Are there any tips to get discounted park tickets? We need 2 adults and 2 kids and AAA is giving us a total of 1052$. only 2$ cheaper than directly from Disney but I believe we will get the diamond parking pass which we would use as we are staying off property. Besides going to a time share tour, are there any tricks? It pretty steep especially with our arrival day being a 1/2 day... 
How many days are you planning on going to the parks? I usually don't get park tickets for my arrival or departure days either. When my DW and I went for 8 days, we got 5 days of park tickets. We knew that we would probably spend a day at a water park or relaxing at the resort so we didn't get tickets for one of the days of our trip. PLUS, once you're there it's less expensive to add a park ticket at your resort than it is to buy them prior to the trip. We also skipped the park hopper, and the water parks and more because we weren't sure if we would go to a water park, and we knew we wouldnt be going to more than one park in a day. The day we had planned on going to a water park it rained, so we saved some money by not paying for it all up front. Just a thought!
Follow along on our adventure as we make the move for a great life, and move to Orlando!
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1987(sort of)-Fariway Villas (I was not born yet, but could hear all the sounds of WDW)
1991-Fairway Villas (My first official trip to WDW)
2000-Fort Wilderness Campsites (last family trip before siblings got married and had kids)
2004-Caribbean Beach
2008-Pop Century
2012-Contemporary Resort (Honeymoon)
2015- Caribbean Beach (daughter's first trip)
2017- Cabins at Fort Wilderness
Is anyone going with you current or former military? The Stars and Stripes tickets are a fabulous deal, but someone with you has to be affiliated with the armed services (active duty/retired/honorably discharged - civilians don't count). You get a 4 day park hopper for under $200 (last year we paid $140 I think). Only issue is that you have to buy them at Shades of Green, which since you're staying off site and have a car, is easy (it's not bad using Disney transportation - you just bus/monorail to the Poly and then walk across the street to SoG).
We've been able to take advantage of these tickets for the past 2 years. Disney is awesome when it comes to saluting the troops. And I'll also throw in a plug for Shades of Green. Awesome hotel!
Yes, Disney Park tickets are very expensive. From my experience you're really not going to find a "big" discount on Park Tickets, a few dollars per ticket at most. The AAA parking pass is probably the biggest saver that you're going to get in overall cost. In addition you need to be *VERY* careful when buying tickets from anyone other than Disney because recently there has been a lot of fraud. If you find a third party ticket deal that seems to good to be true, it probably is.
Have you looked into YES tickets? If either of your kids takes a single 3 hour YES class, the whole family can receive discounted tickets. Last year I did Making Waves with Marine Careers with my 2 older kids as my husband did Synergy in Science with our youngest, and we saved a few hundred dollars. And the class was fabulous!!!
Warning, though: the tickets are nonrefundable and non transferable.
Here's the link: http://www.disneyyouth.com/our-programs/education/sp/individual-enrollment/#categories-individual-enrollment
2013 Pricing (taken from that same link)
Starter Ticket Packages
3-Day: 171.22
4-Day:177.08
5-Day: 188.61
Park Hopper(r) Ticket Packages
3-Day:192.42
4-Day: 197.20
5-Day: 208.61
Premium Ticket Packages
3-Day: 210.78
4-Day: 214.60
5-Day: 225.87
They do offer packages for longer terms; last summer we got 8 day parhoppers.
* This ticket pricing is applicable only to the student(
participating in the Individual Enrollment " Disney Youth Education Series Program. For Chaperone (required on the program with students ages 12 and younger) and Family pricing please continue into the ticket store through the Ready to Order button below. Price includes tax. Theme Park admission is required and all participants must purchase an Individual Enrollment - Disney Youth Education Series Ticket Package to attend any Individual Enrollment - Disney Youth Education Series program.
Price valid for student groups arriving January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2013.
And here's this summer's schedule: https://www.studentguest.com/yes/
August 2008 and August 2009: Polynesian. August 2012: Beach Club. We're returning to the Beach Club in July/August 2014.
I did not see where anyone had posted anything about www.undercovertourist.com. If I missed it, I apologize. Reputable company, new, unused tickets.
I just checked, and it is about $1039 for a 4 day base ticket. The 5 day Magic Your Way base ticket is almost the same price.
Tammi
Another option for saving money in general at WDW:
Take a look at www.mousesavers.com
August 2008 and August 2009: Polynesian. August 2012: Beach Club. We're returning to the Beach Club in July/August 2014.
I've always ordered them directly through Disney. I worry about the discount tickets being fake, but I know a bunch of people have had success with them.
