Daft Questions

[bombhead444]

Hey guys,

Can anyone answer a couple of questions:

1 - Me and the DW are staying on resort this year whilst family are staying off resort. Can they come on site to see us/use facilities ie swimming pool etc???? If so how does it work???

2 - As we are going for a month this year, it seems cheaper to buy a annual pass than buy a 3 week and 1 week or 2x 2weeks. Has anyone done this and how does this work?

Many thanks for the responses i'm sure to get even if they are not flattering!!

 

[wayneg]

They can come and see you yes, eat there, drink there but should not use the swimming pools, saying that some do as majority have no checks, depends on the resort.
We have had AP for last 2 years but for multiple trips a year, not sure if they would be worth it for 1 trip, would have to get the pen and paper out. Only you know roughly what park days you want to do. Also maybe look at Magic your way tickets rather than UK tickets. Not sure I would want 4 solid weeks of Disney myself but I guess some do.

 

[Pegasus928]

1. We have recently started to visit the resorts, after hearing on this board that you are allowed to do this, just to see the different styles and themes in each one. We would never use the pool or any of the other facilities that we haven't paid for, but I suppose it depends on how thick skinned the visitors are as to whether they try and get away with it.

2. We bought APs this year as we are going twice at least, however we didn't buy them for our kids as it was cheaper to buy tickets to cover the 2 and 3 week stays seperately. Obviously if we decide to try and fit a 3rd trip in this will have been a bad move but thats the gamble I suppose. The reason we got APs for me and DW was to make use of the discounts, free parking and so we could get the Tables in Wonderland card.

 

[UKDEB]

We've been buying annual passes for years, so I'm not up to speed with the prices of the other ticket media. There is a point, though, at which APs become more cost-effective (it used to be around 9 park days), so I imagine that it would be a no-brainer for a month-long stay. Both APs and UK tickets expire (12 months after first use and 5/7/14/21 days after first use, respectively). If you buy your tickets from the US, though, you can buy a non-expiration option which could be worthwhile if you're not sure how many days you're likely to visit the parks. Given that APs provide for free parking (which is now $12 a day), I would say that at least one of the offsite members of your party should invest in one. There are a number of other discounts available, too. These links both provide good information on the tickets available.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/tickets.htm

http://allears.net/pl/ticket.htm

 

[wayneg]

We've been buying annual passes for years, so I'm not up to speed with the prices of the other ticket media. There is a point, though, at which APs become more cost-effective (it used to be around 9 park days), so I imagine that it would be a no-brainer for a month-long stay. [/url]

Not so easy now Deb. An AP will cost £420 (Premium) a 21 day ticket can be bought from £238, all depends on OP, do they want the whole 4 weeks in Disney? I would work it so I did all Disney in the 3 week ticket and then buy tickets for elsewhere with the difference. Parking won't be an issue if onsite.
Discounts need to be considered. So many things to consider but its a big jump from 21 day ticket to AP. If they are set on the whole 4 weeks in Disney then AP might be best option.

 

[wicket2005]

It depends on the cost of a normal ticket and the cost of an AP plus how many visits you will be doing in a year, also how you tackle an Orlando holiday.

We did invest in APs in December because we knew we were going back in July and comparing them to the normal tickets we buy it worked out cheaper for us to do this. We don't do total Disney/Universal/Sea World days we tend to want to hop between all of them so buy tickets to allow us this flexibility. We also have US/IoA APs too as they worked out better value for us.

We just went to Customer Services at Downtown Disney one afternoon and bought them. I preferred to pick them up here in 'free' time rather than be buying them at the park and missing getting on loads of rides early because we were messing round buying tickets. You do need id to buy them.

 

[bombhead444]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Well the story is myself and DW are going for 28 days whilst the family are coming out for the two middle weeks, so AP’s for them are not required really.
As for visiting Disney everyday, it’s not our plan as we, like everyone else, like to go do other things, Universal etc etc, it’s just we would like to be covered as and when we get the Disney feeling, nothing worse than not being able to visit Mickey or having a pineapple dole float when the feeling takes us!
Also we always need to say goodbye to Mk on the day of our return flight so if we bought a 3 week over here we couldn’t use it for the first week; you see where I’m going.
The way it looks on paper is if we buy 2x 2weeks it’s around £425 each and around the same if it’s 1x 3 week/ 1x 1 week. Yet the basic Annual Pass is around $500. Now if I’m reading it right, even with a useless exchange rate I’m still saving money.
And to top it all off with an AP the DW is already looking at next years dates for a return as it would “take advantage of the AP”.
Thanks for all the info though it’s most helpful.

Just a side note, can you buy Universal Studios AP’s at the gate, as the website only seems to let you do it on line. Dollar rate thinking again! Ta!

 

[wayneg]

If you don't want water parks or Disney Quest then the basic AP is probably the way to go, we have had basic for last 2 years, only done 1 water park so not worth paying for premium AP. The basic one is $497 incl tax so £332. Also if you can fit in that extra trip before your expiry they will be great value.

Not sure about Uni AP at the gate, I would think you can, just watch out for any offers they have online, we bought our 1st one about 6 years ago, got 2 years for price of 1, they only cost about £75/year to renew. We are not renewing Disney AP's this year due to exchange rate and DDP deal incl tix but definitely renewing Uni AP's.

 

[wicket2005]

I don't see why you couldn't buy an AP at the customer services at Universal. It is just like a normal ticket just with different info on the barcode. We picked ours up from there, and they just made them there and then. Throughout both parks I sure there were tents set up where you could buy APs, tickets for shows and some other stuff.

Wayneg, do you just get an email about renewal? We did that type of offer buy one get one free, it was due to be activated by the end of the September but when we picked the tickets actually up in July the tickets had that day's date on them, so we presumed they would be active two years onwards from that date and not from the purchase in the August before, which has made me wonder if a renewal will be set for August instead of the following July.

 

[wayneg]

Wayneg, do you just get an email about renewal? We did that type of offer buy one get one free, it was due to be activated by the end of the September but when we picked the tickets actually up in July the tickets had that day's date on them, so we presumed they would be active two years onwards from that date and not from the purchase in the August before, which has made me wonder if a renewal will be set for August instead of the following July.

Never had a renewal email from them. I wrote renewal date on the when we bought them and write it down each year when I renew. Just logged into website but it doesn't tell you on there either. I would ring them on a 1p/min number and ask when its due.

 

[wicket2005]

Thanks Wayneg.

 

[paulh]

when we have had friend to visit us onsite,we would ask front desk if it was a problem them using the pool. never had a problem but if its one of the signature pools BCV or AKL they would say no.never any harm in asking. when our relatives visited us at SSR they loved it so much they bought into DVC. might be one of the reasons they let them visit and use amenities
Paulh

 

[bombhead444]

Thanks for the responses.
So if family are allowed to visit, are they ok to park there for the day.
We just wondered as basically they would jump in our car when going to a park, so they'll save on parking as we'll have AP's. Also if they get bored or wanna stay in the park after us, they could jump on the good old disney buses back to the hotel.
Anyone done this and is that ok??? just saves my mum and dad $12 a day in parking, all helps.
Other than that they'll have to park at downtown and we'll pick them up.
Cheers.