Any 'annual pass holders' out there? I'm thinking of making the jump

[eric8]

I was looking at the prices for annual passes and I was surprised that it wouldn't be that much more than a regular family vacation for a week (family of four). Has anyone made the 'jump' and bought an annual pass? I'm 7hrs away in 'Bama and am considering this. I'm interested in the perks such as discounts to disney resorts. Such as...how much of a discount would I expect for a Disney resort. This looks like it might pay for itself over the long haul.

 

[hakepb]

Each trip might be cheaper, but with a valid AP burning a hole in your pocket...you will be powerless to resist the call to go again and again!

(Which results in more total yearly spending)

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I've had an annual pass for 16 years now.

But I visit enough to make it worthwhile based on park admission. I don't suggest buying it only for the perks and discounts (except maybe the parking if you want to stay offsite as $20 a day can add up big). The resort discounts have been declining over the years. If bookings drop, they might come back.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

We always get one. You get 10% merchandise , depending on which one photopass, free parking if you stay off world. Even if you buy one for your party you can benefit.

We get 2 visits out of one AP. We are DVC owners so get the Gold , one year we go and start the pass then just make sure the next year we go a little earlier before it expires. Totally worth it for us! Plus there are hotel deals, promotions. Discounts of tickets like MNSSHP on certain nights and MVMCP etc.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Oh and discounts of some restaurants ...

 

[cdnjason]

We made the jump last year. Our APs cost about the same as 8 day park tickets and memory maker. After you factor in the discounts, free parking at parks, photo pass, etc., it was a no brainier for us.

Ironically, I'm in Orlando for work every three months. So, I find myself making quick trips over to the parks since I have an AP.

If you have any specific questions, I'll be happy to offer my opinion.

 

[lovethattink]

We've had AP for years. Even when we lived over 1000 miles away. Back then we planned Disney vacations 10 to 11 months apart.

Up until this year, we bought Tables in Wonderland for food and beverage discounts.

 

[famy27]

Each trip might be cheaper, but with a valid AP burning a hole in your pocket...you will be powerless to resist the call to go again and again!

(Which results in more total yearly spending)

We have a love/hate relationship with our APs. And what you say here is 100% true. We went for two nights/three days for 4th of July "because it was free." But we live in Chicago, so that adds airfare. And food and hotel isn't free, although we did scale back on food. We're going for Labor Day, and now we just decided to do MLK weekend as well.

Stupid APs.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

yeah lots of running down for the weekend. Owning DVC does help with that as well.

 

[Klayfish]

Yes, we made the jump. We live in Atlanta, so we're also about 7-8 hours away depending on traffic. We went down last July with a 10 day regular ticket. About half way through, my wife and I were enjoying a nice peaceful trip around the lazy river in BB by ourselves...how blissful. We were just casually talking about how much we enjoyed WDW and now that we lived in Atlanta, wouldn't it be nice to have annual passes?? So we decided to at least inquire about it, because it doesn't hurt to ask. Well, turns out we had already spent about 70% of the cost of an AP for the passes we already had. So we just decided to bite the bullet and buy the AP. We are SO happy we did. We don't stay on property, so I can't answer anything about that, but the rest is great. Yes, we spent money every time we came down, because we had to rent a townhouse, etc...but it wasn't a huge extra cost. Really, it was just the house rental. We pack our own food, so groceries are pretty much the same costs they are in Atlanta, though we did buy treats for the kids. The biggest part was just the planning and journeys back and forth. It's a lot of driving. But WELL worth it to us. We came down for Thanksgiving and Xmas, and it was phenomenal. The AP gets us free parking (instead of $20/day) and 10% off merchandise. We made 6 total trips and spent 50 total days in WDW in our 12 month AP. We have zero regrets. Our AP just expired one month ago and we decided not to renew, simply so we can give our wallet a rest. But we already have our rental house reservation for late June/early July 2017. We'll buy a new AP then and start the cycle all over again. Can't wait!!! As you can see, I've got the countdown calendar going, and look at it every day.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Everything AP.........

http://allears.net/pl/apass.htm

 

[Meriweather]

We've gotten APs for years. We live in the southwest, so not a close trip.
We are DVC owners.
We go for a couple of weeks 2-3 times a year (the years we go...we alternate with DLR).
Airfare is our big expense.
We also buy for park admission, all the rest is gravy

 

[PSUGuy]

APs work for us even if we only go twice a year. In 2015 we went late Oct/early Nov for food and wine, 10 days wit an AP. This year we're there Oct 12 - Oct 22 under the old AP. Of course if we get the chance we'd sneak in another in Spring but we haven't done that yet.

Bill From PA

 

[Shellyred8]

I was looking at the prices for annual passes and I was surprised that it wouldn't be that much more than a regular family vacation for a week (family of four). Has anyone made the 'jump' and bought an annual pass? I'm 7hrs away in 'Bama and am considering this. I'm interested in the perks such as discounts to disney resorts. Such as...how much of a discount would I expect for a Disney resort. This looks like it might pay for itself over the long haul.

If you are able to go during the "slow" times, you have a better chance at getting a bigger discount with the AP. At least, that's been my experience. If you are planning another trip within the 365-days from when you buy your AP, then it pretty much makes sense to get the AP.

We live in Minnesota and we periodically get an AP. Then we do what other's in this thread have mentioned: we plan our trips 11 months apart so we get two visits out of them. If we were only a 7-hour drive away, we would definitely make more trips on it though!

 

[ratt1345]

DW and I have APs. We live in north FL about 1.75 hours away. We have gone down for just the day and saved on the parking. However, when we stay on property, we take the bus.

 

[alliecat523]

We live in Indiana and have APs. Made the jump last year. We get cheap airfare on SW and go for a weekend here or there. I think the hotel discounts are not bad. We use to stay off site a lot due to cost. Now I can stay onsite for the same price if not cheaper.

Like others have said, we find ourselves going more because of the passes. In January we had just a few hours as we were passing through so we hopped over and rode some rides.

 

[PeasandCarrots]

I was looking at the prices for annual passes and I was surprised that it wouldn't be that much more than a regular family vacation for a week (family of four). Has anyone made the 'jump' and bought an annual pass? I'm 7hrs away in 'Bama and am considering this. I'm interested in the perks such as discounts to disney resorts. Such as...how much of a discount would I expect for a Disney resort. This looks like it might pay for itself over the long haul.

We live 9 hour drive away and get an AP every year. I personally would not do it just for the discounts, I would do it if you will be there enough days to make it worthwhile. Each year, we got a minimum of 2, 8 day trips (2 full weeks) and usually 1-2 more bonus trips that are 5-8 days long. The 2, 8 day trips alone make it worth it for me, plus I enjoy having photopass included "free"(yes I know I'm paying for it). The bonus trips usually come about because we see a great passholder rate on a room & cheap flights & go "why not?!" since we already have tickets. For example one trip this year we have coming up we found $71 flights and $93 room rate (Pop with AP discount). Yes I know that means I'm spending money I would't have spent, but I'm happy to spend it & we probably wouldn't go on that trip w/o the AP.

As far as resort discounts they vary depending on how booked they are and may not even be offered at the time you go or where you want to stay. That's why I don't buy my AP just for discounts. That said if you have flexibility on both where and when you stay you can get up to 30-35% off for deluxe (usually 20-25% for moderate and 15-20% for value). This is a huge perk for sure. The downside is the AP discounts usually come after the one for everyone, so I grab the rate for everyone first, then call again and get them to change it to the AP discount when it comes out. That way if the place I'm staying books out and they don't offer a AP discount, I at least have the lesser general public discount and can stay where I want to.

The merchant discount is nice, but there are very few restaurants that offer a discount (not talking Tables in Wonderland, that's different).

 

[Lisa R]

We live about 10 hours out in Louisiana - it is worth it - IF we do at least 2 trips a year. Basically - the break even point is 10 days. If you go at least 10 days - you should be good. We only get one - but usually get some kind of resort discount (although this year - they were worse than the public discounts) and you do get merchandise discounts. The tables in wonderland card is what makes the difference for us - especially for my usual adults only girl trip to the Food and Wine Festival in the fall. If you like to eat at sit down restaurants and at least one person in your party drinks - it is worth it because the Tables in Wonderland card discounts everything - even alcohol. The memory maker thing is pretty cool, too. We have never paid for it before and may have bought a few pictures - but it's a nice free perk to have.

 

[Mousemommy1]

We love having AP's and we live in New England, so not close at all. We just plan our trips 8 months apart (like August and following April) and definitely get our monies worth ticket wise. But then we also get the TiW card, which greatly helps with food/drink discounts.

 

[famy27]

yeah lots of running down for the weekend. Owning DVC does help with that as well.

We bought DVC, too. And now we get discounted APs, too. My DH is always trying to average down our per day costs. Airfare is the cost that really annoys him because it fluctuates so much. He wants to buy an annual pass for that, or at least a package of airline tickets. Now he's trying to figure out how to make that happen but no luck so far.