Letting Go of AP?

[TheRealTeal]

Has anyone chosen to not renew their AP? Did/do you regret it? Why or why not?

 

[HopperFan]

I did a few times.
A couple times it was math, my gap in trips did not justify the renewal rate.
And ... a few years ago ...
We had a tough trip due to an incident at one of the parks.
DS was too upset to return so after days sitting in the condo (lots of thinking).
We then just went home two days early.
I decided that I needed a break, Disney had greatly disappointed me.
I needed to WANT to go.
We had a 10 month AP break.
I did go a couple times to Universal,
with a Disney day each visit on a guest pass. DS did not go.

You can always get one again, but with the high cost, sometimes a break is good.

 

[JacknSally]

Our passes just ended in November and we didn't renew. We'll be back in January 2018 and October 2018, but the trips aren't long enough to justify the upfront expense of the AP right now, even with the 15% renewal savings. Plus, we actually justified a lot of trips in the last year that we wouldn't have taken if we weren't AP's, by saying "well, the tickets are already covered, so really we'd just need to cover food and hotel, and we get a discount at the hotels, and we have flight points...."... While we totally enjoyed those trips and being passholders, the passes ended up costing us a lot more than just the cost of the passes, haha. I'll be sad not to be an AP on our January trip. We may upgrade our October tickets to passes when we get there, but that'll depend on what life is like in October, and if we think we'll be back in 2019.

 

[Skywise]

I'm looking at dropping it this year. I did it 2 years ago because I planned on being there for about 6-9 days so the math said I was going to be ahead by about $100 at least - plus I had some more leeway with extra days. I renewed last year because of the 13 month deal.

This year I'm looking at, maybe, 0-6 days. Frankly it's just not enticing me - the parks are overcrowded and the resort costs are astronomical for the value I'm getting. Not 5 years ago the resorts felt like I was being treated like royalty and now I feel like I'm staying at a glorified motel 6 while the cost has almost doubled.

I'll be back for sure - and I MIGHT pick up the AP again. But I can't justify nor want to automatically renew. Maybe if they brought back Star Wars weekends...

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

We are six months into our first year with APs. It has been a real treat so far. However I am thinking we won't renew when they expire in July 2018 because we are planning a summer trip to the western states. Hard to justify spending on the trip and on APs... unless I do well in Vegas.

 

[bumbershoot]

We’ve had a WDW AP twice when it worked financially.

It was more painful to give up Disneyland APs and later Universal APs. We slowed down on dl to go to Florida. And then Uni APs had that price jump that didn’t justify is keeping them through “lean” trip years.

It’s hard. But when you aren’t planning trips and then you don’t find yourself planning trips after giving it up, you realized that it’s ok.

The problem is that it all seems just utterly ridiculously expensive when you think about it again.

 

[Lost Yeti]

We've had APs for the past three years and we almost didn't renew this time around. We ultimately decided to renew because we have several friends/family visiting within the next year who will want to go to Disney. Also, after experiencing Pandora previews, I'm eager to have that same opportunity for Toy Story Land.

 

[Just People]

I'm an AP holder, not a Florida resident, not a DVC member, so I had to buy the platinum pass in oder to get an AP. With Disney's latest announcement extending FP+ 60-day window to all the Downtown Disney hotels, I feel it just lowers the value of APs. I have an AP because I love the parks, but I don't feel I have to stay on property. With APs, parking on property is not an issue, and their are plenty of nice hotels surrounding WDW at a much better price. It sucks now that there is a new batch of people who will have the ability to eat up all the good FP+ at the 60-day mark. I understand Disney can do as they please, but when you stop to think how much more an annual pass at WDW is as compared to ANY OTHER theme park in the country, it seems they should offer a 60-day FP+ window, especially with the Platinum Pass. My pass is good throught September 2018, so I'll see how I feel then. I'm sure there is going to be a big price hike in APs the closer we get to Star Wars Land, and to a lesser extent Toy Story Land opening up.

 

[laurabelle]

This was our 20th year visiting WDW. Like Just People, we are not FL residents or DVC members, and have been AP holders a few times. I can only recall renewing once. Ticketing has gone through some major changes in that time. We bought APs this past year because we had two trips planned for sure, plus we got the added incentive of a 13 month AP and the extra discounts, which were nice, but that was specifically for the anniversary. We did add in a third trip because those APs burn a hole in your pocket.


After our upcoming late spring trip, I will miss WDW, but I really don't have any interest in going back until some time after Star Wars opens, so we won't be renewing. And I doubt we'll be AP holders in the future. APs get really expensive. The cost of travel, food and lodging adds up quickly. We won't do additional tours or parties, and while we have fun looking at Disney merch we buy very little. But you may need to factor that in.

That being said, I have no regrets about not being an AP holder in the future. I still love Disney, but I don't see this as a hard decision to make.

 

[Meriweather]

We never renew. We only go every other year.

 

[Klayfish]

Yes, we had one from summer 2015 to summer 2016. Didn't renew then. Got a new one summer 2017 and will let this one expire summer 2018.

It's purely a financial decision.

 

[wdw4rfam]

I’m letting mine go after our trip in April. We are DVC so we get them at a really good price. But there’s some things that aren’t sitting well with me lately, and that’s telling me that I need a break. We are renting our points out next year and going to universal. If by 2019, I still don’t want to go back, I might even consider selling DVC. I went through this a few years back too, and it passed. So hopefully a break is all I need.

 

[stinkpickle]

I wanted to renew, but we didn't have another trip planned...AND I looked at the price to renew for my family and said "nope".

 

[glassslippergirl]

We had APs for two years from 2009-2011. We live in South Florida, about 3 hours away, so we used the passes regularly, at least once a month, and every few weeks in the summer. We did not renew after 2011 because we had a baby. He has been to WDW several times, but we use 3-4 day passes. There are plenty of good offers on these for Florida residents, so we really don't miss having the APs. We have had APs for the past two years to Legoland, which is a much more manageable park for DS and cost a whole lot less. Right now, we are talking about possibly picking up APs again in 2020, a few months after Star Wars Land opens so that we can really enjoy and explore it (DH is a huge Star Wars fan). But one major reason we would not do APs, even for Star Wars Land, is price. Our old APs were Premium Annual Passes, so we got entry to the parks 365 days a year as well as water parks and Disney Quest. With the new price structure, we would end up with gold passes, but it's a lesser pass than we had (no water parks and blackout dates around Christmas and Easter). We used to add value to the passes by making visits to WDW our holiday presents to each other, and we spent Christmas, Easter, and NYE in the parks at various times. The gold pass would take away what we considered a great benefit of the APs, and would make them less valuable to us.

 

[abnihon]

I’m planning to let ours go in April and do another AP year in a few years. We have a cruise booked for October 2018 and I want to do a Cali/Disneyland trip in 2019.
So maybe another AP year 2020 or 2021..

 

[raytheyounger]

We got APs for the first time this year. They expire in March, and we don't plan on renewing. Part of the reason is price, but another significant reason is the desire to do something else for a while. I compare it to one of our favorite meals at WDW - breakfast buffet at Boma. Because of the cost of the meal (high by real-world standards but not bad by WDW standards) and the fact that we like the food, I usually stuff myself. I enjoy it a lot, but it isn't something that I could do frequently. We are not DVC nor Florida residents, but we live within an 8-hour drive. We have been quite a few times this year (both longer and shorter trips) and have 1, maybe 2, trips left. I feel we made good use of the APs this year, and I doubt I'll regret not renewing (well, maybe just a little).

 

[bladiator]

I have only recently gotten my APs for the first time in November, and I already know I will not renew. I was able to save the amount I paid to upgrade almost entirely in one trip (parking was the majority), so I know I got my money's worth. We will probably do 3 trips during this year, and then since I usually don't go more than once a year anyways, I can save money by not buying them again until the next time I go. So I figure at this rate I'll be on schedule to do 3 trips every other year.

 

[fhtpdw20]

I had one in 2016-2017 for multiple trips which is not the norm. DH passed away in 2015 and I wanted/needed to go back to our happy place. I have trip to introduce DDIL to our Disney family obsession. How this next trip in 2018 goes will determine if I ever step foot back in WDW. I am NOT in favor of turning WDW into a kennel and from the reports I have been following I would say it is worse than expected. It sounds like people are getting around the 7 hour rule by claiming the pets as "service animals" and bring them to the parks. I understand this is not the politically correct view point so I have toned way down my true thoughts on this subject. And by the way I am not booked for a dog-friendly hotel but that won't stop pets from being on the property and I don't have a problem with true service dogs that are obtained through legitimate training organizations.

 

[christianweecare]

We visit multiple times throughout the year and we are DVC members so AP's make since for us. But that being said, we don't renew. We start over with new AP's every other year. We purchased and activated new AP's this year which will take us through Jan. 2, 2019.

We did take a break from purchasing AP's for 2016 since our son is military and purchased tickets through the military.

 

[fla4fun]

I had one in 2016-2017 for multiple trips which is not the norm. DH passed away in 2015 and I wanted/needed to go back to our happy place. I have trip to introduce DDIL to our Disney family obsession. How this next trip in 2018 goes will determine if I ever step foot back in WDW. I am NOT in favor of turning WDW into a kennel and from the reports I have been following I would say it is worse than expected. It sounds like people are getting around the 7 hour rule by claiming the pets as "service animals" and bring them to the parks. I understand this is not the politically correct view point so I have toned way down my true thoughts on this subject. And by the way I am not booked for a dog-friendly hotel but that won't stop pets from being on the property and I don't have a problem with true service dogs that are obtained through legitimate training organizations.

If it makes you feel better, I was at Pop Century last week, and went over to AoA a few times and saw no dogs at all. I only saw three service dogs in the parks and all three were accompanying guests in wheelchairs so I am certain they were legitimate service dogs. I had some of the same concerns until I was there to experience it for myself.

As to the AP question, I have had an AP continuously since 1986. As a Florida resident I do have more AP options, and there were a few times I renewed as a seasonal/silver instead of platinum pass to save a little money. But when I did I would find myself wanting to go when my pass wasn’t valid. I think your feelings about not renewing will vary depending on the reason for not renewing. If you are not renewing for financial reasons, you may be more regretful than someone who is not renewing because they are exploring other vacation options.