AP vs. 10 day/no expiration option

[Spacemonkaay]

I can't decide between the AP or the 10 day park hopper tickets with no expiration option. I would go to the parks every day, but DW would prefer to only go maybe once every 3 days or so. We got a 10 day park hopper with all the options last time, so we went for 5 days on our honeymoon in June, 2 days over Christmas, and we have 3 days left. So it stretches over a longer period of time for a similar price. We also have 6 or 7 water park fun and more options left to burn. It seems like it's a better value for us to get the 10 day tickets with all the options, but I really would like to be able to just walk over to MK from BLT for a few hours here and there. Just can't get the wife to go for it, even if we schedule 2 vacations 11 months apart.

Any suggestions? Has anyone else thought about this?

 

[jco_direwolf]

The math works out. If you use 7 or more days in one year at the DVC discount is break even.

10 day PH no expire is $518.66
7 day PH no expire $413.22
A DVC AP is $392.99

There is no law that says you can't have an AP and your DW has a MYW.

I don't know how many days you plan on using your DVC per year. but I can tell you having the APs is very nice. Since you can go to Epcot for Dinner or just walk around the world showcase, without thinking about it.

I've told this story before, but We have flown into MCO, gotten a rental car eaten lunch at Epcot and driven to Gainesville. Which I NEVER would have done if I had to pay $51.87 + the cost of Fish and Chips. They are good but they aren't $60 per person good.

johno

 

[AnnaS]

We have not taken advantage of the DVC/AP discount yet. Unless we go down twice a year, every year, it has not made much sense for us. We also do not go the same time every year where we might take advantage of the AP before expiring.

We have bought passes down at the resort for short stays and we have bought (and still have) 10 day, hopper, non-expiration. We can a few trips out of this. We love to relax at the resort every two days. Hit a water park and no theme park for the rest of the day, etc.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

We always do the 10 PHP, or whatever its called now with no expiration. Nice thing is if you plan it correctly, it really works out, plan meals within the parks the days you go, plan outside the parks the days you don't go. If you get a new 10 day, don't get the extras, just get no expiration, because you already have plenty of waterpark days. I think I ave 2 nights left on our passes and we have done 2 trips with them totalling about 13 nights. We have water park passes left from about 8 years ago! While the Ap's are great if you go alot, we just don't make a trip every 12 months to make i t worthwhile.

 

[marvali]

You just have to figure it out for your circumstances. With developer points, we were there last summer for 8 days, took a quick New Years trip and will be back this July 4th for another 8 days. The AP with the DVC discount worked out great this time around. We were supposed to be there 3 nights over New Years, but couldn't resist and added two more nights before the 1st off property. We got there late the first day, but still with the APs took a quick trip over to DHS to see the Osborne Family Lights, and worked in Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Fantasmic and a couple of other things without the worry of using up a day.

It is going to be nice not to have to buy any tickets for our trip this summer, and we will probably have a number of very short trips into the parks and spend more time just relaxing and enjoying the new Kidani resort. With DVC added in, it is basically just food and gas we have to worry about.

A PP mentioned the break even point, but that doesn't take into account the water park entries you have/had on your tickets. The PP also mentioned you don't have to have the same ticket. DW can have a MYW, while you have an AP. The added benefit is room discounts, meal discounts (including buying TIW) and shopping and/or parking discounts if needed.

After our trip this summer, with developer points being gone, we won't make as many trips so we will then probably go with the 10-day no expiration since it will probably be longer between trips. We will probably go with the WPFM option so we get basically 20 days of activity over our future trips.

 

[DonnaL]

For us, it depends what our plans are for the upcoming year to 18 months out.......if we plan on 3 trips we get the DVC AP ....and then schedule our trips so we can make use of the AP for all 3 trips. Some years we only do 2 trips and those trips may be only 4 or 5 days each......with only 3 park days.
For those trips, I always check Undercover Tourist prices (with the Mousesavers link) since they usually have some pretty good deals on 4 or 5 day MYW PH tickets for the same price as 3 or 4 days so if we want to go into a park JUST for dinner I don't feel so bad about burning the ticket. Since WDW changed the ticket pricing and the No Expiration option costs so much more we haven't bothered buying NE tickets.

 

[LIFERBABE]

We do a combination of tickets. I normally get the AP because I go for F&WF every Oct. and visit a park each day for 5 days straight.

When we go as a family, dh and the boys only like visiting the parks about once a week so they have 10 day no exp tix.

They love DisneyQuest and TL and visit DQ almost every day, so they also get DQ/WP AP.

The good thing about the No Exp passes is that last year we went to DLR before the Repo Cruise and we used a day off our 10 day passes instead of buying DLR tix. That saved us around $600. You cant use WDW AP at DLR but you can use MYW tix. With GCV opening, this will have more weight with us continuing to purchase MYW passes because of the flexibility.

 

[DonnaL]

Didn't know WDW NoExp tickets were good for use at DL.........we may be planning a trip to DL next year so that's good to remember.

 

[Magic08]

What is the WPFM option?

 

[DeeCee735]

My DH doesn't go to WDW as much as I do. He'll go maybe 7 days in a year, and of those 7 days, not all are spent in parks. So for him the 10 PH No Expire works great. For me....I took the AP last year, used 11 days to date, with a possible short trip just the week before it expires this April. So it worked out better than the 10 day PH No Expire for me, and it was $25.00 cheaper. Now it'll really be great because to renew it for DVC member is $345. I already have a trip in November, and one next January and possibly April 2010 as well. It'll pay for me to renew my AP.

Therefore, one 10 day PH, no expire and 1 AP for us! Take a look at your own circumstances and you'll know what will work best for you.

 

[stopher1]

What is the WPFM option?

Water Parks Fun & More - good for the water parks, naturally, and Disney Quest, Wide World of Sports and I believe golf now that Pleasure Island is no more... it's an add on to the basic ticket, just like Park HOpping and No Expiration are options.

 

[NSL]

When you purchase the 10 day MYW no expir., park hopper, plus the Water Parks do you actually get more days? I am confused on how it works with the water parks. If you use it at the water parks does it take one day off the 10 days? Can someone please explain. Thanks!

 

[Magic08]

That is what I'm wondering too. I thought the plus was just like a parkhopper but for waterparks. Do you actually get an additional 10 visits to waterparks so like 20 days total? That wouldn't make sense.

 

[AnnaS]

If you have a 10 day hopper w/ say 10 plusses, you would have a total of 20 days (unless you go to Disneyquest - that might be a 2/3 hour stop but you could make it a resort/pool day and still not use a theme park for that day).

If you go to a water park in the morning and a theme park in the evening, you would be using one of each - 1 hopper day and one plus - what we do to maximize the days/passes is,

Go to a waterpark for the day. Go back to resort, shower, relax, etc. We then spend the evening either at DTD or we have dinner at one of the resorts so we are not using a park pass. I hope that made sense.

When you go pretty often, you do this - if you go every 5 years or so - then just use the passes because who knows when you will be back.

 

[NSL]

If you have a 10 day hopper w/ say 10 plusses, you would have a total of 20 days (unless you go to Disneyquest - that might be a 2/3 hour stop but you could make it a resort/pool day and still not use a theme park for that day).

If you go to a water park in the morning and a theme park in the evening, you would be using one of each - 1 hopper day and one plus - what we do to maximize the days/passes is,

Go to a waterpark for the day. Go back to resort, shower, relax, etc. We then spend the evening either at DTD or we have dinner at one of the resorts so we are not using a park pass. I hope that made sense.

When you go pretty often, you do this - if you go every 5 years or so - then just use the passes because who knows when you will be back.

I just want to make sure I get this right. We will be going each year, as we are DVC members, but probably not more than once per year, so the annual passes are not good for us. I was thinking of the 10 day MYW non-expiring and adding the water parks. So if I did that I would get 10 park days + 10 water park days. If my understanding is correct this would be great because we could potentially get 2 (or more) years from one purchase. We usually go for a week and we could do 5 days parks and 2 days water parks. :thumbsup

 

[marvali]

I just want to make sure I get this right. We will be going each year, as we are DVC members, but probably not more than once per year, so the annual passes are not good for us. I was thinking of the 10 day MYW non-expiring and adding the water parks. So if I did that I would get 10 park days + 10 water park days. If my understanding is correct this would be great because we could potentially get 2 (or more) years from one purchase. We usually go for a week and we could do 5 days parks and 2 days water parks. :thumbsup

If you purchase the WPF&M option, you get the same number of water park/disneyquest ENTRIES as you purchase days at the theme parks. If you don't get the park hopper option, you can only enter one park each day you use the ticket. If you go to a water park, or disneyquest, it counts as an entry. If you get the ten day ticket, you would have 20 total uses of the ticket, 10 in the parks and 10 in the water parks or disneyquest.

However, just remember I said ENTRIES. If you get up in the morning and go to typhoon lagoon, then in the afternoon go to blizzard beach, and then that night go to disneyquest, you used three of your ten entries. If you go to Epcot, then back to the pool for the afternoon, and then back to Epcot for a meal at Teppan Edo, and hang around for IllumiNations, you have used only one park entry. Without the park hopper, you can only use one park entry per day.

If you spread them all out, and only go to one water park or disneyquest each day, and one of the theme parks on different days, you would be able to use that ticket for twenty days at WDW.

 

[mickeys girl 52]

That is what I'm wondering too. I thought the plus was just like a parkhopper but for waterparks. Do you actually get an additional 10 visits to waterparks so like 20 days total? That wouldn't make sense.

I believe it is 10 days of the theme parks and 10 days of the water parks. So actually 20 days of "Fun "

 

[Buckeye Fan]

...So it stretches over a longer period of time for a similar price. We also have 6 or 7 water park fun and more options left to burn. It seems like it's a better value for us to get the 10 day tickets with all the options, but I really would like to be able to just walk over to MK from BLT for a few hours here and there. Just can't get the wife to go for it, even if we schedule 2 vacations 11 months apart.

Any suggestions? Has anyone else thought about this?

Thought about it many times over. We always end up going with the 10-day (all the bells and whistles) pass. What it comes down to for us is that we just don't want to go to the parks every day. We're spending 7 days down there in 3 weeks, and we will spend 1 day in the MK, 1 day split between AK and DHS, and 1 day at Typhoon Lagoon. The other days, we'll do other things (e.g., hang by the pool, play miniature golf, go to DTD and the Boardwalk, etc.).

A 10 day pass will usually last us 4 - 5 trips, or about 3 years.

 

[disneydawn6]

I believe it is 10 days of the theme parks and 10 days of the water parks. So actually 20 days of "Fun "

Are you sure? I bought a 10 day with fun a few years ago. I thought it only had 5 pluses on it. I have not used it yet so I'm not sure.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

We do the 10 day passes, no expiration, + park hopper, + fun and more. Here's the deal.

* You get 10 park credits. With the hopper options, I could go to all 4 parks in one day for 1 credit if I wanted. The park credits can only be used at MK, AK, DHS and Epcot.
* You get 10 Fun Visit credits. These differ from the park credits in that you can't "hop." If you'd go to Blizzard Beach, then Typhoon Lagoon, you'd use 2 credits. Undercover Tourist says the fun visit credits are good for Blizzard Beach , Typhoon Lagoon, Disney's Oak Trail Golf Course (tee time reservations are required and subject to availability), DisneyQuest® Indoor Interactive Theme Park, and Disney's Wide World of Sports® Complex.

Just as an FYI, you cannot use all 20 credits to go to MK, AK, DHS and Epcot, only the 10 credits designated for those parks. The ticket I described above for an adult runs about $525 - $575, depending on where you purchase it, and $505 - $545 for a child.