by Wishes Diva
When planning a trip to Disney World, there are so many choices you have to make. There are countless resorts to pick from and activities to do as well as four great theme parks to choose from! When selecting the parks you’d like to visit there are several packages to choose from. This guide can hopefully help you decipher which park ticket you may need by giving you some helpful information!
First, let’s discuss what types of tickets there are to choose from. Disney offers three different categories for tickets as well as Full Day and Mid-Day options.
Basic Ticket Options
Full-Day tickets are tickets that allow you entrance into the designated park anytime between open and close. Mid-Day tickets give you the ability to enter the park after 12:00 pm for the remainder of the day. Disney just came out with the mid-day option recently and I think it allows more families to get their money’s worth out of a shortened park day!
Now within each of these ticket categories are 3 options. These options are the same regardless of if the ticket is a full day or mid-day ticket.
Base Ticket: This would be your basic Mid-Day Magic Ticket or your 1-Park Per Day Ticket. This option gives you access to one park on your selected day. You do have the ability to leave and re-enter the same park with this ticket. This is the cheapest option when it comes to park tickets, so if you are traveling on a budget this would be the way to go.
Photo courtesy of Pixie Dusted Diva
Park Hoppers
Park Hopper Option: This ticket gives you the ability to visit more than one park per day. It does give you access to each of the four theme parks on the same day! This is great if you have a short trip, or are someone who g from park open to park close. These tickets give you the ability to cram many things all on the same day! It also gives you the option to be a bit picky about what you want to do. You may get a great Breakfast reservation at one park and then hop to another for some morning Fast Passes. You could hop to a different park after lunch and just hit the highlights of each!
Park Hopper Plus Option: This ticket is your true pass to everything on property. It will give you access to all four theme parks plus the Disney water parks as well! This option is only presented seasonally as the water parks are often closed for refurbishment during the winter months. With this option, you could start your day at the Magic Kingdom, and end at Blizzard Beach if you choose! This option also gives you access to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex as well as the golf courses and mini-golf on property. This gives you the most flexibility as far as planning your itinerary, and for that reason, it is the most costly option.
Photo courtesy of Military Diva
All of the options above can be mixed and matched if you will. For example, you may choose to do a Mid-Day Park Hopper Option, or a Full Day Base Ticket. The possibilities are vast, and it depends on your trip and your budget! Personally, we tend to do Disney on a budget so we often purchase the Base Ticket and make our plans accordingly. However, we have taken shorter trips where we did the Park Hopper option to see more of the parks!
Annual Passes
If we are talking about ticket options, we have to also look at the Annual Pass options that Disney offers. If you are someone who visits multiple times a year, perhaps the Annual Pass route will be the best for you!
Disney has three Annual Pass offerings for their guests:
Water Parks Annual Pass: This option is great for local guests. It gives you one year of admission to both Typhoon Lagoon Water Park and Blizzard Beach Water Park. The one thing to keep in mind with this pass is that as I stated above, the water parks are typically refurbished during the winter months so if you are hoping to visit then, you may be out of luck. The other downside to this pass is it does not offer the perks that a full Annual Pass offers such as discounts on food and merchandise.
Disney Platinum Pass: This offers you admission to all 4 theme parks with no blackout dates. It counts as a Park Hopper ticket on the days that you choose to visit and will also give you PhotoPass downloads included. The discounts that come with this pass are 20% off select dining and merchandise. Parking is also a perk of this pass.
Disney Platinum Plus Pass: This option includes everything that the Platinum Pass features and then some. In addition to what was mentioned above, this pass gives you access to the water parks, the ESPN complex, and Oak Trail Golf Course. The other perks such as discounts and parking are the same as the Platinum Pass.
ESPN Wild World of Sports
Prices for all of the tickets and passes mentioned in this article will vary year to year. It is always a good idea to check the Disney World website to see accurate pricing guides.
Hopefully, this knowledge comes in handy when you are planning and setting your itinerary for your trip. There are so many options to choose from it makes it easy to completely customize your dream vacation!
