point. If you want to compare prices between different sellers you need to make sure you check the same start date. There may be flexible date tickets available, but their prices will typically make them a bad option.
Remember, too, that this means you'll want to compare prices from different sellers, but you'll also want to compare prices for different dates. You might find that changing your trip date by a week or so saves you a lot of money.
And those tickets can cover anywhere between one and ten days. Moreover, once you've selected a start date and length, you'll have a range of dates during which you can use those tickets.
For example, a 5-day ticket with a start date of November 11, 2021 can be used on any five dates from November 11 through November 18, 2021. Always be sure to compare the exact same tickets when comparing prices! And be sure you're comparing after-tax prices to after-tax prices.
Link tickets to your My Disney Experience account. It's important that wherever you get your tickets from, you link them to your My Disney Experience account—this will allow you to make FastPass+ reservations (FastPass+ is suspended during the reopening phase of Walt Disney World).
What are the cheapest dates for Disney World tickets?
September, January, and February tend to have the cheapest prices. But Disney can release discounts at any time, so you very well might be surprised by lower prices at any time.
When Do Disney World tickets go on sale?
Tickets for 2021 dates went on sale in June 2020. Tickets for 2022 dates went on sale in February 2021.
In the past, you almost never had to worry about tickets selling out until the day arrived, and even then there were usually only a few days a year that sold out (typically days like New Year's Eve, July 4, and sometimes major spring vacation dates).
But if you're looking for discount Magic Kingdom tickets, discount Animal Kingdom tickets, discount Epcot tickets, or discount Hollywood Studios tickets—you're in the right place. All four Disney parks are under a single pricing structure.
Additionally, it's worth pointing out that Disney Springs is not a theme park, and no ticket is needed to access it. It is an outdoor shopping and dining district.
Finally, let's talk water parks. Disney used to have a "water park fun and more" option where you could add water park access to your ticket. That disappeared, but they've since added the Water Park and Sports ticket add-on for $70+tax. This allows you a fixed number of visits to the water parks and a few other experience.
For both park hopping and water parks, you'll need to consider whether to upgrade all the way up to Park Hopper Plus tickets or to buy separate water park tickets.
Which of the park hopper / water parks & sports / park hopper plus options works best for your trip can be a tricky question, but it basically boils down to:
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If you need to park hop, get park hopper
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If you need to go to the water parks, get the Water Park and Sports ticket option
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If you need to park hop and go to the water parks, get Park Hopper plus
Disney World One Day Ticket Discounts
Discounts on one-day tickets for any of the four Walt Disney World Resort parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom) are pretty rare. The best options will typically come from Disney themselves (including the Florida resident discount). If discount brokers have one-day discounts, they're usually only a few dollars (which is better than nothing).
OUR CHOICES For Discount Disney World tickets
There are a few ticket agencies that sell 100% legitimate discount Disney World tickets, and their discounts may vary based on exactly what you're looking for.
Usually these deals are about 8-10% lower than Disney's prices for exactly the same product. While rare, you might even sometimes find discounts to special ticketed events like After Hours Boo Bash or Very Merriest After Hours.
Where is the cheapest place to buy Disney World tickets?
It depends. There are several discount ticket brokers, and they have different prices for different dates. Keep in mind these companies often have their own deeper discounted deals that come and go.
If you want to know how to get the best deal on Disney World tickets, the answer is simple—shop around! So here are some of the companies we recommend you check out…
We recommend Undercover Tourist for discount Disney World tickets. We've used them multiple times and never had any problems. If you're at all concerned about buying tickets from a third-party seller, we've got you covered with a post dedicated entirely to why we recommend Undercover Tourist for Disney discounts.
As an example, five days of park hopping for a family of four in November 2022 would cost $2,555 if tickets were purchased through Disney World's website, but only $2,407.90 through Undercover tourist, that's easy savings of about $150!
Orlando Fun Tickets
Discount: Under 10% - Difficulty: None - Risk: None
Orlando Fun Tickets is an option worth looking into. Their prices are competitive, but don't be fooled (as we were) by the fact that they don't include tax until check-out. This makes it easier to compare prices to Disney's prices (they also leave tax out until checkout), but more difficult to compare them to Undercover Tourist (which includes taxes when you search).
Official Ticket Center
Discount: Varies - Difficulty: None - Risk: None
We've never bought from Official Ticket Center, but we've seen them mentioned over on Touring Plans, a trustworthy site. Like the other sites on this list, you'll just want to do a quick price check to see if they're offering the best deal.
Parksavers
Discount: Varies - Difficulty: None - Risk: None
Parksavers is another option we can't personally vouch for but which is well-regarded in other places. Like the other sites on this list, you'll just want to do a quick price check to see if they're offering the best deal.
The Standard Discounts
The next set of discounts are standard deals that are either easy to get for everyone or easy to get once you've worked your way into an exclusive group for the discount.
Disney World Website
"Discount": about $20 - Difficulty: None - Risk: None
When it comes to deciding whether to buy online or at the gate, online is never worse and usually better.
For 3-day tickets and longer, buying on the Disney website or via phone "saves" you about $20 per ticket. The reason we use quotes is that most people will be buying online. You'll pay the $20 penalty if you buy at the gate instead of online.
Florida Resident Discount
Discount: About 30% - Difficulty: High - Risk: None
Florida residents usually receive decent discounts on Disney World tickets (screenshot is example, current offerings may vary):
There are also sometimes special ticket offers only available to Florida residents, like this one from 2021:
Moreover, Florida residents who are serious about Disney should probably consider a Disney World annual pass (for which they also receive a discount).
Can Florida residents buy Disney tickets for family?
Per Disney's policies, every adult ticket requires proof of Florida residency. Minors do not have to show proof of residency. The Florida resident ticket is intended to be used by residents of Florida, so it's not recommended you try and beat the system.
Disney Vacation Club Discount
Discount: About 10% - Difficulty: High - Risk: None
Disney Vacation Club members occasionally get ticket discount offers. For most DVC members, it will make sense just to have an annual pass, so it's rare that these special offers are going to be worth much. They also aren't very high when they do happen. If you're a DVC member, look into an annual pass, and pay attention to deals as they pop up. But definitely don't wait for them or plan too heavily around them.
Sam's Club
Discount: Low - Difficulty: Low - Risk: None
Sam's Club is now offering Disney World tickets.As we're not members, we can't speak to the process or how good these discounts will be, but they'll likely be around what the online brokers are offering, with the added task of making your way to the store.
Military Discount
Discount: Up to 50% - Difficulty: Heroic - Risk: Heroic
Okay, so you can access military discounts even through a friend who is in the military, but nonetheless someone in your circle must be heroic to access these discounts. Military discounts at Disney come and go.
The best source for information on these discounts, including prices and how to buy, is Military Disney Tips.
First Responder Discounts
Discount: Varies - Difficulty: Heroic - Risk: Heroic
While military discounts tend to be pretty stable, First Responder discounts (including police, firefighter, EMS) tend to come and go. There's no set Disney World discount for first responders, your best option is just to check with a travel agent to see if any ongoing discounts are available.
Does AAA offer discounts on Disney World tickets?
The AAA discounts are no longer a great way to save on Disney World tickets.
At one point, AAA discounts were a decent way to save on Disney World tickets, but those days are gone. First of all, the discounts come from individual branches, so you'll have to call local AAA offices to get quotes. Second, their discounts tend to be pretty small, often beaten by the prices you'll find on ticket broker sites. Worth a phone call, if you're already a member, but no worth effort beyond that.
Deal Hunting for Disney World Tickets
Not so much "discounts," these are out of the box ways to carefully consider before trying.
Using Discount Disney Gift Cards
Discount: Varies (about 8%) -Difficulty: Medium -Risk: None
This will rarely be the best deal you can get, but we want to mention it for the sake of completeness. You can typically get discount Disney gift cards, saving about 8 to 10% on Disney purchases, including park tickets.
The Annual Pass
Discount:Varies - Difficulty: Medium - Risk: None
You came looking for discounts, and we're telling you to maybe just buy a yearlong ticket? Hear us out.
A single Walt Disney World annual pass for an adult with no special discounts costs around $1300 after taxes. A five-day park hopper ticket in November from Undercover Tourist costs about $600. That means two five-day trips will cost you about $1200. That's close enough that if you're planning two trips of at least five days each, you'll want to look at whether the annual pass makes sense on ticket prices alone.
Also consider these two perks of the annual pass:
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The Annual Pass comes with PhotoPass photos, while Memory Maker costs $169 before taxes.
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Annual Passholders receive 10-20% discounts on some dining and merchandise.
It might make sense for one family member to get an annual pass for those two perks!
eBay
Discount: 10-30% - Difficulty: Medium - Risk: EXTREME!!
We don't advocate buying tickets on eBay. The reason is pretty simple - prices for many, if not all, things on eBay are determined in part by the risk associated with buying over eBay. Can you find legitimate tickets on eBay? Of course! Will the legitimate tickets have big discounts? No!
There are going to be a few people who put up an eBay account just to sell tickets they lucked into, but you can't distinguish those from scammers. If someone has 1000+ positive reviews for selling park tickets, they aren't going to have to offer much of a discount. In short, finding a true, legitimate discount on a ticket via eBay is incredibly difficult, and never worth the risk of getting to the park and being denied entry!
More Disney World Ticket Tips
Rethink Arrival and Departure Days. Note your flight times and when you'll get to / depart your hotel. Decide carefully whether you need a ticket for your arrival day, your departure day, or both. Keep in mind that adding days to longer tickets is relatively cheap, and squeezing in one extra rope drop can make all the difference in your overall trip.
Make sure to link to My Disney Experience. You'll want to link your tickets to My Disney Experience as soon as possible. This will enable you to make FastPass+ reservations, as well an ensuring that all the tickets are properly linked to the members of your party.
Don't Wait Until Morning Of. You've read our Hollywood Studios rope drop strategy. You wake up hours before the park opens and stand at the gates waiting for them to open. When they do, you tap your Magic Band and…blue! (Blue is bad.) So you're sent to the ticket window to resolve the issue.
Whether it's at a park ticket window, the guest services desk at Disney Springs, or the concierge at your hotel—confirm your park tickets are properly linked to a Magic Band or plastic ticket card before you go to the turnstiles.
Don't Get Clever. The ticket rules aren't flexible. It's fundamental that you need a ticket to access a theme park, and yet somehow people still ask things like "well if I'm staying at a Disney hotel my first night I don't need a ticket just to go in and watch the fireworks, right?" HUH? Yes—if you want to enter a theme park you need a ticket, and no amount of pleading or fake confusion will get you around that point.
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
Don't be overwhelmed by Disney World planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.
Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.
When it comes time to book we'll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And don't forget to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!
Don't forget to master your Disney World Genie+ and Lightning Lane strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Epcot Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Animal Kingdom Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, and Hollywood Studios Genie+ and Lightning Lanes.
Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.
Where do you buy your discount Disney World tickets? Did we miss Anything?
Looking to save on your hotel? Consider a value resort!
Deals on Disney World Passes for First Responders
Source: https://www.mousehacking.com/blog/discount-disney-world-tickets
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