For those who go to WDW every year - question.

[mommykds]

If you go to WDW every year, do you buy an AP or not? I have been thinking about getting one but I would need to go the last 2 weeks of August every year & I know I wouldn't be able to get 2 trips an AP out of it.
We go for 10 days with the MYW & did the free dining in August which was great but I am wondering if I would do better with the AP? What do you do? TY!

 

[ScottNBecky]

If you are locked into the last 2 weeks of august every year and you can get MYW and Free dining that is the way to go. We go Christmas, Easter and SUmmer for AP is the best for us.

 

[TiggerAllie]

We've gotten on the the twice-a-year pace, but haven't had APs till this year. We had planned a wk trip in Dec and then ended up going down in August for a baseball tournament, so we decided to get APs (PAPs, actually) because we knew we were going for 2 wks and wanted more flexibility to go to the parks for only maybe 4 or 5 hours some days (and the PAP got us in the baseball games as well). Finally, we got an AP rate at BC for $189/nt, which really put us over the top for getting the AP. Now, we've added an extra trip in Oct to "get the most" out of our APs!

 

[DisneyMomJen]

We also go the last 2 weeks of August every year, or the last week of August and first week of September.We bought AP's last year when we were there and had them activated on August 26th. Well, we wound up going in December, April and August after that. We definitely got our money's worth. This August we planned our trip around the expiration of our AP's. We went from August 16th - 30th. We figured we could just relax the last few days. I am trying to decide if we should do AP's again. Even though we are going in December, and I hope April (I have to talk my husband into it), I would not purchase our AP until August. Again, it would be the end of August and we would make our trip the following year the middle of August.

It was great having the AP since you could go in and out of the parks whenever you want and stay for however long you want and not feel guilty that you are using a whole day on a regular ticket. Or you could go into a park just to have dinner. But, we found that we would go into a park EVERYDAY and this would get very tiring. This past trip I felt like we should have been enjoying our hotel facilites more than we did (we were at the GF and BCV). So right now I am trying to decide between an AP and a MYW 10 day non-expiring. The AP for us is actually cheaper since we are DVC members and get the $100 discount.

 

[TiggerAllie]

Don't you qualify for the AP renewal discount as well now that you have an AP?

 

[SelfEmployedDebtFree]

APs are ADDICTIVE!

If you get them you find yourself having more "excuse" to go.
You get price discounts on food, souvenirs, and full flexibility into the parks.
On the OLD system, I did a very thorough calculation and found that if you stayed 7 days you could have bought an AP. I havent did any figures on the new pricing system. Its not an issue to us. We know were going 3-4 trips a year, so we just know they are for us.

We always do the dead times of the year.
One trick for those of you who want to go a LOT, but not as much as we do, is to do the alternate yearly trick. Weve done this too. Take your vacation ... lets say the second week of February, then your NEXT vacation the FIRST week of February, then the NEXT year you dont buy one, and the following year you do it again. You lose your AP renewal discount, but you get to go every year and use APs. Got it? It makes sence if you think about it. They last 365 days, so as long as your next years trip is LESS than 365 days, its on the APs. If you took it the exact same week every year it wouldnt work.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Yes -we love the APs! Here's how we worked it this year. We activated our AP's on July 12, 2006. We were at Disney for 12 days. We will be going in January for 6 nights/7 days. We will start our summer trip on June 29 and leave on July 13th. So we were able to get 33 days out of our annual pass, plus we got the DDE card!

 

[DisneyMomJen]

Don't you qualify for the AP renewal discount as well now that you have an AP?

We do qualify for the renewal discount, but financially and timing wise it just did not make sense for us. We did not need any extra days in the park this past August - 10 days was enough! When we go in December for 4 days, we are only doing 2 park days - MVMCP which is not covered by an AP, and one day in Epcot for the Candlelight Processional which we will use leftover tickets we already have. If we go in April I may not do the parks since it is Easter week and the parks will be VERY crowded - not worth it. Also, since my kids start the week after Labor Day next year, I am planning on going the last week in August and first week in September and our AP's would have expired by then.

 

[jetsetter90]

We also go the end of August. Once we purchased the AP's because we new the next year we would actually be going the 2/3 week of August. Well since we had them we planned two other trips that year

But the past 2 years with the free dining plan it seemed to be the better deal for us at least.

TTFN
Jetsetter90

 

[T-i-double-g-err]

plus we got the DDE card!

For us, this was a significant motivator in at least one of us getting the AP. I got an AP plus DDE for our trip last January. DW, DM and kids had left-over tickets from prior trips. With six of us going to at least three character meals, DDE paid for itself and part of the AP price. I'll be using the AP and DDE again when we do our anniversary trip this December.

The question for me is whether to renew before our July trip, and my guess right now is yes. We'll probably do eight days in the park. There will be seven of us for the DDE. And, I'm hoping an AP rate code will come out for me to apply to the room.

 

[TiggerAllie]

Ok.. here's an AP renewal question: Is your AP automatically renewed based on the date your old AP expired? Or based on the date you renew? Or based on the first time you use the renewed AP?

Also, if you have a PAP must it be automatically renewed to a PAP or can you "renew" to an AP?

 

[spiceycat]

the AP must renew on the date the old AP expired. (I think you got 30 days to renew it - but the date will be the same )

otherwise it is consider a new AP.

don't know about the other - but I don't think you would have a problem?

OP - I don't know.

I have an annual pass - help with my DVC referrals - and the dvc discounts. now if I didn't have those I would have probably brought the 10 day or 7 day tickets with no expiry.

 

[Dixie Luvr 98]

Also, if you have a PAP must it be automatically renewed to a PAP or can you "renew" to an AP?

When we last renewed our passes (Spring 05) you could renew up or down from premium to regular and vice versa. Haven't heard of it changing.