Annual Passports A Must For DVCers

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Originally posted by LIFERBABE
I used to look at it as wasting a day on the hopper if we didnt stay from open to close...

I will never be able to look at it any other way. This is exactly the "better get your money's worth" mentality our family was trying to avoid by puchasing DVC.

Originally posted by garylpn
...used to get (Ultimate Park Hopper) for many trips, but less hours of use got on my nerves on travel days...

Since we travel to WDW from the West Coast I've always had the front desk lop off the first and last days of our UPH passes. It's not well publicised but they can do it for you if you ask.

One of the ways I rationalize our PAP purchase is that with the reasonably priced deluxe accomodations DVC affords us it's OK to splurge a bit on park admissions. For us, APs promote a more relaxed approach to park touring and I like to think that compliments the DVC idea of having you own little piece of the magic.

 

[DrTomorrow]

Originally posted by JLS
I tend to disagree that APs are usually the best value. That can be true, but only if you live close by and are guaranteed to be able to go a lot and you like to spend a lot of time in the major Disney parks.

While I agree that it all depends on individual situations, for DVCers, it would seem to make more sense to get an AP. Face it, we've already admitted we're Disney-holics, and we're used to planning trips 11 or 7 months before hand. So purchasing an AP based on your DVC schedule for the next year shouldn't be as big of a risk - unless pregnancy is going to be an annual event .

We live in Phoenix, so DLR is closer than WDW, but we're managing to get 18 nights out of our PAPs that we activated last May for MH - making the AP decision a no-brainer. And while we, too, don't spend every day entirely at a park, on a TL or BB day, we still like to spend an hour or so in the evening at a park before we go to DTD which is conveniently located right next to our home resort, SSR! :: plug :: . Plus - and this is just a personal thing - I really like not having to worry about how much of a ticket I'm "using up"; just like I like not worrying about trying to get AP discounts on non-DVC rack rates, and why I prefer to take WDW Trans instead of driving (most places, at least). I just like having fewer things to worry about and keep track of.

IMHO - YMMV

 

[pmcpmc]

monday to Friday for three weeks and pop century at the weekends on an ap rate.
It was great value as we were in the parks every day for one or two hours after shopping off site during the day or relaxing at the wonderful SSr pools.
First time we have used an AP and would welcome a reduction .
it encourages you to visit the parks,especially epcot to eat.
We spent more time there than ever before.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

Park Hoppers are the way to go for our family, I buy the 7 day'er, just came back today and used the last day of our pass, we had it for 3 visits. Just plan wisely, we have already decided to go back next August, for 8 or 9 days, and only do the parks 3-4 of those days. There is so much other stuff to do!!! Plus these used up passes still have 3 pluses on them!!

 

[RuthnPaul]

Originally posted by Snowgod
IYou also can get special event viewing or seating for so many things at WDW that it can be worth a few dollars more.

Snowgod, can you elaborate a bit on this? BTW, love the penguin!!

 

[sparkspeak]

Last year was the first year I purchased an AP, so I kept track. An average day was 5-7 hours. (Short dinner trips are not included.)

Trip 1: used pass 10 days out of 12 day trip ...cost per day ...$37.50
Trip 2: used pass 6 days out of 7....reduces cost per day to ...$23.50
Trip 3: used pass 9 days out of 12 ...........final cost per day...$15.00

I let the AP expire but will probably buy another for the next round of trips.

I think that Disney realizes that DVC members are shrewd when it comes to park passes and buy the best deal that suits their plans. I doubt that we'll see an AP discount any time soon ... but ... I probably wouldn't have taken 3 trips without the pass ... bring on the discount!

 

[JudyS]

Originally posted by Snowgod
I know it has been mention about the discounts for AP holders but it really can be quite a savings. You also can get special event viewing or seating for so many things at WDW that it can be worth a few dollars more. We buy passes for guests with the discounts and save them even more.

I also would like more information on this!


I just checked HotwireSavingsClub, and 7+4 passes currently cost $302, including shipping and tax.

I seem to use the plus features differently than most people -- I love the water parks, and run out of plus features before I run out of major park days! I generally will pay cash for PI and save my precious plus features for the water parks!

I did buy an annual water park pass once, but then didn't get to use it enough to make it worthwhile -- there was bad weather during both my trips to WDW that year. I think it would give me gray hairs if I had an AP and then, for some reason, didn't get to use it much!

I am still debating an AP versus 7+4 for my next trip. One factor that I haven't seen mentioned yet is that with an AP, you still have to pay for "hard ticketed" events at the Magic Kingdom such as MVMCP (Xmas Party) and MNSSHP (Halloween Party.) Since these parties go so late, we don't really want to get there before 4 or 5 pm. You can get in at that time with just the party ticket, no regular admission required. When we do this, we get a Magic Kingdom day, and don't use up a PHP major park admission. If we had APs, and didn't feel like going to the MK before party admission opened at 4 pm, the AP would be "wasted" for that day.

 

[Bella2000]

We used to always get APs and use the renewal until they changed how renewals work (not based on activation but original purchase). Now I always get at least one AP for me (as I also visit solo) since we sometimes stay non-DVC for cash at the AP rates. Typically we've gotten PH for other members since we do not use the water parks, PI, DQ or WWoS.

This trip we are looking at one of the water parks and I was trying to calculate if PHP was worth it. Since we would probably only go once I'm not sure that we'll use it and we have a while before DD can use the big slides at either park. I believe this year you get a discount using your AP on the water park tickets ($4/adults, $3/kids) which is better than nothing.

DH would not use his PH on 1/2 a day - that is another reason that we have used AP in the past. We have never used UPH as the PH days don't expire and we don't use the other benefits.

I'm now also curious on those who do have AP whether they renew or just buy another pass.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

Since these parties go so late, we don't really want to get there before 4 or 5 pm. You can get in at that time with just the party ticket, no regular admission required. When we do this, we get a Magic Kingdom day, and don't use up a PHP major park admission.

Wish I had known this last year!! We did the MVMCP, didn't realize we didn't need to swipe our PHP and did, we arrived at around 4:30! It would have been nice to have that extra day!

 

[Mike]

Originally posted by Bella2000

I'm now also curious on those who do have AP whether they renew or just buy another pass.

We don't renew. The minimal savings is not worth the wasted idle time for the passes. We get 2 2-week trips out of each pass. For example, we go late July one year and then early July the following year all on the same AP. Then the third year we will buy a new pass and activate it on that 3rd trip and start the cycle again. So I budget 50% of the cost of the 5 APs that I need for each trip.

 

[idratherbeinwdw]

Originally posted by JudyS
I also would like more information on this!

Deb's all ears site has all the AP facts, perks, etc.

http://allearsnet.com/pl/apass.htm#2004

As you can see if you take a look there, many of the benefits are similar to those we get as DVC members. But there are a number of perks unique to AP holders, such as special events (ie preview of stitch's great escape), pins, seatings for certain shows, etc. And if I'm not mistaken (too lazy to look it up now) the mini golf discount of 50% is the best there is. (Though of course it's hardly worth it to buy the AP just for that!) And of course the biggest perk of all IMHO, the resort discounts. If anyone likes to save $$ and stay in a non DVC resort on a weekend or a short trip when they don't want to use DVC points AP rates can't be beat. (although sometimes the codes for the general public are pretty darn close).

And here's a link to the latest issue of Mickey Monitor, the newsletter for AP holders with the most recent AP perks in it. A new Mickey Monitor is due out in September, they come out every 4 months:

http://www.themeparks.com/wdw/monitor0504.htm

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by Snowgod
You also can get special event viewing or seating for so many things at WDW that it can be worth a few dollars more.

A few people asked for examples.

I can't think of any good, recent examples of the vein that Snowgod describes. There used to be AP lounges at some of the parks and I believe there was a preferred viewing area for Illuminations at one time.

However, WDW does hold preview events for new attractions for AP holders. They did it for Mission: Space, Philharmagic, and will be doing the same for "Stitch", although no firm dates have been provided.

In 2003 they held some sort of a free E-Ride night at MGM Studios for AP holders. I believe it was limited to RnR and ToT, but that sounded like a pretty nice perk.

There are also a number of merchandise opportunities exclusively for AP holders. They often have pins that only AP holders can purchase. The information on the Stitch event indicates some sort of limited edition Stitch bobblehead or statue will be available for AP holders to purchase at Mickey's Star Traders.

Obviously the most important factor in the AP/non-AP debate is the park admission priviledges. But it's nice to see that Disney throws a few additional perks our way from time to time.

 

[mom2rb]

We are buying AP's this year. We are going for 9 nine days in Dec. and then 5 days next Sept. before our cruise. DH and I would also like to add a 4 day trip during the Star Wars stuff next May but that depends on his job situation. I homeschool so I might just drive with the kids at some point because of the AP's and the extra DVC points we have.

My boy's are only 6 so I don't think I would go to a water park yet so maybe in 2 years we might have to get the PAP's.

 

[BigTigger]

We have done ten annual trips (nine as DVC owners) and purchased AP's for the first time this year. Given that we added BWV to our OKW ownership, we now go for longer. We also go in the summer as the kids are too old for the schools to excuse absences of a week or more. Before 2001, the Magic Kingdom Club discounts could be substantial on PHP's. We used to get the 7 day PHP and stretch the use over two years by filling off days with Sea World, Universal and Busch Gardens.

With the move to two week plus trips once a year in the summer, the AP's made a lot of sense. The afternoon rain, extreme mid-day heat, and large summer crowds do not lend themself to a long park stay each day. With the AP's, we can go for the morning, for the evening fireworks and shows, or just to Epcot for dinner without spending a PHP full day. We were at OKW and BWV for 16 days earlier this month. With the AP, we visited the parks all but one day and we went when we wanted and sometimes just for one show or to see a parade. We also could go for a meal and a few attractions without feeling like we were wasting a day.

We will go back next July for two weeks and get more use on the same AP's. It was a huge outlay for six adult tickets as all the kids are over 9 y.o. We had about 500 Disney Reward dollars from the VISA card to offset a bit over 20% of the cost. Even with that, we spent a bit over 40% of our vacation budget on tickets. Food and souvenirs took an equal sized chunk and the transportation (primarily a minvan rental) ate up the rest. That's the bad new on the cost. The good news is next year when our vacation will cost 40% less for about the same amount of days

 

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Originally posted by idratherbeinwdw

Originally posted by JudyS
...the mini golf discount of 50% is the best there is. (Though of course it's hardly worth it to buy the AP just for that!)

It might be if, like me, you have a six-year-old that wants to go to Winter Summerland every night