Help! Annual pass question..

[Mr Ed]

Hi,

Have just booked a last minute two week trip to Orlando ( 2adults and an 11 & 8 year old). We depart on 6th Aug!
We are, also, going for 16 days over Christmas and New Year!

Which disney tickets would you go for? If it was only the Christmas trip, I was going to get the 14 days pass, but now I am wondering whether the annual pass might better???

How much are the annual passes? Where can I buy from (is it at the gate only)?

What extras, other than parking do you get with AP?

We have been before and love all the parks and water parks, so we will be visiting them all again!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
Ed

 

[Lobey]

Hi,

My guess would be that Annual Passes would work out cheaper for you, but of course it depends how often you plan on visiting Disney during your two trips. If not too often you might be better buying hopper passes which dont expire and can be used again during your second trip.

You can read details of annual pass benefits here which also explains how to buy a pass. Basically you buy online or via the telephone and the mail you a voucher which you exchange for your pass on your first day at Disney. The pass expires 1 year after it is issued, not 1 year after you receive the voucher.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

We were looking at Annual Passes too as we already have them for Universal.

Think the cost for the three of us, 2 adults and 1 child was just under £900.

To be honest we think the new MAGIC YOUR WAY tickets are better value for us anyway.
These work out at about £200 cheaper for the 'top of the range' ticket, ie the MYW Premium 10 day ticket, giving 10 days access to Disney Parks plus 5 extra days around the water parks or disney quest.
The advantage is you can hop from park to park and the tickets never expire, being frequent visitors they should last us a few holidays, especially as we have some unused days on our park hoppers too.
We do not spend excessive amounts of time round the disney parks but we can recommend these tickets.

Guess it depends on your circumstances.

Try www.mapleleaftickets.com

You can buy the Annual Passes on the gate.

The other thing to bear in mind is you are visiting at busy times of the year, for instance it will be very hot in August - thats when we go next too - so if you have the MYW tickets you may not feel under as much pressure to try and cram too much into your time, as the tickets never expire.

 

[Goofyish]

Another advantaqge of an AP or PAP is the discounts available. You are also eligable to get a DDE (Disney Dining Experience) card, that will give you 20% off most sit-down restaurants in WDW parks and resorts.

 

[Miffy2003]

We love the flexibility of our annual passes. It means we can "pop" into a park for an hour or so for a show, meal or whatever - and we don;t feel we have "wasted" a day.

As Goofyish mentions, there are all manner of discounts with an AP. I especially like the 10% off at World of Disney one

If you plan on eating a reasonable amount of table service restaurants at WDW getting the DDE card Goofyish also mentions could save you $$$$

 

[Mr Ed]

Thanks for the help people. I think its the PAP for us!

 

[disneyholic family]

i agree that with the PAP you can pop into a park for an hour and not feel like you've 'wasted' your entrance..

on our visit from which we just returned, we popped in TL twice in the afternoon, the first time at 3:30, risking running into the afternoon thunderstorm, and another time at 6:15 just for an hour to see if we could get on Crush and gusher without a line..
since we have PAPs it didn't matter to us if it didn't work out since there was no cost...

we also popped in and out of the theme parks and pleasure island, not worrying about spending one of the visits as would have been the case with other tickets..

when i compared the PAP to the magic your way tickets, the PAP worked out when you get past 10 days....
don't get me wrong....the PAP's are hugely expensive....but they were the better value for us...

also, if you get another set next year, you'll get a discount for it being a renewal....i think we got a 10% discount this year, which worked out to be quite a lot on 4 PAPs.....

if you do buy PAPs remember to always ask if there is an AP discount whenver you make reservations for anything..
for example, there is a discount on the Segway tour at epcot...i think it's also 10%....all those little discounts add up.....we also got a discount on my pal mickey...i think only 5 %, but it's better than nothing...

 

[pigby]

Thanks for the help people. I think its the PAP for us!

How often are you planning on visiting the waterparks? I ask because although you will, no doubt want to visit in August, will you still want to go in December when the temperatures drop?

We too have AP's but not PAP's - we visited WDW last Oct/Nov, have just returned in July and are going back before they expire this October. We visited TL this time and paid on gate (got the small discount with AP's). In October, though we don't want to visit the water parks (maybe I'm just a wimp!) and paying on the gate in July worked out much cheaper than upgrading to PAP's. Also in December, it is very likely that only one waterpark will be open.

We have saved quite a bit with our AP's - $25 off DDE card (and therefore saving $$$ on our meals), have had discounts on our rooms amounting to something like £700 - possibly more over the two trips (and hopefully will get a further discount for October) and got 50% off mini golf this time. We do spend most of our time on-site and in the parks though but AP's certainly work for us.

 

[disneyholic family]

some decembers it's warm enough to swim, others it's not...
no way of knowing what the weather will be until you're there..
if you're into waterparks (as we are) it pays to have the option...
also if you want to go to disneyquest and pleasure island...
if you're not, then you don't need the premium...
we like the option of going to everything...

we've been at WDW several times during december...
one year was so cold, when my kids were very little, they wore their snowsuits, balaclavas and mittens....
but the other years were so warm, we went swimming every day, either at the waterparks or at the swimming pool....and yes, one of the waterparks was closed, so we didn't have the selection that is available in the summer (but river country was open in those years.....i miss that park)...
but still we went to the waterpark that was open several times....
but as i said, we're into waterparks (and disneyquest)....if you're not, it might not be a good value for you...

 

[UKANGEL]

lol Ed, just booked to fly on the same date as you, also VERY last minute!

I'll be getting an AP for myself from DTD when we get there as we're also going back in October

 

[Mr Ed]

Thanks for the concern... we have been at Christmas twice before and went to the water park that was open at least once during each visit. You can usually guarantee at least a couple of warm days during the Christmas period. Hope I'm right with that this year!?!?