Important Question about "no expiration"

[Cookie123]

Hello Everyone ! :wave: I will be going to WDW on my solo trip in December. I already bought my 8 day park hopper, and before the price increase. :yay: I have never needed the "no expiration" option, so I still did not get that. Now I'm wondering ...
I have every intention of spending every day in a park, including a couple of hours at Epcot on my check-out day. But what if I don't use every day?? What if I have just one or two days that I did not use as park days?
I realize that I can add on options at the last minute ( I think ), and I know if I bought the no expiration at the last minute, it would have to be for the entire ticket, not just those one or two un-used days.

This is where I am confused .....

Would it be a cost effective thing to do to add on "no expiration" if I only have one or two days left ???

Thanks very much for your opinion !

[Zone Stop]

Adding the No Expiration option to your ticket will be $145 for an 8 Day ticket. Under current pricing, those 7th and 8th days would run you $3 each, so you'd basically have paid $151 for 2 days of park hopping... versus $199 if you bought the same ticket new.

[garymacd]

I just did a quick calculation for you. An eight-day, Park Hopper with Water Park Fun and More Adult pass will cost you $41.38/day + taxes, or $331.04 (My math could be wrong.)

Adding the No Expiration option will cost you $59.50 + taxes for the same ticket, or $476.00 for a difference of $144.56.

A one-day , Park Hopper with Water Park Fun and More option Adult pass costs $175.00 + taxes per person. The same pass for two days will cost $124.50 per day, or $249.00 + taxes.

So if you keep one or two days over, and use them next trip, and purchase no other passes, then, yes, you will save money. Remember though, that the Water Park Fun and More expire at the end of your stay. (At least they used to. I don't think they extended that.)

However, now you have to purchase an additional six days for your next trip. This will cost you $54.17/day, or $325.02 without the No Expiry option. With No Expiry, the price goes up to $67.50 per day or $395.00. That, added to the cost of the $144.56 you paid for the original tickets and you spend $539.56 for your next eight-day trip.

Two eight-day trips with Park Hopper, Water Park Fun and More and the No Expiry option on both:
Trip One: eight day passes: $476,
Trip Two; six day passes: $395
For a total of $871 each adult.

Two eight day trips without the No Expiry cost:
$331.04 each for a total of $662.08.

You save $210 each by eating the cost of the lost days! Part of the reason for the savings is the more days you buy, the cheaper the per-day cost is. The difference between an eight-day and six-day pass is around $6/day each.

The only thing I didn't add in is the increase in ticket price from one year to the next but I don't think the prices would rise that much.

This was long, but I hope it settles your mind for you.

[DizneyRox]

You have 14 days from first use to do the upgrade, cost is based on the total number of days, not days left.

If it were me, I'd upgrade it to a 10 day ticket and then add the no-expiration, if you indeed need the no-expiration. At least get your money's worth.

[KAJUNKING]

i think the only way it works out is if the two days you carry over is used on a 2 day trip. if you use it to extend tickets you are purchasing in the future its not a good deal because you can extend those for very cheap anyway

[Imagineer1981]

You have 14 days from first use to do the upgrade, cost is based on the total number of days, not days left.

If it were me, I'd upgrade it to a 10 day ticket and then add the no-expiration, if you indeed need the no-expiration. At least get your money's worth.

absolutely...once you get past I think 5 days, each additional day is cheap, like 3 dollars a day...go ahead and add no expire with a few more days

[CleveRocks]

If you buy the no expiration option, that's good for theme park days and for WPF&M admissions.

[CleveRocks]

Hello Everyone ! :wave: I will be going to WDW on my solo trip in December. I already bought my 8 day park hopper, and before the price increase. :yay: I have never needed the "no expiration" option, so I still did not get that. Now I'm wondering ...
I have every intention of spending every day in a park, including a couple of hours at Epcot on my check-out day. But what if I don't use every day?? What if I have just one or two days that I did not use as park days?
I realize that I can add on options at the last minute ( I think ), and I know if I bought the no expiration at the last minute, it would have to be for the entire ticket, not just those one or two un-used days.

This is where I am confused .....

Would it be a cost effective thing to do to add on "no expiration" if I only have one or two days left ???

Thanks very much for your opinion !

As a general rule, no expiration (NE) is ONLY a good option if the leftover days will TOTALLY cover your ticket needs for at least one future trip. If those leftover days aren't enough for a future trip and you'd need to buy extra tickets to cover your needs for that next trip, then the NE option wasted TONS of money.

So in your case, buying the NE option for $145 + tax is cheaper than buying a 2-day park hopper (PH) for a future visit to the tune of $199 + tax. If you will use only 2 park days on a future trip, then NE is a good deal for you here.

BUT ...
If you will need MORE than 2 park days for a future trip, then buying the NE option this time wil cost you literally HUNDREDS of dollars unnecessarily. I can supply the math if you want. Without typing out all the math, let's look at a scenario. Let's say you'll use 6 park days now and will need 6 park days for your next trip. If you add NE to your current ticket, AND buy a 4-day PH in the future (to give you 6 park days in the future), that will add up to roughly $725 including tax. But if you add the price of your existing 8-day ticket and the price of a new 6-day PH ticket in the future, that total cost is roughly $570 including tax. So in this scenario, taking advantage of the NE option is actually about $150 MORE EXPENSIVE than letting your 2 extra days expire and buying a brand new ticket for the next trip.

If you or anyone wants me to list all the prices and all the math, I'll be happy to do it.

Remember, the bottom line is that NE is a huge waste of money if your leftover days won't be enough for your next trip and you'll need to buy additional days.

[KAJUNKING]

As a general rule, no expiration (NE) is ONLY a good option if the leftover days will TOTALLY cover your ticket needs for at least one future trip. If those leftover days aren't enough for a future trip and you'd need to buy extra tickets to cover your needs for that next trip, then the NE option wasted TONS of money.

So in your case, buying the NE option for $145 + tax is cheaper than buying a 2-day park hopper (PH) for a future visit to the tune of $199 + tax. If you will use only 2 park days on a future trip, then NE is a good deal for you here.

BUT ...
If you will need MORE than 2 park days for a future trip, then buying the NE option this time wil cost you literally HUNDREDS of dollars unnecessarily. I can supply the math if you want. Without typing out all the math, let's look at a scenario. Let's say you'll use 6 park days now and will need 6 park days for your next trip. If you add NE to your current ticket, AND buy a 4-day PH in the future (to give you 6 park days in the future), that will add up to roughly $725 including tax. But if you add the price of your existing 8-day ticket and the price of a new 6-day PH ticket in the future, that total cost is roughly $570 including tax. So in this scenario, taking advantage of the NE option is actually about $150 MORE EXPENSIVE than letting your 2 extra days expire and buying a brand new ticket for the next trip.

If you or anyone wants me to list all the prices and all the math, I'll be happy to do it.

Remember, the bottom line is that NE is a huge waste of money if your leftover days won't be enough for your next trip and you'll need to buy additional days.

this is pretty much what i was trying to say so, what he said!

[Cookie123]

Thank You, everyone ! It is much clearer to me now. Thanks for doing the math !