I was surprised to see how high the single-day prices were at both Disneyland and Universal-Hollywood. It doesn't feel worth it for a single day especially if the parks are super-crowded.
I never saw anything official about this, but I found a few places on-line with talk about people who have been able to exchange their old non-expiring WDW ticket days for equivalent days at Disneyland. We have a lot of older non-expired WDW days, and unfortunately are not planning to return in the near future.
What is the official policy on this ? And has anyone ever tried this, and what are the chances that they'll do it ?
Other secondary questions:
- Are there other reasonable ways that people have found (beyond the standard mousesavers.com methods) to get discounts on single-day tickets for Disneyland ?
- Will Disneyland be worth it for one day in mid-September on a Friday, or will it likely be super-crowded ?
- One day at Disneyland for a WDW veteran with two kids -- Disneyland or California Adventure ?
- How good is Universal Studios - Hollywood and do you think it's worth the money for a single-day pass ? And are there any good ways to get discounts on single-day tickets there ?
All info appreciated and thanks very much!!
I'm almost 99.99 % sure you can use your non expired WDW passes at Disneyland.
As far as I know, you can only do it the day of (so no advance tickets) & you simply do it at the gate.
The type of ticket you get depends on your WDW ticket (park hopper gets a park hopper, 1 park = 1 park, etc.) And you can always asked to speak to a manager or someone at guest services if there is a problem.
In terms of discount tickets, some people use Costco or AAA, but beyond that, you may run into potential problems.
Disneyland won't be super crowded in September. School is back in session & most if not all of the vacation crowds are gone (middle of September would prob be best). If you arrive when the park opens in the morning, you'll be fine.
If you can, I'd try to see if you can get a park hopper pass with one of those WDW tickets.
If not, you can't go wrong with either park.
But you'll find plenty of things in Disneyland that are different from the MK & you can easily fill the day. And DCA is cool as well.
For Universal (in Sep), you'll be able to get everything done in half a day, so I recommend pairing that day with something else close by (Universal for the morning & maybe take the subway to Hollywood Blvd for the evening or something).
For discounts at Universal, in addition to things like Costco & AAA, there's usually some Coke or fast food promo going on (bring a can get $15 off or bring in a Burger King or Subway coupon, etc)
Or for much cheaper alternative, there's always Knotts Berry Farm.
Getting multiple days reduces the rates. Buying online helps too
1. I don't know of any good way to get discounted tickets to Disneyland other than the methods Jay mentioned. Do not buy tickets from anywhere other than Disneyland or a trusted retailer, as there are a number of discount ticket scams that have gone on (don't know if they're still common or not).
2. The park will be dead on a Friday in mid-September...at least until mid-afternoon. Disneyland has an issue with passholders who come after work/school on Fridays, resulting in busier than expected evenings. However, from opening until around 4 P.M. you likely won't encounter significant waits for anything other than the E-tickets (and even those will probably be 30 minutes or less).
3. If you can do both parks, I would do that. Park hopping is very easy at the Disneyland Resort, and during the off-season you shouldn't have too much difficulty covering all the major attractions at both parks in one day (excluding WDW clones). Otherwise, I would recommend doing Disneyland unless your kids are at least 48" tall and enjoy thrill rides or you have never been to DCA before. While it is possible to spend a full day at DCA, it is more of a half day park (especially during the low crowd season) and the park has more intense rides than those found at Disneyland. Even though Disneyland is similar to Magic Kingdom, it does offer a fair number of unique attractions and is easily a full day park for anyone who doesn't visit regularly.
4. If you've been to Universal Studios Florida, I wouldn't even consider Universal Studios Hollywood if you've only got one park day. It is a 2/3 of a day park at best (during low season, I've done every attraction there in approx. 4 hours) and is probably the most overpriced park I've been to. It is easier to find discounts for this park than it is for Disneyland, but I'd definitely pick either Disneyland park over Universal Studios Hollywood if I had to choose.
