Canadians with AP's?

[jennyjinx3]

Hi all!

Just looking for opinions and experiences from those who have Annual Passes. Do you feel you get your moneys worth? What are the resort discounts like and how often are they offered? Do you normally get TIW card too? Just contemplating.... Don't tell DH!!

 

[My 2 princesses]

What I did was, I got the tickets through Air Miles then upgraded to AP's with my DVC discount. Did I get my money's worth - yes, on trips cause we squeezed in 3 trips. On merchandise though, it was mostly 10%, so no biggie unless you really shop a lot.

To me it was worth it just for the trips as it cost us less than $200 to upgrade.

 

[pigletto]

We'll be upgrading to AP's on this next trip. We bought Undercovertourist tickets, did a spreadsheet of all the math and we'll end up saving about 150 by bridging them to AP's.
There's a great sticky on the Theme Parks Community board that talks all about tickets and specifically a section for AP's.
We have 3 trips planned with them so it was no brainer that it would save us money on tickets. Plus, we could look for AP rates on rooms for the third trip. First was already booked with points when we decided to buy them and our second trip this year will be to AoA so I am doubting there will be an AP rate there.

Then there is the discount on some( limited) restaurants and merchandise. So overall it will absolutely save us money. We can also buy the TIW card rather than the DDP so that will help.

 

[PrepandLanding]

We also get the Airmiles Disney tickets & I usually upgrade at least mine to an annual pass. We usually plan to take 2 trips within one year. If we stay off site we save parking fees(which is $14/day). If we are planning to stay on-site, the deals in the passholder section on disneyworld.com are great (I got WLV 1 bdrm for less than 1/2 rack). Your can add the DDP without having to buy additional park tickets as well. Also the food discounts are usually 10% off at resorts, T-rex, Wolfgang Express, etc. I ask everytime we buy food or merchandise in the World -the weirdest places give discounts.
As for Tables in Wonderland, for us thats a toss-up. We usually stay in a room with a full kitchen so we make breakfast, snacks, & some meals. The TIW card is $75 so unless I know I'm going to spend $400 on table service I don't bother with it. It's good for up to 10 people, & the discount is taken before the tip is calculated so thats extra savings.

 

[sjsjbrook]

I actually got an AP for my last trip. We were staying offsite so would have to pay for parking and eating everyday at a sit down character meal.

So I made a spreadsheet what it would cost without an AP and what it would cost with an AP and Tables in Wonderland. It ended up being $20 difference without the discount an AP gave us shopping in the parks. We did a lot of shopping at the parks and got more than our money's worth.

 

[donkthemagicllama]

we used to do this, but when free dining started, we stopped... we saved more that way. if that ever goes away, or we can't go when free dining is offered, we'll probably go back to doing that.

 

[2gr8DisneyKids]

This is our second year with AP's! This year I also got TIW since we find the DDP to be too much food. We do the QSDP and then the TIW and it worked out great.

We have 2 trips planned, maybe 3 if airfare works out and I might also go down and run the Marathon or Goofy, so possibly up to 4 trips.

If you plan to spend more than 10 days at the parks it works out. Also, the first year we did it was the Kids play and stay free so the APs for the kids were 1/2 off so that was a GREAT deal!

 

[Sue M]

We get APs and save. We usually go in January for a week, then in August for 12 or 13 days. The park admission alone saves us a lot. At times we've ben able to squeek 3 trips.
The room discount is secondary, you may get a 5 - 10% additional room discount above the general public rate. We get 20% off merchandise because we buy the Premium Pass to get Water park admission, esp for August visits.

Usually there's only 2 of us going, so depending on resort level, free dining may or may not be the best deal. For Moderates it can be, so we';; just save our 1 0r 2 day ticket we had to buy to get the free dining to put toward our next AP.
For Deluxe, free dining is never better for us.

 

[jennyjinx3]

We get APs and save. We usually go in January for a week, then in August for 12 or 13 days. The park admission alone saves us a lot. At times we've ben able to squeek 3 trips.
The room discount is secondary, you may get a 5 - 10% additional room discount above the general public rate. We get 20% off merchandise because we buy the Premium Pass to get Water park admission, esp for August visits.

Usually there's only 2 of us going, so depending on resort level, free dining may or may not be the best deal. For Moderates it can be, so we';; just save our 1 0r 2 day ticket we had to buy to get the free dining to put toward our next AP.
For Deluxe, free dining is never better for us.

Yes, we like the Poly , so free dining was actually less of a savings then the room discount we got for September. Our coming trip is going to be 10 days, and DH was talking about maybe going back two times next year.

Thanks for all the replies! It sounds like I might be trying to squeek in more trips if we got AP's!

 

[C&B Young]

We had an AP last year. Initially got it because we were taking 2 trips (each of 7 days) in a 10 month span. That saved us a little money on admission alone, but where the AP really shined was with the merchandise discount (10% off virtually everything) and the room discount we got at the Poly for stay #2 (40% off!). We'll definitely get an AP again once we're planning 2 trips within a year.

 

[donkthemagicllama]

hmm... maybe i should reconsider. we started using free dining back when we could only swing a value or *maybe* a moderate... this fall, we're staying poly and akl, so maybe an AP would be a better deal. any guess when AP discounts for sept are usually announced?

 

[jennyjinx3]

hmm... maybe i should reconsider. we started using free dining back when we could only swing a value or *maybe* a moderate... this fall, we're staying poly and akl, so maybe an AP would be a better deal. any guess when AP discounts for sept are usually announced?

This! I was wondering the same thing, and how often the AP discounts come out in one year. We will be staying Poly in September too.

 

[iamadisneynut]

I've been considering AP's too, I'm going down with DD and DS in August for FD, so I may upgrade our tickets to AP's. Then I can use themf or our trip in March and squeeze in a trip next summer before they expire so I'd get good use of them. I'd also buy a TiW card for the March/summer 2013 trip.

 

[donkthemagicllama]

if you haven't bought an AP yet, can you book a future trip with AP discount on the assumption you'll buy an AP as soon as you get there? i know this used to be possible (we did it a couple times), but things change...

 

[2gr8DisneyKids]

This! I was wondering the same thing, and how often the AP discounts come out in one year. We will be staying Poly in September too.

Right now the deals are through June 14. We do not always book with the AP rate, it depends on where we want to stay. We booked with the AP rate for March Break at POFQ, but for the summer trip with just me and the kids I rented DVC points at AKV for $10/point which is about 42% off the rack rate of AKL and better than any recent AP of general public discount.

That said, the AP rate is a better deal then FD when staying at a Deluxe and about the same for a moderate and the AP rate is better than the public discount, but it sometimes comes out after the general discount. And the refirbed resorts book very quickly!

So sometimes I book a full price room if I want a certain resort and hope I get a CM who can hold onto the room for me when converting it and sometimes I stalk the Disney site for an open room... took me about a month of daily checking to get the POFQ room.

 

[PrepandLanding]

You can book an AP rate room (by phone) even if you don't have your AP yet. They will only honor the rate at check-in, if the primary person on the reservation presents a valid AP. I've done it numerous times & its never been a problem. You can also buy the DDP without having to purch tickets.
When I call to book I usually try to find the AP code(from Mousesaver.com) that the Disney agent will need to search for the rooms. It saves time in case you get someone new. Also ask for CAA rates if you have a membership, these discounts were decent too.
I also keep calling up until we leave & have them check the rates. They will book you the cheaper rate & cancel the previous res, just ask if there are any fees you may not know about.
Good luck!

 

[jennyjinx3]

Thanks everyone for all the great info. Sorry everyone, I just realized I said we were going to the Poly in Sept about 3 times in this thread! Do you think I am excited to be going back....much??

 

[C&B Young]

hmm... maybe i should reconsider. we started using free dining back when we could only swing a value or *maybe* a moderate... this fall, we're staying poly and akl, so maybe an AP would be a better deal. any guess when AP discounts for sept are usually announced?

According to Mouse Savers it looks like Sept. AP rates have come out around the 3rd week in June the past 2 years.

 

[Kat&Dom]

We also get the Airmiles Disney tickets & I usually upgrade at least mine to an annual pass. We usually plan to take 2 trips within one year. If we stay off site we save parking fees(which is $14/day).

I do the same thing. We typically stay off-site so the parking being included is what makes the biggest difference for us. It is also amazing how quickly the 10% off adds up.

Since I paid to upgrade my free Airmiles Disney ticket in November, the Disney portion of our August trip is just flight, car rental and food. I added a 7 day Carnival cruise onto the trip since the Disney piece is not costing much and since we are already flying down, it made sense to add the cruise and not have additional airfare costs for it. So a 2 week vacation for the 2 of us is going to cost around $2,500 with flights, car rental, food, cruise costs, excursions and spending money. Not bad considering it is a week at Disneyworld and a one week cruise.