By the co-author of The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2020, the best-reviewed Disney World guidebook series ever.

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Category — w. Most Recent Stuff

Disney World’s Most Common Ticket Prices Go Up 6%-9%

Disney World Ticket Price IncreasesWalt Disney World instituted a ticket price increase today, and after-tax prices for the most common multi-day tickets, those with three or more days, went up 6.1% to 9%.

The highest increases are for three and four day tickets, and for tickets without park hoppers, but all prices for tickets longer than 2 days went up at least 6.1%.

A family of four buying seven day tickets will pay about $90 more.

For the new prices, see this.

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June 2, 2013   2 Comments

Walt Disney World Ticket Prices Summer 2013 to Summer 2014

WALT DISNEY WORLD ADMISSION TICKET PRICES 2013 TO SUMMER 2014


... the trusted name in attraction tickets
(This page is sponsored by Undercover Tourist.)

Three types of Walt Disney World prices are important to think about:

  • Walt Disney World theme park admission ticket prices—the tickets that grant you admission to the parks
  • Walt Disney World resort hotel prices, and
  • Park and hotel food prices

This page focuses on Walt Disney World theme park admission ticket prices from summer 2013 until the summer of 2014, when, based on past practices,  they will go up.

MORE DETAILS ON WALT DISNEY WORLD ADMISSION TICKET PRICES 2013 AND 2014: HOW THE TICKETS WORK

Disney World Ticket Prices 2013 to 2014There are multiple types of Walt Disney World theme park tickets, but the one most relevant to most first time visitors is the Magic Your Way ticket, with or without the Park Hopper option.

You buy one theme park ticket for each person who will be three years old or older at the time of your visit (kids younger than three enter the parks for free.) The tickets have two pricing levels: one for kids who will be younger than ten at the time of your visit (but 3 or older) and the other for people ten or older.

When you buy your tickets, you also say how many “days” you want—from one to ten. Each “day” you buy permits unlimited visits to one theme park on one day. If you also add the Park Hopper option, you can make unlimited visits to any of the theme parks in one day–one theme park, two, three, or all four theme parks.

  • For example, if you buy a three day ticket without the park hopper option, you could make two visits to the Magic Kingdom on day one, three visits to Epcot on day two, and two visits to the Animal Kingdom on day 3
  • If you have a three day ticket with the park hopper option, you could for example make two visits to the Magic Kingdom and one to Disney’s Hollywood Studios on day one, one visit to Epcot and two to Disney’s Animal Kingdom on day two, and one to Epcot and two to the Magic Kingdom on day three
  • What you can’t do without a park hopper ticket is visit more than one theme park on the same day. For example, you can’t, on November 25th, use one day of your three-day ticket to visit the Magic Kingdom, and another day of this same ticket to visit Epcot that same day. More than one theme park in a day requires a park hopper

You do not have to use your days all in a row boom boom boom—e.g. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Once you use your first day, you have 14 days to use all the days on your ticket. So on a three-day ticket you could visit the theme parks Monday, Thursday, and Sunday.

  • You can also add days at the same price that you would have paid had you bought all those days at once, but have to do so no later than the day you use the last day of your original ticket (and within 14 days of the first day)
  • So if you buy a three-day ticket, and realize a few days later that you need more days, you can add two days and they will cost only the difference between what you paid originally for a three day ticket, and what you would have had to have paid for a five day ticket, so long as you add these days no later than the day you use your third day
  • You can also add stuff like the Park Hopper during the same day window at the same price as you would have paid when you first bought your ticket

However, you can’t “subtract” days if you overbuy.

HOW WALT DISNEY WORLD PRICES ITS THEME PARK ADMISSION TICKETS

1. While Disney typically increases ticket prices at least once a year—typically in the summer—it does not change theme park admission prices based on the seasons of the year, the way that it increases and decreases prices at its resort hotels. You pay the same amount for admission on the busiest and the least busy days of the year.

(This material, by the way, is updated as of Disney World’s June 2013 price increase, and applies to tickets bought from then until Disney’s next price increase, likely in the summer 0f 2014.)

2. Disney sells tickets by the day—one through ten days. The way it prices these days, the first three days are very expensive, while days after the third are comparatively almost free. See the image for exact Disney World prices.

For example, a three day ticket costs (including tax) an adult $279, or an average of $93 a day. A ten day ticket would cost the same adult $361. The added 7 days cost in total around $82—or less than $12 per day.

3. A park hopper costs (after tax) about $63 for all ticket lengths other than 1 day, regardless of whether you add it to a two-day, ten-day or anything in between. So a three day adult ticket with the park hopper added costs $342, and a ten day ticket with a park hopper costs $424.

I have also uploaded an excel spreadsheet with the same data in it as the image, so that you can multiply by the number of members of your own family.

4. In the summer of 2013, Disney changed its policy for one day tickets.  These used to cost the same regardless of which park at which you used them; now a one day ticket for the Magic Kingdom (including tax) is more, around $101, but for the other three theme parks a one day ticket is ~$96.  These per-park differences don’t apply to tickets with more than one day.

TIPS AND TRICKS FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD THEME PARK TICKETS

There are other ticket types than the ones discussed above—less relevant for first time visitors. For details on all of them, see this page on MouseSavers.com.

While it’s hard to find discounts on tickets, it is sometimes possible. Check sponsor Undercover Tourist, MouseSavers.com, Triple A if you are a member, and if you have military ties, this page and also MilitaryDisneyTips.com.

Since you can add on to your tickets–days, park hoppers, etc.–but can’t subtract, it doesn’t really pay to overbuy. Start with the minimum you think you need and add on later if needed.  Remember to add no later than the day you use your current last day!

All of this site’s To-Do Lists tell you exactly what ticket type you need for their associated itineraries.

FREE TICKETS ON YOUR BIRTHDAY?

Disney world no longer offers free tickets on your birthday.

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June 2, 2013   59 Comments

Photo Tour of a Not-Yet-Refurbed Room at Disney’s Pop Century Resort

For the first page of this review of Disney’s Pop Century Resort, click here.

Hey, Pop Century is going through a building by building room refurb. As of late 2017, four buildings–7, 8, 9 and 10–are done, and 6 is being worked on. The new rooms bring queen beds and coffeemakers–both firsts in value resort standard rooms! A full photo tour of one of these refurbed rooms starts here.

Below is a photo tour of an un-refurbed room.

A PHOTO TOUR OF A NOT-YET-REFURBED ROOM AT DISNEY’S POP CENTURY RESORT

Pop Century Floor Plan from yourfirstvisit.netStandard not-yet-refurbed rooms at Disney’s Pop Century Resort have the same amenities as other value resort standard rooms.

However, they share with standard Art of Animation rooms a slightly different lay-out than you’ll find in the rooms at the All-Stars.

Both the beds and the table and chairs at Pop Century are closer to the entry door than in the All-Star rooms. (See for example the All-Star Music floor plan on this page.)

The near bed in particular is so close to the door that it feels like the slightest trip would dump you into it. But once you are in the room, the slightly more spread-out furniture makes it feel more spacious than the rooms at the All-Stars.


On one side of the room you’ll find two full-sized beds.

These beds from the back of the room…

…and a closer view of one of them.

Between them is a small bedside table…

…with some storage space.
Wall Art Disney's Pop Century Resort from yourfirstvisit.net

There’s some poppy art on the wall between the beds and the bath


On the other side of the room there’s a table and chairs, and a combined dresser/mini-fridge/TV.

The TV side from the back.

The table and chairs are fine for dining or playing games.


The combined dresser/mini-fridge/TV.  It has a couple of cubbies for storage…


…three smallish drawers…

…and a mini-fridge.

The TV is reasonably-sized, and note what’s playing on Channel 80.

Room Curtain Disney's Pop Century Resort from yourfirstvisit.net
Also on this side of the room will be the connecting door, if your room has one, and a coat rack. There’s also a curtain separating the bath and main space.

Beyond, you’ll find the divided bath, with a sink/dressing/closet area segregated from the main room by a cloth divider, and a separate room with the toilet and shower.


The sink area is small but nicely done.

The hair dryer.


The closet/storage area includes 5 linear feet of clothes rod space, a luggage rack, an iron and ironing board, and a small wall safe.

A closer view of the safe. To give you a sense of its size, the book is 9 inches tall by 6 inches wide.


The toilet and tub area is behind a door next to the sink.

There’s nothing special about these rooms.  They are small; their decor is adequate but uninspired to the point of being dull, especially compared to the Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation.

Refurbed rooms are better on almost every dimension.

PHOTO TOUR OF A REFURBED ROOM AT DISNEY’S POP CENTURY RESORT

This review continues here.

Kelly B Can Help You Book Your Trip

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June 1, 2013   No Comments

Next Week (June 1 to June 9, 2013) at Walt Disney World

June    July   August   September   October    November   December

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: JUNE 1, 2013 TO JUNE 9, 2013

Disney World 6-1 to 6-9-2013The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the table, but organized by park, not by topic.

Star Wars weekends continue this week and increasingly are mobbing the Studios, so avoid Disney’s Hollywood Studios the 1st and 2nd and the 7th through the 9th.

(For more on June 2013 at Walt Disney World, see this.)

[Read more →]

May 31, 2013   No Comments

If Only the Site Had Videos of Cats…

Sometime yesterday, one of you saw the fifteen millionth page viewed on this site since it opened a little more than five years ago.

The ten millionth pageview happened in October, so thanks to all of your links, likes, emails, and conversations, more and more people are getting the site’s help faster!  Thank you all so much!

Pageviews By Year Since OpeningPageviews have been basically doubling every year for the last three years–which, for a site with no cat videos, is not a horrible trend.

I did a little digging into what you like to see.  There’s 23 pages that have had more than 100,000 views each, with the leader–at more than half a million pageviews–being the home page.

After that, every page in the top ten is related to “When to Go,” and if I group together the stats for the various years of “Week Rankings,” “Crowd Calendars,” and “Week Pickers” (grouping because new versions of these come out annually), each of these page types has had more than a million views.

Well, that’s just not good enough, is it?

Mudge the CatBased on these weak results, I’m working on a new video series: “When Cats Say You Should Go to Walt Disney World!” 

I’ll be taking our cats Mudge and Marvin (that’s Mudge in the photo) though two-a-day training sessions starting soon, and the videos will be coming out shortly thereafter–right after I clean up the Epcot itineraries

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May 30, 2013   2 Comments

Review: Disney’s Pop Century Resort

The Value Resorts    Pop Century    Movies    Sports    Music   Art of Animation

OVERVIEW: DISNEY’S POP CENTURY RESORT

Hey, Pop Century is going through a building by building room refurb. As of late November, four buildings–7, 8, 9 and 10–are done, and 6 is being worked on. The new rooms bring queen beds and coffeemakers–both firsts in value resort standard rooms! A full photo tour of one of these refurbed rooms starts here.

Main Pool at Disney's Pop Century Resort

Among my 150+ stays (so far!) in Walt Disney World resort hotels, I’ve stayed at Disney’s Pop Century Resort ten times, most recently in July 2017.

These stays confirm that for those who can’t afford a deluxe resort, Disney’s Pop Century Resort is the second best place to stay, after Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, and, for families with mobility issues who can’t afford a deluxe, it’s number one.

[Read more →]

May 29, 2013   47 Comments