Delulxe AP versus 5-day hopper

[Quest4Kingdom]

I was wondering, the Deluxe AP and the 5-day hopper, regularly priced cost about the same, so, what would be the benefit of choosing the 5 day hopper over the AP? I need a little help weighing out pros & cons to these two options. Thanks so much!

 

[trodrigue]

Well that's an easy one.

Buy the 5 day hopper and go for 5 days and then your done.

Buy the AP, get discounts throughout DL on food, tours, etc. Get future opportunites to plan as many trips as you can for 1 year because you will be saving so much money, get the opportunity to stay onsite because the AP rates are so fabulous you just can't pass them up. Schedule really long vacations and just go to the park for as long as you feel like it because you don't have to fit everything into your 5 days, etc. etc. etc.


But beware, having an AP is hazardous. I am getting one soon and am scared by all the possibilities.

 

[Raidermouse]

Do both it works better.We bought the 5 day PH and used our early entry and passed any blockout days then upgraded to AP on our last day.They apply the actual amount you paif toward and AP and date it to expire the first day you entered on your PH.If you upgrade to AP right away you will not get EE and if it is only a deluxe you will be blocked out on most Saturdays.

 

[Daisybelle]

So you can wait until your last day to upgrade? That would make it a great value. Do they have black out days for next year posted already? Does anyone know?

 

[Raidermouse]

Yes you can upgrade on your last day but get there early because the AP office gets really backed up.As for schedule go on the disyland website and 2009 should be up there just have to look.Anyone?

 

[NWPrincess]

Do both it works better.We bought the 5 day PH and used our early entry and passed any blockout days then upgraded to AP on our last day.They apply the actual amount you paif toward and AP and date it to expire the first day you entered on your PH.If you upgrade to AP right away you will not get EE and if it is only a deluxe you will be blocked out on most Saturdays.

If you are getting discounted tickets, do they just apply the discounted price. My problem is that I can get a discount through my work that is $181 for a five day. As I understand it, the AP is substantially more than that...but oh to be able to go to Disneyland over and over and over...

 

[Raidermouse]

The actual price is bar coded on your ticket.They know exactly what you paid and apply that.So if you upgarade you will pay it all anyway in the difference.

 

[Quest4Kingdom]

so i wonder why they have the 5-day hopper at all then other than MMs? Sounds like genious marketing, getting hooked! How can you resist when you find out you can just add a little more and come back as often as you want! I wish I knew about upgrading and still getting full credit towards the AP! Thanks for the info!

 

[Denton]

You can check the blockout calendar for the exact dates, but most Saturdays during the spring and summer are blocked out. Also Dec 20-31 is a blockout period for the Deluxe AP.

 

[mvaneps]

Definitely get the 5 day hopper and then upgrade. We did this last year and upgraded on the last day of our 5 day pass to avoid the weekend blackout day. Then we planned to have next summers disneyland trip a week early right at the end of our AP time. We also were able to plan a shorter trip in the middle because we had the AP and didn't have to pay for the tickets. Make sure you use the early entry that comes with the 5 day hopper before you upgrade.

We are leaving in 11 long days for our trip this year and plan to do the same again. That leaves us open to planning another mid year trip (hoping for Christmas time!) and then we will probably go again next June the week before the passes expire.

I think it is around $50 or $60 more per ticket to upgrade to the deluxe pass. For me it makes planning a trip that much easier financially to not have to purchase tickets. When we went at the end of our AP we had a blackout day and just planned to spend that day at Universal.

 

[Quest4Kingdom]

It looks like a lot of strategy in planning out trips as far as blockout days and upgrading... I've thought about Christmas though, we definitely want to go during that week that looks to be blocked for Deluxe AP... But we're planning a t rip before that, i wonder if it would be more worthwhile getting the Premium?

 

[bumbershoot]

It looks like a lot of strategy in planning out trips as far as blockout days and upgrading... I've thought about Christmas though, we definitely want to go during that week that looks to be blocked for Deluxe AP... But we're planning a t rip before that, i wonder if it would be more worthwhile getting the Premium?

Unless you have school schedules making it impossible, I highly recommend going in early December. You get all the decorations, but lighter crowds and the deluxe isn't blocked out. It's not possible for everyone, but early December was great last year!

Since you're already planning two trips inside 365 days, just look at ticket prices. Would the two sets of tickets costs more than an AP?

so i wonder why they have the 5-day hopper at all then other than MMs? Sounds like genious marketing, getting hooked! How can you resist when you find out you can just add a little more and come back as often as you want! I wish I knew about upgrading and still getting full credit towards the AP!

Well, we had 5 day hoppers and their value was 189. To upgrade we had to pay the difference between that and 239 (we upgraded the DAY before the prices went up, whew!), so that's not nothing (especially for DS's cheaper ticket, but not cheaper AP), and if we hadn't already known we would be coming back for at least one more day inside the year, it wouldn't have been worth it. I keep receipts and have been keeping track of the discounts, and even in all these trips I'm not sure we've hit the break-even point with discounts. But we have broken far more than even with the ticket costs, so the discounts are just gravy.

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh, I also wanted to mention that you could get the Deluxe (either buying it outright or getting hoppers and upgrading), and have your pre-December trip, and then if you do decide to go during a time with blocked out days, you could THEN upgrade to Premium. You'll end up spending the full Premium amount of money (no prorating), but it would almost be like layaway, not having the full amount spent at once.

 

[Quest4Kingdom]

Thanks Bumbershoot for your insight! That's a great way to look at it- like layaway! Yah, I wish we could go earlier in Dec, but school schedule & work schedules keep us limited this year! Esp. we're taking time off work to go see Toy Story Mania this summer!
Really appreciate your help!

 

[cinderella_mom]

If you go during blackout days, it is $40 per day for a blackout ticket. If you're only going for 2 days, the blackout tickets at $80 is better than the $120 extra to upgrade to Premium. If you're going for 3 days it's even + you'd get the discounts on merchandise. So actually if over the course of both trips, if you think you'd spend over $400 in Disney merchandise, it would be worth it to just get the Premium when you upgrade your parkhoppers to an AP and buy your first trip souvenirs on the last day when you have the Premium AP discount. With the 10% discount on merchandise you would make up the difference. Of course if you have a Disney Visa, you get a 10% discount at most shops if you spend at least $50 and 10% off some restaurants with a $10 purchase.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[bumbershoot]

Glad I could help, quest. I learned the "layaway" idea on mouseplanet!

Cinderella_mom, that's a really good point about the blockout passes! Ooh and quest could do the math figuring on one person getting premium up front to get all the discounts for the family, and then getting blockouts for the December trip or upgrading to premiums if there are 3+ blocked days during that trip.

 

[Quest4Kingdom]

Thanks bumbershoot & Cinderella_mom for those tips that i had never thought about! it does seem ashame though to do two blockout days at $80 and then to run into another blockout date later on, when we can just upgrade & get all those discounts... we do purchase lots of merchandise too... and it comes in handy for food- is food 15% too im assuming? i will have to take out my calculator!
thanks again! this is me for a while...

 

[bumbershoot]

Food is 15% (there are a few places that don't participate, like BurrBank ice cream in DCA and Royal St Veranda in DL), and merchandise is 10% (there are, again, places that don't participate though).

I spent a lot of time with the menus, figuring out what we would get and doing a bit 10% vs 15% calculation. And then my brain exploded and I stopped.

 

[Bugsmom73]

Do both it works better.We bought the 5 day PH and used our early entry and passed any blockout days then upgraded to AP on our last day.They apply the actual amount you paif toward and AP and date it to expire the first day you entered on your PH.If you upgrade to AP right away you will not get EE and if it is only a deluxe you will be blocked out on most Saturdays.

We did this. Y'all are a bad influence. We live in Illinois but we are going to make one more trip back.

 

[Quest4Kingdom]

I think it all evens out in the end though- if I think I'll save more, I might end up spending more, rather than saving, meaning that I will be spending the money that I would have not spent and saved instead...
does that make sense? In reality, the difference may even just be a matter of $50.00 or so... And what tends to happen with us- esp. having an AP, we end up doing super-spontaneous trips which end up more costly, and spending goes right out the door, I feel at loss sometimes!
O well, No worries & thanks for the help!