Do the math, I did!

[vicb]

I've been watching codes with great interest lately since I will be returning to Disneyworld next year in February. I am not an AP holder, we only go to WDW everyother year but I "did the math" as one fellow diser suggested and was thrilled at the savings an AP would bring me even on one stay.

I hope to stay at YC next year during a "peak season" week (7 nights). Looking at the AP room rates I could save $137 per night x 7 = $959 savings. Then subtract the additional cost of an adult AP over the adult pass with park hopper option ($959 - $183 = $776 savings!).

In Feb. '04 we used a general public room only code for BWI and when we calculated the savings using an AP discount is was very minimal over what we already had.

Now I feel better planning my Feb. '06 trip knowing an AP discount would be worth it in savings if general public room only codes don't come out! Just wanted to share this info.

 

[missypie]

I did the math, too. (I actually have a couple of pages of it in my Disney notebook.) I already had the AAA rate for 9 of my 10 nights, so the gross savings was $900 - net out the cost of the AP over the 10 day pass and I'm up by about $750. Next I need to buy the DDE card...I think that will end up saving us about $150. I also have $868 in Disney Visa dollars (will probably be up to $950 by the time of our trip.) In addition, I got a great rate on a rental car (plus free membership in National's Emeral Club thanks to a code posted on the DIS transportation board), so I'm feeling not so bad about the expensive trip we're going to take!

 

[Lollipop Mom]

After I got AP rates for my clients who were already AP holders I sat down and started running the numbers for the ones who DON'T have APs to see if it was worth it for them then started calling people to see if they wanted to make the change. All but 3 of my deluxe resort clients we switched to the AP rate because of how much better they came out. Of the 3 we didn't, 2 already had park tickets so buying an AP outright ate up all the savings, and one was convinced I was crazy. She couldn't believe I would call her and suggest she spend an extra $140 on her ticket and then tell her it would save her money. We went back and forth on that with me saying "you'll spend more for that ticket but you'll save $100 + tax/night on your hotel. You are staying for 8 nights so that's $892 savings. Take out the $140 extra for the AP and you are still going to save $752. So in this case, you will spend a little to save a lot." She kept telling me that they will do better with the meal plan. I emailed her with a quote for their final price, the info on the DDE and a comparison of the cost of dining for a "sample day" using the DDE and the dining plan. She still insists they will save more with the package. I figure I lived up to my part...I tried everything to save her money...if she wants to toss out an extra $700, that's up to her!

I totally agree that it's worth doing the math! Especially when we aren't seeing package discounts as of yet. For many guests staying in a mod, the numbers favor the AP as well.

 

[vicb]

Missypie, I'm with you on the Disney Dollars too, we will have close to 1000 by our trip. We put everything on our card (even my DD's braces payment! ) I'm glad the savings worked out for your trip!

Lollipop Mom, it sounds like you did a good job for your clients. Some people just can't grasp the concept!

As for dining plans, I myself am more skeptical on those. I think you have to really evaluate your eating plans/patterns at WDW to figure out if they are worth it. I'm sure for some they are a savings but for others not.

I must admit I still cringe when I think about my first trip to WDW and stayed at the Poly during value season paying RACK RATE for a package! I was so uninformed and so was my AAA travel agent. I was almost mortified when I discovered this board a year later planning a return trip and realized how stupid I'd been!

 

[Anastasia]

I am in the same position as the OP. I am hoping to go to WDW in November with DH, DS 10, DS 8 and DD 6 and am researching the rates. For 8 nights at GF I have come up with the following:

Savings on Room Rate (100/nt + 11.5% tax) $ 892.00
Difference on 1 AP - Child -$ 160.50
Net Savings $ 731.50

I was planning on doing the MYW meal plan (at a cost of $1,000.00 for 8 days), but I figure if we buy the DDE card at $50 and use the 20% discount, we will still probably come out ahead. See math below:

Package including MYW tickets and meal plan $5,625.60
Room at AP rate, 3 7 day MYW tickets at adult
rate and 1 at child rate, 1 child AP (no flames
please!) 1 DDE Card $3,982.13

Savings $1,643.47

The way I look at it, as long as we spend less than $1,643 for meals for 8 days, we come out ahead of the game. AND, when you gross up the $1,643 by the 20% savings on the food, it actually leaves us $2,054 for food (at the regular menu prices) for the week, or almost $300 a day. Also, we can spend that money however we want. I like to have a glass of wine with dinner, and that would be extra with MYW, we also like to eat in some of the restaurants that would count as two sit down meals on MYW, so I think we would really be better off with the AP and DDE.

Have your eyes glazed over yet? Did I lose you on the math? Can you tell I used to be an accountant?!!

Bottom line is it really does pay to run the numbers - you really have to see what works best for you and how you eat while at Disney.

 

[Lollipop Mom]

1 child AP (no flames please!) 1 DDE Card

Sue...not a flame I promise! Just wanted to let you know that you won't be able to get the DDE card with a child's AP. They require that the AP holder be an adult in order to purchase the DDE card. It will only add $62.84 to your total so it's not like it kills your savings. I just didn't want you to call and order the child's AP and spend that money only to find out you can't get the DDE card with it.

 

[vicb]

No flames but I thought the AP holder had to be an adult when booking a room??

 

[Anastasia]

Lollipop Mom -

Thanks for the clarification - that could have been an expensive mistake!

 

[asaj]

I had this question a while back, but I put it on the back burner because it was making my head hurt thinking about it...

My wife, 6 year old daughter, and I are going to WL in Oct. So far, we have just booked the room, using our AAA discount. I was going to leave it at that (unless a code came out), but now you are making me wonder again.

We are planning on heading back to WDW next year, not sure when though. There are so many questions...Do I need to wait til right before we go to get the AP, so that it covers most of 2006? Is it possible that there won't even be any AP codes for Oct? If there are codes, is it still based on availability?...

I guess I just don't want to cancel what we have, and then not end up getting what we want if codes don't come out, rooms aren't available, etc, etc, etc.

My head hurts again...

Andy

 

[RachelTori]

You can buy the AP now (or any time up until your trip) - just don't *activate* it until you arrive @ WDW. It'll be good for 365 days from the date of activation.

Unless things change drastically (and who knows?! ), you should be able to get AP discounted rooms in October. Lately, they seem to be making us wait longer and longer (so many of us were soooo STRESSED recently!), but they keep coming thru with the discounts!

 

[Tinks]

I thought with MYW tickets that everyone in your party had to be on the same plan. Everyone had to have the tickets. For example, I thought you couldn't have 1 AP and 3 MYW with meal plan. Am I wrong?

Hmmm....are you NOT getting the meal plan with MYW but just getting the DDE card for the AP?

 

[sarahg311@hotmail.co]

Unless I'm wrong I was told EVERYONE had to be on the same plan to get the Dining.

 

[asaj]

You can buy the AP now (or any time up until your trip) - just don't *activate* it until you arrive @ WDW. It'll be good for 365 days from the date of activation.

Unless things change drastically (and who knows?! ), you should be able to get AP discounted rooms in October. Lately, they seem to be making us wait longer and longer (so many of us were soooo STRESSED recently!), but they keep coming thru with the discounts!

Thanks, the activation thing makes sense, and relieves some of the timing issues. Still not sure if it is worth redoing everything that I already have booked. Guess I will wait and see what happens with Oct codes, but sometimes I feel like it isn't worth the stress. The AAA discount is better than nothing.

Thanks for the info.

Andy

 

[missypie]

Missypie, I'm with you on the Disney Dollars too, we will have close to 1000 by our trip. We put everything on our card (even my DD's braces payment! ) I'm glad the savings worked out for your trip!

You're the first person who hasn't thought I was a totally wanton spender for having so many Disney Visa Dollars! The first double dollars promotion concided with last years' spring break trip to Paris (we only had to spend over $150 then - now it's $2300). Disney Visa also paid for LASIK and a nice contribution to our church's youth center building fund. (And we don't pay a cent of interest.)

 

[DMRick]

No flames but I thought the AP holder had to be an adult when booking a room??
********
I was told the AP holder just has to be there at check in. They don't have to book the room. I have written to clarify it (I have two other notes from guest services saying I could use a child AP for room), but because others have been told differently, I wrote to guest services the 9th, and again today, since I haven't heard back...just in case the official word has changed.

 

[DMRick]

Lately, they seem to be making us wait longer and longer (so many of us were soooo STRESSED recently!),
**
It just seems that way LOL. Actually it was within a day or so of last year.

 

[sarahg311@hotmail.co]

I was told just today when making new ressies you CAN use a childs AP to book a room with the discount code. She says she has never heard different. Why would anyone get mad about that??

Sarah

 

[cottontail]

Hi this is for Lollipopmom:

This is a question about room discount with ap. Is it guaranteed that a travel agent will get a ap discount for a client, rather than the mad phone frenzy that just went on and from the sounds of it some ap holders didn't even get a chance at the discount for their chosen resorts.

I am just afraid of purchasing a ap when I really don't need one (have passes left over from years ago,) to get a great room discount and not getting a ap room discount. Then I would be wasting my money. Right.

Deb.

 

[Anastasia]

I was told just today when making new ressies you CAN use a childs AP to book a room with the discount code. She says she has never heard different. Why would anyone get mad about that??

Sarah - the reason I said "no flames please" is that there have been some threads where some annual pass holders felt that it was wrong to just buy one ap for a child and use it just to get the room discounts. They felt that that was abusing the system.

I'm not sure if the questions about having the meal plan for everyone on the reservation were directed at me, but I was planning on just getting the DDE and using the 20% discount for all of us. I think we will spend less by using the 20% discount rather than using the MYW with meals. My calculations are based on the fact that I would have paid $1,000 for the meal plan with the MYW package, so to my way of thinking, if I would have spent $1000 on the meal plan, and I have now saved app $600 on the room, I come out ahead as long as I spend less than the $1,600 on food. I think that is easily achieved with the 20% discount.

 

[Lollipop Mom]

Hi this is for Lollipopmom:

This is a question about room discount with ap. Is it guaranteed that a travel agent will get a ap discount for a client, rather than the mad phone frenzy that just went on and from the sounds of it some ap holders didn't even get a chance at the discount for their chosen resorts.

Hi Deb! I wouldn't say that it is 100% guaranteed, but just from my experience of calling CRO to get a code for myself as an AP holder before and my experience calling the agent number as an agent; it's easier getting it as an agent. We were able to get AP rates for all of our existing clients who already had reservations when the codes were released. I had to switch a few to different views (standard views are tough to get with a code, but with the code an "upgraded" view is still cheaper than standard view rack rate). I only had to switch 3 people to different resorts because their original resort had no availability. Two were concierge (which is also tough to get with a code) and one was at POR and we moved her to POFQ. I've had some people contact me since the codes were released who were having trouble adding them to their existing ressie and didn't want to deal with the frustration of calling every day. We've managed to get codes for close to half of them. I have no idea if it was just luck of the call or if it made a difference that I was calling as an agent. We'll keep trying on the ones we haven't converted yet and just hopef or the best!

No one should promise you with 100% certainty that they can get you a discount. If they do, I'd be hesitant to work with them. I know all of the Disney specialist agencies that you hear mentioned around the boards all tell you they will monitor your ressie and will do everything they can to get you a discount, but they don't guarantee it. They all have really good success rates at getting them though.

I am just afraid of purchasing a ap when I really don't need one (have passes left over from years ago,) to get a great room discount and not getting a ap room discount. Then I would be wasting my money. Right.

You don't actually have to purchase the AP before the discount is booked for you. You'll need it when you check in at your resort but you don't need it to book with the code. So no, you shouldn't be out money. Wait to see if you can get the code and if so, then buy the AP. Does that make sense? What I usually do is when someone books with me is that I ask them if they would consider buying an AP if it makes the overall cost of their trip lower. If they say yes, then when the codes come out I'll crunch the numbers for them and if it works out in their best interest to get the AP, we'll call to see if we can get the rate for them. If so, then we order the AP after we have a confirmed reservation.

I will say that DisneyLAND has been saying that you need an activated AP to book their AP rates (of course it's a whole different setup there so it's a totally different situation) but it is possible that one day WDW could move to that policy too but as of now, they don't require you to give any confirmation of being a passholder to book with the code; they simply tell you that you will need to present your AP to the CM at the resort when you check in.

I hope that answers your question!