[Reg]

I'm new to TV and also Florida. We'd like to take our visiting grandchildren to the parks and would appreciate any advice on how to purchase discounted tickets as residents. Any suggestions on how to save some dollars?!
Thank you
Reg

[Chief X]

AAA on 441 near Perkins. Good Deals for members.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

We bought Florida residents weekday season passes. They're good Monday through Friday except holidays and about ten weeks in the summertime are blocked out. I don't remember exactly but it's about from the last week in June to the first week in Sept. Those are the busiest times anyway and you really don't want to go then. You'll spend most of the day waiting in line.
If I recall, those passes are $211 each and you can give them a down payment and get billed monthly for the balance.
A one day pass is $92.00 per park. If you're down here permanently or use this as your primary residence you can get the Florida resident discount which is about $15.00 if I recall. You can also get AAA discount which again is only slightly better the the resident discount.
The way we figured it is we go three times, the passes are more than paid for.

[blueash]

To get the florida resident discount you will need to establish residency, duh. Many grandparents who are residents then use their own residency status to buy tickets for their g'children as residents even though those g'children are not Floridians. Disney rules specifically prohibit this however they, in the interest of not causing conflict?, don't vigorously enforce it. But they sometimes enforce it and you should be prepared to be able to prove Florida residency for yourself and the kids, and be prepared to pay full rate for the non-Floridians.

[MikeV]

We recently went to Universal with our two grandchildren. We made a huge mistake and waited until we got there to buy tickets. It was a nightmare. Not only were the lines very long but each person took upwards of 15 minutes or more at the ticket window. I couldn't understand why it took so long until it was my turn. The people working at the ticket window want to have a conversation with you and try to sell you all these add ons. I kept telling her all I wanted were the basic tickets but she insisted that was not the best deal. It took me 15 minutes to buy the tickets I wanted. They must work on commission. For the four of us it was just over $400.

[njbchbum]

sign up for this newsletter and it will provide you access to a special 'member' code that allows purchase of discounted tix thru an outfit called undercover tourist.

http://www.mousesavers.com/

after you do that - enjoy perusing the site for lots of money saving tips about the parks in central florida!

[getdul981]

Something to keep in mind also is how many times you will be going during the year. Every day it costs $14 - $15 to park. You can upgrade to the full annual pass, which includes parking, if you will be going enough to justify the extra cost. Only one person in the car needs to have the AP, but if you don't have it, you are limited to the restricted dates. It's also nice to have the AP because you don't need to worry about the blockout dates. (This is Disney World I'm referring to. I don't know about Sea World or Universal)