How Disney World Tickets Work - Dustless Pixie

(Updated 1/28/2024)

Understanding how Disney World tickets work can be tricky. Let’s break it down.

A 1 Park Per Day Ticket or Standard Ticket gives guests access to ONE park for each day of the ticket. From there, you can upgrade with the following options:

Park Hopper Option allows entry to ALL four parks each day.
Park Hopper Plus Option allows entry to ALL four parks each day AND ONE of either Blizzard Beach Water Park, Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course, or Disney’s Fantasia Gardens Mini Golf.
Water Parks and Sports Option allows entry to ONE park for each day of the ticket AND ONE of either Blizzard Beach Water Park, Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course, or Disney’s Fantasia Gardens Mini Golf.

Tickets can be purchased separately or as part of a resort package.

Decide which parks you want to visit FIRST in order to make a better decision about what tickets will work for you.

How do I purchase Disney World theme park tickets?

The Official Disney World site, My Disney Experience, as well as authorized Disney ticket brokers sell park tickets. You can also have a Disney certified Travel Agent set up the ticket purchase for you. Tickets can be purchased at the parks and the resort hotels as well.

We highly recommend using a travel agent. They keep their eye on discounts as they come up and do all of the heavy lifting if you need to modify your reservation. Oh, and they do so at NO CHARGE TO YOU.

A single ticket can be purchased for 1 to 10 days in the parks for each member of your travelling party. A second ticket must be purchased for additional days.

I think I get it, but can you explain how each Disney World ticket option works?

1 Park Per Day Tickets (Standard Base Tickets)

Allow guests to enter ONE park per day for each day that the ticket is valid for. You may leave that ONE park and re-enter as many times as you would like from park opening to closing that day.

Park Hopper Option

Adds an additional flat fee per person per ticket to allow access to ANY of the four parks each day that the ticket is valid for. However, Park Hopper is priced for the entirety of the ticket. Can’t add Park Hopper to just one or two of your tickets. It’s purchased for ALL of them.

Park Hopper Plus Option

Work the same as Park Hopper Option AND allows everyone to access either Blizzard Beach water park, Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course, or Disney’s Fantasia Gardens Mini Golf. Visits to the water or golf locations depend on the length of the ticket. A 1-Day Ticket allows 1 visit. A 3-Day Ticket allows 3 visits and so forth.

Water Parks and Sports Option

These are not Park Hopper Tickets, so only ONE theme park can be visited each day. Guests also have access to their choice of Blizzard Beach Water Park, Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course, or Disney’s Fantasia Garden Mini Golf. Visits to the water or golf locations depend on the length of the ticket. A 1-Day Ticket allows 1 visit. A 3-Day Ticket allows 3 visits and so forth.

Same as above, you must visit or tap your ticket or Magic Band at the entry touch point of the park that you have the Theme Park Reservation for that day BEFORE you can hop.

Any of these ticket types can be purchased for up to 10 days in the parks. If you plan on entering the parks on more than 10 days, you will need to purchase a second ticket for days 11+.

Why do the ticket prices vary?

Ticket prices are now based on start date. Ticket prices vary so that busier times of the year are now more expensive. This pricing structure can vary day to day within each month. Maybe January isn’t very crowded, so prices are lower EXCEPT for around Martin Luther King Day when crowds pick up.

Basically, Disney is predicting what the busiest days are going to be and pricing them accordingly. Keep in mind that the price of your start date is the price that the rest of tickets will have per day. For example, if you picked October 3rd as your start date and the price is $105 for THAT DATE, you will be charged $105 per each day on your ticket even though the calendar has October 4th as $107.

Wait. Tickets are cheaper per day the more days that I add to my ticket?

Yep. The price per ticket per day goes down as you add more days. A single ticket to Disney World is, therefore, not very cost effective.

How long are my tickets valid?

When you purchase tickets you select the start date. A 1 Day Ticket is valid for that day ONLY. Tickets purchased for 2-10 days are valid from the start date to 2-4 days AFTER the end date. You do not have to use tickets on consecutive days. This allows you to have a rest day, if you want, where you don’t go into the parks. So, you can purchase a 4 day ticket but have a 6 day resort reservation. It’s up to you when you use those 4 tickets over your 6 day stay.

I suggest going to the Official Disney web site Ticket page to try it out. Play around with adding a different number of tickets. At the bottom of the ticket calendar, you will see the valid ticket dates for your selection.

For Disney World resort/ticket packages, tickets are valid from the ticket start date through your check out day.

Prices are subject to change at any time. Disney World is always adding new special ticket packages. For up to date and more comprehensive information, check out the official Disney World online ticketing information.