[pjfnme]

Okay...our trip is in May 2004. Does anyone have any idea what the park hours will be then? They dont have them posted yet on the website but, the earliest closing I have seen so far this year is 7pm for MK.

Now, I need some advice! We will be arriving on Sunday around 2pm and leaving the following Sunday morning. I had planned on buying the 5 day park hopper passes (not plus ones)..but, when I thought about the parks closing earlier, it made me want to reconsider. All of you who have been in this situation, give me some advice as to what to do. Should I go ahead & purchase a 6 day park hopper plus so that we can go Mon-Sat? Or should I go ahead w/the 5 day park hoppers and have Saturday as a "free day" ?? We REALLY don't need the plus options at all..and, I honestly hate to pay for something that we will never use...but, I havent seen a regular 6 or 7 day park hopper pass anywhere that did not have the "plus" options on it.

Any ideas...advice ???? Please help. I'm making myself crazy (well....crazier than I was to begin with I guess! LOL)


Thanks....!!!:dazed

[BDavis932]

My hubby, myself, and DS bought annual passes when we were there last May. DD did not need a ticket. Now she does. So for our trip in March, we purchased a 5 day hopper pass (not plus) at our local Disney Store (with advance purchase savings) and we will buy a one day/one park ticket upon arrival and spend that day in EPCoT. It ended up being cheaper than buying the 6 day park hopper plus (with pluses we'll never use because we don't have the premium annual passes)

I would use that day in the parks, not a "down day" because we don't get to WDW, but once every year or so and I would rather relax once we get back home than not be in the parks!!

We went at the end of May/beginning of June of 2003 (our first day was Memorial Day) and the MK was open until 9:00 every night. Some nights had an enight (which we didn't use). AK closed every day at 5:00, EPCoT at 9:00, and Disney-MGM closed each day at 9:00.

Take a look at our trip report if you have a chance: http://www.disneycentral.com/forum/s...ight=BDavis932

[15 mins to wdw]

well I don't know what the 2004 rates are, I know my parrents were down here for 6 days and will be back again in may so they bought annual passes for $371 each I think the 5 day pass was only $20 cheaper. that might be something to look at then you can enjoy all days.

[pjfnme]

The 5 day park hopper w/advance purchase discount is 217.00 for adults and 172.00 for child. The 6 day park hopper "plus" is 267.00 adult and 212.00 for child. The 7 day plus is 307.00 for adult and 272.00 for child. If I bought the APs and only used them this one trip, it wouldnt save me any money. I wish I knew if we were going back first part of next year..but, I havent had any luck convincing my "non-disney" husband yet. Thanks for the info -- I think it will work best for us to just purchase 3 one day, one park tickets in conjunction w/the 5 day hopper.

If anyone else has any insight or has a different way to go on this...please let me know. Thanks again everyone...

[BDavis932]

Have you checked out ultimate park hopper tickets?? (package deal with room???) for the entire stay?? For 6 nights (7 days) an adult ticket is $326, and a child (3-9) is $261. That gives you paid access to EVERYTHING (including water parks), to come and go as you please.

Your 5 day hoppers don't include the water parks, do they?? So if you are planning on buying a one day/one park pass for your family and a ticket for a water park, then the ultimate would be the way to go. If you plan on doing 5 days in the parks and one day in a water park, then I don't think you can beat the 5 day park hopper pass.

[BDavis932]

don't know if this is any better, but check out this thread....

http://www.disneycentral.com/forum/s...ght=day+passes

EDIT>>>>>>>>NEVER MIND>>>>>>I JUST DID THE MATH ON THIS AND IF YOU BOUGHT 2 FOR EACH OF YOU (6 DAYS) IT ENDS UP COSTING $338/adult. NO SAVINGS, HERE.....SORRY

[MickeyMac]

If you go with the six day hopper and don't use the extra day, then you can save it for another trip (works great with the hubby) If you need the extra day, at least you won't have spent the full rate on the extra day.

However, I've got another option if you really want to save money and get the five day passes. On your sixth day, visit Downtown Disney in the daytime, then visit the Boardwalk at night. Neither require park entrance fees, both have free transport if you're staying onsite, and both can be loads of fun, and is often overlooked by the average Disney vacationer.

Another option is to visit Fort Wilderness - there's a petting zoo over there, campfire sing along at night, etc.

I do recommend a down day, especially with small children.

[pjfnme]

Thanks so much everyone! I think I'm going to go ahead and purchase the 6 day hopper plus passes. Like you said, we can always save them for a later trip..and, maybe by then my DD will be old enough to appreciate the water parks !

Thanks for all of your suggestions!!!

[JBKoala]

I would suggest buying the 6 day as well. The prices for tickets are going up. It definitely pays off in the long run to buy the extra days, even if you don't use them during that trip. My boyfriend and I bought 5-day tickets in Sept 2002 even though we were only going to be there for 2 days. Now, we are going for Valentine's and are spending every thing we have just to fly down there. We still have 3 days left on our passes from our Sept trip, which helps a lot. If we had any extra money at all, we would buy a few extra passes at the price they are now, since they never expire. My parents went in December and said that DisneyQuest was great. It is another option for an off day. The tickets are $23-31 per person with DVC members getting a small discount. I have not been, but am planning on spending a day there. It is mostly interactive stuff, so it may not be the best place to take very small children.

[BuzzLightyear]

We've gone for 7-day the past few years and both times purchased 5-day passses. We had no trouble fining other things to do for the 2 days we couldn't visit the parks. Usually the first day being a travel day we'd check out the resort , DTD or The Boardwalk. Then pick a day somwhere in between to relax.

[15 mins to wdw]

its very easy to kill a few days down here at wdw without the parks. before i moved down here I came down for a week and used my parrents time share and stayed at OKW. I was here late sunday night to friday evening when I flew home. Not once did I enter a park I spent 2 day doing job interviews and apartment hunting once that was done, I sepnt the remaining days at wdw. rented a boat a couple times, checked out the other resorts, rented a bike at FW, DTD, rented a jet ski at the CR, etc... however I still need to go parasailing and do the Richard petty driving exp.