Annual passes

[AJisit]

Im going for three weeks is it worth getting an annual pass as i think with the savings i make on parking and discounts for food and merchandise i will save money. this is for disney AND universal cheers

 

[rpbert1]

Not sure about the Disney one, but the Universal AP is about $259, savings on food is 15% approx,10% on merchandise so would need to eat a lot of food and visit Universal often to make it pay, unless you are staying onsite and the hotel discount would be a big saving with the AP

 

[wayneg]

A lot of things to consider.
Universal AP $219.99 + tax = $234
Disney AP $520.79 incl tax
Premium Annual Pass $659.24 incl tax

For Universal you can buy a 2 week pass for £85 = $122, If 2 weeks pass is enough will you save $112 on parking and discounts? Personally we wouldn't but we go year after year, the renewal price for this year is just over £100 so not a lot different to a 2 week pass, so if you go every year they are definitely worth buying, its just the 1st year that costs more.

Disney, would you be going when free dining is on? if you are you have to buy your ticket with the hotel to get it. If not thru free Dining time then which ticket would you buy? a 14 day Ultimate costs £225 = $324, $196 less than cheapest AP, if you want water park & DQ access then $335 more than the 14 day. difference would be less on a £264 21 day ultimate.

If you wanted a Universal or Disney hotel then the discounts on those might appeal with an AP.

For only 1 x 3 week trip in a year its usually difficult to get value from an AP go twice a year and then its usually worth it.
If you are still considering it after all the number crunching remember you only need 1 AP in the family to get the discounts.

 

[AJisit]

will be staying off site so no free dining and will have to park every day
was thinking of getting the 21 day disney ticket and the 14 day universal
you also get free parking with the universal hmmm it seems if i do make a saving it would be marginal

 

[paul_toria96]

We looked at the AP as we are going for 3 weeks, but decided that we couldn't justify spending that amount on food/merchandise, we are staying off site and have dicided to eat as much as we can of our own food.

To be honest you have 5 weeks of tickets are you going to use them enough?

We have 21 day tickets plus DC and 14 day Seaworld, it's going to be difficult to get enough time in the parks to make a decent saving.

 

[AJisit]

We looked at the AP as we are going for 3 weeks, but decided that we couldn't justify spending that amount on food/merchandise, we are staying off site and have dicided to eat as much as we can of our own food.

To be honest you have 5 weeks of tickets are you going to use them enough?

We have 21 day tickets plus DC and 14 day Seaworld, it's going to be difficult to get enough time in the parks to make a decent saving.

Do you mean sea world and universal and busch gardens etc or just sea world? hmmm but if you go to disney for 10 days you have pretty much justified the cost just in parking fees let alone food and merchandise??

 

[disneyholic family]

wow, the regular AP and premium AP are so close together now....i thought the difference was much bigger than that...

i'm going to buy an AP this time, but it turns out my next trip is probably going to be through disneyUK, which means i'll have to buy the 14 day unlimited ticket for that trip.....so what am i going to do with it? just throw it away?

 

[wayneg]

wow, the regular AP and premium AP are so close together now....i thought the difference was much bigger than that...

i'm going to buy an AP this time, but it turns out my next trip is probably going to be through disneyUK, which means i'll have to buy the 14 day unlimited ticket for that trip.....so what am i going to do with it? just throw it away?

There have been threads on forums with success at upgrading the ultimates to Annual passes. Not tried myself but it does seem possible. It has to be an upgrade to the Premium AP, don't think anyone has done it to regular AP, I believe it also has to be done on your last day as it wipes of any dining credits you have left. If you can do it your AP will then expire a year from when your ultimate was activated not a year from you getting the AP.

 

[disneyholic family]

There have been threads on forums with success at upgrading the ultimates to Annual passes. Not tried myself but it does seem possible. It has to be an upgrade to the Premium AP, don't think anyone has done it to regular AP, I believe it also has to be done on your last day as it wipes of any dining credits you have left. If you can do it your AP will then expire a year from when your ultimate was activated not a year from you getting the AP.

interesting....

it now looks as if DD will have a window open to travel in october..
i checked and disney UK still has OKW and SSR available with free dining at the 47% discount for october....hopefully, it will still be available when DD knows for sure that she can travel that month...
i'm the only one who'll have the AP already, so it's only that one ticket extra....costly, but still worth it to get the 47% discounted free dining package...
i didn't realise we also qualify for the UK free dining package....DH's company is european union, which is also entitled....i only just found that out now, so it completely changes my planning...

 

[yummymummywales]

Apologies for butting in but just wondering if anyone could help with a similar question?!

I have already bought our tickets (14-day ultimates) from Disney UK a few weeks ago for use for our trip at the end of October this year. Now DH is planning for us to go again next year (probably end September). Would it be cheaper for us to upgrade to APs to avoid the cost of tickets again next year? Would it be better to email Disney UK and try to do it over here due to the current exchange rate or wait to get to the gates on our trip this year?

I wasn't sure whether the AP started on the day you bought it or activated it so I guess that would also play a part in the decision too!

TIA

 

[disneyholic family]

Apologies for butting in but just wondering if anyone could help with a similar question?!

I have already bought our tickets (14-day ultimates) from Disney UK a few weeks ago for use for our trip at the end of October this year. Now DH is planning for us to go again next year (probably end September). Would it be cheaper for us to upgrade to APs to avoid the cost of tickets again next year? Would it be better to email Disney UK and try to do it over here due to the current exchange rate or wait to get to the gates on our trip this year?

I wasn't sure whether the AP started on the day you bought it or activated it so I guess that would also play a part in the decision too!

TIA

i think it's the activation day..
but if you buy a package next year (e.g. a free dining package), you'll have to buy tickets with the package again...so in that case, you wouldn't have any advantage to having the AP.....

 

[wayneg]

Disney UK would not be able to help with AP. They are US only and has to be at end of your stay as I read you lose any credits left on the pass so need to do it on your last day when your dining plan is completed.

As above, will you want new tix for free dining again?

 

[yummymummywales]

Sorry forgot to say we stay off-site (that may have helped!)