Wait, $165 a person for tickets???

[ladybugx]

I agree, it is pretty insane. Any time we want to invite a friend or family member to come with us, we know the chances are incredibly low that they would want to spend $1000 for a vacation that they personally didn't plan. I wish we could take more people with us, but it won't ever happen - ever.

This is the part that truly sucks. I'm an out-of-stater (from Georgia, so not like the other side of the country lol but far enough that going to Universal is a proper "trip") with a season pass. Would love to casually invite a friend or family member to accompany me sometime, but there are really no good options for doing this because of how the pricing is set up. Then there's that dang train complicating things even further so that single-park tickets are never really an option.

I am grateful that the season passes are so affordable (at least the basic season pass...the "annual" passes can get pretty expensive), but it sucks that the season passes being such a bargain just isn't going to be a selling point for someone who is only interested in coming with me for a day or two. I've tried telling people, "Well, the season pass is only $30 more than the 2-day ticket, so you'll feel a lot better spending the money if you have a pass that lets you come back whenever you want!" and they're just like, "But I don't want to go more than once."

 

[wagman67]

At the end of the day, everyone has their own preferences and pain points. For those that 'money is not an issue', this sound like whining, but it is very real for most of us.

I have had sticker shock at many places and just refused to pay...so, I did not go. That might sound crass, but it is true.

I have done DL/CA, WDW, UH and UOR, and for my money (because it is what I, and my family, value), UOR is the best value. I am not saying that the others are not enjoyable...because they are...but, if I am laying out the cash, it is going to UOR.

I am not a Florida resident, so I buy a seasonal pass for each family member (appx: $1200). We only make one trip a year...in May...so, no blockout date issues. The first year, with the passes, we stay a bit later in May...usually 4 or 5 days. We always stay at one of the resorts offering Express Passes...do the math for 4 people for 4 days (3 nights)...they pay for themselves...honestly. We also utilize the APH rate to stay at the cheapest of the three resorts....stayed at all, and enjoy all of them.

The next year, we do the same, only we stay a little earlier, in May, and still use the same seasonal passes...just before they expire.

And, we still have the option to visit during non-blockout dates.

So, we end up spending about $75/person/day for P2P Tickets, Onsite Hotel and Express Passes.

Then, we wait to buy new seasonal passes, the following year...and start a new cycle.

Well worth it for us, but maybe not for others.

 

[Roxyfire]

At the end of the day, everyone has their own preferences and pain points. For those that 'money is not an issue', this sound like whining, but it is very real for most of us.

I have had sticker shock at many places and just refused to pay...so, I did not go. That might sound crass, but it is true.

I have done DL/CA, WDW, UH and UOR, and for my money (because it is what I, and my family, value), UOR is the best value. I am not saying that the others are not enjoyable...because they are...but, if I am laying out the cash, it is going to UOR.

I am not a Florida resident, so I buy a seasonal pass for each family member (appx: $1200). We only make one trip a year...in May...so, no blockout date issues. The first year, with the passes, we stay a bit later in May...usually 4 or 5 days. We always stay at one of the resorts offering Express Passes...do the math for 4 people for 4 days (3 nights)...they pay for themselves...honestly. We also utilize the APH rate to stay at the cheapest of the three resorts....stayed at all, and enjoy all of them.

The next year, we do the same, only we stay a little earlier, in May, and still use the same seasonal passes...just before they expire.

And, we still have the option to visit during non-blockout dates.

So, we end up spending about $75/person/day for P2P Tickets, Onsite Hotel and Express Passes.

Then, we wait to buy new seasonal passes, the following year...and start a new cycle.

Well worth it for us, but maybe not for others.

Yes, we do this too, used our seasonal passes on 3 trips and now I'm deciding whether it's cheaper to renew or start the cycle over.
With prices as they are, people may need to get creative with how they get their tickets and plan out trips in advance. Not to mention, the seasonal AP can be quite useful in getting room discounts, although I wasn't able to get one for this October.

 

[maverik85]

Well it should be. At least when you buy the Disney one day park hopper, you can hop to 4 parks. We are going one day too during our upcoming trip, but yeah, quite the rip off. They sure knew what they were doing when they split Harry Potter in both parks to force you to buy the hopper.

Yes there is more to dow ith a park hopper at Disney World but the travelt ime between parks can eat up a lot of your day. If you plan to hit all 4 parks in one day you will onyl get a couple hours in each park. You'll probably be spending half your day travelling between the parks themselves. So for a single day trip the park hopper is much mroe useful at Universal where you can jsut walk between the parks in a couple minutes or ride the Hogwarts Express versus waiting for a bus to show up and travling about 20 minutes to another location.

 

[aggiedog]

Wow, I wouldn't have thought this thread was still going. Cost vs perceived benefit is always a hot topic though. I will say we always get park hopper tics at WDW. We prefer to eat dinner at Epcot back in the countries no matter what park we spent the day in.

As for our spring trip, we'll see what happens. I suspect US is out of the running if we decide to do WDW.