DVC and Annual Passes

[minniemomof3]

Do most DVC owners purchase the annual pass?

I'm a new DVC owner and am trying to decide if the pass it worth it for our family. I don't think I will vist Disney more than once a year, possibly twice if I stretch my visits out 11 months apart.

 

[I'mNoPrince]

We are buying APs every other year.

Started on the last week of June 8 days , Oct trip 4 Days ,Dec trip 5 Days Then back in the beginning of June for another 8 Days. If we can get a good AP rate and flights maybe a spring trip as well. Thats 25 days + even if you change your Vacation by just a week earlier I think it's worth it if doing full weeks in the parks.

Then We will do US/IOA for our Fall/Winter trip but only do 1 that year and restart the cycle agian.the following June.

 

[Granny]

I don't know if most buy the AP, but certainly many DVCers do that.

The DVC discount on APs makes this a no-brainer for us. I think the break even is around 7-8 park days and we also do the trips 11 months apart and get two or three trips from one pass.

In addition, APs qualify us to purchase the DDE discount card that gives us 20% discount on many WDW restaurants. There are other AP benefits like 10% off at World Of Disney store in DTD.

And last but not least, we like the APs especially when we stay at BWV as we can go into EPCOT or MGM for a short time and not worry about burning one of our daily admissions as we did when we used to buy the old parkhopper passes.

So I think that APs work well for many people. Just depends on how often you go, and how much you want to visit the parks when you're there.

 

[starbox]

IAnd last but not least, we like the APs especially when we stay at BWV as we can go into EPCOT or MGM for a short time and not worry about burning one of our daily admissions as we did when we used to buy the old parkhopper passes.

So I think that APs work well for many people. Just depends on how often you go, and how much you want to visit the parks when you're there.

Being able to just pop in and out of parks for a short visit is a really nice feature of the AP vs. multi-day passes. We've done things like only gone in to see the fireworks.

OTOH, we got a TON of mileage out of 10 day, no expiration, water park plus passes. We took four trips using those passes for all or part of the trip- and I still have one water park visit left. We did have to plan our use and spend the time in the parks more judiciously, but it ended up being a great deal.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Because of the distance we live from WDW, we also do the everyother year AP purchase. For example, we will buy APs for a mid January trip. Then we will try to get in one more trip mid year and another the first week of January. That makes it seem like we are going the "next year", when it is actually still under 365 days apart.

If you are going for a week on each trip, it is well worth the savings you get. The only way this tactic doesn't work is if you are forced to always take your vacation the same week each year. This is a good enough advantage, that we did it even when we didn't get the DVC discount. The discount just makes it all the more economical.

 

[browniemtb]

I would just crunch the numbers. Everyone that has posted is right. Figure a 8 day break even and the bonus is the ability to go into the parks just to watch fireworks or purchase a souvenier, like myself, on the last hours of your stay. I would hate to waste a day to buy a set of Disney Dolls. This past year we new we were going 2x. We got 17 days out of our APs....not sure if I will renew though...we may take a year off from the Magic.
Brownie

 

[Parkhopper13]

Great topic, so I thought I'd add a poll to a similar thread.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1277387

 

[rwatterson]

We do not purchase AP we have been buying 7 or 10 day passes since 1997 and with the never expire option we can buy more or less depending on the trip and weather, also we have do California each of the passed 3 years so that may also keep us from buying the AP.. We have done a number of cruises so we have spent less time in the parks.

Have fun