AP quandary ~ WWYD?

[DisneyMomma81]

Our current APs expire in May, when DD and I visit in early July I had planned on upgrading our PHs to DAPs ~ but today I booked HoJo's for Thanksgiving weekend ~ the DAP is blocked T Day, Fri & Sat.

So should I ~

Upgrade in July to the DAP, then in Nov. upgrade those to PAPs

Upgrade in July to PAPs ~ $$$

Or not upgrade @ all, just use hoppers for both trips ~ MMs for both trips, we could always upgrade our PHs during our Nov. visit.

Price of 3 day hopper ~ *price from disneyland.com $184/$153

*I think we'll visit 4 days in July. 4 days $199/$169
**ETA ~ I've already purchased 5 day PHs (for our July trip) from lastminutetravel.com for quite a bit less than the above posted prices.

PAP ~ $439

We also plan to GADGAD **ETA we did not sign up for GAD in time.

 

[Kayla's Mom]

Well, if you are going for two different 4 day trips, that's $400 right there in tickets, so if you can swing it, I would just get the PAP and start saving with the discounts......Of course it's very easy for me to spend someone else's money.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Well, if you are going for two different 4 day trips, that's $400 right there in tickets, so if you can swing it, I would just get the PAP and start saving with the discounts......Of course it's very easy for me to spend someone else's money.

I agree. If you have 2 trips planned I would definitely upgrade to PAPs. You can wait to Nov. to upgrade to the PAPs to spread the cost out, but then you won't get the added discounts on your July trip. Remember PAPs get a 10% merchandise discount and a higher discount on food (15% instead of 10%). If you can afford to upgrade to the PAPs in July, go for it!!

ETA: AP prices usually go up in early August, so that may be another incentive to upgrade to PAPs in July....

 

[samkj]

Are you 100% sure these are your only trips? If so I would only upgrade your pass in summer, but not your daughters. That way you get the discounts (since the price difference between your pass and a 4 day plus a 3 day is only $56 and you can easily make that up in discounts) Your daughters pass price difference is over $100 and you don't need it for discounts, so save the money.

Now if you have a 3rd trip planned, upgrade both and enjoy!

 

[DisneyMomma81]

But if I upgrade in July to DAP I wouldn't till towards the end of the visit - blockouts.

 

[Eeee-va]

I'm normally not in favor of PAPs if you don't need parking, though you know your spending patterns well enough to know if the discounts will be worth it or not.

In your case, if you are CERTAIN that you will not go back a third time before your APs expire, then I would think about the hoppers. And if you don't want the temptation of going back a third time, then obviously the hoppers are smarter. But if you will be going back a third time, the PAPs are definitely the way to go.

IMO, your GADGAD throws a bit of a wrench into the works, because you're kind of sort of throwing away some money if you don't upgrade to an AP.

GADGAD voucher is "worth" $72/$62 if you plow it towards an AP at any point. Cost savings = $134.

But if you upgrade your GADGAD to a 3-day hopper, you have to pay gate price for the hopper. So instead of $184/$154 ($338), you'll be getting $134 off of $204/$174 ($244). That's still a savings but "only" $94. (If you upgrade that pass to an AP later, however, the full $134 value is retained.)

If you upgrade your GADGAD to a 4-day hopper, then instead of $199/$169 ($368), you're getting $134 off of $229/$199 ($294). That savings goes down to $74, so at that point you've lost nearly half of the "value" you could have spent on an AP. (If you upgrade that pass to an AP later, however, the full $134 value is retained.)

Long story short, by upgrading your GADGAD to an AP (even if you get a park hopper in-between), you are maximizing the dollar value of your GADGAD vouchers. But if you are only going twice in a year (or only WANT to go twice!) the hoppers may end up being cheaper.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Bumping with some more info ~ we did not GADGAD - it closed before I officially signed up.....

I have bought 5 day PHs for our July trip *in case we want to pop in on the evening we fly in - 7/2 *it'll probably be pretty busy -

I bought them from LastMinuteTravel.com ~ mine was $158.33 and DD's was $135.61

So with this info any other input on what we should do???

 

[sonnyjane]

Bumping with some more info ~ we did not GADGAD - it closed before I officially signed up.....

I have bought 5 day PHs for our July trip *in case we want to pop in on the evening we fly in - 7/2 *it'll probably be pretty busy -

I bought them from LastMinuteTravel.com ~ mine was $158.33 and DD's was $135.61

So with this info any other input on what we should do???

Well, knowing that you already bought the 5-days for $158.33, if you know that the ONLY other time you will go is during Thanksgiving, then when you add the price of that 4-day ($199) to your 5-day discount ticket, the total for the two trips is $357.33, which is obviously less than the PAP price of $439, so with those numbers alone, you'd be better off just buying two sets of hoppers. Now, if you are going to have a car, then without a PAP you have to pay $14 a day for parking, but it sounds like you're staying at HoJo so you won't. Also, PAP's get 15% off on food, but you have to spend roughly $540 on food in order to save the $82 price difference for upgrading to a PAP. Or, you save 10% on merchandise with a PAP, so you'd have to spend $820 on merchandise to make it worth it, or a combination of the savings between food and merchandise. Only you know how much you spend on those things, but if you don't think you will spend enough to justify the discount, then just stick with two sets of hoppers!