annual pass

[Evelyne]

What benefits do you get when you by an annual pass? Would it be worth it on the years we plan on going on 2 trips. We do parks every day of our stay, so mostly 5-6 days.
Also if you are an annual pass holder what happends when they have promotions such as free dinning, because you need to buy room and tickets.
Thank you, have a magical day...

1990 to 1992 Off site
1994 and 1995 Off site
1998 and 1999 Off site
2000 to 2003 All star Sports
2004 to 2011 Pop Century
2012 The World was great again (Pop Century) without the kids for the 1st time
March 2013 Disneymoon with the kids

http://www.**************/id/1362207649.jpg

 

[ABCanada]

We have been buying annual passes off and on for almost 20 years (I think they were $99 for a DL AP with date restrictions the first time we bought).

Even when we were only going once a year we timed our vacations so we would return just before the pass expired. Bought pass in early April one year and returned late March the next.

There are discounts on meals at many restaurants and for merchandise, generally 10%. The AP also allows you to purchase TIW for $100, which we prefer to the DDP, this gives you a 20% discount of food and beverages, including alcohol (note an 18% tip is added). There are also room discounts.

We are not be fans of the DDP, prefer more flexibility, and we generally do not take advantage of the "free" dining offers. When we have, we have saved the room key with the ticket on it for the next trip and upgraded the ticket to AP. If you get free dining on your first trip you can upgrade those tickets to an AP anytime on that trip before they expire.

One warning. When you have an annual pass it is much easier to justify a trip, so you may end up going more often than you originally plan. We have gone down for Star Wars weekend and birthdays that we would not have if we did not have the AP

Note on "free" dining (this is my opinion)- Given you pay the rack rate for the room, the value really depends on the number of people in the room and the other discounts available. They are often offering a 35% discount at the same time so depending on the room cost the discount is sometimes better.

 

[Mike2023]

We normally do a 2 week trip once a year. We always get the AP and do our 2nd trip 11 months after the first. Always saves us money. We don't normally do the premium pass (water parks and disney quest) as we never do these things twice in a trip. BUT, this time we got the amazing DVC discounted tickets so we have a PAP.

 

[2gr8DisneyKids]

We have gotten ap's twice and will likely get them again next year or the year after. If we are going twice or more in one year it is the best option and I agree with the pp TIW is great! W like the flexibility of the TIW card too and I would pick it any time over the ddp.

We do not even always use it for the room only discount, a lot of times we rent dvc points and use the ap and TIW, that actually works out to be the cheapest for us as long as we stay at akl and spend no more than $11/point... Sorry to go to, just thought I would share.

 

[dsneygirl]

We have had APs on and off for the last 8 or 9 years. Sometimes we renew right away, other times we let it lapse and start fresh again. if you are going twice in 365 days it's great value.

There are merchandise discounts, food discounts and you can buy the TiW. Also APs are automatically park hoppers which has spoiled us for life.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We currently have AP's. We purchased them on Aug 25th last year for our 9 day trip. We are booked in for this coming summer from Aug 16 - 25th so our passes will be good for this trip too.

I booked this coming summer's trip using a bounce back offer that was in the room last year. In order to take advantage of the Free Dining bounce back I've purchased 2 day passes for my DD and myself. When I check in I'm going to have them remove the 2 day passes and put them on a separate card so that I don't accidentally use them and will use them in November after our AP's are expired.

As the previous poster mentioned, the one thing I didn't anticipate was how having AP's would increase the desire to go to Disney. I haven't given in at this point but it sure is tempting!

I've been really happy with our AP's! I can't normally surprise my DD with a trip to Disney but last November when we were in Orlando visiting my parents for a week I was able to do just that! She fell asleep in the van and when she woke up we were driving towards the MK parking lot. She immediately recognized the Disney buses and was bouncing with excitement! Even though she was only 3 1/2 at the time she still talks about it all the time! LOL...sometimes she asks if she can have a nap in the car and wake up at 'Mickey's House' again? Kinda difficult when we live in Ontario but I love the faith of my Disney lovin' little girl!

 

[monkey30]

I have a AP for DL right now, did a 5day trip last sept, then a 3day trip in Dec, and now trying to convince DH that I need a girls weekend with my sister in May for my bday. Then we are going for a Adult only trip in Sept just before my pass expires! So I will have at least 13 days used on it.... The price of the pass was $369us before tax, so way cheaper then the park passes would have been plus I live the 10% off food and merchandise!

 

[Sue M]

If you are only going for two 5 day trips, you may look at a 10 day non expiring ticket. wDW has just discontinues this ticket type, but you may still be able to find them on Undercover tourist. Compare this price to an AP. be aware, UT posts total price on their web site, while you don't see tax added on wdw web site till check out.

Anything over 10 days, an AP is the better deal.

We always get APs. Have been getting the Premium for Water parks for our August trips, but with price increases, and merchandise discounts dropping to 10%, this year when we renew, we may just get the regular Ap.

AP room discounts used to be good. Now often they aren't much better then the general discounts. The benefit is if you want to buy the DDP, you can without adding tickets, since you have an AP.

If you want free dining, you'd have to add 2 day tickets to the package. Then you can use them for another trip to renew AP or to upgrade tickets on next trip you book a room only.

Free dining isn't always the best deal for us, being 2. Staying at a deluxe getting the room discount and paying for the DDP in the past has been cheaper.

But like others, with rising cost of the DDP, I'm seeing less value in it, and too much food. We've done better off the DDP lately