CindyAnn - Question re AP

[Jo-Anne]

Hi CindyAnn (and anyone else who knows the answer!)
I read on another post that the Canadian Disney Stores sell Annual Passes. However, I called the Scarborough Town Center store and they just said they sold 7 and 5 day hoppers. Do I have to keep calling around until I hit a store that sells them? Do you know how much they are? Any DC discounts? Thanks, Jo

 

[CindyAnn]

Hi Jo-Anne - I called the Disney store (Yorkdale probably) in mid-July and was quoted the following for annual passes. Prices are in Canadian dollars, including tax, and Disney club discounts are shown in brackets. Child prices are for children aged 3 - 9. Although they don't have them in stock, they said they would be happy to order them and said delivery would take about 2 weeks.

Adult - $536.41 ($513.36)
Child - $456.49 ($436.51).

Just for the sake of comparison, I also got their prices for 5 & 7 day hoppers, again in Canadian dollars, including tax.

7 day parkhopper plus pass (includes 4 "plus" options):
Adult - $471.89 ($447.31)
Child - $379.67 ($358.16).

5 day parkhopper plus pass (includes 2 "plus" options):
Adult - $379.67 ($361.22)
Child - $302.80 ($288.97).

Hope this helps, Jo-Anne.

 

[dbltrbl]

My experience:

Ordered my AP first week of Jan. 2001 from the Disney Store, and it was in within a week and a half. They gave me a "voucher" to take and exchange at Walt Disney World.

Darn that thing! It's just sits here (well, actually put away for safe keeping) begging me to use it again before it expires next year! LOL!

 

[Jo-Anne]

Thanks for the response....now I have to decide how important those 4 "pluses" are vs the AP (we are going this year 9/29 and then next year mid Sept)! Do you know when the AP is activated? Is it the day you buy from the store, or the first day you use it at WDW? Thanks, Jo

 

[CindyAnn]

Jo-Anne - You're very welcome. Reading your response, though, I was just struck by something. I'm assuming that the prices I was given are for Annual Passes rather than Premium Annual Passes, which I think you're also assuming, too, since you were thinking about water parks, but I didn't actually discuss it with the CM. I'm not sure how much more the premium passes would be, but I suppose they might be worth it. I'm debating this very issue right now, too, but at least I have 2 plus options left over from our last trip.

When you buy a new annual pass the start date is the date you have it activated at WDW. The problem is when you renew your AP (at a slightly lower rate than buying a brand new AP) and it activates the day after the old one expires. HOWEVER, there are two things I've read about on some of the other boards here on the DIS. First of all, apparently a few people were not given a full year on their pass, and found out the expiry date was less than 12 months in the future, so if I get one, you can be sure I'll be checking that. Secondly, in a few cases people have bought an annual pass that has been activated back to the purchase date of the voucher. I believe they've been able to fight successfully to change it, and it seems to be a fluke, but I was a little concerned when I read that.

I think the Disney store at Orlando airport is supposed to sell APs - actual passes rather than vouchers, but I haven't tried to confirm this yet. I thought it might be an option, though. If I can find any of those threads, I'll post the links for you.

I guess the difference of $65 CDN or so between an AP and 7 day hopper plus pass would be well worth it if you could get AP rates at one of the Disney resorts. It would pretty much pay for itself in one night, that way.

 

[CindyAnn]

Okay Jo-Anne - Here are a few links about Annual Passes.

This one confirms that you can buy an actual pass at Orlando airport that's already activated (or maybe not, depending upon which post you believe), rather than a voucher.

Here's another thread and another and yet another.

This is the thread that talks about an AP issued with the wrong expiry date - actually there were others, too.

Hope this helps, Jo-Anne.

 

[Jo-Anne]

CindyAnn, thanks for all your efforts to find me information. After careful consideration and calculations, I believe we'll go with an AP, purchased in Canada at Disney Store. I looked at purchasing them in US but with the dollar exchange, I'll be saving ~$25/ticket buying in Canada. I figure that we will get at least 8-10 days worth out of the AP over next year and we'll have the freedom to go to a park for just an hour if we want and not worry about wasting a park hopper day! Now I just have to convince my DD that the pools at the ASMu and BWV are just as exciting as Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach (she has seen them on the Disney music video and is expecting to visit!!). Wish me luck!
I think I'll also get the DC card which will save on AP ticket costs and the National car rental.....spending all this money to save money! Thanks again Jo

 

[Eno]

Just got back last night.... and want to go back already.
We bought AP passed from the Disney store in Hamilton and
traded the vouchers for passes at Epcot Guest Services.
Run for one year from time you get the actual pass.
Was great, went into the park for 2 hours that night and
the day we left went into MK for 2 hours. Spent
12 days at Disney. We go to the water parks every year
but only bought the regular AP pass.
We went to Animal Kingdom in the morning and rode the
Water Rapid ride and were soaked. No lines at all in the
morning, got off and right back on. Had a change of
clothes in the lockers and changed after. We swam at
the hotel pool in the afternoon and didn't miss a thing
by not going to a water park and paying extra.

 

[Jo-Anne]

Eno - sounds like you had a great time! I'm also looking forward to having the freedom of an AP to just go to the park for an hour or two if we want! I'm glad you didn't miss the water parks...I think between the water rides and the pools, our DD won't miss them either!!! Jo

 

[poffles]

I'm with Eno...my last trip of 14 days, we also opted for the AP after much decision making. We knew we'd want to visit the parks more than 7 days, and two 7 day passes we more expensive than an AP.

The AP was definitely worth the luxury of coming and going as you please and we didn't even think about the pluses we gave up. Our stay was onsite and the freedom of hopping on disney transportation and being able to go to the park as often as we wanted, when we wanted, without thinking "hmmm ... do we want to use a 1 day pass today or do we want to go tomorrow ... " absolutely made the vacation. We also went with the intention of paying for a day at a water park if we really wanted to go, but never really wanted to.

We went to the theme parks "EVERY DAY" whether it was just for a few hours or for a full day, just because we could! The freedom was worth it and it is a Disney vacation after all.