is there a cheaper place to buy AP

[cjappert]

title pretty much says it all... are AP the same price everywhere? or is there somewhere that sells them a bit cheaper than everywhere else?

 

[jco_direwolf]

DVC members get a discount.

Other than that you can buy the best Discounted ticket you can get from UT. Then go to the park, use the ticket, and then upgrade to an AP.

If you are not in NY (so I've heard) you can go to Target and use your 5% off to buy Disney Giftcards and use the GC to buy your AP.

 

[DizDaD7]

Beforewarned. If you buy DVC , Yes you do get a considerable $$ off but it's a vicious cycle, because you'll need to justify buying your AP, so of course another trip or 2 will be in the future..Then when your pass runs out , It has a wicked way of starting the procedure all over again...

 

[Dan Murphy]

Probably the best discount you can work out is to buy a discounted ticket from Undercover Tourist, use it for one park entry and then do a bridge upgrade to an annual pass.

Currently, the best ticket to do that with would be the 6-Day Park Hopper + Water Park Fun & More - No Expiration. Do a park entry, do not use the Water Park and Fun options, and then bridge upgrade. Savings would be $68,

If that all sounds confusing, I or others will explain further.

 

[jco_direwolf]

Probably the best discount you can work out is to buy a discounted ticket from Undercover Tourist, use it for one park entry and then do a bridge upgrade to an annual pass.

Currently, the best ticket to do that with would be the 6-Day Park Hopper + Water Park Fun & More - No Expiration. Do a park entry, do not use the Water Park and Fun options, and then bridge upgrade. Savings would be $68,

If that all sounds confusing, I or others will explain further.

and then save the 5% of the difference by using your Target CC purchased Disney GC

 

[cjappert]

Probably the best discount you can work out is to buy a discounted ticket from Undercover Tourist, use it for one park entry and then do a bridge upgrade to an annual pass.

Currently, the best ticket to do that with would be the 6-Day Park Hopper + Water Park Fun & More - No Expiration. Do a park entry, do not use the Water Park and Fun options, and then bridge upgrade. Savings would be $68,

If that all sounds confusing, I or others will explain further.

thank you! do you know what the price would be to do the upgrade to the AP? Would i be losing money since i'd be buying a waterparks and fun, or would they just change that into a normal pass since i wont use the waterparks part before upgrading?

Also since i wouldnt be getting the AP until i get there would i still be able to get the TIW once we're already on site?

 

[jco_direwolf]

thank you! do you know what the price would be to do the upgrade to the AP? Would i be losing money since i'd be buying a waterparks and fun, or would they just change that into a normal pass since i wont use the waterparks part before upgrading?

Also since i wouldnt be getting the AP until i get there would i still be able to get the TIW once we're already on site?

Tables yes you can do it as soon as you get your AP from the same window. You don't have to go to EPCOT Center any more.

If you don't use the water parks and more, then you can upgrade to a regular AP, if you have a water parks and more and use that entitlement, then you have to upgrade to a PAP.

The trick with going into the park first is that "locks in the value" of the ticket, and you get the gate price for the ticket you have. So when they upgrade you upgrade from the gate price. It's called bridging because there is/was a special magic account that made up the difference in prices between the cost of the ticket and the current gate price for that ticket.

 

[Dan Murphy]

You pay UT $577.47 for the ticket. Use it for one park entry and it becomes worth $649.65. Upgrade to AP, which is $675.21, would cost you an additional $25.56. The overall cost for the AP to you is the UT price plus the $25.56, total, $603.03. You save $72.18.

 

[MommaBerd]

Be sure to have your $$ numbers with you, because some of the CMs do not bridge it the right way. (I know because it happened to me.) Also, be sure that they date your AP beginning that day, and not the day that UT sold it to you. They also did this to mine. Both were remedied, but it just took some extra time & effort that could have been saved up front. There is a great "sticky" thread at the top of the forum by Cheshire Figment that is worth a read.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[acc82]

One thing nobody has mentioned - AAA has discounted AP's sometimes (depending on your AAA location). Mine in GA does and it's about 100 bucks off each. Personally, we get ours with the DVC discount. When we first bought the passses, we did a magic your way trip with a five day pass and 'upgraded' to annual.

 

[GoGoBeans]

You pay UT $577.47 for the ticket. Use it for one park entry and it becomes worth $649.65. Upgrade to AP, which is $675.21, would cost you an additional $25.56. The overall cost for the AP to you is the UT price plus the $25.56, total, $603.03. You save $72.18.

I've always wondered about bridging despite reading a lot of threads and this is the clearest I've read. Thank you.

What's the advantage of after one use? Can you upgrade at the end of a 10 day NE ticket? Or is the value gone?

 

[cjappert]

You pay UT $577.47 for the ticket. Use it for one park entry and it becomes worth $649.65. Upgrade to AP, which is $675.21, would cost you an additional $25.56. The overall cost for the AP to you is the UT price plus the $25.56, total, $603.03. You save $72.18.

thank you!

 

[Grumpy92]

AAA, Costco, Tickets at Work

 

[cjappert]

thank you!

one last question - do the discounts ever get bigger than 68$ on UT? should I hold off until I see a bigger deal or this is pretty much as high as it gets?

 

[Dan Murphy]

I've always wondered about bridging despite reading a lot of threads and this is the clearest I've read. Thank you.

What's the advantage of after one use? Can you upgrade at the end of a 10 day NE ticket? Or is the value gone?

The advantage is that under Disney's rules, a ticket used at least once as described, becomes worth the value of the current ticket as if purchased now at a Disney ticket office at the park. It is 'bridged' to current value.

And yes, you could do it at the end, as long as no later than the end of the day that the last day is used. I personally would do it a bit sooner, no last minute cramming like term papers in high school, LOL.

one last question - do the discounts ever get bigger than 68$ on UT? should I hold off until I see a bigger deal or this is pretty much as high as it gets?

I suppose they could get a bit better, though typically are set for the duration of a pricing cycle set by Disney. Disney changes (raises) its price, UT sets theirs, and they stay the same until Disney raises again. But then you would pay a higher amount also. Only way it would get better would be it UT lowered their price, whicch I have not heard of.

 

[jco_direwolf]

Can you upgrade at the end of a 10 day NE ticket? Or is the value gone?

They back date (or are suppose to) the AP to the date of first use of the original 10 day ticket. by waiting till the end of day 10 you do not get 10 more days you simply miss out on the advantages of having an AP. like meal discounts, buying TiW, 10% merch discount, free parking etc...

Also you have to do the upgrade within 14 days of first use. So if you have a 10 day ticket, and go to the water parks a couple of days and hang out at the resort one day. You could run out of time to do the upgrade.

 

[hakepb]

one last question - do the discounts ever get bigger than 68$ on UT? should I hold off until I see a bigger deal or this is pretty much as high as it gets?

There might be an occasional Ebates rebate (10.5% or even 20%) on Orbitz attractions deal that's a bit better...but its a rebate, and generally the only ticket on "sale" is the 5 day "buy 3 and get 2 days free" which means you can only make FP+ reservations for those 5 days.

 

[jco_direwolf]

The other side of waiting. Is logging in to Disboards or other Disney fourms on a Friday, to find out that some TA/CM has posted ticket prices will go up on Monday.

Generally we only get Friday to Monday warning of price increases. Sometimes there is a rumor a week or so before.

http://allears.net/tix/tixpix10.htm

And Disneyworld tickets only increase.

 

[DopeyDame]

AAA of the South has AP discounts. You have to either physically go to their office or be a AAA member of that region to buy it online. (So if you're a member of AAA mid atlantic, you can't buy it online or in the mid atlantic stores, but you can buy it in person at a AAA in Florida. Make sense?)