the Happiest Place On Earth: How We Saved 45% on Disney Tickets

They call it the happiest place on earth, and for good reason.

After all, more than 17 million people pass through the iconic Disney World gates each year, making it one of the most popular theme parks on earth.

And this summer, we’re going to give it a try with a toddler.

Of course, we’re going to do it the frugal way, so today I wanted to jump on and share with you a) how we’re saving on Disney tickets, and b) how you can save too, with very little effort!

Last year, our friends brought up the idea of all of us going to Disney, and while I was all about the IDEA of going to Disney, I did have a couple of hang-ups. First of all, Disney can be SO expensive, and even though we want to do as many fun things with our daughter as we can, we didn’t feel like Disney really gave us a good bang for our vacation buck, especially when compared with camping. But we were torn because Disney is one of those places that you remember for years, so we definitely wanted to take her at some point!

Second, we were nervous because vacationing with friends always SEEMS like a good idea, but usually results in fights and broken friendships, and we certainly did not want that. However, I do have to say that we go camping consistently with a group of friends from our church, and we’ve never had any problems, but we don’t co-habitate while we’re camping. We all bring our own tents/campers, our own food, and our own lawn chairs. Basically, we have campsites next to each other so our kids can entertain each other. If we went to Disney with friends, we would be occupying the same 3-bedroom vacation rental, cooking meals together, and basically spending every waking moment together. Only for a week, but still.

Today, I’m not going to get into how to vacation without losing friends because I’ll get into it another day, but I am going to talk about how we saved $888 on Disney tickets, how you can duplicate our savings + 4 more strategies for saving. I want to give you a few ways to save, because each method won’t be right for everyone, but hopefully at least one of them will be right up your alley!

After accommodations, Disney tickets are probably going to be your biggest expense when you’re taking your family to Disney, and I’ll be honest, saving on them isn’t always easy. So here’s what I’ve found:

What Do Regularly Priced Tickets Cost?

It’s important that we establish a “baseline” for Disney Tickets so you can see just how much each of these methods will save you. It is important to note that these ticket prices are based on a single person, who is aged 10 or older. Kids under 3 are free, and kids aged 3-9 are at a discounted rate, which I won’t waste time listing here.

1 Day Tickets

Base Magic Kingdom Tickets: $97-$114 per ticket, based on travel date
Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, or Animal Kingdom Tickets: $102 +, based on travel date
Park Hopper: $160+, based on travel date

2 Day Tickets

Base Tickets: $101+ per day ($202+ total), based on travel date
Park Hopper: $257+ total, based on travel dates
Waterpark Option: Add $40 per person

3 Day Tickets

Base Tickets: $96.97+ per day ($290+ total), based on travel date
Park Hopper: $394+ total, based on travel dates
Waterpark Option: Add $40 per person

4 Day Tickets

Base Tickets: $81.25+ per day ($325+ total), based on travel date
Park Hopper: $345+ total, based on travel dates
Waterpark Option: Add $26 per person

5 Day Tickets

Base Tickets: $68+ per day ($340+ total), based on travel date
Park Hopper: $409+ total, based on travel dates
Waterpark Option: Add $26 per person

6 Day Tickets

Base Tickets: $59.17+ per day (3550+ total), based on travel date
Park Hopper: $424+ total, based on travel dates
Waterpark Option: Add $26 per person

As you can see, ticket prices per day decrease quite a bit (to almost half as much as as single day) by the time you purchase 6-day tickets. If you stretch your trip out to 7 days, tickets are a mere $52.86 per day, a far cry from the $102+ that you’ll pay for a single day ticket. Also, when you stretch your trip out to greater than 3 days, the waterpark option drops to $26 from $40, making that a pretty decent way to spend some money for extra fun.

For the purposes of this article I won’t go longer than 6 days, but you can easily see the regular cost with this handy calculator found on Disney World’s site.

Disney Ticket Saving Method #1: Disney Military Salute

The Disney Military Salute is a really cool option for families with a military affiliation – or families who plan on traveling with someone with a military affiliation. The discounted tickets are available for “Eligible Service Members” which include:

Active or Retired Members of the U.S. Military
National Guard Members or Reservists
U.S. Coast Guard Members and Reservists
Spouses of Military Service Members

Basically if your family has ANY military service affiliation at all, you can get this discount.

How much is the discount? For 2016, 4-day Park Hopper Passes are available for $196 per person, and each service member can buy up to 6 tickets. This is a discount of $228/person/6-day Park Hopper Ticket.

The Fine Print:

Each Service Member can purchase up to 6 Disney Military Salute tickets
One of said tickets must be used by the Service Member, and all tickets must be activated by the Service Member on-site at Walt Disney World
Valid Military Identification is required for ticket purchase and use
Each Disney World ticket must be used by the same person on any an all days

Pretty straightforward rules, and obtaining these tickets is actually remarkably easy. To buy, you can visit your local base’s ticket office. Chances are, they will not have the tickets you need on hand, but can easily order them. You can them go in and pick up the tickets when they come in. If you decide to order them with this method, be prepared to pay for the tickets in advance, and 2-3 weeks for delivery.

The other method, and the one we opted for, was to order our tickets from the base ticket office at Camp Pendleton. We did so over the phone, and the whole process only took about 20 minutes. Remarkably painless, for those of you who know how base operations usually go….

All told, we spent an extra $10 for Camp Pendleton to FedEx the tickets to us + the cost of the tickets, and as expected they arrived at our door about 3 weeks after ordering them. We were also pleasantly surprised to find that the ticket office emailed us our payment receipt, as well as the FedEx tracking information when our tickets arrived and were shipped to us. They also called to let us know that they had shipped.

You can order tickets from Camp Pendleton using the following information:

Contact the Camp Pendleton, ITT Pacific Plaza
(760) 725-5863
Mon-Sat: 8:30am-6:30pm

This is the discount program we used for our tickets, netting us a $888 discount on all of our group’s tickets! I highly recommend this option if you can utilize it, because of all the discounts I’ve listed here, this one is the most legitimate, and results in the biggest discount.

For more information on the Disney Military Salute, visit the official Disney page.

Disney Ticket Saving Method #2: Buy From An Authorized Reseller

Buying Disney tickets from an authorized reseller can be sketchy and dangerous if you don’t know where to look. However, Undercover Tourist has made buying real Disney tickets much easier. Think of Undercover Tourist as a verified form of eBay, only for Disney tickets.

Very cool.

But how do the savings stack up?

To be honest, the savings aren’t huge, even if you go with the largest discount, which would be the Park Hopper Tickets. These run between $17 – $28 off, whereas Base tickets are $2 – $13 off. Then, if you add in the waterpark option, the savings rise to $17 – $40 per ticket, which could really add up if you want access to EVERYTHING and have a larger group of people going.

Undercover Tourist also adds in the bonus of free shipping, flexible refund policies, and guarantees that the tickets on their site are authentic, so you don’t risk throwing money away on fraudulent tickets going this route.

All told, with our group of 6, we could have saved about $23 per person, or $138. You can check out the discounts offered by Undercover Tourist at their website: Undercover Tourist.

There are also a couple of other sites worth mentioning when purchasing Disney tickets from brokers: ParkSavers and Official Ticket Center. These brokers guarantee their tickets, but you’re unlikely to find the greatest variety on these sites as they’re smaller. However, if you’re struggling to find the right tickets or dates on Undercover Tourist, ParkSavers and Official Ticket Center are definitely worth a look.

Disney Ticket Saving Method #3: Utilize A Florida Resident Discount

If you happen to live in Florida and want to take a trip to Disney World, then you’re doubly in luck! Not only do you have beautiful weather nearly year-round, you can get a discount on Disney World tickets!

If you plan on visiting Disney World frequently, you might consider buying an annual pass, but keep in mind that you’ll need to visit at least 15 days to make the pass worth it. The other option is to buy multi-day passes. Here are the prices for those:

3-Day Base Tickets: $68 per day (includes FastPass+ access)
4-Day Base Tickets: $56 per day (includes FastPass+ access)
1-Day Theme Park Ticket: $97 + tax (includes 3 FastPass+ acccess)
Florida Resident Annual Pass Option: Prices vary, but there is a $112 down payment, includes parking at all 4 theme parks, Same-day admission to all 4 theme parks, complimentary MagicBand, and access to 3 FastPass+ selections in advance.

Florida residents can (and should) take advantage of these discounts. They can be found here.

Disney Ticket Saving Method #4: Other Affiliations

Do you have AAA, belong to the Disney Vacation Club, or reside in Europe? You may be able to score discounted Disney tickets. These prices are typically not as good as the discounts offered through Disney ticket brokers, but if the broker doesn’t have your date or number of tickets these affiliation discounts are worth looking into.

Whatever clubs, associations, or even banks/credit unions you belong to, inquire about Disney ticket discounts. The worst they can say is “no.”

Disney Ticket Saving Method #5: Stretch Your Trip Out

Did you skip past the part where I listed normal ticket prices at the beginning of the article? If you did, I suggest you go back and read them, especially the price difference between the 1 Day ticket and the 7 Day ticket.

What’s interesting is that if you can stretch your trip out to 7 days, you can drop your price per day to half of what a single day would cost you.

Of course, you’re going to incur more costs associated with accommodations and food, but you will save on flight costs since you only have to buy them once, no matter how long you stay!

If you can get the time, make the most of your trip (and your budget) by taking a longer than usual trip to Disney World.

Any Disney commercial you see will let you know that Disney is, in fact, the most magical place on Earth.

But to your wallet? Not so much.

The good news is that there are many different ways to save on tickets, lodging, and even food while you’re visiting!