July 14, 2003 -- Those nice folks who take such good care of Mickey Mouse down in Orlando have thought of a way for everyone to save money on tickets to their attractions -- buy them before you leave home. You'll save up to $22 per person when buying multi-day Park Hooper tickets, compared to the price for the same tickets at the theme park gate.
The savings add up for a family of four buying 5-Day Park Hopper tickets before leaving home keeping $84 to $88 extra for themselves. You can buy the tickets online at www.disneyworld.com, by phoning them at 407/W-DISNEY, at Disney Stores, or through a travel agent. (If you buy certain Disney World vacation packages before you leave home, the ticket savings are automatically included.)
Examples of the savings: 4-Day Park Hopper (ages 10 and older) purchased in advance $192, at the gate $208, saving $16.
5-Day Park Hopper (ages 10 and older) purchased in advance $217, at the gate $239, saving $22.
A brief reminder of what kind of multi-day tickets are available: The 4-Day Park Hopper provides admission to all four theme parks on any four days, and any combination of parks in a day. The 5-Day Park Hopper Plus allows the same as the 4-Day (except for five days instead of four), plus two visits to a choice of the Blizzard Beach water park, Typhoon Lagoon water park or Pleasure Island. There are also 6- and 7-day Park Hopper Plus tickets.
An Ultimate Park Hopper ticket is available only to guests staying at a Disney World resort. It provides unlimited admission from the time of check-in through the day of checkout to all four theme parks, the two water parks, Pleasure Island and Disney Quest indoor interactive theme park.
There's a complex admission price scheme posted on the website, which is, again, www.disneyworld.com.
What are your money-saving tips for visiting Walt Disney World and the Orlando area? We'd love to read about them. Just go to our Message Boards to post your comments. Who knows? We might just feature you in an upcoming issue of the Frommers.com Newsletter.