AP ? for those who don't live in So.Cal.

[dmked]

If you have an AP and don't live in Southern California, how many times a year do you make it to Disneyland? And does the Deluxe pass still give discounts on food? What about merchandise?

 

[usschmidt]

We live w/in a day's drive. I don't think I could justify AP's if I had to fly. When we had them last (2008-9) we still got discounts at many places.

 

[mvf-m11c]

If you have an AP and don't live in Southern California, how many times a year do you make it to Disneyland?

I live in Northern California and I have a PAP. My family, friends and I go to DLR at least 4 times a year right and we go around 3-4 days during a trip.

And does the Deluxe pass still give discounts on food? What about merchandise?

The DAP gets discounts for food at 10% at most of the restaurants and counter service. The merchandise doesn't gets discount normally, only the PAP, but right now the DAP gets a 10% discount that goes to September 30, 2010. The DLR is giving the 10% merchandise discount to all the other APs (SoCal, Select and DAP) and the PAP get an additional 10% more to make it 20%.

 

[PinkBudgie]

We live 8 hours away and had APs the year before last and will get them again this trip. We have found that we can get two summer vacations out of one year of APs. So, even if just went two summers in a row, it is still cheaper than buying two sets of parkhoppers. They also let you be flexible with arrival and departure times. For example, if we arrive in the afternoon, we can head to the parks and not worry about using up a day on a parkhopper.

Deluxe APs give you 10 percent off of food at most places but no discount on items. However, I thought I heard someone say there was a deal they were doing now to give deluxe APs a discount on merchandise too for a limited time. That, I don't know for sure or if they are still doing it. Maybe someone else knows.

As for trips in between summers, we are going to try to get in at least one but hopefully a few.

 

[spacemermaid]

I'm from CA but live in AZ right now; I make 2 to 3 "planned trips" (ie: 4+ days, in a hotel; plane ride vs. car/bus ride) a year. I also do lots of days "here and there" where when visiting friends or family in CA I'll just drop in for the day. Last year I worked out what it would've cost if I'd been buying tickets for each time I was in the Park, and it came out to a couple of thousand $s, so the AP has definitely been worth it!

I use my AP for discounts all the time; it's variable as to whether or not I'll get a merchandise discount (but it's always worth asking); I always get a food discount.

So, in short, if you're going to be in the Park for more than a few days, an AP is totally worth it...even if you can't just hop in the car & drive there within 20 minutes.

 

[ImTooExcitedToSleep]

If you have an AP and don't live in Southern California, how many times a year do you make it to Disneyland?

Way too many.

I am making more trips that normal covering things for the DIS Unplugged, but even without that, we make enough trips to justify the cost.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

We live in Northern CA and our family of four all have PAPs. Depending on traffic and stops, it takes us 7-8 hours to get to Disney. If we flew, I could probably only justify going once per year, but since we drive, I explained to DH that we could easily afford to go more often.

I convinced DH to buy our first APs (deluxes) when we stayed at the Paradise Pier for a few nights during the week before Christmas in 2006. It was our third trip to Disneyland ever, second in the same year. I didn't enjoy our first trip a whole lot, but something happened to me during the second trip, and I could't get enough of it. I spent three months after we returned hunting bargains and making plans for a return during the holidays. I upgraded our tickets right at the front desk upon arrival assuring DH we would want to return for spring break, so we would get double use and it would be a bargain. We hadn't even gone on the spring break trip before I booked a quick trip "for DS's birthday" in August. Then since we had the passes anyway, it was a simple matter to go meet the in-laws in their So-Cal timeshare that October.

DH didn't say much when that fall I booked a New Year's Eve trip and planned to upgrade our passes to premiums. He kind of just shook his head and went with it. I know he has as much fun as the rest of us. We went 5 times on those passes, and I haven't been willing to go back down to deluxes and have to worry about blockout days again.

We went six times last year.

Can you guess what number I'm shooting for with this year's passes? We just got back yesterday from our third trip.

Deluxe pass gives 10% discount on food. Premium is 15%. There is a temporary merchandise discount of 10% for DAPs and 20% off for PAPs. That is set to expire on Sept. 30. It has been extended three times since last holiday season, so it's hard to say if it will really end this time, but it's not something I would count on having. If it does end, then deluxe passes get no merchandise discounts, and premiums go back to 10%. With either pass, you can get 10% off at many DtD locations as well.

 

[bumbershoot]

We're focusing our money this year on our big December WDW trip, but from '07-'09 we had Deluxe APs, and we live in WA.

We always go to San Diego at least once a year to visit my brother, and we'll usually do a day trip. In '07 we started going to Anaheim on trips with just our little family, and stay between 3 and 7 nights. Even just a 6 day ticket plus a 1 day can cost more than an AP, and when you factor in the discounts on food, it has been a no-brainer for us.

Of course...some trips happened BECAUSE OF the AP, I won't deny that!

Sept '07 (7 days I believe), Dec '07 (4 days? 5?), solo trip for me in Jan '08 for a weekend, May '08 for DS's birthday (with a mem day weekend birthday, parties were not well attended so we just went on vacation!), solo Nov '08 one day trip for me while in San Diego for something else...Dec '08 b/c we love the December holidays there...March '09 for me with the Dis Diva group, May '09 for DS birthday again, and then Oct '09 for MY birthday!

Yay APs!


And when we do the WDW trip, we're strongly considering upgrading to APs there...and if we can...since we do plan on going to DLR in '11 once this enormous WDW-in-'10 trip is done...it's possible we'll go from the WDW AP up to the Premier AP, if the math works out....

And again, we live in WA.

 

[VictoriaAndMatt]

We live in Las Vegas, which is about 4-5 hours away depending on traffic. This will be our 3rd trip using our current DAP. We won't be renewing because we're about to have another baby, and I just don't see us using them as much this year. Maybe next year. PPs already answered about the discounts.

 

[silence]

We just got back and upgraded our hoppers to DAP.

This is our 3rd time having DAP. I figured that if we made at least 2 multi-day trips then they pay for themselves.

We currently have 2 upcoming trips planned and we will try to go next July before these passes expire, so they will definately pay for themselves.

 

[SeattleTink]

We have DAP's and live in the Seattle area. This is our second time we have had AP's.

Last time we had DAP's (2008) we used them for 3 different trips (and a total of 14 days. Our current DAP we got in February (using GAD vouchers) and are returning the end of August. We most likely will make one more trip in December.

For us, we totally get our $$ worth. We spent 3 days in the park in February and in August we will be in SoCal 10 days. Having a DAP gives us the flexibility to come and go as we please...we can go the beach and then the Parks at night or visa versa. Currently 6 day hoppers are over $200 and the DAP only $299.

Totally worth it to us....plus the discounts really help too.

 

[goldies 5]

We live about 7 hours away. We used to go 3 to 4 times a year, but had to slow down due to different interests. We now go 2 times in a calendar year,(one at the beginning and one at the end) and still upgrade to AP every other year. We are still able to go at our favorite time of the year, which is the Christmas Season, we just go at least one week earlier before our AP's expire. It definetely saves money in the long run.

 

[letthembelittle]

We live in Utah and have to drive about 10 hours to get to the park. We have done a 6 day trip in November of '09, a 5 day trip in April of '10 and have a 2 day trip in Sept '10 and a 3 day trip in November '10 planned for right before our passes expire. We dont plan on coming back for a few years but it sure has been fun this year!

 

[Kayla's Mom]

When we had our APs last year, the plan was to go twice. We ended up going 6 times. We will be getting the DAP again when we go in September.

 

[MrsPinup]

We are about a 6.5-7 hour drive north of DL and I have a DAP and the DH and DS will be getting theirs when we all go down in September. I have at least 4 trips planned (and one already done) in the year of my pass ranging from 3-5 days. It is so much cheaper to have the pass this way. My car gets excellent mileage so it is not much of a hassle to drive (just boring).

 

[prncssmel]

We live in SLC, and we go 2-3 times each year with our APs. Just going twice with APs costs less than PHs, plus the food discounts with the Deluxe make it totally worth it to us.

 

[pixiewings71]

We are about 6.5 hours away, look at my signature to see how many times we went over 2 years with AP's....LOL

 

[Heymy]

We live in Sacramento and I just booked our 5th and last trip with our DAPs We figured if we went 3 times, they were paid for, so I didn't go too overboard. Now that DD#2 is turning 3, DH isn't willing to pay for 4 DAPs, so maybe I can convince him again in a year or so. If I don't succeed, I'm sure the girls will.

 

[tdashgirl]

Two trips a year justify the AP price. I live in San Jose, which is about 5-6 hours away. We drive fast down 5 We leave early in the morning (6am-ish) and are in DLR for lunch, which I love.

One year (unusual) we did about 5 trips so we definitely got our money's worth But usually it's more like 2-3 per year. One tip - don't renew your AP until you're at the resort. You don't save any money by renewing and you can let it lapse until your next planned visit and then the expiration date will be 365 days past that

 

[alyssa810]

We in Massachusetts and 95% sure we're going to get the Premiere pass. We figure on 2 trips to DL, and 3 to WDW between September 2010 and September 2011. It's been a tough decision for us -on which passes to get- because we knew we were planning to hit both coasts, and for us to get the premiere pass versus an AP for WDW and DL (with our DVC discounts) was so mimimal. We usually just get a regular AP for WDW because we don't go to the water parks or Disneyquest....but now we might check both out.
We fly to both DL and WDW because 25 - 36+ hours with a 2-3 year old in a car is not happening!