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HELP! Booking tickets to Disney Land / Universal

27 replies

Mytribeof3 · 14/01/2019 18:37

Looking for someone to help with choosing park ticket/combos for our trip to Orlando in August. It will be our first (and probably only) visit to the area so obviously we want to get the most out of our trip. That said, we aren't Disney mad and whilst we would like to experience the parks, we are a bit reluctant to spend £1,800 on park tickets! (We are a family of 5 and apparently the minimum ticket option when purchasing from the UK is 7 days). We are considering Universal studios and have booked one night at the Hard Rock hotel, but can't seem to find an option for less than 7 days here either. Is that the case? Or am I missing something? Ideally we would spend just 3 or 4 days max there.
Hoping that somebody here can help me as my brain is frazzled!

OP posts:
BF888 · 14/01/2019 18:47

How exciting! You will all have an amazing time!

I’ve been to Florida quite a few times now. I’ve done the whole park thing, and if going with people who I’ve not been with before I will just do odd days and purchase the ticket at the gate. It is expensive doing this and you will get better value doing a combo ticket.

So I can advise you more specifically. What Disney parks are you wanting to go to? And also presuming with universal you’d want to do islands of adventure to?

Is it 3-4 days max doing all parks or at just universal?

rosydreams · 14/01/2019 19:07

3 or 4 days you will not see all of disney i personally would wait a year or two save up and go longer.

universal is 2 days minimum to fully explore
disney it takes at least a day in each park theres 2 water parks and 4 individual disney parks

its massive and after a day of walking and exhaustion from the heat you will want to take it easy

you can massively cut costs with airbnb for accommodation

Mytribeof3 · 14/01/2019 19:11

Thank you for your reply. I should have added that daughters will be 5, 7 and 9 years old. They like Disney characters but are by no means princess obsessed. So whilst I'm sure they would enjoy seeing them on a parade or something, we will certainly not be paying extra for character meals etc as they just are not that fussed or clued up about it so don't think it would be worth the expensive. We'd rather spend our money elsewhere (Lego Land or Kennedy space centre for example) and possibly a water park. So whilst we want to experience Disney or Universal to a degree, buying a 7 day pass seems a bit excessive when they would probably be happy with one day at the magic kingdom, and another day doing some rides! I do however appreciate that this is probably an expensive way of doing it! I've been edging towards a few days at Universal and just taking them to Disney Springs a couple of times! I really don't know what to do! We usually go to the med and have a fairly quiet holiday away from crowds and I honestly think any more than a few days will be too overwhelming for us. We have approx 10 days in the area, before heading off to visit relatives and then on to Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

OP posts:
christmasinus · 14/01/2019 19:11

You can buy 1 day disnry tickets from the uk if that helps....they try to keep it quiet but I did it for our trip last month. On the us disney site, change the language at the top from english us to english uk and they appear as if buy magic

rosydreams · 14/01/2019 19:14

if you can only go for that length of time i would pay just to go to the magic kingdom park and a disney water park

www.floridaticketstation.com/theme-parks/walt-disney-world-tickets/disney-theme-park-ticket-flexible-date-tickets/flexible-disney-theme-park-ticket.html

Mytribeof3 · 14/01/2019 19:17

Christmas I can't seem to find the American site Hmm If you could point me in the right direction I'd really appreciate it! TIA

OP posts:
Unihorn · 14/01/2019 19:19

Disney World is absolutely not just for character obsessed children. Try watching some vlogs on YouTube (TimTracker is good for newcomers) to understand the parks a bit more.

This thread is recent about tickets www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3470604-aibu-to-think-disney-and-universal-studios-florida-tickets-should-be-cheaper-than-3-500-for-family-of-5

rosydreams · 14/01/2019 19:21

you may have to get your tickets from the visitor centre whilst there maybe cheaper

Mytribeof3 · 14/01/2019 19:21

Rosie Thank you. For some reason I wasn't sure if I would be allowed to buy these. I will take a closer look.

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WisestIsShe · 14/01/2019 19:22

Undercover tourist is a reputable us site.

Have you had a look on The Dibb forum? Loads of help from other British people who've been to Orlando a million times between them. A very friendly bunch here

MaryPoppinsPenguins · 14/01/2019 19:25

I would skip legoland.. it’s not dissimilar to the UK park and over an hour from Disney..

I would say thar you definitely don’t need to be princess obsessed to go to Disney. I do prefer universal because of the more relaxed pace but I would never skip it. If you’re not fussed about water parks I’d still say you need a minimum of 1 day each at the 4 Disney parks and 1 day each at both universals. I’ve been loads of times and recommend Tim Tracker too.. (I’m in one of his outros! Lol)

getback · 14/01/2019 19:48

@Mytribeof3
You can buy USA tickets - they are called magic your way tickets. Orlando attractions sells them, I'll find a link as there are many ticket sites with similar names!

getback · 14/01/2019 19:56

www.orlandoattractions.com/tickets/1-day-tickets

However doing Disney that way wouldn't be for me. This forum www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=48 will give you so many helpful hints and advice. You'll miss so much if you try and pack it into too short a time. My advice would be to be super organised, get up early, use your fast passes wisely and download the free apps showing wait times and interactive park maps.

Br1ll1ant · 14/01/2019 20:01

If I were doing one Disney Park, it wouldn’t be the magic kingdom. Animal Kingdom was my boys favourite (7 and 10).

BF888 · 14/01/2019 20:18

Sounds fantastic what you have planned.

I would forget legoland and go to the Kennedy space centre (especially if this is the only time you’re doing this kind of holiday etc)

As another poster mentioned go for when the parks open, and make the most of the day.

You won’t need a few days at universal. You can get a joint ticket for universal and islands of adventure I’d say a day at each. If you are staying at hard rock for a night you could tie it in in those days.

For Disney I would say full day at Disney magic kingdom itself is ample. Get there for when it opens, fireworks are good to! Go for fast track passes as the queue times are very excessive for some of the rides. A water park I wouldn’t give a full day to, universal also have one now so depends on whether you want Disney or not. Maybe later morning to late afternoon.

I would say 3 days is enough for universal, islands of adventure and magic kingdom. Half day for water park and full day for kenndedy space centre. If you do go there see if there’s any launches happening whilst you’re there and tie it in.

I’ve purchased on the gate, pre purchased online I’ve also used guest services. I’ve never actually purchased tickets from a UK seller.

I would have a good look on their official websites (universal and Disney) see what options work best for you for how you want to work it and then you know what to look for from other vendors and find the best price. It is expensive for park tickets, and if you felt budget was stretched too much you could maybe get a park hopper ticket from universal where it gives you access to both their parks in one day. But you would have to be super organised with what you wanted to do and see.

With Disney, the girls will love it it’s not overly princess and there’s so much for them to enjoy (and the adults to)

HermioneWeasley · 14/01/2019 20:46

Why are you paying all that money if you’re not going to make the most of it?

Kennedy space centre is brilliant and unique
Wouldn’t bother with legoland
All 4 Disney parks are amazing, not necessarily about characters or princesses, but world class rides, immersive experience, surprisingly good food and out of this world evening shows.

Harry Potter stuff at universal is fantastic, but if they’re not fans I’d probably just do Disney. If you get a hopper ticket it includes water parks.

Mytribeof3 · 14/01/2019 20:46

Thank you all for your advice and tips. I'll take a look at all of the suggestions and then take it from there.
To be honest, even if we had 14 days to explore the area, we still wouldn't want to spend any more than a few days at theme parks as it's just not our thing really. It's more a case of us just wanting a little taster of what's there as we'll be in the vicinity.
Looking forward to watching some YouTube videos and lots more reading up over the next couple of months!

OP posts:
BF888 · 14/01/2019 23:53

You have to do what works best for your family. Going to all the parks doesn’t work for everyone. If it’s any help my brother took my niece a couple of years ago she would’ve been 6 at the time, they did Disney MK , both universal and Kennedy space centre, Kennedy space centre was her favourite, and she will still speak about it now.

She’s now got baby siblings and I’m thinking of taking her this year, but won’t do all of the parks. She of the age where she watches YouTube so I think she will be happy with a target visit which will suit me perfectly Grin

Disney springs I know you mentioned and it’s great place for eating, bits of shopping and some great entertainment bits including bowling, she thoroughly enjoyed it there to.

I know down in ft lauderdale/ Miami there’s lots of more nature based activities which are great for kids to- I’m sure your family could advise you better on that though.

PoptartPoptart · 15/01/2019 20:38

In my experience, Universal is aimed more towards older children, so while they may enjoy parts of it, there will be a lot of rides/rollercoasters that are unsuitable for their ages due to height restrictions etc.
Disney, on the other hand, is aimed much more at families with younger children.
Please don’t think that just because they are not that into Disney characters that they won’t enjoy it so much. It’s hard to explain if you’ve never been there, but it really does have something for everybody and the atmosphere is magical and infectious.

christmasinus · 15/01/2019 20:52

Sorry only just saw your request for the site link. I have attached a screenshot ( I hope it works) the underlined section at the top can be changed from uk english to us english, and this then allows you to buy one day tickets.

If you are going to do it, I would really advise against getting tickets when out there as you will have missed the booking window for fast passes and it would be pretty awful without them, tbh.

To give you a couple of examples, my DS really wanted to go on Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad so we got fast passes for these rides. The queues on the day were 145 mins and 185 respectively but we just walked up to the front and got on the next ride.

Fast passes are free, and every ticket gets 3 per day. But the booking window opens 7am their time 30 days prior to the day on your ticket. (but 60 days for guests staying at disney hotels....so they get first dibs and a lot gets booked up).

Be online at the exact moment booking opens and choose quickly....fast passes for the day we went were all booked up by 7:04am. If i hadn't logged on until 7:05 we would have had to queue for 7 hours to ride the three rides we used our fast passes for.

HELP! Booking tickets to Disney Land / Universal
Mytribeof3 · 16/01/2019 21:41

Thank you Christmas. Some great advice there. The screenshot worked so I plan to investigate further tomorrow Smile

OP posts:
AveEldon · 16/01/2019 21:48

www.attraction-tickets-direct.co.uk/contact-us will offer advice on which combo will work best for you
I can't comment on which parks to do as I haven't been

winnerwiner · 17/01/2019 01:15

great advice from Christmas. I was just going to say, please don't get frazzled. They basically discount the tickets so much for extra days cause they want you to come back and spend money! you can just go up to the gate and get a one day ticket to which ever park you have chosen. (sorry I am a bit cynical). It doesn't sound like you are a big fan of full on theme parks. My kids were the same, I really really wanted to love Disney and gave it a chance. So we did one day at Disney Magic kingdom and to be honest, it was the low point in our trip to Florida. The kids and us loved picking up shells on St Petes beach, seeing real alligators beside the bus in the everglades and Kennedy space centre slide. Having said that, if you are going for it, and not coming back I would say that August is sweltering. so staying on site at both Universal and Disney would be useful if you can afford it, my 3 year old was melting even in March in the humidity. Then you can go back for a few hours in the middle of the day and go back for the shows a bit later. Or at least spilt up, maybe the older ones would go to universal and the younger has a "nice day with parent b". Finally once you get there if you download the Disney app you can change your fast pass options in real time , it's well worth it, but try and think about what you all want from your time, we'd happily go to Florida and not bother with any theme parks at my kids ages but it would be different at Harry Potter/roller coaster age!

PizzaPlanet · 18/01/2019 22:01

If you’re not that into rides and theme parks I’d probably not bother with Disney. It’s really not good value just for one day. Ideally you need to spend a week there but if it’s not your thing you’ll really resent all the expense and time and not enjoy it.
Universal tickets are cheaper I believe and if you’re staying at the Hard Rock it might be nice to do a couple of park days and the water park there is brilliant. Be warned though the rides there are mainly screen/simulatior type rides and might be disappointing to young children. Also their parades are nothing in comparison to Disney’s.
If you want a small free Disney fix you can get a boat to the wilderness campground where each evening they have a campfire sing a long with chip and dale with toasting s’mores followed by an outdoor kids movie. Anyone can turn up, not just hotel guests. Also if you go to the Polynesian hotel in the evening you can watch the fireworks from their ‘beach’, they also have an outdoor movie or you can book a character meal there.

Newname12 · 18/01/2019 22:11

Following!

We are going in august for a week. Mine are 12/13 so we had decided on skipping disney and just getting universal tickets. We aren’t big disney fans, one loves HP, other loves waterparks, rides we are ok with.

Unless anyone has any other advice? I have never been as the whole theme park/rides/disney thing does nothing for me.
I found universal tickets- 2 parks and a waterpark?- for about 260 pp. doesnthat sound reasonable?

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