AP prices increased [6/18/2019]

[karnog]

It has new pricing but then says corp price at the old discounted price:
Adult (Ages 10+)
Gate price $1,119.00 + tax $72.74 = $1,191.74

YOUR CORPORATE PRICE: 865.99

Right. The new gate prices are shown but the corporate price is significantly reduced. I am guessing they buy blocks of these and when they run out, they will raise the prices accordingly.

 

[Nick6300]

We bought the Sams Club Travel APs last night at the $865 for platinum, just to hold until late 2021. We're going to want to be APs for 2021-2022 for the 50th celebration, and figure that if they go up another 50% by 2022, that's a great return on an investment. Also getting a $500 spend bonus for charging it to a new card + 2.625% back.

 

[cakebaker]

When I try to reload them it tells me those ID’s have already been assigned. And I can see them attached to everyone’s names, so they are loaded right. I’m wondering if it’s b/c they weren’t bought directly from Disney?

Shouldn't make any difference where they were purchased, they're valid vouchers. Lots of people have bought through Sams and successfully loaded them into MDE. I'd call IT and let them handle it. People have this problem all the time. I did with my first AP bought through Disney. IT can fix it quickly.

 

[3cmom]

We bought the Sams Club Travel APs last night at the $894 for platinum, just to hold until late 2021. We're going to want to be APs for 2021-2022 for the 50th celebration, and figure that if they go up another 50% by 2022, that's a great return on an investment. Also getting a $500 spend bonus for charging it to a new card + 2.625% back.

I'm trying to convince my husband to do this as well. I turn 40 in June 2021 and want to spend my birthday at DIsney , as well as 10-1-2021

 

[Nick6300]

I'm trying to convince my husband to do this as well. I turn 40 in June 2021 and want to spend my birthday at DIsney , as well as 10-1-2021

That would be an awesome way to celebrate your 40th! Think mine will be just before. We would be celebrating our 9th and 10th anniversary there when we're passholders. We originally wanted to go to Europe for our 10th, but the APs are going to eat up our limited vacation time. Leaning towards waiting until we can take at least 2 weeks for Europe.

 

[BeachPrincess]

It has new pricing but then says corp price at the old discounted price:
Adult (Ages 10+)
Gate price $1,119.00 + tax $72.74 = $1,191.74

YOUR CORPORATE PRICE: 865.99

Wow, you're right! The only drawback is I'm a Florida resident so I'd lose the monthly payment plan option but definitely might be worth it. Mine don't expire until next January so I'm going to think about it a bit. My fear is they may raise the prices AGAIN before my current passes expire. I downgraded to Gold this year but thinking of going back to Platinum for 2020.

 

[Nick6300]

probably posted somewhere here but AAA was a little cheaper than Sams Club - like by $2.50, but another option for the APs at under $900 if you know someone who is a member - I was quoted $1844 after tax for 2 platinums vs. $1847 for Sams.

 

[BeachPrincess]

No, you cannot use a new AP voucher to renew an expiring AP.

Okay so I have a question.......I downgraded to Gold this year, HUGE mistake as I realized my 60th birthday is December 29, which is blocked out, and I want to be there to celebrate. I had already stopped in Guest Relations when I was there in May to get the cost to upgrade but was waiting a bit to actually pull the trigger, just in case something changes and we couldn't go. Well now the cost to upgrade is significantly higher! I had a thought today....rather than paying the extra to upgrade just for 3 days in December, what if I purchase new Platinum passes from Tickets at Work (or Sams or wherever) and activate those on my first day, December 28th. Then I don't have to pay to upgrade my Gold and I'm also set for another year. Of course I would lose the monthly payment option but it would be worth it to save that money. My only concern is, would there be any problem activating it when my Gold is still valid - having 2 passes at once? Common sense tells me no, I would think that Disney doesn't care if you buy 10 tickets, but just want to make sure before I consider it. My Gold pass expires January 4th. Also, with a pass purchased elsewhere, not Disney, do you still get the discount to renew when the expiration is approaching, I assume? TIA

 

[Nick6300]

Okay so I have a question.......I downgraded to Gold this year, HUGE mistake as I realized my 60th birthday is December 29, which is blocked out, and I want to be there to celebrate. I had already stopped in Guest Relations when I was there in May to get the cost to upgrade but was waiting a bit to actually pull the trigger, just in case something changes and we couldn't go. Well now the cost to upgrade is significantly higher! I had a thought today....rather than paying the extra to upgrade just for 3 days in December, what if I purchase new Platinum passes from Tickets at Work (or Sams or wherever) and activate those on my first day, December 28th. Then I don't have to pay to upgrade my Gold and I'm also set for another year. Of course I would lose the monthly payment option but it would be worth it to save that money. My only concern is, would there be any problem activating it when my Gold is still valid - having 2 passes at once? Common sense tells me no, I would think that Disney doesn't care if you buy 10 tickets, but just want to make sure before I consider it. My Gold pass expires January 4th. Also, with a pass purchased elsewhere, not Disney, do you still get the discount to renew when the expiration is approaching, I assume? TIA

I would think you could prioritize the new Platinum APs on MDX over the Gold for Dec. Not sure if you can delete your Gold pass from MDX, but you could always create a new MDX account and transfer the Gold there (or transfer to a family member not going) to make sure that the Platinums will be prioritized. You could ask Robo on the sticky about tickets to double check.

I think the discounted APs, once you activate at Guest Relations, becomes the same as an AP purchased at Disney... meaning you'd be offered the renewal rate at time of renewal.

 

[Melodious]

Thanks everyone for all this information! I bought two Platinum APs from Tickets at Work. We had been planning to buy APs for the first time before November and then I almost swallowed my tongue when they increased by $225 per person. By having these APs, we will save not only on the tickets we were planning to buy, but also parking, TIW, and souvenirs for the youngling. And now it feels like I got an even better deal, hehe

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I think the increase in AP's will eventually lead to a hefty increase in park tickets. Maybe the increases will also be in the 20% range.

With that said I think my Disney days are pretty much behind us. My kids are older (19 and 13) and they LOVE Disney but there are so many other beautiful places in this world that you can go to for much cheaper than Disney. Way more bang for your buck. I've spoken to them about the outrageous increases and they are fine going to other destinations which we've always done anyway. We all do want to go back to Disney again but it won't be in the near future. And we were never every year visitors. More like every 2-3 years.

We did Disney last year and had a fabulous time but right now our next vacations will most likely be Puerto Rico and Italy. I just priced out 9 days at POFQ for a family of four at about 5500. That's just one room. I would prefer two rooms with my kids since they are teens. This doesn't even include food, flights or drinks. No extra add ons. 9 days in Puerto Rico with flights and a beautiful Airbnb is about 2600. Yes I have to pay for food and entertainment but I'm pretty sure we will be at about 5K and that's 9 days. I've priced out Italy for 10 days and with flights and hotels we are also at around 3000. Add in food and entertainment and I think we may still be around 6K. Rough estimates. Two years ago we did Dominican Republic for a week for half the price of a Disney vacation. Same with Mexico. There are tons of great places that will give you way more bank for your buck than a Disney vacation.

When I go on vacation I like to immerse myself in the vacation so when I do Disney I "have" to stay onsite. I don't mind doing Airbnb's when I go to other vacation destinations. As long as I immerse myself in that destination. To me staying onsite at Disney is part of the vacation. If the only way I can afford Disney is to stay offsite I'll choose a whole other destination and that's exactly what I'll be doing.

 

[Nick6300]

I think the increase in AP's will eventually lead to a hefty increase in park tickets. Maybe the increases will also be in the 20% range.

With that said I think my Disney days are pretty much behind us. My kids are older (19 and 13) and they LOVE Disney but there are so many other beautiful places in this world that you can go to for much cheaper than Disney. Way more bang for your buck. I've spoken to them about the outrageous increases and they are fine going to other destinations which we've always done anyway. We all do want to go back to Disney again but it won't be in the near future. And we were never every year visitors. More like every 2-3 years.

We did Disney last year and had a fabulous time but right now our next vacations will most likely be Puerto Rico and Italy. I just priced out 9 days at POFQ for a family of four at about 5500. That's just one room. I would prefer two rooms with my kids since they are teens. This doesn't even include food, flights or drinks. No extra add ons. 9 days in Puerto Rico with flights and a beautiful Airbnb is about 2600. Yes I have to pay for food and entertainment but I'm pretty sure we will be at about 5K and that's 9 days. I've priced out Italy for 10 days and with flights and hotels we are also at around 3000. Add in food and entertainment and I think we may still be around 6K. Rough estimates. Two years ago we did Dominican Republic for a week for half the price of a Disney vacation. Same with Mexico. There are tons of great places that will give you way more bank for your buck than a Disney vacation.

When I go on vacation I like to immerse myself in the vacation so when I do Disney I "have" to stay onsite. I don't mind doing Airbnb's when I go to other vacation destinations. As long as I immerse myself in that destination. To me staying onsite at Disney is part of the vacation. If the only way I can afford Disney is to stay offsite I'll choose a whole other destination and that's exactly what I'll be doing.

How did you decide to try Airbnb? I can't convince my wife to rent someone's house/apmt in a strange/new place. Let alone go offsite at WDW to one of the good neighbor resorts, because we'd feel like we'd have to rent a car.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

How did you decide to try Airbnb? I can't convince my wife to rent someone's house/apmt in a strange/new place. Let alone go offsite at WDW to one of the good neighbor resorts, because we'd feel like we'd have to rent a car.

I've done it locally with friends a few times and always had good experiences (we live in NJ so we've used it for the shore and nights in the city). I have friends that use it for most of their vacations. I've never used it at WDW but will be doing it for Puerto Rico and maybe Italy. I can't do one hotel room for more than one night with both of my kids. We need our space. It's much cheaper to have one house instead of two hotel rooms in most cities. Also I would rather be in one space instead of two rooms in a strange place.

 

[AJT607]

Okay so I have a question.......I downgraded to Gold this year, HUGE mistake as I realized my 60th birthday is December 29, which is blocked out, and I want to be there to celebrate. I had already stopped in Guest Relations when I was there in May to get the cost to upgrade but was waiting a bit to actually pull the trigger, just in case something changes and we couldn't go. Well now the cost to upgrade is significantly higher! I had a thought today....rather than paying the extra to upgrade just for 3 days in December, what if I purchase new Platinum passes from Tickets at Work (or Sams or wherever) and activate those on my first day, December 28th. Then I don't have to pay to upgrade my Gold and I'm also set for another year. Of course I would lose the monthly payment option but it would be worth it to save that money. My only concern is, would there be any problem activating it when my Gold is still valid - having 2 passes at once? Common sense tells me no, I would think that Disney doesn't care if you buy 10 tickets, but just want to make sure before I consider it. My Gold pass expires January 4th. Also, with a pass purchased elsewhere, not Disney, do you still get the discount to renew when the expiration is approaching, I assume? TIA

We purchased our first set of APs through Sam's and still got the discount when we went to renew. If you can swing it, I think it would be a great thing to have your Gold APs for the first couple months of your new Platinum APs. I would recommend creating a second MDX account (unless you have existing Magic Bands you wish to re-use with your new AP). Before all of the recent price increases over the last 18 months, I was considering buying two sets of APs and using them concurrently (activating both and using both at the tapstyles to enter the park) so that I could have double the fastpasses each day. With the current pricing of Annual Passes... there is NO WAY that I would consider that as an option.

 

[Nick6300]

We purchased our first set of APs through Sam's and still got the discount when we went to renew. If you can swing it, I think it would be a great thing to have your Gold APs for the first couple months of your new Platinum APs. I would recommend creating a second MDX account (unless you have existing Magic Bands you wish to re-use with your new AP). Before all of the recent price increases over the last 18 months, I was considering buying two sets of APs and using them concurrently (activating both and using both at the tapstyles to enter the park) so that I could have double the fastpasses each day. With the current pricing of Annual Passes... there is NO WAY that I would consider that as an option.

That's an interesting thought about trying to use 2 activated APs for the extra set of FPs. A MB on each wrist. We're still trying to decide on buying a 2nd set of APs from Sams to hold for far down the road because I know we won't renew continuously. Were there state taxes on the APs from Sams Club to where it mattered which state your membership was?

 

[AJT607]

I think we paid state tax on our Sam's APs, but I think we get charged State Tax when we buy online directly from Disney, as well

 

[PPFlight75]

probably posted somewhere here but AAA was a little cheaper than Sams Club - like by $2.50, but another option for the APs at under $900 if you know someone who is a member - I was quoted $1844 after tax for 2 platinums vs. $1847 for Sams.

I couldn't find these on AAA. My DH even called and the rep said he didn't know anything about Disney passes lol!
We got them from Sams anyway so it's fine but weird.

 

[PPFlight75]

I got my Sams APs and linked them to my account. They show an exp date of 2030. Our current passes expire after our July trip.

When we go next week, I assume the system knows to use our current pass and not touch the new ones??

When we plan a later trip, we should be able to make FPs with the vouchers but how do you actually activate them? Do you have to do anything other than scan them at the gate?

 

[teach22180]

The AAA discount is only in Florida according to someone from Florida.

 

[SWBCMusic]

How did you decide to try Airbnb? I can't convince my wife to rent someone's house/apmt in a strange/new place. Let alone go offsite at WDW to one of the good neighbor resorts, because we'd feel like we'd have to rent a car.

We have a special needs daughter and renting a home through Airbnb opened up the possibility for us to travel and for her to have a room set up like home. A lot of the inventory of homes and condos on Airbnb in Orlando are larger corporations or management companies, not individuals. We have had amazing experiences with each time. APs allow for free parking at parks and we rent a car or have driven from the Midwest. We have not struggled to stay in a 4 bedroom home with private pool for ~$100-120/night. Watch for fees and pay attention to cancellation policies. Both vary by owner.