Disney AP's... What am I missing?

[msmama]

I purchased mine last May, knowing that I was going to go again this coming April. Doing the math, I came out ahead with the AP.

Then I added 2 more trips into the mix which negated any savings. That's the true problem with the APs!!

 

[minnieinnie]

If you are (or planning to be) at least yearly visitors at WDW, I've heard of this strategy before: buy the AP's for your vacation this year, and plan your next year's vacation just shy of one full year. So, for example, if you buy and use your AP for the first week of July 2016, plan your 2017 vacation for the last week of June, right before your AP expires. So, as long as your two vacations are long enough to put you at least at a breakeven point between the cost of the MYW tickets and the cost of the AP's (I think it's 10 days?? could be wrong), you could theoretically get "2 years" vacations out of the one AP, plus the discounts that go along with it... you'd only have to buy the AP's once every 2 years, but still get to use them yearly.

I've never personally done this before btw! Just thought it was a clever strategy if we were ever considering buying the AP's.

 

[wdwfan1]

We are DVC members. We always get at least 3 trips a year from our APs. This year we are going in April and December. We will go in March next to maximize the use.

 

[puffkin]

If you are (or planning to be) at least yearly visitors at WDW, I've heard of this strategy before: buy the AP's for your vacation this year, and plan your next year's vacation just shy of one full year. So, for example, if you buy and use your AP for the first week of July 2016, plan your 2017 vacation for the last week of June, right before your AP expires. So, as long as your two vacations are long enough to put you at least at a breakeven point between the cost of the MYW tickets and the cost of the AP's (I think it's 10 days?? could be wrong), you could theoretically get "2 years" vacations out of the one AP, plus the discounts that go along with it... you'd only have to buy the AP's once every 2 years, but still get to use them yearly.

I've never personally done this before btw! Just thought it was a clever strategy if we were ever considering buying the AP's.

This is what we have been doing for years. We are DVC members so we usually plan 3 trips on 1 AP pass. For example we would do Mid October, May, Early October on one set of passes. We also use the discount to get the TiW card to cover the same time period. After the third trip we usually take 9-12 months off and then start a new cycle. This allows us time to build up DVC points and airline miles. The first trip on a cycle is pricey buying the passes and TiW card, but the other two trips are usually dirt cheap then.

 

[supersnoop]

Annual pass price increases have outpaced ticket price increases. Now you can buy two 10-day base tickets for less than an annual pass. Previously, you'd break even in the middle of a second trip. If you always add the park hopping feature, the break-even is still somewhere around 16 days.

 

[georgina]

The only time I've ever had an AP was the year I was there twice in one year. Once for a week with the family, another for a week long business trip where I liked the flexibility of visiting the parks in the evenings.

Us too. Drove the camper and stayed at Ft Wilderness for 10 nights, 2 consecutive summers. Then because we had the AP's, did a Thanksgiving trip also! Got our money's worth out of those AP's. That was back in 2002/2003 though. Now I have 10 day non-expiring tickets and use maybe 3 days at a time. Stocked up on those before they went extinct.