Need Advice- long trip, what passes will I need?

[john storey]

Need help/advice? We have booked a lengthy holiday in April/May & bacause of schedule we need advice on what would be the best value or apropriate passes to purchase. Basically we have 9 days staying in Saratoga Springs (4days), Animal Kingdom (5days), we then go on a 7day cruise on the Disney Wonder, on return we head down to Vero Beach for 3 nights, finally we return to the Boardwalk for our last 3 nights, flying back to UK next day. So we are looking for a pass to cover 12/13 days with a 8 day break in the middle? Anyone got any good ideas, the only solution I can think of is to purchase annual passes but this seems a bit extravigant, await any better solutions.

 

[disneyag]

AP's are your best bet. I think that 8 days of park admission was a break even point between the AP's and the old hopper passes, so it should be the most economical.

 

[goofy4tink]

Yep, APs would be the best way to go. I would imagine that based on the time of year, you wouldn't be planning on a lot of time in the water parks. If that is the case, just the regular AP is the way to go. You also can get a Disney Dining Experience card discount with that. That would be about $50 but it saves you 20% on a lot of WDW meals. To the best of my knowledge only one person in your group needs to have one.

So, my advice would be the AP for all those traveling with you. It would work out to about $38 per person, per day.

 

[Grumpy92]

I agree with the above APs would be your best choice. Plus you get resort and restaurant discounts with the AP.

 

[SusanDK]

If you are from the UK, you would qualify for the 30-day Fun in the Sun (FITS) tickets if they are still available. I purchased these in November 2004. You activate them at the gate and have 30 full days of unlimited entrance to all theme parks, water parks, Disney Quest, Pleasure Island, plus get one free breakfast at a wide selection of restaurants, plus entrance to a few other Florida attractions like Kennedy Space Center.

The tickets we bought could be redeemed up until April 2005, so if you can find them for sale, you can probably activate them in April for 30 days from the first day of use.

We bought from DiscountOrlandoVacations.com but you can also find them through some UK and Netherlands ticket brokers. Go to mousesavers.com and look for info on these tickets.

They were great and are about $200 cheaper than APs.

Susan

 

[MommytoPayton&Max]

but I don't think an AP is hands down better, depending on your trip. For the first part of your tirp, you could get a 10 day MYW park hopper ticket for an adult for $247 with tax. Then, for the last part of your trip, you could buy a basic 3 day ticket without a park hopper option. Considering you will have had 10 days at the beginning of the trip to enjoy all the parks, you might just pick 3 parks on your last leg. Without the park hopper, your basic MYW 3 day ticket is $182 with tax, for a total of about $429. You would save yourself at least $120 not buying the AP. You could save even more if you eliminated the park hopper feature on the first part of your trip. Even if you had the feature for all of your trip, you would still be saving over an AP, which is about $550 with tax. However, I understand that the APs qualify for special room rates. You might save a ton on your hotel stays by using an AP discount code, if available.

Also, if you plan to do water parks a lot, then the AP is probably better. However, again, if you add the water park option to the first leg of your trip and do a basic 3 day the last part, I seem to calculate you would spend about $480 - still cheaper than the AP.

 

[MommytoPayton&Max]

I would imagine that based on the time of year, you wouldn't be planning on a lot of time in the water parks.

We were there is past May (first week) and spent at least two parts of a 5-day trip at the water parks (it was hot!) and some time in our hotel pool. Don't expect the weather to be cool.