AP vs Fla resident

[mamalle]

Hi- Im new to this board and wanted to ask a couple questions regarding the AP. we are fla residents and always go when the have fla resident deals on rooms and sometime when they offer play 4 for $109. Im seriously considering getting the whole family fla annual passes for xmas. Is is worth it? my son will be 3 in Nov so I'll have to start paying for all 4 of us for our trip in Dec. it seems like AP gets the same rates as we do already for rooms but are there any added discounts? do you get the discounted rates all year or like fla residents only certain times a year? Just wondering. tia

 

[Skylarr29]

It depends on what time of year you want to go! I would buy a seasonal pass , which is an annual pass but with some black out dates (Spring break, Winter Break and Summer, ie. the most busiest and expensive times of year)You still recieve the ap hotel discounts plus some other discounts. They are about 199 adult , so unless you go during the busy times when there are black out dates thats what i would do. It's not much more than the play four day passes and they're good about 10 months outta the year. Thats what I am getting for our upcoming spet trip. Good luck. If you have any more questions just ask.

 

[2angelsinheaven]

Get everyone SP's unless the pp stated you go during peak times... but buy the little one a AP, if your going to go alot, figure $8.00 each time... parking will be free with an AP but not a SP... and it doesn't matter who in the car is the AP as long as someone is... and kids tix are the cheapest.

 

[mamalle]

thanks so much- we usually do not go during peak time or summer and always stay at a resort so parking doesnt matter. I was leaning towards the seasonal for the first year and if it works out and the kids want to go more, than maybe we could upgrade to the annual esp when they start school and summer would be one of the times we could go. I was wondering though if you have the AP do you get the discounted rates all year? it seems they have very few rooms available at fla resident rates when I call.

btw- I saw that you are a passport member to seaworld. I just bought dh, dd and I membership for 2 years. We are going over the 4th of July. have you tried dinner with shamu? Im debating on going or wait till a less crowded time. thanks

 

[2angelsinheaven]

We have done dinner with Shamu, we enjoyed it and thought it was a pretty good deal. We were engaged on the big screen at the Shamu show so I am kind of biased, but I think you'll find others who find it a good deal as well. We prefer it over the Sharks Grille, yuck IMO... not worth the money at all... It was fun and our server was EXCELLENT. Try to make ressie for a table next to the water, we got the 2nd row which was still good however if you can get 1st, try to. The food was good and it's calling my name...

You'll get a discount with the AP too...

 

[jwfla422]

A FL resident seasonal AP is very worth getting if you go there even 2 times a year. A nice thing about the Play 4s is that you can actually upgrade to a Seasonal pass by just paying the difference but your pass would be effective the first day you used your Play 4. (there is an expiration to do this).

Keep in mind if you're thinking about going around Xmas the Seasonal APs are blacked out this year from 12/18/04-1/1/05.

As far as FL resident rates at the resorts go, they usually aren't released until a month or so before the time they're good for (sometimes sooner).

A good alternative is to reserve your room at the AP rate and then call for FL resident rates as it gets closer. If they're available they will credit you the difference.

There have been a lot of FL resident rates offerred recently even at the S/D.

If you frequent the WDW sit down restaurants you might also want to look into getting a DDE card (Disney Dining Experience). For $70 a year it gets you 20% at most of the restaurants in WDW-pays for itself after a few days, especially for a family of 4).

 

[zalansky]

How would I find fl res rates for S/D?

 

[Honeychild]

We live in Florida (the panhandle) and have been buying an AP for several years. Another plus is the 10% discount at the Downtown Disney store.

 

[mamalle]

thanks so much for all the info- we usually go the first week in december. so the seasonal pass would be fine. that would include the AP room rates also? I was just wondering for like $100 more we would be able to go all year round. we are going up this 4th of july and will do one day at the magic kingdom besides going to seaworld so the seasonal pass wouldnt be good. does the 10% at dtd included with the seasonal pass or just the AP ? tia

There have been a lot of FL resident rates offerred recently even at the S/D.

what is S/D ?


Do they have fla resident rates at the polynesian resort or AP only? I was planning taking our daughter there for her 5th bday in the beg of Feb 2005.

2angelsinheaven- we went to the sharks grille for lunch over spring break and I wasnt too impressed either. Thanks for the tips on dining with shamu. I think my son would be so thrilled to be up so close!