New AP rates making you re-think AP?

[PamNC]

Hi everyone! I haven't been visiting the boards as regularly as I normally do, so forgive me if this subject has already been discussed.

My AP expires 11/17. We are not going to renew, or at least I think that is the way we're leaning. I'd say I'm almost positive. I know that you shouldn't buy an AP just for the resort discounts but I'm sorry - that is a big part of it for us. For instance, we got a little over $100 off a night this summer at the Beach Club. Stayed 7 nights - that's a big savings. We like staying in the deluxe resorts but I just can't see paying rack rate.

Given the new pricing system and the obvious decline in AP discounts, we probably won't be renewing. I was wondering if anyone else felt the same way?

It seems AAA is almost or as good as AP. I think we're going to chance it and NOT do the AP thing. I don't think we'll be going 2x next year as we typically do. We'll go once for sure, but we're thinking about a Key West trip for next spring and Disney in late Sept/early October. If we can control ourselves and not go again until then.

Another question - We got 2 trips out of our current AP, for a total of 14 nights. Does anyone know what the break-even point is now - it use to pay for itself in like 8 days.

PamNC

 

[ScottNBecky]

I am not sure of the breakeven point anymore. Used to be 8 days. I want to say it is about 9-10 days now. With so many options with MYW it is hard to pinpoint an exact #.

 

[kcminnie]

We won't be renewing our AP's this time. The package discount for this Nov. was better for the general public than the AP room discount. Looks like I can use a AAA discount for Jan/Feb that will be better than AP. I know the AP disconts are not a given and people should not buy the AP for the room discount but it seems in the past year the general public discounts are better so we will try that for the next year and see how much money we save.

 

[Mikelly1221]

Not yet, but I find I'm moving off-site more and more...and any on property stays are becoming fewer and fewer.

Hey! Maybe NOW I'll get a postcard!!!! I'd also take an email!!!

 

[PrincessV]

I went a bit different direction, but same idea. I live less than 2 hours away, so my FL Seasonal Pass is still my best ticket option. But, as AP rates have declined in both quantity and quality over the past couple years, I decided it was time to buy into DVC. Each time I see the lousy AP rates, I'm glad I did it!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We are getting $70 off each night at AKL next month, plus a $75 dining card. We already got 9 park days in August and I am HOPING that by the time the APs expire that DS and I will have gotten a total of 30 park days. DH won't get to stay as many nights, but DS and I are planning 16 nights next summer. So even though the resort discounts are crummy for '08 we're still getting GREAT value just on park admission.

I'll weigh out AAA, AP, and Disney Visa to see which is best for the room rates.

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

I will not renew my AP pass this summer. Booking yesterday, I found a "discount" for Mon-Thurs, but paying rack for Fri, Sat, AND Sun. That is a bit steep. I saved $100 total, not per night. No one would ever guess from the price I am paying that I was booking during value season!

We won't be going as much as a result, but that's ok. I'll deal with it.

I am not fond of the packages due to the 45 day cancellation policy, so have been avoiding them. After this next AP trip, we are probably not going back for a while.
tink

 

[TJA]

Hi everyone! I haven't been visiting the boards as regularly as I normally do, so forgive me if this subject has already been discussed.

My AP expires 11/17. We are not going to renew, or at least I think that is the way we're leaning. I'd say I'm almost positive. I know that you shouldn't buy an AP just for the resort discounts but I'm sorry - that is a big part of it for us. For instance, we got a little over $100 off a night this summer at the Beach Club. Stayed 7 nights - that's a big savings. We like staying in the deluxe resorts but I just can't see paying rack rate.

Given the new pricing system and the obvious decline in AP discounts, we probably won't be renewing. I was wondering if anyone else felt the same way?

It seems AAA is almost or as good as AP. I think we're going to chance it and NOT do the AP thing. I don't think we'll be going 2x next year as we typically do. We'll go once for sure, but we're thinking about a Key West trip for next spring and Disney in late Sept/early October. If we can control ourselves and not go again until then.

Another question - We got 2 trips out of our current AP, for a total of 14 nights. Does anyone know what the break-even point is now - it use to pay for itself in like 8 days.

PamNC

Yes, we feel exactly the same as you do. In fact, your post could've been my exact words. As far as the breakeven point, I priced this a little while ago and have some notes here that say a 10-day, hopper, no expiration pass is around $479 and an AP is around $477. Of course I think you can get the MYW passes cheaper than that through Undercover Tourist, but I'm not sure how much the difference is. We've thought about getting the 10-day passes and then taking two 5-day trips, but it just doesn't sound as appealing as an AP. Our favorite resort is BC and some days we lounge around at BC and on the boardwalk, then walk to Epcot just for dinner. If we had MYW passes, I would feel like I was "wasting" a day on the pass just by entering a park for dinner. With the AP, we are very relaxed about what we do each day and don't worry about anything. Is that how you feel too?

We also rely on AP resort discounts because we really enjoy staying deluxe too. However, if these newly released discounts are a preview of future AP discounts, then we may not buy AP's next year either. Not sure what we'll do. Our kids are just hitting the age where Disney is a blast for them, so I don't see us going elsewhere. We may try a moderate resort? I don't know....we're going to try WL in April I think. Not sure what will happen after that. It all depends on the discounts and offers.

 

[chatty]

Same for me. We have been buying AP's for almost 10 years now and we are not going to re-up for all the same reasons. Also, we will only make a trip now maybe once a year instead of 3 times a year. Enough is enough..The AP was what kept us coming so much plus I have to say it was the thrill of the hunt when they would release the discounts..(it was my WDW sickness) the Hunt!!!!
Chatty

 

[ShelsGoingToDisney]

I am a little disappointed with the AP discoounts that were releases as well. I am from Nebraska so obviously don't get down often. I bought the AP in 2006 and saved a little over $800 on room discounts at the Poly after the extra cost of the AP which I was very happy with!

I gambled for my upcoming trip in January and bought another AP. I did get my Poly room discounted by $300 yesterday but after the extra cost of $200 to buy the AP it's not a huge savings. Don't get me wrong I am happy I am at least saving $100 but I was really hoping for more.

For another trip I will really think hard before I buy an AP again. I may have to seriously look into joing AAA!

Shel

 

[dawgsgirl]

Seems to me that Disney is trying to do away with any room only stuff and go strictly with packages. I do not like this trend. I don't like the restrictions of the packages and much prefer the flexibility of the room only. I have to wonder if Disney really knows how much business the AP's bring in for them. Oh well, there has been speculation for quite a while that Disney would price the AP's very high and do away with any other perks to go with them. Things seem to be headed in that very direction.

 

[ADP]

I know how you guys feel about AP discounts erroding away. I still see some good discounts out there however. I was quoted Pop Century for $69 per night on Saturday and $49 on Sunday.

The deluxe AP rates are getting pretty bad. I honestly believe that Disney is pushing many of its loyal fans to DVC. If you join DVC it does solve a lot of the issues you mention. AP passes all of a sudden get a $100 discount. The DVC resorts are very much like deluxe resorts and if you buy DVC points you will find yourself taking at least 2 trips per year to Disney World.

With the price of the deluxe and all of the resorts going up, up, and away DVC makes a lot of sense these days. I know the initial investment seems overwhelming, but once you get past that you only have to worry about paying maintenance fees each year.

As you can probably tell, I'm a big fan of DVC. It's allowed us to visit the World more often and we don't have to worry about paying for deluxe accomodations. Plus, with the great AP pass discount we really don't have to sweat over park admission.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[CarolA]

I bought the AP for the intended reason. Park Admissions so the room discounts don't influence the purchase of one. If I get a good discount I might use it, but Disney pricing is getting outrageous so if I am out of DVC points I just stay off site.

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

The lack of good AP room discounts and the outrageous prices being asked to stay at a deluxe have me toying with the idea of staying offsite for the first time since 1983!!! lol

It's sad. Disney has priced me out of their cruiseline as well. I have gone on four wonderful Disney cruises, but will probably never sail with them again because of their insane prices.

tink

 

[lilstint]

I will not be renewing my AP either. The AAA rates I had trumped the AP rates for our stay and the 10 day non expiry passes work better for us anyway. In all honesty, since the MYW "stay and play" ticket pricing (plus free hoppers etc. etc etc.) the parks have been so crowded it's really not much fun anymore. We'll cut down on our park visits and spend more time doing things like taking boatrides to DTD, watching wishes from the Poly beach and just relaxing at the pool with those infernal mugs.

 

[rcraw45425]

We decided last year not to renew. This May I was able to get a pretty decent package thanks to Sue Ellen with Dreams. I'm not a package fan but sometimes it's better than piecemeal. This summer I finally joined AAA after Mercedes dropped their Tele Aid service ($240 a year, similar to OnStar). Well they didn't drop it, they changed their service and told me that in order to continue having it I'd have to shell out ~$2K for a new module (going from analog cell to digital). I paid <$100 and took out AAA instead. So far AAA has saved me money at the beach this summer, the mountains next week and an overnight in Atlanta for DDs school chorus. I booked my January trip room only through them and saved $200 off rack rate at YC. This new code that came out today saved me a little more, ~$135 plus the cost of the water parks and more, which we never have used before. I do miss the AP convenience like others mentioned of dropping into a park for fireworks, but truthfully, to add on one more day to our tickets is only $38 for a family of four, so I may go ahead and do that.

 

[suzywindy]

Interesting thread. I have had an AP and we used to do the codes waiting game and saved pretty big on our deluxe resort stays. However, the last 3 years my AAA has trumped AP rates by far. I renewed this year, but thought about it long and hard. Since I still use it to secure a DDE card - which we absolutely love and use to the max, plus I do shop at DD and use my AP to get 10% off - it still seems worthwhile for me to buy a pass. However, for the other members of my family I buy the no expiration tickets. I have read on these boards that they are changing the terms of the DDE - so if they take that away then I will probably check out the packages again which at least makes the vacation pretty easy living.

I figure my Disney addition to the deluxe hotels is probably a healthier addiction than any other kind!

 

[ticktock]

I can't buy MYW tickets cheaper than I can get a Fl seasonal pass BUT the lack of deluxe resort discounts is going to eliminate Disney from or vacation plans all together. It used to be we could do Disney cheaper than any other trip, no more.

The weekend rates are really going to effect our trips since we would drive down 4 or 5 times a year for long weekends plus our longer December trip .I like Disney but honestly the reason we've gone so much was because we could go deluxe on the cheap. If that's no longer available we will go elsewhere.

 

[danceintherain]

This thread has been very interesting to read. I have over a year before the trip I want to make to Disney, and I had originally been planning on upgrading to an AP once I got there. I think it would be more cost effective for me, but I guess I'll see what happens in the course of the year. I'm planning one week-long trip in January, then another at least 4day/3night trip the following May or June. The one in January will be my Honeymoon, and the one in May/June will be to celebrate my College Graduation and my Mom is going to finish her teaching certification program. We're going to make it an All Girls' Trip.
The way I've crunched it... a 10-day No Expiry will cost $2 more than the Annual Pass, and I'll be at least one day short, and I wouldn't be able to do the package for the second trip anyways, because I'll already have my tickets. It's with different people.
If the AP doesn't afford me a room discount, it still might be worth it. I'm not planning on taking advantage of the AP discount for my Honeymoon anyways, because I'm planning on upgrading once I get there, and I don't want the extra stress of not actually having the annual pass when I check in. Also, we really want to take advantage of the DDP so we don't have to worry about food as much. After months of wedding preparations it will be nice to not have to worry about prices.
I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

 

[n2mm]

Guess I'm the minority, I've been an AP holder for 10+ years. Renew every year. I use my AP for park admission (40+days a year--not a FL resident). If they offer me a good rate for a resort when not using my DVC points I'll plan an extra trip to my standard 4 a year. I don't like the new weekend rates for some seasons, but that is no reflection on the AP rates, that is across the board. I got a great AP rate for $99 for a Saturday night in January @ PO-FQ and was happy as I've not seen it that low in many years (about a 34% discount). There was no difference in the rates for weekdays or weekends for the moderates. I also booked a Sunday night for $49 and found that much lower than the $59 I paid last year for the same time. With the $100 DVC discount on APs, it's a no brainer for me to buy APs. I've even stockpiled a couple of vouchers incase the DVC discount ever gets discontinued.