in two areas where someone looking for a deluxe experience could drive some savings/value:
1. The DxDP
Prior to the 2013 price increases, you could get worthwhile savings from this (even paying full price for it), provided you knew how to use it (and it generally fit with your party's demographics and eating style). Starting in 2013, those "worthwhile savings" will diminish substantially, regardless of how well your family's eating style and demographics fit the plan.
2. AP-related benefits
Until recently, you could drive substantial benefits from the purchase of an AP even if you only went once a year. For example, for the cost of upgrading one party member's MYW ticket to an AP, you could often receive savings that far exceeded the cost of the upgrade (e.g., when a 40% AP discount was offered at a Monorail resort but only a 20-30% discount was offered for the GP). Now, not only has the AP cost increased at the highest YOY rate ever but the AP discounts have diminished substantially and, in general, are no better, if not worse, than the GP discounts (the AP discounts are released well AFTER the GP discounts, cover fewer resorts, and, even when/if the advertised AP rate is higher than the GP rate, the difference is usually marginal and often is only available for more limited or higher priced room categories).
1. The DxDP
Prior to the 2013 price increases, you could get worthwhile savings from this (even paying full price for it), provided you knew how to use it (and it generally fit with your party's demographics and eating style). Starting in 2013, those "worthwhile savings" will diminish substantially, regardless of how well your family's eating style and demographics fit the plan.
2. AP-related benefits
Until recently, you could drive substantial benefits from the purchase of an AP even if you only went once a year. For example, for the cost of upgrading one party member's MYW ticket to an AP, you could often receive savings that far exceeded the cost of the upgrade (e.g., when a 40% AP discount was offered at a Monorail resort but only a 20-30% discount was offered for the GP). Now, not only has the AP cost increased at the highest YOY rate ever but the AP discounts have diminished substantially and, in general, are no better, if not worse, than the GP discounts (the AP discounts are released well AFTER the GP discounts, cover fewer resorts, and, even when/if the advertised AP rate is higher than the GP rate, the difference is usually marginal and often is only available for more limited or higher priced room categories).
We used to get one for the discount on the room alone. More recently, however, the room only discounts have been pretty dissapointing. As you mentioned the GP discounts have been just about the same. Sadly..for us, unless the pass is used for more frequent visitation to the parks, it's not nearly as good a value as it once was.
