deals for disney

As jaded as I am about the plastic "commercial" world of tourism, I have to admit that I hold something of a special place in my heart for Disney World. Sure, you can go online and find stories of corruption and malcontent, but the fact is that kids have a great time at Disney. In fact, most adults have a great time, too. It's one of the few places in this world that I can think of that offers a "Stepford" approach to vacations that is about as well planned out as Stepford. Everything is clean and "pure" and the only time you feel the wool over your eyes is when you turn around and look behind you while riding some of the rides. But it doesn't matter. Disney World is still beyond compare. There are no other theme parks that offer such an immersive experience, a far as I know.

Although we are on a very tight budget, we've decided to try and take the kids there with my parents sometime next year. The airline tickets will be free, thanks to "miles" earned by my father on his business credit card throughout the year. He also has a Vegas timeshare that he may be able to trade for our stay in Orlando. The only other things we'll need to worry about are meals and park tickets.

The park tickets, as expected, are quite expensive. A quick trip to the Disney homepage indicates that a 7-day parkhopper pass is $248. Realistically, this is no more than one can expect to pay for a Six Flags pass, which generally costs about $40 per day. And Disney beats out Six Flags because they are a theme park, not just an amusement park. Six Flags is only about rides. Disney is about the story and the rides.

There are a number of discount Disney ticket websites online. Lots of them are scams. I have heard that many of them will try and sell you partly used or expired tickets. The last thing you need is to spoil your kids vacation when you approach the gates and they tell you that your tickets aren't valid. While trying to find legitimate discounted Disney Tickets sites, I checked out Orlando Fun Tickets, which is licensed and bonded in the state of Florida. Unfortunately, their discounted 7-day parkhopper pass is $243.79. That's a savings of only $4.21 - not exactly enough to risk buying them through an outside vendor, in my opinion.

We're extremely fortunate that my parents want to go with us, and thus wanted to help us out by offering for us to stay with them in their timeshare. And since my father spends so much money on his business credit card each year, he has managed to rack up enough miles for all of us, which again, we are very fortunate that he has offered them to us. Paying full price for the park tickets is still expensive, but for a Disney vacation, we're getting away with a steal of a deal. Now we just have to figure out a way not to pay $10 for a hamburger while we are there...