Park tickets...where do you buy them?

Is there any advantage or disadvantage to buying them from Disney directly vs a different/discounted seller? I currently have tickets linked to my hotel reservation in May (Booked through Disney), but I’m wondering if I’m overlooking the possibility of a more cost effective option?

I always buy through Undercover Tourist. Almost always the cheapest price you can find anywhere. I’ve compared to Tickets At Work, but Undercover Tourist is cheaper. And sometimes they have sales. Usually the best sale is Black Friday to Cyber Monday, but that’s over now.

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Also Boardwalk Ticketing … the difference is usually a couple dollars either way, but I like to save my dollar. I have bought from UT and Boardwalk Ticketing both and have had no issues with either (and they will both save a large amount over Disney direct).

Park Savers has ended up being my best bet when i check but Undercover tourist is a good bet too.

I like Undercover Tourist. Their prices are usually within a few dollars of being the lowest (if not actually the lowest) and they’re very easy to work with if you make a mistake and have to call, too.

One additional note there…if you sign up for the MouseSavers newsletter, and you use their link to UT from their newsletter, you’ll get an additional $1/ticket discount. Not a big deal, but if you are penny-pinching, something to keep in mind.

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I always forget about that!

If you use the TP ticket finder, it will give you the best choices as well, even taking into account the extra Mousesavers newsletter discount.

I mentioned this elsewhere, but I bought WDW tickets from UT at a decent discount, and after checkout was then prompted with a Special Offer for UOR tickets (which I was already planning to buy) at a very significant discount, even more than their usual discount. So if you’re getting both tickets, plan to buy at the same time.

Oh, yes. I did the same thing!

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Undercover Tourist usually for us, too.

OK. So does NOT buying them from Disney affect anything? Hotel cost? Etc? Is there zero difference with buying them wherever?

The only advantage, generally, is convenience. However, Disney sometimes has package discounts, which require you to buy the tickets as well…but there are often room-only discounts offered as well, in which case getting tickets from Disney directly offers no real difference.

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If you do a package through WDW you can make payments and the final payment is not due until 30 days prior to arrival. You can also cancel up to 30 days prior to arrival and get all your money back. With other vendors you have to pay the full price upfront.

ETA: Sam’s club has the cheapest tickets I’ve found for our date-based 7-day park hoppers. It is not included with the Ticket Calculator.

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Since packages haven’t been released yet for my dates, would you then says it’s advisable to hold off on purchasing tickets elsewhere until I see what’s what?

Everything is a gamble…but something to keep in mind is getting ahead of ticket price increases. If you buy tickets early, you might save money by getting ahead of the price increase. I’ve done that twice, and saved quite a bit as a result.

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I know for sure I missed an opportunity to do that a few months ago through a program at work. But being a newbie at Disney planning, I’m still uncertain about things and didn’t want to jump and regret it. It sounds like I wouldn’t have. Cest la vie. Live and learn.

There have been ticket price increases every year in about February recently. So waiting much beyond the end of the year is a gamble.

BTW, to answer your other question, I bought tickets from UT and immediately linked them to MDE and they synced up as if I had purchased them directly. Sometimes there is a small delay (even up to a few days) if they don’t have tickets in inventory.

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If I already have tickets on my reservation, can I just cancel them?

Not sure I follow the question. You can cancel a reservation for a hotel + ticket package and get a refund. But if you buy tickets only, you typically can’t get a refund. Is that what you mean?