A lot of people are searching for discounted Disney World tickets, and it’s easy to understand why. Tickets to Disney World are one of the priciest parts of a Disney World vacation. The Disney Value Resorts are affordable most times of the year, and during slow times, Disney usually runs deals where you get a percentage off the room cost, or a gift card, or even a meal plan when you book one of their Disney Resort rooms. If that’s too expensive for you, you can always stay at a hotel off property.

You can also eat at the quick service restaurants (fast food) to save a buck or two, or even bring your own food to the parks. But Disney World tickets stay largely the same price, and it doesn’t even matter how long your vacation is. It’ll still work out to about $250 per person per ticket for a base ticket, or between $300 & $350 for most special Disney World tickets.

So discounted Disney World tickets are highly desirable. The problem is, the legitimate discounted Disney World tickets don’t save a lot of money unless you’re a very large group. Deeply discounted Disney World tickets are usually a scam.

So, lets look at the ways and places that you can get legitimate discount Disney World tickets.

1. You can get discounted Disney World tickets directly from Disney. If you order your tickets before hand, you’ll save about $20 off the gate price. You’ll get this lower ticket price when booking a package deal for Disney World (room and tickets- meal plan optional), or if you order the tickets over the phone or through their website. If you wait to buy your tickets once you arrive in Florida, you’re looking at paying full gate price, though you may be able to get discounted tickets through another hotel or store.

2. You can get discounted Disney World tickets from an authorized Disney ticket reseller. Companies such as Maple Leaf Tickets and UnderCover Tourist offer discounted Disney World tickets and are authorized by Disney to do so. This authorization is extremely important. I’ll explain below about some of the discount Disney World ticket scams.

3. If you work for a company that sponsors Walt Disney World or an attraction at Walt Disney World (FedEx, Siemens, Coke, so on), then you may be able to get discounted Disney World tickets through your company- not to mention possible access to employee-of-that-company-only’s break room. For example, FedEx has a special chillout room in their sponsored rollercoaster: Space Mountain. Supposedly this room has air conditioning, seating, drinks, snacks, and a special entrance to the ride which bypasses most of the rest of the line. I don’t work for FedEx, so I can’t vouch for this- but it’s just a sampling of the perks you can get if you work for a WDW sponsor. Find out if your company sponsors anything at Walt Disney World, and then ask your HR people about perks for your trip.

4. Discounted Disney World tickets are not normally available through travel agents, but many travel agents, especially those who specialize in Disney travel, can work out a package deal that’s either cheaper than what you can book directly through Disney, or with more perks. After all, does it really matter where the discount comes from as long as there’s a discount? AAA and specialty Disney World travel agencies are best for this.

5. Military personnel get special discounted Disney World tickets. I’m not certain how all of this works, so if you or a family member is in the military (I assume only US military, but I could be wrong), go to DisneyWorld.com and scroll down to their Special Offers page. Or, just call them and ask.

6. Disney World often offers discount tickets to travelers from the UK, and I’m fairly sure other parts of Europe. I’m less certain of other countries. The best thing to do is either check out the Disney World website or call them directly and ask.

Now, those are the legitimate places to get discounted Disney World tickets. There are other things such as being part of a convention that’s held at Disney World and things like that, but they’re not usually opt ins. What I mean is, you can’t plan your vacation and then find a convention to join to get your discounted tickets.

Below are places that you should not get your discounted Disney World tickets. Some may be legitimate (like eBay), but you have to be really, really careful!

1. eBay- you can get discounted Disney World tickets through eBay, but it’s a bit risky to do so. Some legitimate Disney World ticket resellers offer tickets on eBay (rarely for less than you’d pay directly on their websites, though), but so do a number of scammers, and vacationers whose vacations were canceled or cut short and either don’t know any better or hope that you don’t. More on that below.

2. You’ve Won -or- Timeshare Sellers- If someone promises you a free or cheap Disney World ticket in exchange for sitting through one short presentation, rip it up and throw it out. The ticket may be legitimate, but if you don’t sign on the dotted line for whatever they’re selling as soon as you walk in the door, you won’t have time to use the tickets. These companies use high pressure sales tactics as well as the guilt of “but we gave you that ticket and this beautiful room!” to get you to sign. The longer you hold out against them, the harder it will be to get away to use your ticket. Some people find this to be a form of entertainment in itself, but for my money, I’d rather be giving Mickey a hug.

3. “My vacation got canceled, so now I want to get some money back from my tickets.” Avoid this. Not only is it against Disney’s rules to transfer tickets to another person, but they’ve made it mighty difficult to do so. Active tickets usually have the visitor’s name printed on them- they always do if the ticket is also a room key for a Disney World hotel. When you first use your Disney World ticket, you’ll be instructed to put your finger into a scanner. If the ticket has been used at all already, there’s a very good chance that your print number will not match their’s. When there’s a problem with scanning your finger, you have to show your id, and if your id doesn’t match the ticket name, guess what? Invalid. And Disney is not required to allow you to enter using someone else’s ticket whether you paid for it or not.

Things to watch out for when buying discounted Disney World tickets:

-Make certain that you’re either buying the ticket directly from Disney, or from an authorized Disney ticket reseller. Tickets purchased from a travel agency should also be either from Disney or from an authorized Disney ticket reseller.

-Make certain that your discounted Disney World ticket is not used and did not previously belong to someone else.

-Check with your employer and any groups that you belong with to see if there are any Disney World ticket discounts available to employees/members.

-If the discounted Disney World tickets that are offered are more than $20-30 cheaper than gate price for a base ticket, be extra wary. The discounts tend to get steeper the longer the tickets are for and the more bonuses that are on them (10 day, water park and park hopper combined, so on).

Have you found a good source of legitimate discounted Disney World tickets?