When is an AP worth it?

[princessmj]

How many days would you have to spend in the park to "break even" on buying park hopper passes?

We are going in March for our honeymoon (spending 4 or 5 days in the parks) and then again in December for an extended family trip (another 5 days in the parks).

We have some tickets left over from last year (5 day, park hopper, no exportation) and I am trying to figure out how many days we would need to spend in the parks in 2011 to get a better deal on an annual pass.

 

[suemom2kay]

You also need to consider promotions. If you are going when there is Free Dining, that pretty much trumps any savings from an AP. As for room discounts, when there are room discounts, there are usually AP discounts that are 2-3 percentage points better. Since you already have non-expiring days, I would use those and buy tix for your other trip unless you're sure that you will go frequently. There is a sticky at the top of this forum that goes over tickets.

 

[seashoreCM]

About 12 days with hopping or about 17 days without hopping is the breakeven point. Note: Not all combinations adding up to 12 or 17 respectively will make the breakeven.

 

[alyssa810]

Some other things to consider are the discounts you DO get with an AP- certain dining discounts and merchandise discount are my favorites. Prior to buying DVC, we did have good luck with room discounts as well.

 

[snykymom]

You also need to consider promotions. If you are going when there is Free Dining, that pretty much trumps any savings from an AP. As for room discounts, when there are room discounts, there are usually AP discounts that are 2-3 percentage points better. Since you already have non-expiring days, I would use those and buy tix for your other trip unless you're sure that you will go frequently. There is a sticky at the top of this forum that goes over tickets.

Not necessarily. Often a room-only discount on an AP, and paying for the dining plan (if you even want the dining plan) is a better deal, if you're staying at a moderate or deluxe, and if you're a small party (which they are on their honeymoon!).

Many AP holders get the Tables in Wonderland card, which gives you 20% off food, including adult beverages, at most table service restaurants, and bypass the dining plan altogether.

 

[pixarmom]

Not necessarily. Often a room-only discount on an AP, and paying for the dining plan (if you even want the dining plan) is a better deal, if you're staying at a moderate or deluxe, and if you're a small party (which they are on their honeymoon!).

Many AP holders get the Tables in Wonderland card, which gives you 20% off food, including adult beverages, at most table service restaurants, and bypass the dining plan altogether.

We're a family of 5 (so not the same circumstances as the OP) and this is exactly what we do. We have APs (mine is the Premier), and the AP room-only rate and the TIW card is a great deal for us. It's different for everyone, but for us it's a much better deal than free dining.

So far, we've saved 42% on room rates, 20% on all table service meals (usually 2 per day) and 20% off all merchandise (with the promotion running right now until January - let's all hope for an extension!)

I could go on and on about how much we love TIW, and how it fits our dining style so much better and saves us so much more than the dining plan - but I'll stop here for now! Definitely another factor to consider in the AP analysis.

 

[texhanddoc]

I completely agree with the above post. The amount of savings you get with AP discount in addition to the Tables in Wonderland card trumps any free dining discount you get by far. My calculations were closer to 10 to 12 days to the breakeven point depending on how big your family is and how often you eat TS meals. The larger the family and the more TS meals you eat, you save BIG TIME with the AP and TiW card. Thats not even taking into account the merchandise discounts.

I just came back from Disney and we ate 6 TS meals and we had both sets of grandparents with us and I was saving 30 to 60 dollars a meal with the TiW card.

 

[disneyfan55]

Yes, there are many things to consider in addition to the number of days, whether or not each individual ticket will be a park hopper is another. It seem that even 3 or 4 short stays are worth the price of the AP since individual tickets are front loaded with cost!

 

[chrisw127]

I just came back from a 3 day weekend trip and will be going in December for 4 days/5nights. With a park hopper added on, it's a better deal to buy the AP even with just two short trips. I'll probably go again in the spring just because I have it. Also, I saved a nice amount this weekend on merchandise and food, even w/out the Tables in Wonderland card.

 

[GeorgeG]

I think an AP is probably a bigger advantage for us locals since we do a lot of day trips rather than extended stays with packages and plans. When we do stay over, usually two or three times a year, we go for the resident discounts at the time of year they are available. The APs also save us the $14 parking fee we'd have to pay on a day trip. That savings adds up pretty quickly. So, for us we break even after only 5 or 6 visits.

 

[kaligal]

I have yet to see a Free Dining offer that was less expensive than using the AP/TIW.

I never do Free Dining. Costs too much.

 

[KJ Luvs Pluto]

I just came back from a 3 day weekend trip and will be going in December for 4 days/5nights. With a park hopper added on, it's a better deal to buy the AP even with just two short trips. I'll probably go again in the spring just because I have it. Also, I saved a nice amount this weekend on merchandise and food, even w/out the Tables in Wonderland card.

I will be going in a few weeks with my first AP, no TiW card and I'm interested in how to save money on food with the AP. Would you mind sharing some tips on how to do that please? Thanks.

 

[LaurenT]

I am DVC, so I get a $100 discount on AP, I'm staying on property in November, visiting the park for 5 days, and then staying off site in Feb for a week with 6 days in the parks...I have some days left on a non expiring pass, but I am going to buy an annual pass for DD7 and me (dh is not going on the Feb trip, so it doesn't make sense to get him one). We will bring our Non expiry tix with us so we can go to disney quest, but we'll save the days on it for next time (or two times from now). It comes out alot cheaper for us and we'll also get free parking for our Feb trip!
Depends on your situation.....

 

[beansmom]

I have yet to see a Free Dining offer that was less expensive than using the AP/TIW.

I never do Free Dining. Costs too much.

I agree. For us, FD doesn't make sense as we would NEVER eat 2 full meals at any sitting. It's cheaper to get a discounted room and pay OOP for our food.

We are going for 6 days next week...I work for DH and this is my 'pay'--a week in WDW in October each year. We also have a medical convention in Tampa in March so it makes sense to take a few days at DW since we're gonna 'be there' anyway. So my 2 wks in Octobers, a few days in March and four days in December with my grandson makes an AP smart for us this year.

We DO, however, tend to spend MORE money with an AP because it is such a good excuse to 'sneak away to Disney' more than we normally would.

 

[DCTooTall]

Another thing to consider, just because you have some NE tickets left over, doesn't mean you need to use them on these trips. With 2 trips planned within the year, I'd say go with the AP and then save the NE tickets you still have for your NEXT trip.


I've got trips planned in March and november of next year. I stay off site, and I remembered in my initial calculations that it was cheaper for me to get an AP than it was to get a 3day Park Hopper on both trips, and I just about broke even on a 6day PH/NE ticket. This was pre-august price increases, and the AP didn't get hit with an increase like the MYW tickets did. I also had to factor in my $14/day parking since I stay off site, so if you are on-site you may be a bit further from the break-even point than I was.

I also didn't factor in the additional AP discounts into my calculations since it's harder to know exactly how much I'd spend on food or other goodies which I'd get a percentage discount, or even know if i'd take the time to go to a Water park, Disney Quest, or a hard ticket event which I'd get a discount on.


Easiest way to figure it out, just go t the Disney website and see how much the AP costs, and then compare this to the MYW tickets you'd get. Your 2 options would be either seperate tickets for each stay, or to look at a NE ticket which could bridge between the 2 trips.


The AP has the advantage of also removing your hestitance to do a part-day trip. say you arrive at 5pm in the area. Normally you'd be concerned about "wasting" a day on your ticket for just a couple hours at the park, where with an AP it doesn't matter so you can go for just a couple hours your arrival or departure day and not stress about it. It also opens up the possibility for weekend getaways. See a cheap flight? have a long weekend at work? close enough for a drive? Head down to the world and spend a day or two at the parks. Between the big room discounts you might be able to get with your AP, or the fact you can stay at an inexpensive off-site hotel and not worry about paying for parking, a quick getaway could be a lot more affordable.


And don't underestimate the Tables in Wonderland card. As others have said, $75 can save you (and your 10 closest friends) 20% on all your table service dining, including apps and adult beverages. That adds up quickly and you'll be breaking even pretty quickly. Now, with TiW an 18% Gratuity is automatically added, but by comparison tips aren't included with any dining plan (Free or paid) so you'd still need to pay for tips on a plan.... plus you aren't locked into what you can and can't order under a dining plan.... or limited to only certain beverages. If you enjoy drinking at all (wine, mixed drinks, whatever), the 20% off your drinks can add up quickly. (While not commonly stated, there are also a few CS places you can use your TiW card as well, including the Flame Tree BBQ.)

 

[tink7736]

Does the 20% merchandise discount apply to all shops? In the parks and at the resorts?

 

[disneyfan55]

Does the 20% merchandise discount apply to all shops? In the parks and at the resorts?

It did in Feb. We got the 20% off with a regular AP as well. One shop gave the 20% off for AP and when we paid with Disney Visa another 10% I asked if it was correct and they said it was but I really don't think that was!

 

[tink7736]

That's a great deal, would make the AP well worth it even for one trip!

 

[ilovethisplace]

I can't believe I finally found a thread where people think that "free" dining isn't all it's cracked up to be. People on this board are typically obsessed with free dining. I've crunched the numbers repeatedly and I can't find a single instance when paying full price for a package with "free" dining could beat an AP discounted room along with TIW. Good to see that I have others on the same page as me. I personally think that the dining plan forces you to over-eat just so you can take the full advantage of the plan. Back to the OP's point... even if you plan to only visit WDW for 1 week a year your best bet is to go say Dec 7-12 in 2010 and then Dec 1-7 in 2011 that way there you are going once a year but only have to buy a pass every second year. The biggest problem with this plan is that once you have an AP burning a hole in your pocket you'll try to find any excuse for another trip.

Also doing the math a 10-day no expiration ticket is $492 and an AP is $531. If you use it for free parking you'd make up the difference pretty quickly.

 

[disneyfan55]

I can't believe I finally found a thread where people think that "free" dining isn't all it's cracked up to be. People on this board are typically obsessed with free dining. I've crunched the numbers repeatedly and I can't find a single instance when paying full price for a package with "free" dining could beat an AP discounted room along with TIW. Good to see that I have others on the same page as me. I personally think that the dining plan forces you to over-eat just so you can take the full advantage of the plan. Back to the OP's point... even if you plan to only visit WDW for 1 week a year your best bet is to go say Dec 7-12 in 2010 and then Dec 1-7 in 2011 that way there you are going once a year but only have to buy a pass every second year. The biggest problem with this plan is that once you have an AP burning a hole in your pocket you'll try to find any excuse for another trip.

Also doing the math a 10-day no expiration ticket is $492 and an AP is $531. If you use it for free parking you'd make up the difference pretty quickly.

yes, In past years we did do the FD in a Value. We had an AP room for 54 in 2008 but when FD came out we did change it to the 82/night rack, 1 day ticket pp since for the 28/night we knew we couldn't feed 3! That's about the only time it was worth it for us. Now with the 2 day minimum ticket and just the quick serve at Values, we will just use the TIW (which actually fits our eating habits better). All the offers this year, aside from the room only, were NOT geared to the AP holder anyway, all required at least a 2 day pass purchase. I figured EVERY offer out there for the Feb trip we took and ended up just using the 4 one day passes to upgrade to an AP! If we did any of the others, we would have ended up with so many leftover tickets (I know good forever, but when all offers require ticket purchases, a lot in the drawer) and just got the TIW again!