Annual pass question

[gilby]

We are out of state residents, and looking to buy an annual pass, can someone tell me how many days do you need to go to the parks to make buying an annual pass worth buying?

 

[Robo]

We are out of state residents, and looking to buy an annual pass, can someone tell me how many days do you need to go to the parks to make buying an annual pass worth buying?

There are many other "pluses" and "perks" to consider, but
11-13 days is a quick estimate.

 

[nancy155]

With the perks I always include those when seeing when it will be a benefit for me. Such as free parking (not at the resorts), food/dining discounts, merch discounts, PhotoPass, just to name a few to consider when making a decision.

 

[gap2368]

It rally depends the longer you stay the lass you pay. are you talking about doing a few short weekend trips then it would take fewer days then one long 8 day trip and one short weekend trip might not be cheaper

 

[Chrisizzle]

We did 4 park days during the January Marathon weekend. With park tickets, the Photopass ($169) and a 15% discount for two pricey tickets on the Backstage Magic Tour, I was only like $200 away from upgrading to a platinum Annual Pass (This is before the recent price increases. I may pause now that the difference is $400+).

The Photopass was the tipping point for me. That would be $169 per trip and it includes photos from the RunDisney events (of which I am doing 3)

It’s a Catch-22 in a good way. Getting the Annual Pass means I am visiting Disney more than I expected (Disney is making money off me) and I get an enhanced experience with each visit (free photos, discounted gifts, discounted meals, discounted tours).

An ironic side effect of an Annual Pass is not feeling pressured to be in the parks. If I bought a ticket with cash, I’d feel obliged to be in there open-to-close. With the Annual Pass, half my days are planned with downtime at the resort since the parks are the ‘freebies’ now.

 

[KNovacovschi]

I would say if you plan being in the parks more then 11 days in the year then it would pay for itself. Like others said you get a bunch of perks with it however you do not get a discount on QS meals just table service.

 

[Lewisc]

It includes theme parking fees. Obviously no savings if you're staying at a WDW but a huge savings if you're staying offsite

 

[gilby]

We currently have 4 day one day tickets, due to a last minute trip. We will be down for a few days in November to get some stuff done for our daughters wedding. And thinking we may want to go to the parks, since we are staying at the swan. And we are thinking of staying a day or two after her wedding, just thinking about if we will want to do Disney again. A lot to think of and big decision

 

[kiford]

We planned to do several short trips (4-5 days) and doing that is much more expensive for tickets if you purchase for each trip than if you do an annual pass because the cost per day goes down the more consecutive days you purchase. We never purchased the photopass in prior years but it's been a nice perk. I'm still not sure I'd pay for it if we didn't have APs but if you normally do, that's a pretty good savings. We've also got well over $200 in discounts mostly for merchandise. It also allowed us to purchase TiW for $25 off the regular price and so far we've saved about $275 over three visits totalling 14 days. You may also be able to get AP discounts on room rates and tours/parties, both of which we've also taken advantage of. Plus we managed to get tickets to the free evening for passholders at TL last trip.

It's also changed the way we tour a little bit. We were never RD to close people and were perfectly happy if we only got on a couple of attractions in a day since we'd do other things too but having APs makes me feel just fine about going for a couple of hours to a park or just going in for lunch. I don't feel like I've wasted a ticket if I don't spend much time in a park or even if we decide to skip a park for the day and just spend it at the resort. It's very freeing.

In short, it's not exactly a straightforward calculations of number of days as there are a few factors, but you can use some basic principles about how you vacation there and then can figure out if it's worth it. It totally is for us and we will be renewing our APs even though we might only go twice next year in short trips.

 

[Mome Rath]

As others have said, it depends on the length of each trip you will take in a calendar year. I go for short trips, so the cost per day is a lot higher for me, hence it doesn't take as many days to break even, especially because I always add park hopper.

I did use the discounts afforded, which added up, including a hotel discount.

 

[WIll C]

Realistically, you need to come at least twice to pay for it on tickets alone. The single trip cost saving is like 10+ days and with the new pricing, it's even worse.

We did 2 trips in a year. One 5 days and one 8 days. Between the tickets, photopass, the merch/dining discounts and the room discount is was a savings. All depends on your trip type. We never had a car so parking was irrelevant. There was just two of us so we didn't have to recoup as much. Of course, two trips meant we spent a huge amount of extra money on stuff (the pins...omg, the pins) and we grabbed anything that was passholder specific that we could.

 

[dachsie]

Since they raised the prices I think the break even point is now 3 trips. I would price out what you think you want to do and see if its worth it.

 

[CastAStone]

Since they raised the prices I think the break even point is now 3 trips. I would price out what you think you want to do and see if its worth it.

It's definitely more about trips than days. I agree with this poster: it's hard to see it being worth everyone in your party getting an AP for less than 3 trips. Pricing varies by date but getting two 10 day park hoppers bought via a discounter like Undercover Tourist or Boardwalk Tickets is going to be less than $1192 (Platinum price with tax) most times of year (example: one starting Sunday is $537 incl tax on UT for an adults). And most people aren't going for 10 days.

It's probably worth ONE person in a group getting an annual pass in that scenario, for the perks (parking, photopass, discounts), but as long as 1 person in the group has the AP everyone can enjoy those benefits.

By 3 trips of 3 days or longer, if you use park hoppers it's worth the AP in virtually any scenario.

Basically Disney all but gives away days 5-10 of a trip, but charges through the teeth for days 1-4. So those are the days that are worth counting.

How's this for a rule of thumb: once you get to 9 full-price days (days 1-4 of a trip), the Annual Pass probably makes at least as much sense if not more.

 

[Disnsyncey]

UGH.....I just realized that for the first time ever (I guess with the new pricing structure?) I might have to price out each option!

Me and my friend normally go for 2 trips of 6 days each on one AP......pick one week for the first year, and pick the previous week for the next year.

An AP is now $1191.74, and if I price out 6 day PH from Undercover Tourist (or even Disney), one of those is $533 (for April 30-May 5)....which would technically be cheaper if we doubled that to cover 2 trips. Now we have to figure out which to go with. I have never even paid attention to ticket increases either, will they increase more than $125 for the next year for a PH? And then we also have to guess on the AP discounts for rooms at those times too.

I guess we will have to just check on the AP discounts (for hotels) by about 3 months out and see if the math works out....

Has anybody studied ticket increases recently? (or even how often they do them? as I really had always known it was cheaper to do the AP until these new changes)

Decisions, decisions.....

 

[CastAStone]

I have never even paid attention to ticket increases either, will they increase more than $125 for the next year for a PH?

I mean probably not? But Disney has taken some huge, huge swings at ticket pricing recently that have been very out of the norm even for them, so no promises for sure.

 

[Disnsyncey]

I mean probably not? But Disney has taken some huge, huge swings at ticket pricing recently that have been very out of the norm even for them, so no promises for sure.

I love how my budgeting for my trip is based on guesswork hahahaha

Did they use to increase ticket prices each year, or every few years?

 

[WIll C]

Until people really stop coming, expect increases every year in some manner.

 

[Robo]

Did they use to increase ticket prices each year, or every few years?

That is a very broad question.
Of course they raised ticket prices at least every few years.

Here is a link to WDW TICKET HISTORY.

 

[Disnsyncey]

That is a very broad question.
Of course they raised ticket prices at least every few years.

Here is a link to WDW TICKET HISTORY.

wow thanks! I will keep an eye out then

 

[CastAStone]

Yeah if I can clarify, they will definitely raise prices. $125 for a 6 day PH would be extraordinarily large. More typical would be $20-$50. But anything is possible.