annual or not!

[bearloch]

ok I need suggestions! we now live in Fl!, Hubby is a OTR trucker so he is only home 1 weekend per month we are planning a dis trip in June we want to do water parks and epcot as a family! we are ret military so we get tha deal! we would use 3 days this trip! daughter and I will come back and forth daily over summer vac so we are thinking of getting a AP for us and 4 day military hoppers for Hubby as he wont use as much! But I dont want ap for water parks so should I just use Military deal untill that runs out then get AP? or can I get a deal on water parks with the ap for just 2 days?? also will there be any free dining in June?? thanks!!

 

[angwill]

ok I need suggestions! we now live in Fl!, Hubby is a OTR trucker so he is only home 1 weekend per month we are planning a dis trip in June we want to do water parks and epcot as a family! we are ret military so we get tha deal! we would use 3 days this trip! daughter and I will come back and forth daily over summer vac so we are thinking of getting a AP for us and 4 day military hoppers for Hubby as he wont use as much! But I dont want ap for water parks so should I just use Military deal untill that runs out then get AP? or can I get a deal on water parks with the ap for just 2 days?? also will there be any free dining in June?? thanks!!

It's highly unlikely there will be free dining in June because they just released FD for August/September. There is a discount at the beginning of June on rooms. You do get a discount on water parks with an AP. If you just want to go for a few hours there are also deals for Florida residents on passes that are for just after either 2pm or 4pm, I forget which. Check the Disney website under Florida resident. I have no clue what the military deal is to comment on that or AP. HTH

 

[mickeypedia]

with the military deal.....4 day park hopper 138 and add waterparks for I think its 25 which is like getting a 1 day park hopper with waterparks and more...With the AP you get like a $4 discount on waterparks per person. You can also buy AP at a MWR for around $500 I know its cheaper than a regular. There is also a discount for Florida residents and Florida residents can also pay monthly. (this cannot be combined with the military discount as far as I know). Florida residents can also get a seasonal pass (which I have heard of but have never gotten)...I would take the 4 day park hopper from the military and then buy my AP later.....I tried to upgrade my 4 day but it can't be upgraded or I would say do that.....I would also look into that seasonal pass because if you just plan on being there for summer it may be a cheaper way of doing it. Also, military also gets rooms discounted up to 40% so that is actually better most of the time during the year (at least until September 30th) than with AP discount.

 

[reginaastralis]

Ok, I'll try to help, but I don't know anything about military passes ....

We are Florida residents, and just purchased our APs this week. The thing you have to consider is how often you will use the AP to see which one is good for you. For example, we just found out that we won't be sending my daughter to camp over summer, and I won't be taking summer classes, so we will have a LOT of free time. We live an hour away from Disney, and even though I usually hate going in the summer, I figured even if we go for a few hours a week, in the evening, it would give us a break from one boring summer. What does this mean in the difference of the passes?

There is a Florida Resident Seasonal Pass. It has black out dates, and I'm sorry, but I'm a little lazy this morning and don't feel like hunting for the exact dates, but there is a two week window in April that's blocked out, most of the summer (From late May/Early June, I think - Until the end of Augustish) and two weeks at the end of December. Why? Because those are the busy as heck times, so they limit this pass. Also, with this pass, you have to pay for parking. While this may or may not factor into your budget, parking is $14/day. If you are using your pass while also staying onsite, this isn't a huge deal .. but for me, it was the deciding factor.

We went with the next step up, the Florida resident annual pass. It doesn't include the water parks ... just year round admission to the theme parks. The difference in the passes is around $150 (again, I'm lazy). So, I figured it out that if I was to pay $14/day for parking, I would have to use my pass 10 times to be able to come out "even" (this figure doesn't include the price difference in my daughter's pass, but shhh! I fudged the numbers to make it look better, lol).

If you decide to go ahead and do the monthly pay method, you have to put down the cost of a one day admission $85 + tax for each pass that you buy, and then they charge you monthly from therein. Our passes run about $55/month for the two of us. They charge the one day admission, and the first month in two separate transactions, usually a day or so apart. They don't charge interest on this account. There are perks with an ap as well.

Now, my boyfriend isn't a huge Disney fan (yet), so what we've decided to do is pick up a play for three day pass for him. Right now, it's running $99 for Florida residents, but it expires at the end of May.

All in all, it really comes down to how often you're going to use the card. Again, we didn't get the one with water parks, so that would be even more expensive. We currently have BG/Sea World passes (don't know where you're located, but they do a buy a day get the whole year free for Florida residents thing, which is a great deal, I think), and my boyfriend and I have Universal passes (we do a similar promotion for the monthly payment plan, but it's a lot cheaper than Disney). It's a LOT of passes on our end, and I don't know what kind of crazy pill we were taking when we decided on this, lol. We live about 30 mins from BG and probably go there the least ...which is ironic.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

You might want to look at the Everything About WDW Tickets locked sticky in the TPA&S Forum. Especially the items bolded in the list below.

Post and Contents

1. This Table of Contents
2. Magic Your Way (MYW) Ticket Basics Including Definitions
3. Annual Passes and Water Park Tickets
4. Tickets Available Only to Florida Residents
5. Tickets Not Available to the General Public
6. Upgrading MYW Tickets (Not to Annual Passes)
7. Upgrading Tickets to Annual Passes
8. Dealing With Tickets Issued Prior to 1 January 2005 (Pre-MYW)
9. Children and Adults
10. Special Events
11. Comprehensive MYW Ticket Example
12. Hotel Card (Key To The World (KTTW))
13. Lost Tickets
14. Finger Scans
15. Frequently Asked Ticket Questions.
15A. Hopping Rules
15B. WPF&M With No Expire
15C. No Expire Upgrades
15D. Upgrading an Unused Ticket
15E. Upgrading Special Tickets
15F. Checking on Old Tickets
15G. Renewing Annual Passes
15H. Upgrading a Completely Used Ticket
15I. Getting Park Tickets Before Package Start Date
15J. Upgrading After Departure

Page Two of the Sticky

16. 2012 Florida Resident Wild For Disney Tickets
17. 2011/2012 Armed Forces Salute Tickets
18A. Prices Effective June 12, 2011
18B. Per Day Pricing for Ticket Combinations
18C. How to Save Money on Annual Pass Purchases
19. "Free" Tickets and Special Promotions
20. Ticket Purchase/Upgrade Locations and Telephones
21. Florida Resident Installment Purchases of Annual Passes

To get there directly, follow the link in my signature.

 

[bearloch]

ok I think what we have decided is to get 2 military passes each for dd and I and I for Hubby that will give me 8 days ( 6 day trips) to disney this summer then I can decide just how much I will use a ap or else I can give universal a whirl too!! thanks for the help!!

 

[angwill]

I am not familiar with military passes but make sure they do not expire within 14 days of first use if you plan on using the days during different trips.