AP Discount vs Magic Your Way Pkgs?

aubriee

<font color=brown><marquee>Chocolate always makes
Joined
Dec 3, 2004
Help! I can't seem to find the numbers I need. I am taking my son and D-I-L to WDW Sept 17th-Sept 24th. They want to do DQ, PI, and both water parks. I have an AP and the DDE card.

Scenario #1: Using the AP code I can get POP for $59.00/night ($65.79/night with tax) or $461.00 for the seven nights. Using the AP, I would then get myself discounted tickets to PI, DQ, and both water parks and buy them 6 day MYW tickets with the plus opions, no hopping. I could use DDE for meals, but mainly at sit down places and maybe for breakfast at POP. (Doing both water parks, PI, and DQ they won't have time to park hop.)

Scenario #2: Buy a MYW Pkg (paying rack rate for the room), but getting free dining, and MYW tickets with the plus options, no hopping for all three of us. In this case my AP wouldn't be much use, except to get discounts off some merchandise at DTD and for the DDE discount for breakast at POP. I would also have to buy myself a park ticket, as everyone has to be on the pkg. Correct?

Which would be the better deal? Does it make sense to pay rack rate for the room and buy myself a MYW ticket, when I already have an AP (but would have to buy (discounted) tickets for PI, DQ, and the two water parks)? How much would a seven night MYW pkg at POP, with free dining, and nonpark hopping, plus option tickets be for three adults? vs buying everything seperate using the AP discounts? HELP PLEASE!! :confused3
 
Well you only need to buy a one day ticket for yourself to get the package.

Here is the numbers I broke down for my family and my dad and his finace traveling with us.

Dad and finace:
Room at AP discount (we have the APs) 694.50 at Coronado (with tax)
6 day tickets 418
Food (guessing the 35 per person per day like dining plan) 490
Grand total: 1602.50

Now take the MYW package with free dining for 7 nights and a 6 day ticket at Coronado and the price is 1462.72
Pretty large difference if they plan on eating 35 or more a day.

So I decided to break down the math for us with APs
694.50 for moderate room at AP rate
630 for food (35 per person per day for 2 adults and 10 per child per day for 2 kids)
total 1324.50

With the MYW package for 7 nights and one day ticket (as we have APs)
1046 for the room
64 for the one day ticket
grand total of 1110

I really have to look and see if we will spend 630 on food or what because even as AP holders this pacakge looks like a better deal
 
I think I missed something. To get the free dining for seven days, you only have to buy a one day park ticket? Then I could use my AP for the rest of the days (buying discounted tickets for DQ, PI, and the water parks for myself)?
 
DH & I both have APs and we were able to book 10 nights MYW and free dining purchasing only one day base tickets for each of us - 4 total as we have 2 children who will also have APs.

The diff. between the AP room rate ($1276) and the MYW + free dining ($2023) for us is $747. DH assures me we'll eat that much in food in the 10 days.

Hello! I'm on a diet!! Maybe he just likes me "fluffier". :confused3
 


OK I guess I'm a little slow, but I'm still confused. Why would Disney let you book a hotel for seven nights and get (in my case) seven nights worth of free food and you only have to buy a one day ticket. In my case it would be buying one one day ticket (since I have an AP) and two seven day tickets with plus options for my son and D-I-L. Can I do that? I thought everyone in the room had to have the same type of park tickets?

I still can't figure out how much seven nights at POP with free dining, and the park tickets would be (plus the AP discounted tickets I would need for PI, DQ, and the water parks- if I bought just a one day park ticket and then used my AP for the rest of the week). Can someone please tell me where to find all the numbers I need or else show me which would be the best deal for us? Remember I already have my AP and the DDE card. However the DDE is good mainly at only sit down places, although I could use it for breakfast at POP. I'm so confused :confused3 . Thanks!
 
The AP discount for Value hotel is $18 a night.

The value of dinning plan is $35\adult and $10\child per day.

You would have to buy a 1 day base ticket for everyone, in order to get the dinning plan for the stay.

Disney is trading the Dining plan for the rack room rate. There is no discount on the park tickets, so that is really a wash.

So what I would do is figure out the cost of a 1 day base ticket for everyone. Divide that by the number of days. Add $18 per day, for the AP room discount that you won't be getting. That is what you are really paying for the free dining plan.

You would essentially burn the 1 day tickets and use your AP for the parks and PI, DQ discounts.
 
I had a cast discount on a room for my big kids for 9 nights at Pop. Total was around $430.

I canceled and booked the new dining package. The new total is $1028. The difference between what I was paying was $575. For this extra amount I got four 1-day tickets (they all have some sort of tickets already, AP, comp, extra leftovers). So it ends up that we are paying a little over $300 for the dining for FOUR adults diners for 9 days. That is about $80 for the entire 9 days each. 36 dinners, 36 counter meals, 36 snacks. I figured 2 of the kids can each use the one day tickets. The male can use the 2 male tickets and one of the females can use the 2 female tickets. Since they are one day tickets biometrics is not an issue (i.e., once you use them one day, you won't return with them again--so matching the biometrics the next day is not an issue.)
 


My question is still the same: I have an AP, but my son and D-I-L do not. Can I buy myself a one day base ticket and them two seven day MYW tickets with pluses and still get the free dining? In other words I would be booking POP for seven nights, buying a one day base ticket, and two seven day tickets with pluses. I can see if all of us had AP and we all bought a one day pass, but I will need a different ticket than them. Does that make sense?
 
I think you all have to have the same ticket on the package. I"ll go crunch some numbers and be back with the price.
 
The price for those dates, three adults at the Pop with 6 day tickets with options is:

1434.18... so it'd be the same price with free dining.
 
aubriee said:
My question is still the same: I have an AP, but my son and D-I-L do not. Can I buy myself a one day base ticket and them two seven day MYW tickets with pluses and still get the free dining? In other words I would be booking POP for seven nights, buying a one day base ticket, and two seven day tickets with pluses. I can see if all of us had AP and we all bought a one day pass, but I will need a different ticket than them. Does that make sense?
I don't think you can do that because everyone in the room has to have the same ticket- but maybe this would work- buy one day MYW base tickets for everyone, and separately buy 6 day plus tickets for your son and DIL. That would give you the proper number of days, but one day you wouldn't be able to park hop, of course, unless you put PH on the MYW package tickets.

Anyone think this wouldn't work? Of course, I haven't run the numbers so I don't know if it even make sense financially, but I suspect it might. Free food for three adults for 7 days is generally a huge savings!
 
It will be cheaper to add days and plus options to son's and DIL's 1-day base tickets; you can extend/add to tickets w/in 13 days of first use (IIRC).
 
aubriee said:
My question is still the same: I have an AP, but my son and D-I-L do not. Can I buy myself a one day base ticket and them two seven day MYW tickets with pluses and still get the free dining? In other words I would be booking POP for seven nights, buying a one day base ticket, and two seven day tickets with pluses. I can see if all of us had AP and we all bought a one day pass, but I will need a different ticket than them. Does that make sense?


Okay...we are in the same situation. All of us have AP's. I am booked at WL at AP rate of 138.26 per night for 10 nights which is 1382.60 for 10 nights including tax. Then when I get there we have to pay for food for 4 of us for 10 days (that's easily $60 perday and that's low-balling and with no char. meals).

I was looking hard for a way to make this package work for us. I am downgrading the hotel (either Pop or split between Pop & POFQ) . I am buying a 1 day ticket for each of us. We will not have this activated, thus it will be good until I decide to use it...which will be next year towards the purchase of my new AP). In your case, with some having AP's...you start with a 1 day ticket for everyone. The ones who need more days can upgrade their tickets individually after check-in but you all need to book with the same ticket. Those having AP's can hold onto their unactivated 1 day pass for later use or trade up.

For POP my total for 10 nights will be $1068 saving me $300 plus feeding us very nicely for free. The cmobo wil cost me about the same as WL but with free food. The same deal at WL was too expensive because the AP discount is bigger onthe Deluxes so it wasn't worth it. I've never stayed in a Deluxe but I am going back in December so I will trade off WL now for free food & stay at WL another time.

Feel free to PM if you like. I hope that helps you. Everyone starts out with the minimum and you upgrade those who need it after you arrive. The AP hodlers are not wasting money just pre-paying a portion of their next needed ticket.

Elise
 
Wow! Thanks for the information about purchasing 1 one day ticket! I didn't look at the package because we have AP's right now. But with being able to purchase 1 one day ticket, I calculated it and may go for it.

It will cost us a little more but we will eat far better then we normally do. On a trip we do maybe 1 or 2 table services. So when I calculate room at ap ($1500 ) and food it came to $1950. Package with 1 one day ticket is $2032.

I need to run this by my hubby and see what he thinks before I change things but I think when I tell him he can have a steak dinner every night if he wants I don't think I'll have much convincing to do :)

Take Care
Jamie
 
For us this is a great deal as we'll be saving $200 over the AP rates based on how we were already planning to eat. And we may be able to share meals and use less points to make them go even further. This is the best deal for us in a long time.
 
OK, in addition to posting on here, I also e-mailed Dreams Unlimited and Mouseketrips and got the same response from both. Their recommendations were to buy everyone 7 day MYW tickets and then for me to not activate my 7 day ticket and just use it next year, either after my AP expires or to apply it toward the renewal of my AP. I could still use my AP this trip to get into the parks and to get myself discounted tickets to the water parks, PI, and DQ. By the way I thought about buying us all one day park tickets, then buying my son and D-I-L extra 6 day MYW tickets when we got there, but this way winds up being cheaper and plus I'll wind up with an extra 7 day ticket with plus options to use on a later trip.

Oh well, my AP doesn't expire until January and I was already planning another trip for mid December. I guess if I do this I'll have to start planning a third trip for the spring just so I can use this extra 7 day MYW ticket. Darn, those annual passes. Do you think Disney knew what they were doing when they offered this free dining deal to everyone, except AP holders? It's too good of a deal to pass up, but if everyone in your party doesn't have an AP it makes you buy an extra park ticket to get it, which makes you plan another trip in order to avoid wasting the ticket.

By the way I've never used a travel agent (feel more in control doing it myself). Has anyone ever used Dreams Unlimited or Mouseketrips? Their prices were about the same: Dreams Unlimited $1756.60 and Mouseketrips: $1763.00. When I figured it myself for the same pkg I got: $1753.59, so I guess they know what they're doing.
 
My neighbor and I are both using Dreams Unlimited, we have two seperate agents and are both having a great experience.

So far SueEllen has changed my quote from me, booked my trip, let me email her all thetime with updates to where i want to eat (they'll make your reservations for you) and been so helpful!

My neighbor is not going til December and her agent has already booked her trip and Hoop De Doo Review for her too!

I chose to use DU b/c it supports these boards.

Whatever you decide have a fabulous trip!!!
 
aubriee said:
By the way I thought about buying us all one day park tickets, then buying my son and D-I-L extra 6 day MYW tickets when we got there, but this way winds up being cheaper and plus I'll wind up with an extra 7 day ticket with plus options to use on a later trip.


Just out of curiosity how does this end up being cheaper? Is it more money to add days on to a one day ticket than to just buy the 7 day from the get go? I don't understand why you'd buy a 7 day ticket for yourself when you don't need it. If you're always going to have an AP, isn't that just giving Disney more money than you'd need to? You have an AP now, you wouldn't buy another ticket to use now, right? That would be silly since you already have one. What I mean is, if you're going to renew your AP anyway, then why wold you ever need the 7 day ticket? Maybe I'm being dense but I don't see the logic in that, unless it's more than the amount of your 7 day MYW ticket to add 6 days each onto the other 2 1 day passes. Maybe it's the plusses? I'm confused. Please type slow & use small words, so I can understand!! LOL

Elise
 
mamapajama said:
Just out of curiosity how does this end up being cheaper? Is it more money to add days on to a one day ticket than to just buy the 7 day from the get go? I don't understand why you'd buy a 7 day ticket for yourself when you don't need it. If you're always going to have an AP, isn't that just giving Disney more money than you'd need to? You have an AP now, you wouldn't buy another ticket to use now, right? That would be silly since you already have one. What I mean is, if you're going to renew your AP anyway, then why wold you ever need the 7 day ticket? Maybe I'm being dense but I don't see the logic in that, unless it's more than the amount of your 7 day MYW ticket to add 6 days each onto the other 2 1 day passes. Maybe it's the plusses? I'm confused. Please type slow & use small words, so I can understand!! LOL

Elise

Due to 1 day tickets being so much more expensive comparatively to the 5+ day tickets, it winds up being more expensive. With taxes included: one day base ticket is $63.64 (63.64 x 4= $254.56) and 6 day tickets with plus pack is 247.10 (247.10 x 3= $741.30) for a total of $995.85. Seven day MYW tickets with tax with plus pack are $248.16 (248.16 x 4= $992.64), plus I would have a $248.16 7 day MYW with plus pack ticket left over, whereas the other way I would only have a $63.64 one day MYW base ticket left over.

I didn't plan on renewing my AP after it expires in January, so this way I would have the 7 day MYW with plus pack to use for a trip after my AP expires or for that matter if I did decide to renew my AP, then I could just apply the extra unused 7 day MYW pass ticket to my new AP and have $247.10 already paid toward my AP renewal (instead of the $63.64 the 1 day base ticket is worth as a trade-in).

In other words it would cost $3.21 less to buy four 7 day MYW tickets with plus pack than it would to buy four 1 day base tickets and three 6 day MYW tickets with plus pack and at the end I would still have a $248.16 7 day ticket with five pluses instead of a 1 day base ticket. Using my AP instead of the extra 7 day ticket means I would have a 7 day MYW with plus pack ($248.16) left over at the end (instead of a $63.64 one day base ticket) that I could use next year if I don't renew my AP or to apply to the AP if I do renew it. So it would be cheaper by $187.73.
difference of 248.16 (7 day MYW) - 63.64 (1 day Base)= 184.52
184.52 + 3.21 = $187.73
Does this make sense?
 
Yipee! That sounds like a deal and a half. I am glad you worked it all out.

I wanted to transfer my package to Dreams Unlimited but their website hates me. I could never get through all the imput screens. Maybe I will go back and see if there is anyway to just contact them with out all that data imput. They seem really great.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top