DAP for dummies!!!

[Mindy71]

Please tell me what the advantages are of the DAP besides admission. Thanks to those who take the time to entertain this!

 

[guarian22]

Well like you said, admission. If you go often, it can save quite a bit. You also get discounts on food and merchandise purchases, and discounts at hotels on and off property. Oh and free parking with the premium AP. Those are the ones I know of, but I'm not an AP holder, so there may be more advantages. Oh yeah, you get to say you are an AP holder too, for what that is worth.

 

[barefootmomma]

The most recent perk I can think of is advance and discounted purchase of Mickey's Halloween Party tickets.

Otherwise, I'm sure you'll end up with a good long list very shortly.

 

[DizMe]

I originally got mine to take advantage of the special hotel rates for ap holders that were offered in the fall. The first year I got mine, there weren't any comparable hotel deals for non-ap'ers and buying one ap actually saved my family a lot of money.....

EXCEPT....

I neglected to factor in the Disney snowball effect and my once-a-year trip turned into 5 times . I do like getting discounts at the restaurants and often on shopping, but you have to remember to ask for it if they don't mention it. It took me quite a while to remember. It's a real bummer to spend over $100 at BB and remember after the fact that you could have saved 10% just by showing your ap.

 

[Mindy71]

Do you get merchandise discounts with the DAP or do you have to have the Premium Pass?

 

[Capt Silly]

Well like you said, admission. If you go often, it can save quite a bit. You also get discounts on food and merchandise purchases, and discounts at hotels on and off property. Oh and free parking with the premium AP. Those are the ones I know of, but I'm not an AP holder, so there may be more advantages. Oh yeah, you get to say you are an AP holder too, for what that is worth.

I'm an AP holder.

Ok, with that out of the way, you get 10% off food at the in park/hotel restaurants and stores. Many of the DTD stores and eateries as well. You also get special rates at hotels (as already mentioned). As well as access to special sections on the Disneyland web site and newsletters.

If you get a Premium pass, you get a 15% discount at the park/hotel restaurants. You also get free parking (it's an $80 extra with the Deluxe AP).

What many families (including ours) do is have one person buy a Premium AP and everyone else gets a Deluxe. Then the person with the PAP buys all the meals and takes care of the parking.

The other thing it does is make it affordable to visit DLR and see it in the various seasons. We live in AZ, and if we had not bought the APs we would only visit once a year, this year though we get to go during the summer, Halloween, and Holiday seasons. We are even planning a few weekend trips after the summer blackout dates end.

 

[lcasa]

Right now we're getting 10% off practically everything. I'm even having all the CMs ask me if I have a pass these days - even for CornDogs! We got the WOC picnic meals (in advance purchased on-line ) for $12.99.

1 benefit - bragging rights! And being able to go when it's slightly less crowded because those lower-level passes are blacked out ( Saturdays are now less crowded than Sundays ).

 

[superslickdls]

Can I buy a discounted 5 day pass from AAA (which includes free parking) and then later decide to upgrade that pass to a annual pass?

 

[Capt Silly]

Can I buy a discounted 5 day pass from AAA (which includes free parking) and then later decide to upgrade that pass to a annual pass?

Shouldn't be a problem, they should apply whatever you paid for the 5 day pass to the AP price. A couple things to remember:

1. Make sure you don't upgrade before all the blackout days for the current trip have passed. If the last day is a blackout day, enter the park and then upgrade to an AP.

2. Upgrade before the 5 day pass has expired.

 

[Eeee-va]

They started a 10% merchandise discount for all APs (and I think 15% for Premium APs?) sometime in fall or before Christmas 2009. Those discounts keep being extended, but one CM at a merchandise stand did tell me that the discount will expire in, I believe she said, October 2010. That's subject to change, but the merchandise discount has been considered a bonus and it's not listed in your literature.

As others have said, you get the dining discounts for sure. Conversely, you may find yourself spending more vacations in Disneyland; I took 3 separate trips to Disneyland with one AP, because once you already have the admission, you might as well...

I also felt special having an AP, yes.

 

[LavenderPeach]

What many families (including ours) do is have one person buy a Premium AP and everyone else gets a Deluxe. Then the person with the PAP buys all the meals and takes care of the parking.

Just make sure that you do the math first because this isn't necessarily the cheapest way to go. For our family it was cheaper to buy 2 DAP and add parking onto one. But I know buying one PAP is cheaper for some families, especially if they buy a lot of merchandise.

Right now we're getting 10% off practically everything. I'm even having all the CMs ask me if I have a pass these days - even for CornDogs! We got the WOC picnic meals (in advance purchased on-line ) for $12.99.

Yes, I have CMs ask me all the time if I have an AP when I'm buying something cheap like a corndog. But when I'm there at a restaurant, spending the big bucks, they conveniently forget to ask. I'm still irritated I forgot to tell them about my AP last October at the big thunder ranch BBQ.

Can I buy a discounted 5 day pass from AAA (which includes free parking) and then later decide to upgrade that pass to a annual pass?

Shouldn't be a problem, they should apply whatever you paid for the 5 day pass to the AP price. A couple things to remember:

1. Make sure you don't upgrade before all the blackout days for the current trip have passed. If the last day is a blackout day, enter the park and then upgrade to an AP.

2. Upgrade before the 5 day pass has expired.

Also don't upgrade until after you use your MM.

 

[superslickdls]

thanks for the replies

 

[Mindy71]

OK! That's a big help! I just wanted to make sure I understood correctly that the merchandise discounts were for Premium passes only & that Deluxe passholders were only gettting merchandise discounts for a limited time. I think it would be well worth it for at least one of us to have the pass in my family of 5.

 

[Mindy71]

Do the hotel discounts apply to Disney hotels only?

 

[usschmidt]

Do the hotel discounts apply to Disney hotels only?

Hojo give 20% to AP holders...hth.

 

[DizMe]

Hojo give 20% to AP holders...hth.

Hojo now gives the 50% off entertainment discount to ap holders as well!

ETA: Also, something to note is that in general, food is good for the 10% off DAP discount and merchandise is not. *However,* food sold as merchandise (i.e. in the candy shop etc) does NOT get a discount but merchandise sold in food places (i.e. House of Blues etc) does. I found this out when I bought a Blues Brothers shirt for dh and was given a hefty discount (not sure why it was so much more than 10%). It gets confusing and the CMs don't always get it straight, either. I've been given 0 discount, 10%, and 20% at the same place depending on the CM. I think they have trouble keeping all of the different discounts straight.

 

[Mindy71]

Good to know. Thanks!

 

[Eeee-va]

Hojo now gives the 50% off entertainment discount to ap holders as well!

ETA: Also, something to note is that in general, food is good for the 10% off DAP discount and merchandise is not. *However,* food sold as merchandise (i.e. in the candy shop etc) does NOT get a discount but merchandise sold in food places (i.e. House of Blues etc) does. I found this out when I bought a Blues Brothers shirt for dh and was given a hefty discount (not sure why it was so much more than 10%). It gets confusing and the CMs don't always get it straight, either. I've been given 0 discount, 10%, and 20% at the same place depending on the CM. I think they have trouble keeping all of the different discounts straight.

House of Blues isn't strictly owned by Disney, is it? Some of the Downtown Disney shops offer AP discounts (maybe more than 10%).

WHEN there is a merchandise discount in effect for all AP-holders (like there is now but probably only through September?), then you get a discount on most food sold as merchandise if you spend $10. I got several boxes of Disney cookies and since they totaled over $10 the discount applied.

Conversely, for dining, if it's a cart, or something that looks like a cart (like the coffee/muffin kiosk on Main Street), or the ice cream shop, there are no AP discounts.