Annual pass or not??

[umwhat]

Planning a quick 4 day trip in May with my wife and planning a 7-8 day trip with the whole family in January.

We love going with the dining plan with the family.
However, are the AP discounts "better" than free dining (if they offer it in January, they didn't last year)? We usually stay in a value resort.

What kind of discount can I expect with an AP? Would it be worth it to buy the AP for this trip and then have tickets already for our trip in Jan?
Opinions, please.

 

[Marionnette]

Planning a quick 4 day trip in May with my wife and planning a 7-8 day trip with the whole family in January.

We love going with the dining plan with the family.
However, are the AP discounts "better" than free dining (if they offer it in January, they didn't last year)? We usually stay in a value resort.

What kind of discount can I expect with an AP? Would it be worth it to buy the AP for this trip and then have tickets already for our trip in Jan?
Opinions, please.

AP discounts can change with very little notice. It's probably better to just consider whether you will save on the cost of admission over 12 months instead of relying on the discounts that are offered to holders and trying to factor them into your purchase decision. So, take a look at what you would spend on individual tickets for your two visits and then compare that total to what an AP would cost.

In general, the dining discounts are limited to select restaurants and quite often can only be applied during "off" dining hours. You can spend another $100 and buy the Tables in Wonderland card for additional dining discounts. You get free parking. The room discounts amount to about 5% more than what is offered to the general public, and are often announced much later. You get 10% off merchandise purchases at most Disney-owned gift shops with no minimum purchase.

FWIW, if you do decide to get an AP, you can still add (and pay for) the dining plan when you book a room. It's called passholder package and it includes room + dining plan, no tickets.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

It generally takes the third visit in a 365 day period to come out ahead when you get an AP. If on one of the visits you stay offsite, that will help lower your cost and you will still be able to leverage the free parking benefit.........which I think has now jumped up to 17 dollars a day!

Go for three!

 

[davedmaine]

First of all, get the dining plan out of your head. The paid plan today is an over-priced mess and doesn't bring any kind of value to anyone. Even 'free' dining is never much of a bargain.
In your case, I would go with the annual passes and also then purchase the Tables in Wonderland card. It's a true discount of 20% and unlike the DDP, you'll actually save money. Then as an additional benefit, you can use the discounts on the AP for merchandise, parking, half-price miniature golf, etc.. Trust me on this one..

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

To me, the annual pass is worth it if you have two trips in a year (365 days). But, since you already have your January tickets I don't know if it would be a good value ticket-wise. We love the Tables in Wonderland card, and use that. We are DVC members so I'm not sure about the room discounts, although I get a lot of emails about them.

 

[hsmamato2]

add up actual cost of buying tickets for your short trip, than add the cost of buying for your next trip- if an AP costs less than that (or equal) it's probably your best bet.

 

[umwhat]

Great advice, everyone!!! Thanks!
I've got some numbers to crunch.

Thanks again, I really appreciate everyone's help.

 

[blueiis99]

First of all, get the dining plan out of your head. The paid plan today is an over-priced mess and doesn't bring any kind of value to anyone. Even 'free' dining is never much of a bargain. In your case, I would go with the annual passes and also then purchase the Tables in Wonderland card. It's a true discount of 20% and unlike the DDP, you'll actually save money. Then as an additional benefit, you can use the discounts on the AP for merchandise, parking, half-price miniature golf, etc.. Trust me on this one..

Yup this is what we do. We only buy 1 annual pass for the discounts and the dining (tiw) we book deluxe rooms so the savings is worth it.

 

[btowndude]

If you decide to get WDW annual passes and have already bought your May trip tickets, you can get credit for the value of those tickets toward upgrading to an annual pass.