Annual Pass benefits - tips and help please

[Natalie Scales]

Hi there, I do apologize if this has been discussed already but I am trying to find out about some of the ways to get the best use out of the annual pass that we get from booking an Escape wedding.

First of all I see that you can get a discount off the entry to Blizzard beach, which is great as that really is the only park not included that we really want to visit.

Secondly as we will have to book a minimum of 4 nights at a Disney operated Hotel, can we use the passes to gain a discount on these ? If so and we book a stay at full price but then find later that a discount is offered can we then "opt in" to the discount ?

I am just trying to work out how to get the most out of these passes as being from the UK this may be the one and only time we use these included passes !

 

[oneyodafan]

Yes, you can use your AP if a AP discount becomes availalble. Discounts are not guaranteed however, and unfortunately the discounts have been becoming less and less. What we have done in the past is book at a moderate and if a discount became available, I was able to upgrade to a deluxe for a few nights.

Do you have a TA you are working with or did you book on your own? If you are on your own, check in at www.mousesavers.com for codes when they come out. Usually it's in the few months prior to the discount dates.

http://allearsnet.com/pl/apass.htm Here is Debe's page on AP's. About halfway down she lists the benefits for this year. One great bennie is the discount you can get at the World of Disney store at DTD. It's saved us loads as I would make most of my purchases there.

Good luck!

 

[Natalie Scales]

Thank you for that, I'll take a look and treat any discount as a bonus rather than a given, any discount will mean more to spend on last minute accessories!!

 

[lurkyloo]

Another great benefit of the AP is that, for $65, you can order the Disney Dining Experience card, which gets you 20% off almost all your sit-down meals (not counter service), including drinks.

 

[figmentfan814]

We have been annual passholders off and on for the last 15 years, so I thought I would chime in too. You can go ahead and book your room and they will allow you to add the discount once it becomes available (we usually make around two trips a year and we have never not gotten a room discount.)

Another great thing is that you get discounts on a lot of the backstage tours along with discounts at some of the stores at Downtown Disney. I definitely agree that the Disney Dining Experience card is awesome, you more than make back the difference in the cost of the card.

 

[JaxTeach]

The room and DDE card discounts are the best AP discounts.

There are a few others that we use frequently:

As oneyodafan mentioned, 10% off at World of Disney @ DTD. We usually wait until our last day and buy whatever we have had our eye on there. (Several other DTD stores give 10% off as well.)
10% discount on spa services @ Saratoga Springs and the Grand Floridian.
50% off mini-golf @ Winter Summerland and Fantasia Gardens.
15% off tours (We have used this for the Keys to the Kingdom, Undiscovered Future World, and Yuletide Fantasy tours.)

If you don't opt for the DDE card, you can get 10% lunch on weekdays at the World Showcase restaurants as well as some of the DTD restaurants. We have used it extensively at Ghiradelli for Warm Cookie Bottom Sundaes!

 

[zeltoo]

Another great benefit of the AP is that, for $65, you can order the Disney Dining Experience card, which gets you 20% off almost all your sit-down meals (not counter service), including drinks.

We used our DDE discount for both our rehearsal dinner (I did not go through Disney Groups for this) and all of the meals we had with family around Disney.

While nobody would think to let us pay for our meals, they never turned down the discount. It wasn't uncommon for us to knock $40 off each meal. And I think we saved about $150 on the rehearsal dinner.