Annual Pass question

[CaryHaven]

We're checking in for 8 nights next week. We'll have 7 day park tickets (no water parks/park hoppers on those) for myself, DH, and DD who is 4. (Infant DD is free). We're going as part of the free dining promotion.

I promised my sister we'd go with her next spring/summer though we hadn't planned on this originally. I hope they have some sort of bounceback offer available while we're there.

If there isn't a bounceback offer, do you think it's best to just get an annual pass? I've tried reading the "everything about wdw tickets" thread, but it was seriously way, way too much info for me to get at once. I've tried to do the math, and it seems that without any other discounts, we'd be better just staying as we are if we go for 3 days with my sister. But if we go for 4 days, I think it worked out cheaper for an AP.

So my questions are:
1. Did I do my math correctly? I'm sure we paid full price for tickets and hotel with the "free" dining package.

2. Would it be better to hope for a bounceback package, and are they usually room only discounts or do they ever involve tickets?

3. I know an AP can get you certain discounts, but I'm not entirely positive where. I had a link to some places that give an AP discount but have lost it. We will still be paying at some restaurants (MK, Epcot, DTD, AK), shopping in Epcot world showcase (mainly Japan), buying some souvenirs at Once Upon a Toy, WOD, and Le Chapeau just for example. Do any of these offer the AP discount, which I think is 10%?

Thank you for any facts/opinions.

 

[bumbershoot]

I've only noticed a bounceback for a room-only. But that's all we're ever looking for, so that might be selective reading or selective memory.

If you paid full price for the tickets, then look at the price of the current 7 day ticket. Look at the price of the current 3 day ticket. Add them up. Is it less than or more than an AP? Now realize that there might be a price increase by the time of the next trip, depending on when it is. I"m not saying there only might be an increase; there WILL be an increase next year...I just don't know when it will be and I don't know when your trip would be. If there's a price increase, obviously that changes the math.

WithOUT tax, right now: $262 3 day vs $609 AP. Again, withOUT tax.

One nice thing about the AP is that it allows you to hope.


I think there's AP info on wdwinfo.com (that's the Dis) and allears.net.



The fun yet difficult thing about the AP is that it "makes you" create more trips to get the value of it higher.

 

[Schmeck]

We're checking in for 8 nights next week. We'll have 7 day park tickets (no water parks/park hoppers on those) for myself, DH, and DD who is 4. (Infant DD is free). We're going as part of the free dining promotion.

I promised my sister we'd go with her next spring/summer though we hadn't planned on this originally. I hope they have some sort of bounceback offer available while we're there.

If there isn't a bounceback offer, do you think it's best to just get an annual pass? I've tried reading the "everything about wdw tickets" thread, but it was seriously way, way too much info for me to get at once. I've tried to do the math, and it seems that without any other discounts, we'd be better just staying as we are if we go for 3 days with my sister. But if we go for 4 days, I think it worked out cheaper for an AP.

So my questions are:
1. Did I do my math correctly? I'm sure we paid full price for tickets and hotel with the "free" dining package.

2. Would it be better to hope for a bounceback package, and are they usually room only discounts or do they ever involve tickets?

3. I know an AP can get you certain discounts, but I'm not entirely positive where. I had a link to some places that give an AP discount but have lost it. We will still be paying at some restaurants (MK, Epcot, DTD, AK), shopping in Epcot world showcase (mainly Japan), buying some souvenirs at Once Upon a Toy, WOD, and Le Chapeau just for example. Do any of these offer the AP discount, which I think is 10%?

Thank you for any facts/opinions.

You also can get an AP discount on room-only reservations.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I've only noticed a bounceback for a room-only. But that's all we're ever looking for, so that might be selective reading or selective memory.

If you paid full price for the tickets, then look at the price of the current 7 day ticket. Look at the price of the current 3 day ticket. Add them up. Is it less than or more than an AP? Now realize that there might be a price increase by the time of the next trip, depending on when it is. I"m not saying there only might be an increase; there WILL be an increase next year...I just don't know when it will be and I don't know when your trip would be. If there's a price increase, obviously that changes the math.

WithOUT tax, right now: $262 3 day vs $609 AP. Again, withOUT tax.

One nice thing about the AP is that it allows you to hope.


I think there's AP info on wdwinfo.com (that's the Dis) and allears.net.



The fun yet difficult thing about the AP is that it "makes you" create more trips to get the value of it higher.

I'm pretty sure bumbershoot meant "HOP" but "hope" works too! APs include park-hopping, but also give you "HOPE" that you'll be back within a year! And I totally agree that once you have an AP, you start plotting ways to use it. It seems to have a homing beacon that silently screams "USE ME!"

 

[bumbershoot]

Ha! I keep answering things on my phone and I THINK I'm watching out for accidental autocorrects, but obviously that's not going perfectly. But yes, it does allow for hope. And hopping.

Ha, almost wrote "hoping". And I'm on my computer. No autocorrect here, just my fingers.

 

[CaryHaven]

I totally thought you meant "hope" as well, because I keep thinking, "I hope DH wants to go back several more times and use this thing!"

I forgot about the AP room discount. I think I'd heard it was hit or miss on dates, and maybe that's why it slipped my mind. I had no idea you could hop parks with an AP. It would be the regular AP so I think that does not include waterparks, but that's fine with me.

It really seems that the way to go for me is the AP. And if I'm going to get it, I need to get it immediately so that I can use it anywhere that might give us a discount. I will look through that original thread b/c I know it mentioned where to do it, and try to figure out how much extra this will be for us.

Hopefully it's not as much as I'm thinking!

Thanks all!

 

[Schmeck]

The AP comes with a little booklet that tells you where and when it gets you a discount.

We've never had an issue getting an AP discount, even when we wanted to add a day to our trip!

 

[Amanda999]

The current bounceback (at least as of early Sep when I was there) is FD for Aug 20 to late September (I think Sep 29) 2014.

Soooo, if you book that, you will be required to buy 2 day tickets for everyone in the BB room (just as you did for the first FD trip you'll be taking). If you are pretty sure you will only do these 2 trips in 366 days (AP is good for a year and then also the anniversary of the day you bought it) then I would not get an AP this time - I would use the tickets I was required to buy for the 2 FD reservations.

If when you go they have both FD and RO BB offers (the CM said RO was coming out 'soon,') then you'll have to decide what discount works better for you (how many people; how much would the food cost on trip 2 OOP, etc....).

Disney requires alot of math!

 

[CaryHaven]

The current bounceback (at least as of early Sep when I was there) is FD for Aug 20 to late September (I think Sep 29) 2014.

Soooo, if you book that, you will be required to buy 2 day tickets for everyone in the BB room (just as you did for the first FD trip you'll be taking). If you are pretty sure you will only do these 2 trips in 366 days (AP is good for a year and then also the anniversary of the day you bought it) then I would not get an AP this time - I would use the tickets I was required to buy for the 2 FD reservations.

If when you go they have both FD and RO BB offers (the CM said RO was coming out 'soon,') then you'll have to decide what discount works better for you (how many people; how much would the food cost on trip 2 OOP, etc....).

Disney requires alot of math!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! This info is very helpful. If it's just the FD for late Aug to late Sep, then I agree about passing on the AP. Frankly, that's mostly what they do every year anyway. If we end up doing it that way, I think those would be our only two trips within a year, and it wouldn't be worth it to get the AP. I thought they'd be offering something for spring and then I could try to go back for that and fall also. I will be on the lookout for the RO though and decide then. Thanks again!