Annual Pass

[candygirlIRE]

I just was wondering, if we bought the annual passport (the deluxe one with blackout dates) would it "start" from when it is purchased or from when it's first used (i.e. October 2011)?

Just comparing prices and was thinking it might not be that much more to get the passports for our October trip and then make it out there again before they expire (likely April or end of August 2012).


Thanks!

 

[sonnyjane]

The year starts after the first use.

 

[twopeasonepod]

While that is true, please check your dates when you take your photos -- we went for Halloween last year and took our photos on the 30th. I didn't even notice until we had walked out, but the date on ours said 10/19 since that is when I printed the tix. The CM messed up, but I didn't catch it.

 

[boiseflyfisher]

Just a side note, if you are upgrading from a PH to an AP, the AP will be dated from the first day you use the PH.

 

[candygirlIRE]

Thanks so much!! I will make sure that the CM does it from the first day we are there (if we decide to get the annual passes). Thanks!!

 

[pennym]

They definitely start from first day of use, and are totally worth getting! We had a lot of CMs saying Wow, you're from New Zealand and have annual passes? but for us, it paid off! We stayed for 2 weeks and could go in and out as we pleased, plus got the 10% discount on everything we ate or bought. Do it!

 

[Brewmeister]

We are thinking about doing the same thing in couple of years for our next trip. AP in Sept-Oct, followed by a May-June trip the following year.

One question that I have on the Annual passes is how significant the on-site hotel discounts are, and are they available as soon as the pass has been purchased, or do I need to wait for the first use before I can book with the discount?

I plan on putting together a spreadsheet of all of the money we spent on this last trip to see if the discounts on mechandise and dining would have made the AP a better deal than what we paid for PH tickets.

 

[oumagic]

I have a question about the Deluxe AP as well and thought I could just ask here. If I bought an AP today and am not activating it until we visit in October, would I get emails notifying me of any AP hotel rates? I see no good reason to buy an AP ahead of time at this point; can someone tell me what an advantage would be to buy an AP now rather than just buying a park hopper and upgrading during our visit? If we buy the PH and then upgrade, we could do it after our magic morning entry day was my thinking. We know we want 4 AP's because we plan on a number of trips between October '11 and October '12 but I am just trying to decide if I should buy one now and then upgrade the 3 PH's later. The main reason would be because we might want to move our res from HoJo to GCR if we got a good AP rate.

edit:I can't believe the question was being asked as I typed

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

I have a question about the Deluxe AP as well and thought I could just ask here. If I bought an AP today and am not activating it until we visit in October, would I get emails notifying me of any AP hotel rates? I see no good reason to buy an AP ahead of time at this point; can someone tell me what an advantage would be to buy an AP now rather than just buying a park hopper and upgrading during our visit? If we buy the PH and then upgrade, we could do it after our magic morning entry day was my thinking. We know we want 4 AP's because we plan on a number of trips between October '11 and October '12 but I am just trying to decide if I should buy one now and then upgrade the 3 PH's later. The main reason would be because we might want to move our res from HoJo to GCR if we got a good AP rate.

edit:I can't believe the question was being asked as I typed

You are not truly an AP holder until you activate the pass. What you would be buying ahead of time online is a voucher that you redeem for your AP at the park. You will not be able to access the AP website, receive special AP offers, or obtain AP discounts, except kind of in the case of hotel booking. You can book a Disney hotel ahead of time and ask for the AP discount even if you don't have an AP. You need to make the booking on the phone and tell the CM that you will be getting your AP when you get there. I haven't done this myself, but I have heard of it working consistently enough that it does seem to be within Disney policy. People on these boards who are current AP holders are also often happy to share AP rate information if you want to get a sense of current rates for particular dates before you call.

Your plan to get parkhoppers, use the early entry, and then upgrade is a great idea. If you change your mind and decide to book a Disney hotel, then just buy the AP at check-in so you can lock down your AP rate and since you will no longer need the PH early entry because, as a resort hotel guest, you will be eligible for early entry each day it is offered.

 

[Brewmeister]

I hadn't even thought of the MM days. So annual pass holders don't get in early on any MM days unless they stay on-site? It does sound like the halfway upgrade may be the way to go if not staying on-site.

 

[skiingfast]

I have a question about the Deluxe AP as well and thought I could just ask here. If I bought an AP today and am not activating it until we visit in October, would I get emails notifying me of any AP hotel rates?

Long time Disney Lurker already answered your question but I wanted to add one reason to buy an AP ahead of time. Usually in August prices go up. So you might want to pay attention and if it looks like prices are going up, buy it ahead of time.

Of course when I got my AP, I upgraded from a PH. So I took the PH deal, before ticket prices went up to use the MM, and then ate the savings I could of had on the AP. But I wasn't sure I was going to get a AP that's why I made the sacrifice.

I hadn't even thought of the MM days. So annual pass holders don't get in early on any MM days unless they stay on-site? It does sound like the halfway upgrade may be the way to go if not staying on-site.

Yes, MM is only for 3 day and longer PH guests and onsite guests.

 

[TeddiBarra]

If you were for sure not going to be staying on site, then yes, you would want to use your MM before upgrading your hoppers. If you stay onsite, then you get access to MM each day they are offered. Caveat: this is an unofficial policy of the DLR hotels and could change at any time. You show your room key for MM access.

AP rates, get better the close to the date you are looking to book. So, if you are trying to plan nowish for October this year- the AP calendar won't be up (pretty sure about that), it's like a rolling calendar up about 3 months ahead of time (maybe 4). HOWEVER, the calendar with rates isn't always the best way. Sometimes mailers get send out, occasionally emails, sometimes there are offers printed in the Backstage Pass magazine (which you would book via phone). You could call directly to book and see what your best rate is.

 

[pixiewings71]

While that is true, please check your dates when you take your photos -- we went for Halloween last year and took our photos on the 30th. I didn't even notice until we had walked out, but the date on ours said 10/19 since that is when I printed the tix. The CM messed up, but I didn't catch it.

I think you are thinking of photopass, the OP is talking about an AP, which is a yearly pass to get into the parks. Altho APs now have PP attached to them!

Thanks so much!! I will make sure that the CM does it from the first day we are there (if we decide to get the annual passes). Thanks!!

You won't have a choice, when you go to upgrade the hoppers it shows the exact usage of your tickets. We went in early April and upgraded on our last day (Saturday), our APs are automatically backdated to the first day we visited the parks.
Be aware that sometimes the CM's will ask you questions when you upgrade, we added days before we did AP's, we originally wanted 5 day hoppers but the AAA office only had 3 day in stock so we got the 3 day and upgraded twice, when we upgraded to add day 5 the CM asked all kinds of questions. DBF asked why and I said "probably because he wants to make sure we didn't find these on the ground, pick them up and are using them to upgrade". He looked surprised and said "that's exactly why I'm asking, the upgrades looked funny and we are told to ask questions". Just fyi.

 

[kirkaliciasmom]

I'm not sure anyone has addressed this in the previous posts, but when you do upgrade your ph tickets to deluxe ap make sure you don't do it before a Saturday that's a blackout day, or you won't be able you won't be able to get in without a blackout day ticket whitch costs $50 a day extra. Also, what our family does is get one Premium AP and the rest Deluxe AP. This allows us to park for free and get an extra discount on food and merchandise. Parking is $14 per day and it adds up fast.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Parking is $14 per day and it adds up fast.

It sure does! It's $15 per day now.

 

[LavenderPeach]

I'm not sure anyone has addressed this in the previous posts, but when you do upgrade your ph tickets to deluxe ap make sure you don't do it before a Saturday that's a blackout day, or you won't be able you won't be able to get in without a blackout day ticket whitch costs $50 a day extra. Also, what our family does is get one Premium AP and the rest Deluxe AP. This allows us to park for free and get an extra discount on food and merchandise. Parking is $14 per day and it adds up fast.

You can also get parking added onto the DAP (or any of the other APs). It's good to do the math to figure out if getting a PAP for one person is worth the extra cost. For us the PAP still would have cost more since the estimated savings on extra discounts wouldn't have been enough to cover the extra cost so we just added parking onto one of our DAPs. But for some people who might be spending a lot on merchandise and eating a lot of expensive meals, it may be worth it for the PAP.

 

[Dizneydaz]

You can also get parking added onto the DAP (or any of the other APs). It's good to do the math to figure out if getting a PAP for one person is worth the extra cost. For us the PAP still would have cost more since the estimated savings on extra discounts wouldn't have been enough to cover the extra cost so we just added parking onto one of our DAPs. But for some people who might be spending a lot on merchandise and eating a lot of expensive meals, it may be worth it for the PAP.

This is an excellent point. The difference between a DAP and a PAP is only $130. It costs $99 to add parking to an AP. So the difference between DAP with parking and a PAP is only $31. So getting myself a PAP was a no brainer. Also, if you think you may ever want to go on a block out day, the block out day tickets are now $50 (parking not inc. on block out days), so the cost of a DAP, plus parking, and 1 block out ticket would be more than the cost of a PAP.

We don't buy that many souvenirs but having the extra discount is nice.

I opted to get DD11 an PAP as well since at the time I got our AP I didn't know what her school schedule would be. She could have been traditional and been blocked out on most of her days off or year round. She got year round so when it's time to renew our AP again, I'll probably get one of the SC ones.

Now since we have the PAP I may upgrade to an Premiere AP when we go to WDW this fall. Only about $250 more, each, for unlimited visits to all WDW parks, inc. TL, BB, and DQ.

 

[pixiewings71]

I'm not sure anyone has addressed this in the previous posts, but when you do upgrade your ph tickets to deluxe ap make sure you don't do it before a Saturday that's a blackout day, or you won't be able you won't be able to get in without a blackout day ticket whitch costs $50 a day extra. Also, what our family does is get one Premium AP and the rest Deluxe AP. This allows us to park for free and get an extra discount on food and merchandise. Parking is $14 per day and it adds up fast.

We upgraded DBF on Friday, we added 1 more day to the girls and my hoppers, on Saturday we went into the parks and upgraded. We upgraded DBF Friday because he has the PAP and we needed the parking for that last day, we upgraded the girls and I because we got the DAPs and we didn't want to pay the blackout fee. Parking is $15 a day now....

You can also get parking added onto the DAP (or any of the other APs). It's good to do the math to figure out if getting a PAP for one person is worth the extra cost. For us the PAP still would have cost more since the estimated savings on extra discounts wouldn't have been enough to cover the extra cost so we just added parking onto one of our DAPs. But for some people who might be spending a lot on merchandise and eating a lot of expensive meals, it may be worth it for the PAP.

This is what we did, ran the costs and it would be better for us to get the one PAP. We had 2 trips planned for this year and we'd like to go back next year as well so we decided the APs were worth it. I love having the PAP for parking and the additional discount!