Anywher to buy AP's cheaper than at gate?

[Huff]

Disneylands Deluxe AP's are $329 per Disneyland.com. Last AP's I bought were in January of 2009. Southern California Costco's sold them for $269 but gave a $50 Disney giftcard making them only $219. Is there any better deal than paying an increase of $110?

The other way we got good deals was to purchase discounted multi-day passes at local hotels. We then upgraded them at Disneyland who gave us credit based on gate price for the day passes as they would have no idea how much we paid to the hotel. Does this still work?

 

[LisaT91403]

Costco sold APs? Hmmm. Last time I was there, they were selling a Park Hopper...I think 4 days, and it included the $50 gift card. Price was $199. I didn't see APs though.

 

[Funball]

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]I do not know anything about getting ap's at costco . But I just looked at the website on for costco and they have only park hopper tickets...[/FONT]

costco park hopper

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]I know of 3 ways to buy an Ap 1. vons-they have them, 2, at the parks 3. online at disneyland.com, either way it's the same price as what it says at the ticket booth and online.ALSO u can try looking at what mousesavers has to say about AP deals.. the is below[/FONT]

DLR tickets and AP's mousesavers

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

CostCo did offer that great AP deal in the past, and we got to take advantage of it once. I think the offer ended in the spring of 2009, and they haven't offered APs at CostCo since. I think the current CostCo 4-day ticket offer is for people living in southern California zip codes only, but I'm guessing it is upgradeable to an AP for those who are eligible to purchase the ticket deal.

Purchasing discount hoppers and then upgrading shouldn't save you any money since they are usually coded for Disney with actual price paid and you will then have to pay the difference. I have read of the occasional exception to this but certainly wouldn't count on it happening.

Our family will need to buy new APs sometime this year too, and I'd love to see a way to get a discount (besides just renewing). Haven't seen one yet though. I think our "discount" will be just timing the purchase well enough to get it done before the price increases again.

 

[bumbershoot]

That AP deal was so great, and in my time on the forum, a one time thing. It was at the same time that there was a link floating around to a very discounted AP...ended up around the same as the Costco deal, but without the money up front (Costco deal you made it back with the giftcard, but it was still more up front). Oh those were the days!

Haven't seen that since.

The other way we got good deals was to purchase discounted multi-day passes at local hotels. We then upgraded them at Disneyland who gave us credit based on gate price for the day passes as they would have no idea how much we paid to the hotel. Does this still work?

In my time here that has never been the policy of Disneyland. With Disneyland, the policy is that you get what was PAID for the ticket as credit towards your AP (though I think the Costco deal was different).

It's different from WDW; WDW "bridges" the price paid for the ticket up to the
gate price, so you "keep" your discount. But it's been different policy at Disneyland. Anyone who got what you got got pixie dust; fabulous for those who got it, but never to be expected.

 

[Huff]

In my time here that has never been the policy of Disneyland. With Disneyland, the policy is that you get what was PAID for the ticket as credit towards your AP (though I think the Costco deal was different).

In 2009 we stayed at the Comfort Inn on Harbor. They sold discounted multi-day passes (5 days for gate price of 3). At the time the only way to get the extra 2 days free was from hotels or elsewhere and not the gate. They were not vouchers but actual gate passes. My wife purchased one of these passes. On our last day of the trip she went to guest services at Disneyland. She was given the full gate price of a 5 day pass towards an AP. My understanding is that if you did not buy the pass at Disneyland then they would have no way of knowing what the hotel charged for it.

 

[bumbershoot]

They know what was *paid* for that ticket, no matter where it is from. And DLR might know what was paid for it (WDW does not, I have learned that).

There's a weird situation with some military tickets that are bought on base, where the price paid to Disney for them is less than the price the military members pay for them. Since Disney sees what was paid, the military member actually has to pay MORE than the normal AP price, if they choose to upgrade from those tickets.


It's been a huge conversation on the WDW side, as bridging (changing the price you paid to the current gate price) was being rumored**** to have ended, and that they were going to Disneyland-style upgrades, where you always end up paying the full cost of the gate price AP, unless you get that pixie dust. And it's why it's recommended on the DLR forum to not bother with discounted tickets, if you plan to upgrade to an AP, since you will lose the discount. Again, unless you get the pixie dust.

Now it's possible that the hotels are selling them at a loss, just to get people in the door, and that they paid full price for those tickets....




****rumor is NOT true, just wanted to make sure that was clear for those who go to dlr and wdw. bridging is still in full effect over there. one person just got three spectacularly AWFUL CMs during her upgrade experience!

 

[kkmcan]

They only way I've been able to come with a discount on APs is to save and use my Disney Visa Rewards Dollars towards my AP. It's free money anways. Right now I've got $400 towards our next AP's.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Last summer we bought our DAPs through the CTA. (The teacher's union). Actually, they give you a link to a travel place that gives members discount tickets to various attractions. Anyway, we were able to get a $20 discount off of each AP. We were hoping for the costco deal too but it never came out again. This was the next best thing we could find.