What kind of park tickets do you buy?

[msmedley]

We are looking into DVC and I'm trying to envision what a trip will look like in terms of park passes. The last 2 years we stayed at AKL and PORS, we used a combination of room only days to enjoy the resorts and an ultimate parker hopper pass to get access to Disney Quest and the Water parks and the 4 Theme parks. It meant breaking our reservations into several different packages, checking in and out several times. It worked out well in the end but Disney doesn't make it easy.

What kind of tickets strategies do you use to be able to enjoy the resorts, hit multiple parks in a day, access the water parks and Disney quest?

The length of stay pass is nice but if you want to take a break or if you have a to cut out early on your last day or arrive late on your first day your wasting money.

Any suggestions.

Thanks, Mike

 

[sheryl0521]

We purchased AP's our first DVC year, and this year purchased PAP's. We try to fit in 2-3 visits during each pass year and then we take a break of a few months and then buy the next pass. I don't think it is the cheapest solution, but it works for us. I have read the AP breaks even in 7-8 visits, and the PAP is 9-10. No problem when we visit at least 3 times per year. This current PAP we are getting 20-23 days worth of park visits in, so I know it will break even + for us.

Enjoy!
Sheryl

 

[MikeBW]

We always buy the park hopper plus passes. They never expire, so if you don't feel like going to the parks, you don't feel like you have to go. DVC members get a 10% discount on the Unlimited passes that you get at the front desk, but the discount still doesn't make it worthwhile IMHO. The park hopper passes do not include DQ admission. We bought DQ tickets thru Ticketmania. DQ was not a big hit for me - my son liked it though. In a few years, we will get him a ticket to DQ and I'll wait for him at the house of Blues.

 

[wintergreen]

We also buy park hopper plus passes. We sometimes visit other attractions in Orlando during our stays, and like the fact that the passes never expire. When we were at WDW over Memorial Day weekend it was very hot, and we were glad to use the water park options for one day instead of standing in line in one of the parks. Also, we tend to do long weekend trips, rather than longer trips, so APs really don't make sense for us.

 

[CRobin]

There are a lot of ways to slice it.....

DW and I make 3-4 trips a year, and don't do the water parks, so AP's work for us.

When we bring guests, usually on 2 of the above trips, I buy discounted PHPs. I usually have 3 or 4 of these sitting around with various days of usage remaining.

The plus features on those never expire, either, and I think we've queued up something like a dozen or so of those that work for PI and the water parks.

We just use the DVC or AP discount for DQ; we don't go enough (I think the break-even is 3 trips) to justify a DQ AP.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Hi, msmedley. First of all, I would like to say Welcome to the DIS Boards!

We have purchased premium annual passes for many years now.
I do not think that is the best financial move for us, as we don't do much water parks or Disney Quest. We use the 'premium' portion of the ticket primarily for Pleasure Island.
We would probably be better off buying an annual pass plus a PI annual pass. Anyway, for us it's worth a few bucks for the convenience of having one ticket for everything. Also we are covered for those water park occasions.

Don't forget about the other benefit of APs or PAPs... The discounts.
There are usually some very good annual pass discounts for the deluxe resorts, as well as other stuff such as putt-putt golf.

Have fun!....

MG

 

[Maistre Gracey]

PS- Oh I almost forgot!!! The best part of an AP/PAP... freedom to come and go at will. Enter Epcot just for dinner? No problem. Run to MK just for Wishes or Spectro Magic? Again, you are covered without worrying about burning a day from a Hopper Pass.

MG

 

[pumpkinboy]

In the coming year: APs. We will be getting minimum 20 park days out of them in our visits in Nov 05, Jan 06, Apr 06 and Oct 06. For the following year, I think we'll take it easy and perhaps get some PHs or PHPs; then again maybe we'll take advantage of the 10% AP renewal discount and keep the fun rolling.

 

[helenabear]

For the last several years, I have always bought myself an AP. I am at the parks at least 10 days a year so it is a good deal at that point. I don't do water parks and I haven't been to DQ in years. I go to the parks every day so it's the best deal for me. For others coming, they usually get PHPs

And a big welcome to the DIS Mike

 

[dianeschlicht]

Our usual scenario is to buy APs for a mid January trip. Then we might go one more time during the year and plan a last trip on that AP for the first part of the following January. A 9 day trip seems to be the break even point for APs, so we usually get at least 20 days on our passes, and often more. If we are doing WDW only once a year, there are two trips at least on one pass. Because we usually wait a bit more than 365 days after the last use, we often go an extra time during the year the AP is in effect. There is a $30 price break if you renew the AP, but we find with the distance away we live, it is more financially sound to take 365 days off and then buy a new one, since the renewal clock starts ticking on the original expiration date.

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

This will not help you but we always get Florida Resident Seasonal Pass. Then if anyone wants to go to one of the Water Parks or Quest we purchase the day tickets at a discount.

 

[mikesmom]

We get APs for us, Park Hopper or UPH for DS. We go for Food & Wine Fest in November one year, October the next, that puts both trips on one pass. It will also cover our summer family trip and a post tax season getaway if that happens. We tend to enjoy the resort on the getaways, and maybe pop into Epcot for a meal, so the AP is ideal for us, as previous poster mentioned. If we do go to PI (rare) we will get a discounted entry ticket with the DVC discount.

For DS, it depends on plans. If he is only going in the summer, but will use water parks and PI, we get him UPH. We occassionally take a quick mother/son Christmas trip in December. If that is the plan, DS gets a PH and uses it for both trips. If those trips are going to last more than 7 days, we will get him an AP.

 

[FLYNZ4]

We have always purchased AP and then when they became available... we started buying PAPs.

DQ was a huge hit with our kids last summer... but they are all teenagers (or older) now. We go to PI a lot, and usually go to the water parks 2-4 times per trip.

We usually would plan our yearly trips so that we could get two years from each pass. Year 1 we would go in August... year 2 we would go in June/July. That way we only had to buy our passes every other year.

I think that the 10% renewal discount is a joke... and does not make financial sense to renew unless you will be attending within 1.2 months (36 days) of your expiration date. I vastly prefered the old method of renewing... which required payment within 30 days of expiration... but the 1 year clock did not start ticking until the next use.

/Jim

 

[CRSNDSNY]

8 days or more of park days -- we do APs.

 

[swilphil]

Last June we bought Park Hopper Plus, but we didn't use the "plus." This year we bought Park Hopper passes for our July trip from the Disney Store. It seems that's the cheapest we could find the 4-day park hopper without a plus. We can still use the left over "plus" for a trip to the water park. The Disney Store also sells Park Hopper Plus passes, and I believe Annual Passes.

I read on another thread that it's actually cheaper to buy the Disney Quest admission separately along with a Park Hopper, but I know there's many factors involved. If you're going more than 8 days, the annual pass is the cheapest.

 

[robmary]

We are going in 2 days. We are getting AP's and are staying first at Pop Century at AP rate of $59 per night (3nights) then our first trip after joining DVC at SSR. We are starting for a week at SSR. A small trip in November (Not sure yet for cash or on DVC) and next year we are going a week earlier to get another big trip out of the AP. Then we will not get another until the next year, 2006. The discount for renewing AP is not worth not using it for a long period of time.

 

[jimmytammy]

We purchased APs the first time in 00 and got two trips out of them, about 15 days. Then we purchased DVC and went on PHPs that first trip as DVCers.

This past Dec. we purchased APs again and got 7 days then, went back in Mar. for 7 days and will get our final use out of them in Oct for 10 days, approx. 24 days.

In the meantime, we are planning another trip in Jan. DW is doing half marathon with some other DISers. We will purchase vouchers for APs at our local Disney store and start that date in Jan. Definitely planning on staying 10 days that trip with plans for another Dec trip after on that AP. And with DVC we are hoping to squeeze either a May or Sept trip to take advantage of that AP.

 

[mjkwt]

This might be a dumb question, but I haven't been back in about 6 years........

When you buy a 4 day park hopper pas, do you have to use it at each park, or can you just go to the Magic Kingdom for all 4 days. I remember way back, about 10 years ago when they still had paper tickets that would get stamped and that you had to use one ticket for each park. Maybe I am going crazy, but I thought that was the way it was. Any help would be appreciated.

Where can you get the best price for a 4 and 5 day park hopper ticket??

Thanks!!

 

[fac]

it is for any park, therefore you can go to magic kingdom for 4 days if you choose to.

 

[mjkwt]

Thank You.......