Will the Annual Pass price increase matter to you and your vacation plans?

[tb1972]

We usually spend our last day at the resort/pool anyways. Buying a Water Park AP is another good option (can wait to start it with first visit) -- $110/$99 adult/child with lower renewal rate

Water parks could be an option for the last day. We could also do a resort pool day or shopping Downtown. No one has to twist my arm to spend the day shopping!

 

[bwvBound]

One step closer: I finally suggested to my DH, "It is time to consider selling DVC."

Context: On Monday, my DH received an invite to the Disneyland Passholders after-hours party of 11/17. Naturally, we'd like to stay the night in the area. I scouted both DVC and Worldmark looking for an open room. Yep, found one w/ WM ... on Bonus Time, of course. DVC? Not a chance -- even phoned: no room at the Grand Cal Villas, no hotel room at Disneyland Resort, no hotel room at Paradise Pier, etc. So it is ok for Disney to be spontaneous (last minute invite to AP party) ... but not for the DVC Member.

Today was the next nail in the coffin: We were invited to a holiday party for mid-Dec. Ugh, we have a DVC reservation at the Grand Cal conflicting but only on the final night. We are now 30 days from arrival but were told cancelling the last night would put the points in holding. Right. When the ins-and-outs of the plan start to eat at you ... it may be time to sell. DVC just doesn't work as well as our other timeshare.

Edited to add comment re: ticket pricing: While processing online RSVP on the Disneyland AP party, I was invited to renew my current passes. I am happy to report that I was able to renew my SoCal AP! This is no longer available for new sales -- but the renewal is still being honored. Yeah. Phew. They got a renewal out of that gesture. (If the pass had not been eligible for renewal, I would have simply quit the AP. I have no desire to go either "up" or "down" to the next AP level.)

Yes, I believe it will affect my vacation planning -- especially for WDW trips. For us, WDW visits were largely for business travel conferences (recently ended) and Disney visits, while 'fun' are not 'important.' To that end, I'm already rethinking our F&G plans next Spring as it wouldn't be a great hardship to skip that event. We've already axed the December visit due to changes to the Candlelight Procession.

We've been juggling "blackout dates" for SoCal visits for the past many years. Having to lookup blackout dates is, already, a "DING" against both the 'Spontaneity' and 'Fun' factors. Doing the same for WDW (either hunting around blackout or surge pricing on daily tickets) may overwhelm the Fun factor for WDW travel. Again, we don't consider Disney trips to be very 'important' and there are many other events, locations and activities vying for our time, attention and wallets.

For now, we'll likely keep our DVC points, maybe do more Aulani trips, ... but I am already considering selling off one contract and slimming down.

(Corrected: F&G not F&W)

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

One step closer: I finally suggested to my DH, "It is time to consider selling DVC."

Context: On Monday, my DH received an invite to the Disneyland Passholders after-hours party of 11/17. Naturally, we'd like to stay the night in the area. I scouted both DVC and Worldmark looking for an open room. Yep, found one w/ WM ... on Bonus Time, of course. DVC? Not a chance -- even phoned: no room at the Grand Cal Villas, no hotel room at Disneyland Resort, no hotel room at Paradise Pier, etc. So it is ok for Disney to be spontaneous (last minute invite to AP party) ... but not for the DVC Member.

Today was the next nail in the coffin: We were invited to a holiday party for mid-Dec. Ugh, we have a DVC reservation at the Grand Cal conflicting but only on the final night. We are now 30 days from arrival but were told cancelling the last night would put the points in holding. Right. When the ins-and-outs of the plan start to eat at you ... it may be time to sell. DVC just doesn't work as well as our other timeshare.

ITA. We actually own a bunch of other timeshares, all bought resale for literally pennies on the dollar, and all function so much better for us than DVC does. The second my DH told me that it was time to consider selling DVC I was on the phone with The Timeshare Store lol. We had both of our contracts under contract pretty quickly, so now is a good time to sell. I was glad to get out while the getting was still good.

The days of spontaneous DVC nights here and there have been over for us for quite a while...depressing but it is what it is. That is a big reason I was just over DVC.

 

[Anal Annie]

I'm feeling very glad right now that we bought our current APs last Feb right before THAT price increase which we activated last July (who would've expected ANOTHER large increase only months later). This set of passes have turned into an incredible value for us since last summer was a 10-day trip. DH and I just got home late last night from a quick 4 n / 5 day trip for him to go to a conference at CSR so we got a bonus trip for the 2 of us and were able to "do" F&W for the first time. We also have another family trip for 6 n in early January coming up AND I just booked 8 n next June for a 4th trip on them. This gives DH and I a total of 28 days using them. THAT'S a good deal. We usually only add 1 day at a water park on summer trips out-of-pocket so don't need that upgrade. But I feel like you really have to be able to plan a fair number of trips in order for them to be worthwhile anymore. We used to feel like 2 week-long trips was worth buying them but now I feel like we must be able to have a minimum of 3 trips. So yes, before we purchase them again we will have to sit down and see if we can plan out at least 3 trips (which means super careful planning and good points management). DS is now in college so he may not be able to go with us on all of these trips in the future and our timing is going to change. DS will be required to do 2 summer-long co-ops between his last 2 years in college so the odds of him being able to continue to come with us drop even further in a couple more years. He may only be able to go over winter break - but I'm also hearing rumors that his college is talking about shortening their current 5 week winter break into more like a 3-week break which might nix that idea too with these new black-out dates. I don't know. We may only be buying AP's for DH and myself and as-needed hoppers for DS in the future. But it definitely puts a hurt on the ole wallet.

 

[edk35]

Having AP's is a double edge sword. We always GO more when we have those AP's which means spending more moola. Our best use of our AP's was in 2012 when our dd was in the college program. We went 5 times that year. Dropped a lot of MOOLA at Disney that year. We used to go twice a year for several years (sometimes 3) now we are avg. about once every 7-8 months. Even with DVC and AP's it is still expenive to go multiple times a year from MD.

 

[dvcdisney]

Yes it will change our vacation plans. Originally, we would purchase the APs and stay on Disney property. But when I mentioned to my husband the increase, we decided to keep our DVC reservations, rent a car and do all the other parks we said we would do one day. For instance, we've never been to Discovery Cove in 15 yrs of vacationing in Orlando. This is the time to go. Perhaps checking out the new area in Universal would be a good idea as well, but I will likely cancel a couple of days at DVC resort so we can stay at Universal Studios onsite resorts. Also, we've been meaning to go back to Busch Gardens one of these days, so here's a good opportunity. Disney isn't going care whether I go to the other parks or not, there's plenty of people willing to pay the increase.

But this would not make me sell my DVC. In the future, I would try to use more points at non-WDW locations such as Vero or Aulani.

 

[corpcomp]

Yes it will change our vacation plans. Originally, we would purchase the APs and stay on Disney property. But when I mentioned to my husband the increase, we decided to keep our DVC reservations, rent a car and do all the other parks we said we would do one day. For instance, we've never been to Discovery Cove in 15 yrs of vacationing in Orlando. This is the time to go. Perhaps checking out the new area in Universal would be a good idea as well, but I will likely cancel a couple of days at DVC resort so we can stay at Universal Studios onsite resorts. Also, we've been meaning to go back to Busch Gardens one of these days, so here's a good opportunity. Disney isn't going care whether I go to the other parks or not, there's plenty of people willing to pay the increase.

But this would not make me sell my DVC. In the future, I would try to use more points at non-WDW locations such as Vero or Aulani.

Cost has not stopped our vacation plans but college has. I stopped buying the APs two years ago as we are only getting there once a year now that my son is in college. While we are going again the first week of January 2016, with the Disney Visa I'm getting about 1500 points to use this time so will just be buying tickets when we get there. That way the cost is a bit invisible. Just wish the cost of the airfare was more reasonable.

 

[Tink-n-Belle]

Yes, we are going next week and I was going to get annual passes for 4 people. But my teenagers just informed me that they don't want to go into the park..... So with the price hike...I'm good with that...

And me and Dh decided to forgo the fl resident annual silver pass and get 4 day passes for Fl residents. So instead of disney getting $1400 they only got $448 today. ( half the price of the silver passes too) The 4 day tickets are good for 6 months so we can use them in March too. And I have 10 day no exp tickets with 14 days left for the kids if they decide to go into the parks for a day..at an average cost of $25 a day). These are old tickets I bought in 2005. But I am So ticked that they raised the prices in October....

Staying at the Grand Floridain and Poly.....so there is a lot to do and enjoy instead of going to the parks everyday.
Also Dh needs a relaxing vacation.......

 

[suebeelin]

So, ever since the AP increase (no warning either!), I've been doing a lot of soul searching.

We usually buy our APs with a credit card.

This year? I'm figuring out a way to save over $50/60 on the annual pass.

This includes buying a 5 day ticket at undercover tourist, and applying an Amex $30 statement credit discount. The total discount is $44, or 13-14%.

Then I'm upgrading to an AP when we are there in January. I'm paying for the AP with discounted DW discount ranging from 5%-12% off.

Total savings? $55-65 off annual pass.

I didn't do that last time. Now I'm in super saver mode.

So... It's changed me so that I'm really into trying to find ways to save!!

 

[JJSWDW]

It will definitely change our plans. First the platinum pass is just ridiculous. We don't need photo pass. Second the gold pass blacks out our spring break. Not having an AP takes away our incentive to go multiple times in a 12 month window. We will probably back off to once every 18 months or more for a full family trip to WDW. Then we may rent points to family members or bank them for bigger rooms. If something like this increase happens again the near future we will look hard at selling DVC. The normal increases we bad enough but expected. This increase was just stupid. I get Disney's business sense behind it but that doesn't mean I need to spend my money there.

 

[spiceycat]

no moved to Florida to get the Florida weekday pass - it did go up $37 but it includes parking!!!! which is expensive now it is $20 a visit - so just love the new AP! you can upgrade your current weekday pass to the one that includes parking - $60 for a silver pass or $36.19 for the weekday pass.

dvc has worked for me. had at one time other timeshares - and they were great when I lived in Ala - used them to trade to Kissimmee(many times), Orlando and twice to DVC. but now that I am having to cut back (retired) - getting rid of the others - when you add the cost of RCI, trading RCI, the maintenance fees on the others - well while DVC still made since - they did not. now I will keep my RCI - just not the other timeshares.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

We have never bought AP's so price doesn't effect us. What does , however, is that NE tickets are no longer available for purchase. IMO, for the once a year visitor to WDW, this was a good deal.

 

[robinb]

We have our annual Christmas/New Year's trip planned and we purchased a 7-day pass instead of an AP. That means that we will not be returning and spending money at WDW. That doesn't mean that we won't return to Florida. My MIL lives in Tampa and we will be visiting her but we won't be going to WDW. My DD also wants to take a cruise with a friend for her "golden birthday" in August but we won't be going to WDW.

Not being tied into an AP feels a freeing ... we can now do things that I would not have considered in the past because that AP kept us in the Disney universe. Heck, I'm thinking about get a Super Grover Pass from Sesame Place that includes unlimited access to Sesame Place, Sea World, Aquatica and Busch Gardens. It's only $200 for the whole year (actually, it's valid now through the end of 2016). I'm actually excited to try some new parks and I think the SG Pass gets the "ride again" privilege too.

 

[luckyman_apd]

I'm not "thrilled" about any price increases, but it's a $20 increase over what I was expecting for our trip. That's $80 total for the family. The blackout dates don't/will not affect us as we never travel during those times. I know it affects others and it probably should be expected with the way DL has had blackout dates for a while....but I still don't like it. It's squeezing more profit out of your most loyal base. For $80 more we are getting a photo pass upgrade with it, but it's not something I would have chosen. It IS something my wife is happy about so I guess we'll call that a split.

 

[tink'smom2B]

I just looked at the AP price today and was surprised by the increase. With two kids age 16 and 13, we will be visiting Universal and Harry Potter world instead This price increase was perfect timing! My kids are bored with Disney after going here since they were babies.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

I just looked at the AP price today and was surprised by the increase. With two kids age 16 and 13, we will be visiting Universal and Harry Potter world instead This price increase was perfect timing! My kids are bored with Disney after going here since they were babies.

This is what we did when the AP price increase came out, and we have used the heck out of our Universal APs so far. My kids are 10 and 7 and are soooo into Harry Potter. We are going there with friends next weekend too, something we never did with Disney APs since none of our friends had them. We love Universal! It is easier to maneuver due to fewer giant strollers for one thing...that's a huge plus for me!

 

[bobbiwoz]

DH says "no more NYE visits" so I will most likely be buying him a pass with restrictions. Our APs expired earlier in December, so we had to get the more expensive ones this year. I'm changing my mind, and will find a friend to join me next year.

 

[RaymOOOnd]

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[DVCPAT]

I just looked at the AP price today and was surprised by the increase. With two kids age 16 and 13, we will be visiting Universal and Harry Potter world instead This price increase was perfect timing! My kids are bored with Disney after going here since they were babies.

I agree... We still enjoy DVC resorts so we'll use all of the Disney perimeter perks (monorail & boat transportation) for onsite dining and resort hopping and spend our entertainment budget on outside attractions. I think Disney decorates the resorts better than the theme parks during Christmas so we'll continue to vacation at peak times.

 

[DVCPAT]

We have our annual Christmas/New Year's trip planned and we purchased a 7-day pass instead of an AP. That means that we will not be returning and spending money at WDW. That doesn't mean that we won't return to Florida. My MIL lives in Tampa and we will be visiting her but we won't be going to WDW. My DD also wants to take a cruise with a friend for her "golden birthday" in August but we won't be going to WDW.

Not being tied into an AP feels a freeing ... we can now do things that I would not have considered in the past because that AP kept us in the Disney universe. Heck, I'm thinking about get a Super Grover Pass from Sesame Place that includes unlimited access to Sesame Place, Sea World, Aquatica and Busch Gardens. It's only $200 for the whole year (actually, it's valid now through the end of 2016). I'm actually excited to try some new parks and I think the SG Pass gets the "ride again" privilege too.

Your post reminds of a past DVC member (Richyams ?) who referred to annual pass discounts as "golden handcuffs". Not only was this a true statement, it created a brand loyalty that helped members overlook Disney shortcomings.

Disney now determines pricing by the length of the line which is ok.... Novelty has a short shelf life.