considering buying AP for first time... pros & cons?

[dzneelvr]

We're from way north, as you can tell,and the AP gives us the ability to purchase a Tables in Wonderland Dining pass (20% off dining)--we save an average of $250 over the $100 purchase price, other dining and buying power throughout the parks and at DTD, and special discount opps for resort, tours, etc. plus the AP holder only pays once for park admissions, all the other times you go are free. We are definitely fans during our 2 trips per year. Wish we could do more

 

[disneyseniors]

The policy is that it starts on the first use of the ticket you later use to upgrade. Sometimes CMs do it wrong.



If you really like having a TA book, they can still book a room-only reservation for you, I believe they can even get AP rates if there are AP rates for the time you're booking.

If you want FREE dining plan, you'll have to purchase tickets to qualify for it, but no one makes you use those tickets on any given trip. They can be kept for the future if the free dining plan packages make financial sense even after you get an AP.

AP holders can even get a ticketless package including dining (but not free dining), and if the TA's any good they will know how to do that.

Thanks so much for the great info! Getting an AP just sounds better and better to me especially if our TA can get us booked. She's great in finding good deals at WDW and has all the inside info on Disney.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

There is no downside to an AP so long as you enter the theme parks enough to pay for the pass.

I guess the only downside I can think of is that you have to still purchase tickets if you want free dining, but as I don't care about free dining I have not considered that a downside.

I'd ditch the free dining and spend what you'd be spending on tickets to get a Tables in Wonderland (unless your preference is for places that don't accept it) and a room with an AP discount.

 

[msmama]

The current promo is a percentage off the room, and then a discount on tickets (a day free). If I were to upgrade to an AP how would that work? Would I pay the difference between what I paid, or what I SHOULD have paid? Tix were bought through disney.

 

[TimothyG]

Hey - AP here!

My rule of thumb is that the APs are great if you want to do 2 or more 4+ day trips within a 1 year period. But I'll warn you that you will spend more money at WDW if you get one.

You can't really put a generic breakeven point on the tickets because it depends so much on your touring style. There are quite a few discounts that you can get that you should factor into your calculations. I've found that the discounts really helped pay for the AP itself.

The downside of having an AP is that there is a huge desire to use it. You feel like you are wasting money if you don't use it and so you'll wind up spending more money. The per day cost is much cheaper, but the total expenditure is a lot higher than non-AP years.

Keep in mind that you'll also be able to renew APs at a discount ($100-$120ish) so if you want to do this for several years, you'll want to factor that into your calculations.

But even being so expensive the AP is great. I love being able to go for extended weekends throughout the year and experiencing the different events (F&G, F&W, SWW, 24 hour party, etc.).

 

[TimothyG]

The current promo is a percentage off the room, and then a discount on tickets (a day free). If I were to upgrade to an AP how would that work? Would I pay the difference between what I paid, or what I SHOULD have paid? Tix were bought through disney.

1. Use those tickets to enter the park at least once.
2. Visit Guest Relations to upgrade before the ticket expires to upgrade.
3. You'll pay the difference between the upgrade price and the gate price of the ticket - regardless of the discount.

 

[eticketride]

We've had APs before, went several years with the 4-day pass, and we are now back with the APs. For us, the biggest perk to having the AP is that there is no pressure to have a "perfect" day. If we get there and a kid gets sick, or we picked the park with the Brazillian tour groups, or it takes 2 hours to get from TTC to the main gate, it's no big deal. We can leave and come back another time, or we can focus on the slow pace stuff that you don't have time for when you've only got 4 days to see 4 parks. We've driven up there once with a plan to go to MK, but we were late getting out of the house, the lines to get over to the main gate were way longer than we had predicted. We just took the monorail to Epcot, went to France and had some dessert, and then went home. That freedom is why we love the APs.