DVC AP or 10 day hopper/non expiry

[TreesyB]

I'm not sure what to do, but wanted to make a decision before the prices go up in August.

We are going over the new year 12/31-01/06, and that's about 6-7 days of usage. probably more like 6 days.

our pattern is that we'll go again probably around spring break but not for a long time as i only have about 4 nights of points left. And then I'm thinking food & wine 2010, but haven't really decided. And of course will most likely go again for the winter break.... but if i go spring break, i won't go for food & wine, so I might have another 4 days; and could go again before the new year, but not sure. With the indecision, should I just get the 10 day non-expiry?

The other thing is that DS turns 10 in January 2010, so I want to get him a pass that will last, as he turns adult next year and that might make further trips more costly.

Help me decide!

 

[spiceycat]

sounds like a 10 day pass.

especially since you may only use 5 days on your first trip.

go with a 10 day pass unless you are staying in one year for 14 or more days.

of course if you stay for 13 days with a 10 day pass - that is 3 days you won't be in the parks - but you can add the water parks and still go to a park - just not a theme park

 

[Anal Annie]

Whenever I worked out the math for us it only took about 8 days of park hopping to make the AP's a better deal. Our DS is over 10 so I priced it out for 3 adult passes. 10 day non-expiring were $1,461 and reg. AP's were $1,179 which was a savings of $282. We knew we'd be using them for 3 days in May and again for 7 days in August. Beyond that, we don't know...but if we can slip in another trip before they expire next May we will certainly try!! Since the 10 day ones are only good for 10 days we'd be SOL after our Aug. trip if we DID decide to go again sometime next spring.

I really think the break even point is more like about 8 days of use in favor of the AP's. Plus with the AP's you are eligible for a few dining & shopping discounts that you don't get with the non-expiring tix.

 

[Paging Tom Morrow]

When doing a price comparison, also take into account the savings that can be realized by an AP holder by purchasing a Tables in Wonderland Card or any other AP benefits....

 

[OldDisneyMom]

We had AP the last time and found that they were great. As long as you get at least seven days out of them you have saved. We were fortunate enough to go down for three times and really made out good. Thinking of getting them again, for our trip this year in dec. just checking out the prices now.

 

[dgaston]

Disney doesn't penalize a child for having a birthday. You can purchase a child AP or another ticket medium and exchange it for the adult one after he turns 10.

 

[TreesyB]

Oh yes, I'd forgotten about all the discounts involved. Does anyone know if there is still a discount for purchases at World of Disney in DTD? That would make the difference for me to be able to save on souvenirs, because the last time I had AP's I bought all my souvenirs at WOD and saved a lot of money (and so did DS).

 

[dgaston]

Deb Wills has a benefit comparison pdf here: http://allears.net/pl/discounts.htm

HTH

 

[CarolMN]

APs also give "peace of mind".

With the MYW tickets, it's easy to feel like you have to commando tour to get your money's worth.

With an AP, you can go for a couple of hours, rest a bit and go back again that evening (or not) without guilt. I like that.

 

[culli]

APs also give "peace of mind".

With the MYW tickets, it's easy to feel like you have to commando tour to get your money's worth.

With an AP, you can go for a couple of hours, rest a bit and go back again that evening (or not) without guilt. I like that.

YES YES and ah YES....for us that is the most important part. Our last stay at BCV we would go to EPCOT for an hour or two before close. Just wander around watch the fireworks and not feel like it cost us a "tix". I hate the comando thing and feeling like I have to make the most of ticket. Actually I like the feeling of even if I go for an hour the AP is paying off, not costing me more. Not sure if that makes sense but the AP coupled with our DVC allows us the best of both worlds.......WDW AND relax. Nobody I know (except DVC members) understands that it is possible to do both. Our last trip in March we stayed for 2 weeks and was the most relaxing trip ever. Everyone was saying oh I feel sorry for you that most of sucked...then when I told them they were like WOW.

So if it is borderline I say AP for the "relax" factor.

 

[photobob]

I liked the AP as well, but I can see the virtues of both. Like previous posters a have mentioned not worrying about "wasting" a park entry to go to a park is one of the wonderful things about the AP as well as discounts.

When we first bought our AP we went late June of 2007, February of 2008 and early June of 2008 and got 14 park days on the AP. Our plan was to not buy AP's again until June 2009 and repeat the process. Basically buying AP's every other year. The only problem with doing that is that if you decide you want to go during the time in between you will have to do something else for tickets.

The ten day non-expiring w/waterparks etc. is expensive but attractive as well given the fact that it has 10 waterpark entrances as well. If you planned it out it could last for many visits. I like the waterparks but they are usually an opening until lunch attraction for us and then a park in the evening and don't much care for Disneyquest and probably wouldn't use the golf part of it either.

I think in the next couple of years the AP will be something we'll do yearly as the empty nest approaches. I foresee more trips in smaller accommodations, making maximum use of our points.

 

[Disneypubgal]

We prefer the AP as well... TIW and discount in World of Disney store make it a good value... if you really want to go to a waterpark you will receive some discount on entry with an AP... DVC pools are too nice to warrant that many trips to a water park. For us, if we are spending more than 7 days in a park within a 366 day period it works really well... the other thing you can do is buy the 5 day park hopper for your upcoming trip and on the last day flip it to an annual pass and the start date of your pass is the day you flip not the day of purchase... we did this last February and it worked out really well!

 

[culli]

We prefer the AP as well... TIW and discount in World of Disney store make it a good value... if you really want to go to a waterpark you will receive some discount on entry with an AP... DVC pools are too nice to warrant that many trips to a water park. For us, if we are spending more than 7 days in a park within a 366 day period it works really well... the other thing you can do is buy the 5 day park hopper for your upcoming trip and on the last day flip it to an annual pass and the start date of your pass is the day you flip not the day of purchase... we did this last February and it worked out really well!

WOW really! I never thought of that. We are going Oct 1-10 and need to get 2 kids AP. So if I get the 10 day hoppers for them and then on the 10th decide to make it an AP the date will start on the 10th and expire 10/10/2010 not 10/1? That is huge for us as we plan on going the same dates in 2010 and would allow us to sneak another trip on the AP. This could save us a few hundred easy, so just want to verify.

 

[CarolMN]

.....l... the other thing you can do is buy the 5 day park hopper for your upcoming trip and on the last day flip it to an annual pass and the start date of your pass is the day you flip not the day of purchase... we did this last February and it worked out really well!

When you upgrade a MYW ticket to an annual, Disney policy is that your year of admission begins on the day you first used the MYW ticket.

Sounds like the CM made an error in your favor. Others should not count on that happening.

 

[culli]

When you upgrade a MYW ticket to an annual, Disney policy is that your year of admission begins on the day you first used the MYW ticket.

Sounds like the CM made an error in your favor. Others should not count on that happening.

Darn it, should of known it was too good to be true

 

[Anal Annie]

I liked the AP as well, but I can see the virtues of both. Like previous posters a have mentioned not worrying about "wasting" a park entry to go to a park is one of the wonderful things about the AP as well as discounts.

When we first bought our AP we went late June of 2007, February of 2008 and early June of 2008 and got 14 park days on the AP. Our plan was to not buy AP's again until June 2009 and repeat the process. Basically buying AP's every other year. The only problem with doing that is that if you decide you want to go during the time in between you will have to do something else for tickets.

The ten day non-expiring w/waterparks etc. is expensive but attractive as well given the fact that it has 10 waterpark entrances as well. If you planned it out it could last for many visits. I like the waterparks but they are usually an opening until lunch attraction for us and then a park in the evening and don't much care for Disneyquest and probably wouldn't use the golf part of it either.

I think in the next couple of years the AP will be something we'll do yearly as the empty nest approaches. I foresee more trips in smaller accommodations, making maximum use of our points.

I think the 10 day non-expiring w/ waterparks is the most expensive option...and for us as well, the waterparks are a 1/2 day event...we still park hop every day so we'd still use a portion of the theme park admissions. We can be done with BB by Noon / 1:00 and TL by 11:00 if we hit them on early opening days.

Our first year we bought the Premium AP's...I decided that was not worth it tho for the future. On our first trip with them we DID use them once at each waterpark and once at DQ. That trip was a full week in August. On our other 2 trips with that same PAP we had a long 4 n. weekend in January - NOT waterpark weather & didn't have time for DQ. The third trip we used them on was only for 3 nights pre-cruise...and we just didn't have the time to do everything - so the only trip we used for DQ or the waterparks was the first one. I decided we would only get our money's worth on the PAP for longer summer trips. If we travel outside of summer or go for shorter trips then we can just use the DVC discount for the waterparks & DQ if we decide we want to go to those areas. It saves the upfront hit on the wallet and it makes going to those venues more of an option of "do you want to go there today" VS "we have the waterpark option so we HAVE to go" before our trip is over.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

You can also get pretty cheap regular rooms with APs because of the economy. That is subject to change of course.

I think the AP rates for values are $69/nt. right now.

That certainly makes an extra trip more do-able after you run out of points.

We thought about doing that until my folks dreamed up a trip to Gulf Shores, and DH's folks dreamed up a trip to Hilton Head.

Gee Whiz people...this is our Disney year!!!

I'm not complaining...we're still getting 2 WDW trips in the same year!

 

[bookwormde]

If you are sure you are going more than once this year even for only a total of 10 days an AP with the DVC discount is the best value. Some who do only occasional WP visits and are sure they are not going to the theme park for more than 10 days in one year do a non expiring in place of a PAP once since that will allow them to use a WP days from the un expired pass for many years. Also remember that if you are planning on getting an AP each year that renewals have an additional discount. Oh yea my favorite AP perk is the ½ price miniature golf. Be aware that with the AP room discount you may be very tempted to do some cash reservations on the weekends to extend your vacation and conserve points so in the end it may not save you money (but who cares you get more days at WDW)

bookwormde

 

[Disneypubgal]

When you upgrade a MYW ticket to an annual, Disney policy is that your year of admission begins on the day you first used the MYW ticket.

Sounds like the CM made an error in your favor. Others should not count on that happening.

You may want to double check this with WDW ticketing... We are not the only family that I know of that has been able to do this... I don't know that you can do this with a 10-day ticket but we have done it with a 5-day and I know of two other families that have done it with a 7-day.

 

[shortypots]

I think I figured it out at one point that it was cheaper to go with the annual pass as long as you hit 10 days in the parks in one year. For the premium pass, we figured 3 visits to the water parks or DQ and it would make up the variance from AP to PAP. Our current plan as it stands right now, is to buy a PAP for 5 weeks of trips over the next year. 3 of those are offsite, so the free parking will come in handy.