Is the AP worth the discounts?

[amylock]

Hi! I usually lurk around the DISBoards and am hoping some people who have APs can help me with this.

My fiance' and I are going to Disneyworld October 2-7. We have rented points from a DVC member for the 3-7 and are picking someplace to stay the 2nd. We are considering getting married at Disney and will be looking at locations (I am thinking Boardwalk) while there. Had I known there were discounts for AP members for that week I would have probably bought one!

We LOVE Disney - I have taken my son 7 times (19 yo) and my fiance's first trip to World was with us in December - he had been to Land several times.

We are thinking of having the wedding in early 2012 - Feb or March.

Given that getting married at Disney requires an on-property stay for 4 nights (and seriously, I ALWAYS prefer to stay on property), would it be worth buying one AP for this trip coming up to qualify for discounts? It is ~$200 more than a 6 day hopper. OR - can I upgrade my ticket to an AP while there and pay the difference? I am 95% certain we will get married there, but it could be good to take a look at the facilities before spending the extra $ on the AP. Part of the wedding package includes APs, but I think they are not active until you first use it...

One last consideration - we like the quick service dining plan (we don't like planning ADRs). How does the AP room-only discount impact free dining offers? Do they make special offers for room and dining to AP holders?

Please chime in with opinions and experience! THANKS!

Amy

 

[lin7]

AP holders usually dont get offered free dining, it's usually room only discount.

Some restaurants give you a discount, but not many. Depending what type of AP you have, you could get from 10 - 20% off merchandise though

 

[Missyrose]

No free dining, but you can buy a Tables in Wonderland card, which gets you 20 percent off at a bunch of TS locations.

 

[canopynut66]

Hi! I usually lurk around the DISBoards and am hoping some people who have APs can help me with this.

My fiance' and I are going to Disneyworld October 2-7. We have rented points from a DVC member for the 3-7 and are picking someplace to stay the 2nd. We are considering getting married at Disney and will be looking at locations (I am thinking Boardwalk) while there. Had I known there were discounts for AP members for that week I would have probably bought one!

We LOVE Disney - I have taken my son 7 times (19 yo) and my fiance's first trip to World was with us in December - he had been to Land several times.

We are thinking of having the wedding in early 2012 - Feb or March.

Given that getting married at Disney requires an on-property stay for 4 nights (and seriously, I ALWAYS prefer to stay on property), would it be worth buying one AP for this trip coming up to qualify for discounts? It is ~$200 more than a 6 day hopper. OR - can I upgrade my ticket to an AP while there and pay the difference? I am 95% certain we will get married there, but it could be good to take a look at the facilities before spending the extra $ on the AP. Part of the wedding package includes APs, but I think they are not active until you first use it...

One last consideration - we like the quick service dining plan (we don't like planning ADRs). How does the AP room-only discount impact free dining offers? Do they make special offers for room and dining to AP holders?

Please chime in with opinions and experience! THANKS!

Amy

You can only use one discount at a time so either discount on room or pay rack rate and get free dining. If you have AP and want to get free dining then you pay rack for the room and two base park tickets to get the free dining (and everyone in the room has to have same plan). we had AP for many many years and have went back to just doing a package and taking free dining as discounts were getting less and less. so have to just figure what best for your needs. we did not care for the TIW card but do like MYWD as we like the TS for character breakfast or dinner. I just plan dinner for after we know we will leave the park and sorta stay in the area. this our 59th trip in 28 more days so can honestly say we waste no park time for ADRS. we use our CS for lunch or brunch if not doing early character breakfast or CS for dinner if we do have early breakfast.

 

[disneychic2]

Hi! I usually lurk around the DISBoards and am hoping some people who have APs can help me with this.

My fiance' and I are going to Disneyworld October 2-7. We have rented points from a DVC member for the 3-7 and are picking someplace to stay the 2nd. We are considering getting married at Disney and will be looking at locations (I am thinking Boardwalk) while there. Had I known there were discounts for AP members for that week I would have probably bought one!

We LOVE Disney - I have taken my son 7 times (19 yo) and my fiance's first trip to World was with us in December - he had been to Land several times.

We are thinking of having the wedding in early 2012 - Feb or March.

Given that getting married at Disney requires an on-property stay for 4 nights (and seriously, I ALWAYS prefer to stay on property), would it be worth buying one AP for this trip coming up to qualify for discounts? It is ~$200 more than a 6 day hopper. OR - can I upgrade my ticket to an AP while there and pay the difference? I am 95% certain we will get married there, but it could be good to take a look at the facilities before spending the extra $ on the AP. Part of the wedding package includes APs, but I think they are not active until you first use it...

One last consideration - we like the quick service dining plan (we don't like planning ADRs). How does the AP room-only discount impact free dining offers? Do they make special offers for room and dining to AP holders?

Please chime in with opinions and experience! THANKS!

Amy

First of all, yes, you can upgrade your tickets to APs either over the phone beforehand or after you arrive at any of the parks' guest services locations. Having said that, however, if the only reason you are wanting to upgrade is to get a room discount for your wedding trip, I would advise against it. Room discounts are not guaranteed and sometimes are not any better than the discounts offered to the general public. (if any)

If you have an AP, you can add (pay for) the dining plan at the time of booking if you wish.

If you are having your wedding at Disney and will get an AP with that, then I think you'd be better off not getting the AP in October. If, however, you decide to get married and then just spend your honeymoon at Disney, then I would for sure upgrade in October.

I hope this all makes sense. Good luck with your decision and Congrats on getting married!

 

[stitch34]

I think AP becomes worth it if doing 2, or more, trips in one year. To get it just for discounts, I don't think it's worth it. And lately the discounts I don't feel have been that great.... and then seem to wait forever for them to release them for the dates you need, just to find out ugh, this resort isn't available or something with it.

I've done better sometimes with bouncebacks and with general public discounts .

We love having APs, as we go 2-3 times a year. We also do a lot of split stays so it works for us to add dining plan to our split stay resorts w/o having to buy tickets again.
We've also missed out on some great deals by having APs - like free dining and Kids Free because was more costly to us to have to buy tickets to get those deals.

But AP just for the AP rates, dont' think it's worth it.

 

[amylock]

Thank you all for your insight! Looks like I should hold off on an AP unless they come out with an AP discount for the days we want to get married and be ar the parks. Then it will be time to put pen to paper again.

For now, we will just enjoy the food and wine festival!!!!

 

[lin7]

I think it would be worth the discount though if you're already going in October then again in February. That saves you having to pay for another 4-5 day ticket.

Say if you dont take advantage of the AP deals, or there are no deals out when you have your wedding. At least you're saving on getting park tickets cause you have the AP.

If you have a huge family then maybe AP isnt the best way to go cause sometimes GP discounts are better with free dining and such. But there's just the two of you so room only discount sometimes surpass those other discounts.

I hate to see you throw away money that you didnt have to, regardless if you take advantage of the offers that come with the AP, at least you know you dont have to worry about getting tickets when your wedding comes along