APs but I live several states away...hmmm?

[WeLoveLilo05]

Was bouncing around the idea of buying APs for Christmas but trying to figure if its worth it. We live in Jersey, we are trying to go twice this year, my husband and my 2 daughters.
One trip would be 5 nights/6days at a value or Mod in april/may
Our other trip would be 7 nights/8 days @ a deluxe in Aug/Sept/or Oct.

We always buy photopass
We always buy hoppers.
We do usually do the dining plan but are starting to feel maybe its not worth it anymore.
Thoughts?
Should we purchase APs or just do 2 vacation packages?

 

[bhardy]

I don’t have an AP, thinking maybe next time we go.... but when I was looking into it- I believe you can still do the dining plan but have to call to get it added. I’m 95% sure that’s what I was told. Good luck!!!!

 

[Derry Wade]

There are a couple charts in this post from wdw prep school that may help you to evaluate your choices http://wdwprepschool.com/disney-world-annual-pass/

 

[DisneyMom85]

I live in Michigan and I am upgrading to an annual pass. We plan on going again next year, but even if we don’t the savings make it worthwhile still. Only upgrading mine for now. We stay off property and purchased a 6 day hopper pass. Difference between my ticket and the AP is $334. We always buy memory maker, and have to park so that alone is $289. The remaining $45 we will definitely spend that much of not more on food and shopping so the discounts using AP will justify that.

 

[srwarden1928]

Having just activated my first AP as a TN resident, I am confident that your 6 day ticket and 8 day ticket combined will cost more than the AP. Any discounts on food/merchandise are gravy. And for all intents and purposes you are getting memory maker for free.

 

[uccats97]

AP in OH. Do it! Once you hit 10 day park hoppers, AP works out to be cheaper. With your projected trips, AP makes the most sense.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

AP in Staten Island here ! Definitely do it ! For the two trips you’re looking at almost $400 on memory maker alone , not to mention the cost of tickets.

We haven’t done the dining plan since becoming APs. Did the math- with the way we eat and drink, we can’t come ahead with the dining plan. The AP discounts are better for us.

 

[pattyw]

AP holder in Buffalo, NY! Just a warning, though. AP's make you "find" cheap flights and plan more trips!!

 

[subtchr]

For those two trips, just do the math, and you will see it would absolutely be worth it.

 

[Timothy02359]

AP holder in Buffalo, NY! Just a warning, though. AP's make you "find" cheap flights and plan more trips!!

Exactly! We are AP holders from MA and this is soooo true.

 

[kydisneyfans]

AP holder in KY here.

If making 2 extended trips within the same 12 month period, it is definitely cheaper.

Love the long weekend "free" trips on the AP, combining with DVC and using points for flights for cheap 4 day trips to Disney.

 

[IndianaRRT]

Indiana here. Will be purchasing 2 APs very soon as we have 2 trips planned for 2018. Based on the planned length, it makes the tickets for the 2 a BOGO. Can't pass that up!

 

[MomTo3PrincessesInNJ]

We live in south Jersey and had APs last year. We got them because we planned on 2 trips in 1 year... but it turned into 5 trips in one year. We used any excuse we could to get down to Disney when we had our APs.

 

[Jedimike]

AP holder in Texas here. As others have mentioned, you reach "worth it" value pretty quickly within two visits, especially with Memory Maker..and don't forget the discount on merchandise!

 

[jcvalenti]

We're in Michigan, and when we plan one of our extended family trips, we usually plan to go two summers in a row, with the second trip just before APs expire. We can usually swing about 20 park days on an annual pass, so clearly it is worth it at that point. The old math used to be if your are going more than 10 days in one year, get the AP ... not sure if that holds up today (with ticket price changes and park hopper increases), but I bet it's close.

In addition to just the ticket prices, the ancillary benefits of the AP can be pretty substantial - Memory Maker, free parking, Merchandise discounts for souvenirs and (my personal favorite) the ability to buy a Tables in Wonderland Card and get 20% off food and drinks (including alcohol, which is huge) at most every sit down restaurant and lounge on property. For all of these reasons, it's often worth it to get at least one person in the party an AP even if everyone else goes with regular tickets.

 

[Willlyb]

AP holder in Buffalo, NY! Just a warning, though. AP's make you "find" cheap flights and plan more trips!!

Very true...we purchased APs on 5/31 right before a 10 day trip where I found out I had a conference in Orlando immediately after the trip to turn it into a 15 day trip (just my son and I stayed behind).

Since then, we are going in November on an extended family trip (6-days), a trip with just my wife and I in December (6-days), a February trip for my wife and oldest daughter (5 days), and one final full-family trip in May (7 days).

Most of the time, I had flight miles to use towards tickets, and I had a bunch of Westin points to use at Swan/Dolphin on the trip with my wife.

We are trying to squeeze every last drop of pixie dust out of Disney before the APs expire (or maybe it's the other way around?)!

 

[AngP]

AP holder from NY, activating my pass in two weeks when I am down for halloween. I look forward to heading down for winter breaks away from the cold. Already looking up hotels and flights for a January/lFebruary break.

 

[Meriweather]

AP in Arizona.....we always go 2-3 times and it is so worth it.
Admission, photopass, discounts.

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

Canadian AP holder here.

We go for 10 days minimum and between the food and merchandise discounts it comes out a win. Especially with the 20% discounts. It’s jusT my DD and I so I only get one AP for myself and my DD gets a Park hopper since I pay for everything. It wasn’t worth it for us to each have an AP.

I used to take room discounts into consideration when trying to figure out if APs are worth it but sadly they are few and far between these days. Now resort discounts are an added bonus.

 

[PSUGuy]

We're from Pennsylvania and APs work for for us by going yearly but we vary the times to get two trips in within 365 days. We have 9 day hoppers from UT, saved $$ there and we got our FP+ choices 60 days out, actually 68. When we arrive on Nov 2 we'll upgrade to APs making us eligible for Photopass and all the rest. Next year we're going Oct 17 - 26, before the APs expire. Who knows, maybe we'll do a spur of the moment trip somewhere in there.

Bill From PA