Annual passes?

[JoyAhead]

not sure if I'm posting this in the right board, but didn't see an AP board.

I am thinking about upgrading one of our 7 day park tickets to an AP to take advantage of the free memory maker, food and merch discounts and hotel discounts and to also allow us to have a short one day visit while we are in the area in May. The hotel discounts for November aren't out yet and the current dining discounts expire in September. Are AP discounts typically better than regular discounts? Anyone done this before?

 

[eeyoresmom]

You may want to ask this on the resort board but yes, AP discounts are usually a bit better than general public discounts. You will also get free parking whether onsite or off. The 20% off merchandise and select restaurants is a great temporary perk as well.

 

[friend2Figment]

Our last trip we stayed off site and I got an AP for the free parking and MM. The20% was bonus. This trip we got a really good rate for our hotel and a great rate through Alamo with the AP discount. we normally get 5 day hoppers. My pass has saved more that what I would have spent out of pocket on our last trip. I am glad I got my pass.

 

[lorac4disney]

We did the AP's. We used one set of AP's to cover two years worth of vacations by planning the next vacation to happen before the AP expired the following year. Doing it that way made it worth our while. I don't know about how this would affect the resort discounts you get though because we are DVC. We get the same discount as DVC as we do as AP. For us, getting two years worth of park passes along with MM made it worth it.

 

[mountdew1]

Lately the AP resort discounts have only been a few percent better than those offered to the GP or Disney Visa holders, and have come out after the other two sets of discounts were released. You can see a historical chart here -> https://www.mousesavers.com/historical-information-on-walt-disney-world-resort-discounts/#codetrends

The current batch of dining discounts does have a bunch of extras they added for the 45th, but if you look around you should still be able to find a copy of the older discounts, that remained pretty much the same year to year. They were pretty close to what was offered to DVC/Visa card holders, most Epcot (lunch) and Disney Springs, but a few others.

I would never advise upgrading to an AP just hoping to get discounts. They can come and go at any time, and may or may not be offered. Value an AP based on what it guarantees, which is the park admission. The MM perk should be staying as it is explicitly called out while the discounts aren't, so if the tickets + MM cost are more than the AP, then get one AP and view any discounts as a bonus.

 

[JoyAhead]

Lately the AP resort discounts have only been a few percent better than those offered to the GP or Disney Visa holders, and have come out after the other two sets of discounts were released. You can see a historical chart here -> https://www.mousesavers.com/historical-information-on-walt-disney-world-resort-discounts/#codetrends

The current batch of dining discounts does have a bunch of extras they added for the 45th, but if you look around you should still be able to find a copy of the older discounts, that remained pretty much the same year to year. They were pretty close to what was offered to DVC/Visa card holders, most Epcot (lunch) and Disney Springs, but a few others.

I would never advise upgrading to an AP just hoping to get discounts. They can come and go at any time, and may or may not be offered. Value an AP based on what it guarantees, which is the park admission. The MM perk should be staying as it is explicitly called out while the discounts aren't, so if the tickets + MM cost are more than the AP, then get one AP and view any discounts as a bonus.

Thank you!! That is extremely helpful.