annual pass/planning help!!

[scampbunny]

righto, am still trying to work a way around the cheapest method to get a holiday

now - we dont have annual passes, but i do have a shareholder card. i understand there was the child free pass, but how long is that on for does anyone know???

if we were to get ap - how best is it to do it - is it worth dh & i both havin a dream pass, or 1 dream & 1 fantasy?? wud we get the family discount of 20% off ours?? i know that can be combined with the shareholder discount.... is that right?

then, how much do u normally save on room only prices compared to rooms with tickets included??
eg - atm it is £628 for 2 adult, 2 child (3 nights, 4 days) with kids go free.... how much wud it likely to be with just room only prices, and cud we get any discount off the room only prices???

am getting brain all muddled tryin to figure out if theres an easy way to do this.... and obviously, if we cud get ds1 out of school, and go the week before half term, that wud help too (need to find out more about holidays/time off)

any help appreciated, as there are no % discounts that i can see for october so not sure if i want to wait to see if things change, or book asap (so i can start trip planning )

thanks for reading if u got this far, AND if u can understand it!!!!

 

[Cyrano]

Nikki you can't buy the APs in advance to benefit from the free child AP.
The free AP is the same type as the purchased type. So in your example one child would have a Dream AP and the other child a Fantasy AP.

 

[scampbunny]

righto - thanks reid - will amend original post now, so that others dont reply the same lol

 

[Mrs Stonfiesta]

we have found the annual passes alot cheaper, i would say if your going to go more than twice a year then definitly go for it, the cheapest holiday to disney we have ever done was to the cheyanne (£148 for 3 nights) then we used our tesco clubcard vouchers for the eurotunnel so only paid diesel, £58 for a full tank which gets us there and nearly the whole way home and 40 euro for the tolls. once the initial cost has been paid for the annuals the next holidays in that year are so cheap... plus the discounts on the rooms are so helpful, other times of year we have found the annuals havent saved us that much, such as xmas, the room only rate for 3 nights was £202 and the rate with park passes included were £302, so a small saving but not huge. the one plus for us is that we love going out of season and as we have no kids yet we pretty much go when its cheapest and not on any set dates... we found the trip that we first brought our annuals the savings we made on food, pins and other stuff paid for one of the passes . let us know if you have any other Q's about them

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

The free child AP finishes in Feb or March i think.

 

[scampbunny]

The free child AP finishes in Feb or March i think.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr lol in that case, aps wud be way too expensive for 4 of us.....

hmmmmmmmmmm will wait n see and maybe - due to 'credit crunch' they may extend it???? that wud be great!

 

[scampbunny]

we have found the annual passes alot cheaper, i would say if your going to go more than twice a year then definitly go for it, the cheapest holiday to disney we have ever done was to the cheyanne (£148 for 3 nights) then we used our tesco clubcard vouchers for the eurotunnel so only paid diesel, £58 for a full tank which gets us there and nearly the whole way home and 40 euro for the tolls. once the initial cost has been paid for the annuals the next holidays in that year are so cheap... plus the discounts on the rooms are so helpful, other times of year we have found the annuals havent saved us that much, such as xmas, the room only rate for 3 nights was £202 and the rate with park passes included were £302, so a small saving but not huge. the one plus for us is that we love going out of season and as we have no kids yet we pretty much go when its cheapest and not on any set dates... we found the trip that we first brought our annuals the savings we made on food, pins and other stuff paid for one of the passes . let us know if you have any other Q's about them

thanks julie - will keep on with my planning - i think its all the deals u lot got for pence with the ap discount that got me thinking!!!!! and too much thinking for me is bad.... (read expensive lol) thanks for ur offer

 

[hildasmuriel]

The AP discounts on room have been really pathetic recently unless you can travel far far far out of season.
For example room AND ticket £655
room with discount NO ticket £647

So I would save £8, but they would save 5-day Park passes. Pah!

But I still love our APs. We stayed off site last week and saved a fortune but was still able to go in for EMH.
20% off in shops makes shopping so much more fun!
10% off counter service meals, which you don't get with your shareholders card

Go for it.....go on.

 

[scampbunny]

The AP discounts on room have been really pathetic recently unless you can travel far far far out of season.
For example room AND ticket £655
room with discount NO ticket £647

So I would save £8, but they would save 5-day Park passes. Pah!

But I still love our APs. We stayed off site last week and saved a fortune but was still able to go in for EMH.
20% off in shops makes shopping so much more fun!
10% off counter service meals, which you don't get with your shareholders card

Go for it.....go on.

lmao thats for the encouragement!!! i think itll depend if they extend the childs free pass - *** if they dont, itll be too expensive for all of us to have passes (mind u - cud just get one for me...... for the discounts u understand..... )

 

[scampbunny]

thinking again.....
cud i buy my ap in advance, but get ap discount on a package before i have the pass???

what discount does the dream ap give??? am wondering if i wud save enuf on discounts/benefits to pay for the pass......

*thinking aloud....*

 

[hildasmuriel]

thinking again.....
cud i buy my ap in advance, but get ap discount on a package before i have the pass???

what discount does the dream ap give??? am wondering if i wud save enuf on discounts/benefits to pay for the pass......

*thinking aloud....*

This seems to be hit and miss. Some people are lucky enough to get the discount without having AP in hand, but usually they insist you have the AP before they give room only price.

In the past, people have booked room only through Expedia then bought APs while there. Don't forget you can get discount on APs with your shareholders card.

 

[DLPdaft]

To be honest, the room discounts for having a Dream AP have been a disappointment for me in the 18 months or so we've had ours.

I did get a free AP for my DD, which I've now renewed and downgraded to a Fantasy, and she did get a free 6-month extension on hers. I sponsored 3 new passes, so my original Dream AP got extended for free for a full year too. As park tickets, they can't be beat for value for money (even more so as I got DD's free in the first place, and we've used the APs for park tickets and discounts for 4 visits so far, and have at least one more trip in the pipeline before mine runs out).

But for room prices with AP discount, its not great, and can be more expensive than getting a package (as you don't get free nights etc with the room only quotes). I've stayed offsite before, and probably will again in May, unless the AP room only quotes are as good as they are at the moment for Jan-March.

So if the main reason you want APs is for onsite room discounts, honestly, I wouldn't bank on them .

 

[scampbunny]

thanks elaine....
have thought loads about it - and tbh i think ill give it a miss til i know what the 'economy' is doing - as dh starts a new job requiring working away, so we cud be lucky to get 1 holiday, let alone more, so the ap wudnt benefit (this year anyhow!!).

its sumthin to keep in mind tho - for when i win the lottery so i can stay in dlh too!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Ruddles]

Hi Nikki,

I think it might still be worth looking at. I've spent the evening playing with excel spreadsheets. We're looking to go twice this year, in May half term and at the start of the Christmas season.

Cheapest May half term we can get at Cheyenne is £694 for 4 nights (including 6.5% quidco cashback).

We can get 2 adult and 1 child Dream APs for 456euros (with shareholder discount) which I'm thinking they'll charge me about £395 in £ (will try and call them tomorrow).

That leaves £300 towards an offsite hotel, and it's all square on the first trip.


I can't see we're missing out on much by not being on site - Dreams AP includes parking and EMH. We'll miss the walk to the parks, the theming, and half board vouchers, even getting shopping delivered to our hotel, but if it means going twice in a year, and not once can't we live with that?

Full details of AP discounts here - http://www.dlrpmagic.com/guides/practical/annualpassports/

Here's wishing that everyones Disney Dreams come true this year!