How do Campers at FW take advantage of Annual Passes?

[5stljayhawks]

The wife and I are talking about one of us getting an annual pass. We are headed down in Feb '10 2-3 days in the park and have reservations for FW in Dec '10 for 13 days, with 5-7 days in the park.

1A) If you are primarily a camper from out of the state, how are you taking advantage of the AP while staying at FW?

1B) how many days do you spend in the parks in a given year?

3) Do you stay any other place beside FW, using the AP discounts?

4) Does the AP room discount apply to FW?

5) Thoughts on what makes an AP the most cost effective purchase?

 

[stacktester]

Not sure why exactly only one of you are getting the pass. Is it for AP Discounts only? If so I'd suggest getting a AAA membership. There are very seldom AP discounts for the fort. I quit asking for discounts to be honest because I think the CM's are too lazy to look em up. Just MHO but I swear they sure do say there's nothing available quickly when they say let me check.

I'm wondering if one of the 10 day or more park hopper passes would be better. You're already going to have free parking since you're on property. I'd look at both ways.

 

[auntie]

Many of your full service restuarants offer a discount when you use the Tables in Wonderland dining card. As an AP holder you are able to purchase this card. It used to give you some 20% off your meal. Since we usually have at least one sit down meal a day, it was worth it for us. I belive it's somewhere around $65. -$70.00. At least it was when we purchased it. Was good for a year or so from date of purchase.
We generally only have one person with an AP..as I had extra days left on passes from previous trips that hadn't yet expired when we visited. We use it for the discounted rooms at the resort.
I believe you also get discounts on merchandise at some of the Downtown Disney stores.

 

[Donna]

The best benefit of an AP is not having to by your tickets within the next 12 mos. To take advantage of that, just book your trip before your pass expires. Sure there are some added perks but the cost savings of tickets is what it's intended for and will save you the most money. We all have APs for that reason. This last renewal gives you an extra 3 months!

The little extras are nice, just remember to check them. We have DVC and sometimes the AP discounts are the same as DVC. Well one of the BEST dvc perks is $100 off each pass!

 

[BradyBz12]

WDW has become our annual vacation (we're from NH) and we always camp at FW. We stay for 2-3 weeks per trip and time our vacations to get 2 trips out of 1 set of APs. For us it's definitely worth it for the park tix side of the equation alone. We also purchase the TiW card which usually pays for itself halfway through the first trip. We did get an AP discount on our site this past November - saved us $10/night.

 

[Disneylitch]

We are from Maryland and buy the anual pass. Since we come once a year for about 2 weeks we schedule our first visit so that we can get next years visit out of 1 pass. This has worked really great for us. In 2008 we came to the Fort the last 2 weeks in December and 2009 we came the first 2 weeks. We go to the parks for atleast some part of everyday. Even if it is only for a couple of hours. Hope this helps.

 

[campingdawgs]

We make 3 - 5 trips a year down to Disney, so APs are a no-brainer for us. We have occasionally gotten an AP discount on campsites, and once we used the discount for the YC. The APs allow us to get the TIW card which we use A LOT! Free parking is a great perk, too.