Going to WDW twice in 12 months, Annual Passes ??

[fairytale]

Hiya All.

We are due to visit this coming October staying at SSR with Free Dining, however due our eldest DS starting Senior school in September 2012 we have opted to visit end of August/beginning of September instead of the October the following year.

Therefore as we will be visiting twice within a 12 month period would we better off purchasing Annual Passes rather than 21 day tickets through disney for each visit?, the same question also applies to Universal?

Also, would i still qualify for free dining if I have annual Passes. We always book through Disney.uk if that makes any difference?

 

[Pegasus928]

Hiya All.

We are due to visit this coming October staying at SSR with Free Dining, however due our eldest DS starting Senior school in September 2012 we have opted to visit end of August/beginning of September instead of the October the following year.

Therefore as we will be visiting twice within a 12 month period would we better off purchasing Annual Passes rather than 21 day tickets through disney for each visit?, the same question also applies to Universal?

Also, would i still qualify for free dining if I have annual Passes. We always book through Disney.uk if that makes any difference?

I don't know about the free dining question as I have never done this - but if it is a straight choice between buying 2 x 21 day passes ora an AP then the AP is the better value. Not only is the ticket cheaper you also get free parking (not an issue if you don't have a car) and discount in some of the shops and restaurants. Once you have the AP you can also buy the Tables in Wonderland card which gives you 20% discount in most restaurants around WDW.
The Universal AP is also better value than buying seperates and you also getsome perks thrown in. Discount is given at most retail places around the park and also in most of the City Walk restaurants. You also get discount for things like Blue Man group, vouchers for free bottles of water, free parking - and when we went, because we had the 'full' AP we also got free entry into US Halloween Horror Night

 

[alibeau]

Morning

Not sure about the free dining as we stay offsite but we are going to buy AP's this year as we are visiting at Easter and then August. If we just visit twice the passes are much better value than 14/21 day tickets but if we can squeeze a third visit in either next feb or next Easter (which will be earlier than this year) we will also get a third trip out of them.... ker-ching

The free parking alone mounts up to quite a sum (if you have a car!), not sure we will make that much use of the other benefits, we'll see, but I did the maths last night and we will defo be buying AP's

Ali

 

[fairytale]

Are Annual Passes the same as the 21 day tickets ie Hopper passes? Do they also include the Water Parks etc...

Also do they do any special offers on the Annual Passes or are they very rarely discounted?, were do you buy them from to get the best deal ?

So many questions ???

Thanks again

Annette

 

[Elise79]

Firstly as free dining requires the purchase of tickets as part of the 'deal' you wouldn't qualify for free dining (unless you bought another ticket).

Annual passes can only be bought from Disney. You can upgrade your existing passes but some people haven't been able to upgrade the ultimate tickets and if you do you have to get the Premium AP.

There are two types of Annual pass - standard and premium. The standard AP just covers the 4 main parks (with hopping privileges) and the premium includes all the parks, water parks etc that the Ultimate ticket would.

You would save money on tickets buying having an AP. Although you don't qualify for free dining you can get discounted rooms through Disney US - we booked the Contemporary in November and got a 42% discount.

 

[stkf]

I think AP are a great thing if you are going to WDW more than once. There are lots of discounts in the shops, dining, golf etc, the main thing for us though is the free parking. You can also pick up some good discounts in the hotels

 

[stba2006]

We are going for 28 days and are definitley getting at least 1 Premium annual pass.

I have looked on the list for discounts at some of the food places and some of them are places that we would go to any-way, so will make a bit of a saving there.

My boyfriend will definitley make use of the golf discounts, and again the parking alone for us would make up the difference in park tickets.

 

[torsie24]

Are Annual Passes the same as the 21 day tickets ie Hopper passes? Do they also include the Water Parks etc...

Also do they do any special offers on the Annual Passes or are they very rarely discounted?, were do you buy them from to get the best deal ?

So many questions ???

Thanks again

Annette

We got "free" APs when we paid for our wedding.

They don;t include water park access, but it's like $100 for a Water Park AP, so we're going to get those as I think over 21 days we'll visit each park more than once, and its on the 3rd visit that they break even.

 

[Pegasus928]

There is a little more info HERE

If I am reading it correctly the Premier Pass will allow you access to the water parks as well