AP help

[crazzeddisneyfan]

I have been to Disneyland many times but this time around are thinking about becoming an annual passholder. We are not sure if the costs would outweigh each other if we did. On pass trips we would spend around 350 for the tickets and hotel combined (per person) always good neighbor and through the Disney website. When researching we found hotels for about 350 per person by itself. We would be making be at least four trips this year regardless, maybe more. Where have other Ap holders stayed to make the cost of the AP along with the hotel worth it? How would you guys go about doing this?

TIA!

 

[sonnyjane]

I'm not 100% sure about the wording of your question. Are you asking if the AP discount is worth it on hotels? Or are you asking where AP holders tend to stay to save money because AP's are expensive?

With only a few exceptions (and someone else please provide them lol), the AP discount only applies to the three on-site hotels, not the Good Neighbor hotels (or other surrounding hotels). The on-site hotels are much, much more expensive. An AP holder will get a standard 10% off the rack rate at the three on-site hotels, but based on the season (more discounts in the slower seasons), you can get up to 30% or so off. That said, 30% off an on-site hotel is still usually much more than a nearby off-site hotel! I have stayed at both, but because of cost, I usually choose to stay at the very close hotels on Harbor like Park Vue Inn, Best Western Park Place Inn, Tropicana, and Ramada Inn Maingate. Also, just for your reference, it is ALMOST ALWAYS more expensive to book a package (room and tickets together) through Disneyland. You'll want to make a room-only reservation. Also, there are plenty of great hotels that are not official "Good Neighbor" hotels on Disneyland's website, so you might want to "think outside the box".

If you're planning four separate trips, remember to compare the cost of the AP to the cost of what an X-day parkhopper would be for that trip. That's how you'll know if it's worth it. For four trips (or more), I'd imagine it's certainly more advantageous to get an AP. What kind of pass will you be getting? Make sure you check the blockout days if applicable. Learn more about those days here by comparing the types of passes: http://disneyland.disney.go.com/passes/

Also, different AP's have slightly different benefits. Here is a link to the AP benefits page: http://disneyland.disney.go.com/passes/discounts/?name=AnnualPassholderUngatedDiscountsPage

 

[crazzeddisneyfan]

We were asking the former; where do AP holders tend to stay because of the prices of the AP?

No, we didn't really plan on staying at the onsite hotels so that didn't really apply, but thank you! Unless they offered better deals!

So are the hotels you listed the ones that would be cheaper to book alone, and if not what hotels are cheaper than the package deals? Like I said the package deals we looked at would be around the same price as the hotel itself and that is not including the price of the AP.

We would either get the premimum or deluxe so it would work with our days The AP would hands down make the ammount of days worth it if we could just manage to find a hotel that was clean nice and cheap Thank you

 

[sonnyjane]

So are the hotels you listed the ones that would be cheaper to book alone, and if not what hotels are cheaper than the package deals? Like I said the package deals we looked at would be around the same price as the hotel itself and that is not including the price of the AP.

We would either get the premimum or deluxe so it would work with our days The AP would hands down make the ammount of days worth it if we could just manage to find a hotel that was clean nice and cheap Thank you

Well I guess I don't understand why you're looking at package deals when you want to buy an AP? Package deals include the hotel room and the room tickets, and if you had an AP, you wouldn't need separate park tickets? All of the hotels I have mentioned are at least half the cost of an official on-site even after an AP discount (some closer to a third) and are perfectly nice. There are many, many hotels on Harbor that are in close walking distance and offer a free continental breakfast. Many like HOJO as well.

 

[KittyKat1978]

I am pretty sure if you are an AP holder, you can get "retro" rates at hojo..

It's about a 7-10 minute walk to the parks,

http://www.boards.hojoanaheim.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=29

 

[bumbershoot]

In my opinion, buy the AP for the admission alone. That way any other discounts are discounts. (caveat...unless you're going with a group of 10 that you're paying for and the food and merchandise discounts will be significant)

 

[gokdog]

In my opinion, buy the AP for the admission alone. That way any other discounts are discounts. (caveat...unless you're going with a group of 10 that you're paying for and the food and merchandise discounts will be significant)

This is great advice, if you go for that many times per year the AP for admission alone will save you a lot. For us, we drive about 1,000 miles to get to Anaheim, so we tend to stay 5 days per trip, for us the break even point was two trips, but we are at 3 and counting , another scheduled and another planning.

We are a family of four, and do not like Saturday visits, so we went with one Premium and the rest deluxe to maximize our discounts. The discounts are very good, for merchandise and food at most places on property and I was even able to get Merchandise discounts on our recent trip to Walt Disney World.

http://disneyland.disney.go.com/passes/discounts/


I love my AP, will definitely be keeping it.

 

[spacemermaid]

I usually stay at the Best Western hotels near Disneyland (Park Place Inn, right across the street from Disneyland, is where I've stayed for the past couple of trips...I LOVE not having to take a shuttle bus, and being in the Park from my hotel room in about 5 minutes!) when I go to Disney. There are no AP discounts, but you can often get very good rates through this website, if you have AAA or use the pre-pay option: http://book.bestwestern.com/bestwestern/priceAvail.do?stdRateFlag=false

Besides the Howard Johnson hotel, I don't know of any other non-Disney-owned hotels nearby that offer an AP discount. To me, it's totally worth it to buy an AP due to how many days a year I spend in the Park...the food discounts are also a perk; you get 10% off, which isn't a HUGE discount, but it helps

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

It sounds like you think packages save you money. In most cases they dont. There are the occasional specials on good neighbor hotels (4th night free) but you can typically get those through getawaytoday without tickets. Where do you typically stay?

 

[crazzeddisneyfan]

Well We have stayed at two different hotels, both the Motel 6 for price reasons and the Desert Palms Inn on other occasions. I though about looking into HOJO because of a lot of people mentioning AP discounts. I was hoping maybe there was a few others that might as well. I am really looking forward to the food and merchandise discounts that are included. The AP also seems worth it for the amount of trips that we will be taking this year as far as addmission prices, my main thing is finding a fair priced hotel that is worth the money.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Check out getawaytoday.com. It automatically adds tickets to your room but you can always delete them. We got 3 nights at Hampton Inn &Suites for $200 (tax and parking included) at Christmas.

If you are looking for walking distance check desert inn and suites. I've seen their standard room as low as $59/night.