Hello Susan!
Welcome to planDisney! I love that you have some big plans coming your way at Walt Disney World Resort.
It seems that you want to
book a package stay at a Walt Disney World Resort Hotel combined with
tickets. It's very common to stay a different number of nights at a Resort from the number of ticket days purchased. You do not need to be staying at the Walt Disney World Resort Hotel during the entire usage period. Your tickets, however, do start on the day of your Resort check-in day so you cannot use the tickets before you arrive. However, you can enjoy it as long as it is within the usage period. Each ticket purchased these days comes with an expiration date where the tickets must be all used. Feel free to check out and visit another Resort or anywhere else in the area and return to the Parks for some more Disney fun!
When selecting your tickets before you make your purchase you should see the usage period window so that you can make the best decision about how you want to stretch out your stay. When picking dates look for the announcements on the
Disney Parks Blog! A few days ago the dates for the
EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival were announced. It will be held this Fall and looks to be delicious!
I hope this helps and if you have any questions please let me know!
Happy Planning!
-Nimmy