Annual Passes for WDW

[PrincessJen09]

I am currently trying to convince my family that we should get Annual Passes. I was wondering, from those that have them or have looked into them, what are the pros and cons? Does it really save you money? Thanks for you the help!

 

[hncg57c]

I think if you go at least 10 days in one year, you would break even.

The pros are:
Free parking
discount at World of Disney
Eligible to purchase the Disney Dining Experience
Discounted hotel rooms
Discounted activities(50% off for mini golf, the marina, etc)

And I can't think of any cons except that they expire and makes me wish that I can stay there for the year

 

[tabrizia]

We're looking at them this year (actually we're pretty much committed to getting them). Some of the reasons we are looking at them is we are going in August for 9 days, and my Dad suggested going at Christmas time using their timeshare. Either upgrading our tickets to 10 day no expire or buying another 5 or 6 day pass adds up to the same price as getting the AP.

Even though hubby and I don't think my dad is really going to get the condo, the idea of going in December caught our fancy and we decided we are going reguardless since we want to do the Christmas stuff before we have kids so we decided we really need the APs. We then decided to add a trip at Halloween in to do that as well. And we finally decided to add one more trip on in May/June of next year before the AP would run out as well.

So actually the APs aren't really a good deal for us since they have made us add 3 more vacations to Disney on . On the other hand I believe the general thought is if you are planning to go for more then about 10 days in two trips then the AP is a good deal, plus you can then use the room discounts to make your rooms cheaper as well. Which is a definate positive for us. You can also get the DDE which gives you 20% off food at most of Disney's table service restaraunts. So if you are planning to go two or more times in a 12 month period they make sense.

If you don't they could add up fast (and add additional vacations )

 

[swilshire]

Yep. Cost us lots of extra money last time too since we went for SIX weeks total. Even I got tired of DW (though I'll be there Saturday to watch DS18 sing).

The biggest advantage for us was being able to go for a few hours without feeling we were "wasting" a day of everyone's passes. It makes for a very relaxed experience. See a line. Just pass it by. You know you'll be back. Wake up to rain. Sleep in until it stops.

Even the year we just went right at the first and right at the end of the year, we felt like we saved. That was before the new Magic Your Way Passes though, so the calculation would be different now.

We never really used many if any of the discounts, but the free parking was nice.

Sheila

 

[EthansMom]

We got APs for this last year. At the time, we thought we'd go to WDW for three weeklong trips. In that case, on the third trip, the tickets would have been "free".

Well, our plans changed and so we are going on a Norwegian cruise instead of the third trip. So, APs haven't saved us as much as I originally thought.

But, on top of the savings on the ticket prices, we saved an additional $150 on our room on trip 1 and $100 each on two rooms on trip 2. Plus, we saved at least $100 with the DDE card. So, over the tix, we saved $350.

You may want to compare the price of APs versus the price of buying 10 day MYW tix that are Non-Expiring. It may make more financial sense to get the 10 day Non-Expiring tix.

I hope this helps!

 

[threeboysmom]

An annual pass costs more than a 10-day with no expiration, so your trip would have to be MORE than 10-days for it to be worthwhile.

 

[starwood]

I'm trying to talk DH into them this year. We get $100 off with the DVC membership. I have 5 days left on our MYW tickets BUT he is in Orlando on business and has used up 1 day on an old ticket and 1 day on our MYW tickets. He now has 1 day less than the rest of us. It's just too much trying to keep track. Everyday when he calls and says he finished at the booth at 1:00 I say - "if you had an AP you could be going to WDW now".

 

[WDWorBUST]

For us they cost us money - but that was because we added a third unplanned trip (we would have saved on the two planned trips). However we were able to take a third trip cheap since the tickets were paid for and we got an AP discount on our room. So even thought we added a trip they were a great savings tool. The biggest advantage to me - and one that really makes me wish that we were getting them this next trip - is what someone else mentioned. There's no pressure to "get your money's worth" out of your ticket for a day. Our daughter was 13 months, 23 months and 25 months during our 3 trips with AP's and it made life so much easier. If she was tired - we left. If she wanted to sleep in - we slept in. And we never had to consider the value of a day's ticket. If we used it great - if we didn't great. Although I wish it could have been more. We ended up spending 24 days in the parks last year and definitely got our money's worth. But there were times it was only a couple of hours and DD needed a nap so we would leave. It made our park time really relaxed. For that reason alone I fell in love with AP's - now DH didn't because it was easier for me to say - HEY!! Let's add in another trip

 

[pezpam]

An annual pass costs more than a 10-day with no expiration, so your trip would have to be MORE than 10-days for it to be worthwhile.

That depends on which discounts you'll use with each.... You start getting into DDP vs DDE, looking at possible room-only discounts, etc..... Of course, then you get into one AP just to get room discounts vs one for each person..... urgh!

So far, it has not been worth it for us to get an AP, but there are a lot of factors besides the ticket price, so personal vacation styles play into it.