AP vs. MYW

[caelwind]

Hi all,

My DW and I were looking at which to buy. The Annual Pass or a 10 day magic your way ticket with no exp. and Park hopping. We are kind of thinking the MYW tickets are a better deal. We are a family of 5 and own 250 points. So woth that we can visit 2x a year. Now, when we visit, lets say a 6 night stay, we dont go to the parks for all six days, we like to stay at the resort for a couple of those days and just hang out and relax. So which only gives us four days on the passes. The next visit we will take a long weekend and go to the parks 3 days. Totalling 7 days, leaving us 3 days on the tickets for next year.

If I buy the DVC AP, granted its cheaper, but I have to renew it every year. Eventually being more expensive for the number of days we plan to visit in one year.

Here is my cost breakdown:

10 day MYW No EXP Park Hopper Pass : $1543.00 (more than one year)
DVC AP : $1343.00 (one year only)

10 day MYW No EXP Park Hopper Premium : $1768.00 (more than one year)
DVC AP Premium : $1776.00 (one year only)


What do you guys think??? Am I crazy?? or am I on to something??

 

[ClarabelleCow]

I ran the same numbers, and bought the 10 day MYW with no exp and 5 pluses. But now I am not sure, I think we have used 2 days on them last feb. We are heading down in 3+ weeks, and we may be back in feb for the daytona 500, then possibly back next fall or december. So I am very torn. Perfect example of what my major issus is: We arrive 12/29, there is a Merry Mixer at Epcot that day, if I had the AP, no problem we would be there, then leave and head by to VWL for our sleigh ride and dinner. but with MYW, I don't think I would blow one day just to go to the mixer?? Thats my dilema, so if I know for sure I will be back sometime within the next year, I may upgrade.

 

[unixadm]

It is really dependent on how many times you go. From the sound of it, the 10 day might be better for you.

In our case, since we can drive down, the AP is much better.

We did 7 days in May, 7 days in September and will do 6 days in April.

20 Days using AP can't be beat by any MYW ticket.

The other advantage to AP is that I don't have to worry about how many days I've used so far. Every vacation, I schedule a relaxation day where we don't do a park. But we may want to go in at night and see Illuminations, Wishes, etc, or go to a dinner. One MAJOR issue I have with MYW passes is that if we don't go into a park for the day, but want to eat dinner in one or just see a single show, it uses one of the days you have. 10 Days becomes 9 just because you ate dinner....and you have to look at the cost of that dinner when you factor in that it took away 1/10th of your pass. An AP has no such restriction.

 

[mbb]

Hi all,

My DW and I were looking at which to buy. The Annual Pass or a 10 day magic your way ticket with no exp. and Park hopping. We are kind of thinking the MYW tickets are a better deal. We are a family of 5 and own 250 points. So woth that we can visit 2x a year. Now, when we visit, lets say a 6 night stay, we dont go to the parks for all six days, we like to stay at the resort for a couple of those days and just hang out and relax. So which only gives us four days on the passes. The next visit we will take a long weekend and go to the parks 3 days. Totalling 7 days, leaving us 3 days on the tickets for next year.

If I buy the DVC AP, granted its cheaper, but I have to renew it every year. Eventually being more expensive for the number of days we plan to visit in one year.

Here is my cost breakdown:

10 day MYW No EXP Park Hopper Pass : $1543.00 (more than one year)
DVC AP : $1343.00 (one year only)

10 day MYW No EXP Park Hopper Premium : $1768.00 (more than one year)
DVC AP Premium : $1776.00 (one year only)


What do you guys think??? Am I crazy?? or am I on to something??

No, you're not crazy at all..but it depends on how you like to "park the theme parks".

Like ClarabellCow, and unixadm said..would you use one whole days admission for one event?

We 're not commandos, and would much rather do our mornings, the occasional afternoon, and a few evenings over our annual trips. Using the old Park Hoppers, and the MYW tix are just too restrictive for us. As well, we spend lots of time at DQ and the water parks..with a PAP, we can "come and go" as we please - and still get good value for our hard earned vaction dollars with our DVC discount.


HTH!

 

[Daitcher]

The MYW tickets with no expiration make the most sense for the vast majority of families. In fact we just purchased 3 MYW no expiration park hopper plus tickets. We visit WDW on average 16-24 days a year. We love the resorts much more than the parks. Out of those 16-24 days we probably would do parks 4 times ( 1-2 parks per visit). We will get 2+ years out of our MYW tickets. Those 5 plus features which for us will be water parks probably brings it to 3 years for us. If you are the type that wants to visit Magic Kingdom or say Epcot just for dinner or a show then you might want to consider the AP. We don't do this now with our 3 year old son. When he is much older who knows. It seems like way to much work to be plowing through parks all day or going just to eat there or see a parade. After all we are on vacation. I think you are right in your math for your situation.


DAVE

 

[dianeschlicht]

No need to renew every year. We usually buy an AP and go 3 times during that year, including one trip nearly 12 months after the first one. Then we will forgo another trip until for about 54 weeks, and buy a new annual pass then. For example: a 10 day trip late January followed by a 5 day trip in March and a 10 day trip early the next January. That means 2 annual vacations on one AP plus another, but if you only plan to travel one time a year and can flex it by a week or two, you get two years on one AP. I like the flexibility of being able to just run over to a park for dinner or a show when I want to and not have to worry about "burning a day" to do it. I suspect if you had APs you would probably go into the parks for more casual times like that. I figure if I'm at Disney I want to DO Disney. Since we are only purchasing passes everyother year, it means we aren't locked into the anniversary renewal date thing. It actually is not that much difference in price to buy a new one versus renewal anyway, with the DVC discount.

 

[goofyforlife]

. Perfect example of what my major issus is: We arrive 12/29, there is a Merry Mixer at Epcot that day, if I had the AP, no problem we would be there, then leave and head by to VWL for our sleigh ride and dinner. but with MYW, I don't think I would blow one day just to go to the mixer??

Need to hi-jack for a second.....Clarabelle.....The merry mixer is NOT inside EPCOT. It is just outside the international gateway so you can get there by the walkway from BC or BW.....

Oh, but to answer the OP's question....We pondered the same dilemma this year and decided on 10MYW premium non expire (was $1,059 for 3 adult tickets) We need about 4 days this trip....Plan to use water parkday and 3-4 days in May. and will still have a couple days left over for next Dec. after our cruise (AP wasn't practical in that next Dec's trip is later than the 1 yr mark for us....)

 

[goofy4tink]

I ran the same numbers, and bought the 10 day MYW with no exp and 5 pluses. But now I am not sure, I think we have used 2 days on them last feb. We are heading down in 3+ weeks, and we may be back in feb for the daytona 500, then possibly back next fall or december. So I am very torn. Perfect example of what my major issus is: We arrive 12/29, there is a Merry Mixer at Epcot that day, if I had the AP, no problem we would be there, then leave and head by to VWL for our sleigh ride and dinner. but with MYW, I don't think I would blow one day just to go to the mixer?? Thats my dilema, so if I know for sure I will be back sometime within the next year, I may upgrade.

I don't think you need park admission for the Merry Mixer. When I went last week, it was before the park entrance turnstyles. You are talking about the DVC Merry Mixer, right?? So, you won't have to use up a park day on your pass.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

Need to hi-jack for a second.....Clarabelle.....The merry mixer is NOT inside EPCOT. It is just outside the international gateway so you can get there by the walkway from BC or BW.....

Oh - why thank you!!! I have been pondering these stupid tickets for 3 days!! Wasn't sure what to do! I thought Iwould have to burn a day. That is so good to know, thank you!!! Now I probably won't turn them into AP's I only paid $377.00 for them, I think it was back when they still offered the DVC discount, so 37.7 a day for parks plus 5 pluses, I may just use them up and then worry about it!!!

 

[goofyforlife]

Oh - why thank you!!! I have been pondering these stupid tickets for 3 days!! Wasn't sure what to do! I thought Iwould have to burn a day. That is so good to know, thank you!!! Now I probably won't turn them into AP's I only paid $377.00 for them, I think it was back when they still offered the DVC discount, so 37.7 a day for parks plus 5 pluses, I may just use them up and then worry about it!!!

Next time you need those tickets try subscribing to mousesavers newsletter.... It's readers are getting rates roughly $25 lower than that per pass through one of the local ticket vendors....

 

[Hibernians]

I recently joined DVC and my guide suggested the best way to use the AP was to book 2 trips to WDW within a 12 month span and then NOT renew the pass, wait another 11/12 months or so and then buy a new AP and go to WDW twice again within the following 12 months. Basically, you are getting at least 2 vacations out of the same AP within 12 months.

Example - The way I understand it is this: I can visit in November 2006 and October 2007 using the same AP. Then in 2008, I buy another AP and can use it the same way - November 2008 and October 2009. So that's only 2 AP for 4 years of vacations.
I plan to take 8 days/7nights vacations so I think the AP set up this way would be a much better deal.
Makes Sense ?

 

[ccw]

Maybe someone has already mentioned this but, since as a DVC member, the AP is only $300 and as an AP holder, I could then buy the Disney Dining Exp. card for $50. That 20% savings on food (and wine!) saved me around $80 just on a three night trip last month. The chance to have DDE defintely influenced my AP purchase since I knew I would go back a couple of more times in the next 12 months so that my food savings would help offset AP cost.

 

[christianweecare]

Maybe someone has already mentioned this but, since as a DVC member, the AP is only $300 and as an AP holder, I could then buy the Disney Dining Exp. card for $50. That 20% savings on food (and wine!) saved me around $80 just on a three night trip last month. The chance to have DDE defintely influenced my AP purchase since I knew I would go back a couple of more times in the next 12 months so that my food savings would help offset AP cost.

And just to add another fly into the ointment--what if DVC members are included in the Disney Dining Package? How would that influence purchases of MYW vs. AP's? Just thought I would add to the confusion!

 

[FLYNZ4]

I like the flexibility of being able to just run over to a park for dinner or a show when I want to and not have to worry about "burning a day" to do it. I suspect if you had APs you would probably go into the parks for more casual times like that.

We agree with Diane's philosophy. We have been buying PAP's (or AP's with the add-ons prior to PAPs) since '89 and we enjoy not worrying about where we we want to go... which days to use the passes, etc.

We also generally go for about a 2 week trip per year.. but we time the trips so that we only buy the APs every other year. It works for us.

/Jim

 

[yitbos96bb]

It is really dependent on how many times you go. From the sound of it, the 10 day might be better for you.

In our case, since we can drive down, the AP is much better.

We did 7 days in May, 7 days in September and will do 6 days in April.

20 Days using AP can't be beat by any MYW ticket.

The other advantage to AP is that I don't have to worry about how many days I've used so far. Every vacation, I schedule a relaxation day where we don't do a park. But we may want to go in at night and see Illuminations, Wishes, etc, or go to a dinner. One MAJOR issue I have with MYW passes is that if we don't go into a park for the day, but want to eat dinner in one or just see a single show, it uses one of the days you have. 10 Days becomes 9 just because you ate dinner....and you have to look at the cost of that dinner when you factor in that it took away 1/10th of your pass. An AP has no such restriction.

We are opting for the AP for 2007. We are going down Jan and Dec for 7 nights each time. We go to the parks usually the whole time, going in for dinner at Epcot, etc. SO the $299 for the AP makes much more sense than the $233 for the MYW.

 

[yitbos96bb]

And just to add another fly into the ointment--what if DVC members are included in the Disney Dining Package? How would that influence purchases of MYW vs. AP's? Just thought I would add to the confusion!

No because the DP isn't dependent on 1 or the other for the DVC people. It is $37.99 and is based on the number of nights you are staying AND is not dependent on any tickets.

 

[christianweecare]

No because the DP isn't dependent on 1 or the other for the DVC people. It is $37.99 and is based on the number of nights you are staying AND is not dependent on any tickets.

I stand corrected!

 

[yitbos96bb]

I stand corrected!

No worries!

 

[PaulaMurf]

I ran the same numbers, and bought the 10 day MYW with no exp and 5 pluses. But now I am not sure, I think we have used 2 days on them last feb. We are heading down in 3+ weeks, and we may be back in feb for the daytona 500, then possibly back next fall or december. So I am very torn. Perfect example of what my major issus is: We arrive 12/29, there is a Merry Mixer at Epcot that day, if I had the AP, no problem we would be there, then leave and head by to VWL for our sleigh ride and dinner. but with MYW, I don't think I would blow one day just to go to the mixer?? Thats my dilema, so if I know for sure I will be back sometime within the next year, I may upgrade.

Just so you know, you dont actually have to ENTER Epcot to get to the mixer. It is outside of the entrance at International Gateway. We did not have to us an entry to go. We parked at Boardwalk, had lunch, and then went to the mixer.

ENJOY!
Paula in CT