Is AP worth it for me? All opinions welcome

[mdelano4]

I am a DVC owner and have been going to WDW for a long time. I thought I had some sense of all the money saving tricks/tips, but I was very wrong. So here is my question.

Next trip, staying for 7 days with my family of 5. We can get 7 day hoppers for about $495 each. Did the DDP/TIW/DVC dining analysis and came up that DVC was best money saver (we will not be eating that many TS dinners). We always spend the money for the MM. Love the photos. Twice in the past we have purchased APs. I don't know if it's new or I just missed it (very possible), but I read on the boards about MM being included in AP Gold or Platinum. According to WDW website it's free photo downloads, which I assume is the same thing as MM. So, it got me to thinking, what if I did 1 Gold AP and the rest hoppers. It would cost me about $100 more (at DVC rate), but I am saving $150 for MM and getting more dining discounts. Several of the QS stops we make are AP discounts, but not DVC. Same for one of the restaurants. So, my questions are:

1) Is photo download same as MM? (It seems clear, but you never know)
2) Am I missing something hidden in the fine print or is my brief analysis of the savings really that simple?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[ldo]

Exactly as you described. As long as gold black out dates work for your trips. We have 2 of these. Dd downloaded many photos. But I did not know of any qs that had ap discount.

 

[mdelano4]

Exactly as you described. As long as gold black out dates work for your trips. We have 2 of these. Dd downloaded many photos. But I did not know of any qs that had ap discount.

Thanks for the info. Apparently they added a handful of the QS to the discount to celebrate WDW 45th Anniversary, through September 31, 2017.

 

[eeyoresmom]

Thanks for the info. Apparently they added a handful of the QS to the discount to celebrate WDW 45th Anniversary, through September 31, 2017.

Don't forget the 20% off of merchandise also. That's a nice temporary perk.

 

[lorac4disney]

If you plan your next vacation after this one just right, you could make an AP cover two years worth of vacations. We do that so that we only have to buy one set of AP's, but get park entry for two years. For example, we went during May last year, but we are going during April this year on the same AP.

 

[jmmess]

If you plan your next vacation after this one just right, you could make an AP cover two years worth of vacations. We do that so that we only have to buy one set of AP's, but get park entry for two years. For example, we went during May last year, but we are going during April this year on the same AP.

^This! For $100 more per person, you can break your cost in half if you cover 2 trips with your AP. We go every May and have the AP cover both trips.