New DVC Owner with Questions :rotfl:

[ut*disney]

We just found out Saturday, April 10 we PASSED and are now new owners at SSR! WAY COOL!!!!!!!

Now...come the questions...

We are a family of four and have always gone to Disney once a year. Of course, this was before we became DVC owners. We own 220 points at SSR with an October UY. I guess we could take a trip around the Christmas holiays and another trip during the summer if we stayed in a studio. These are our current travel times as my husband is a teacher and we have young children in school.

Should we get the season park passes? Or should we buy the park tickets when we go? I'm trying to figure out what would be the most cost effecient.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Congrats and Welcome Home!

I'm sure that others will answer...but this is my take on it.

IF you will be taking 2 trips and going to parks more than 10 days total, then get the annual passes.

The caveat to that is...water parks. If you really love water parks then you might want to consider getting 10 days unexpiring passes with water parks. That allows 10 days into the parks, and 10 admissions into the water parks. In that case, you could visit twice with your passes and possibly still have some days left over. If you do go this route, try to stay out of the parks on the days that you visit the waterparks.

One other thought...once you get the AP, you will be eligible for great discounts on rooms. For July 3rd, we are getting POFQ for $148 after tax instead of $231 before tax. These rates make it even more tempting to sneak in another trip. I believe the AP rate for values drop below $100/nt. during parts of the year.

BTW, I see you are from Texas...ROLL TIDE!
(he he)

 

[ut*disney]

Congrats and Welcome Home!

I'm sure that others will answer...but this is my take on it.

IF you will be taking 2 trips and going to parks more than 10 days total, then get the annual passes.

The caveat to that is...water parks. If you really love water parks then you might want to consider getting 10 days unexpiring passes with water parks. That allows 10 days into the parks, and 10 admissions into the water parks. In that case, you could visit twice with your passes and possibly still have some days left over. If you do go this route, try to stay out of the parks on the days that you visit the waterparks.

One other thought...once you get the AP, you will be eligible for great discounts on rooms. For July 3rd, we are getting POFQ for $148 after tax instead of $231 before tax. These rates make it even more tempting to sneak in another trip. I believe the AP rate for values drop below $100/nt. during parts of the year.

Thanks for your quick response! I am new, so I'm not quite sure what you mean when you say I might want to get 10 days unexpiring passes with water parks. Is this something different than AP?

PS
Glad you're enjoying our trophy. Hook 'Em!

 

[mccathy]

Congrats and Welcome Home!



The caveat to that is...water parks. If you really love water parks then you might want to consider getting 10 days unexpiring passes with water parks. That allows 10 days into the parks, and 10 admissions into the water parks. In that case, you could visit twice with your passes and possibly still have some days left over. If you do go this route, try to stay out of the parks on the days that you visit the waterparks.


(he he)

Hmmm... so you would have 10 park days AND 10 waterpark days? Is that correct? So you might end up using up all your park days and just hold onto those for waterpark days? COuld you upgrade a regular hopper/non-expiring ticket to include waterpark days?

I feel like I need an 8 hour course in Disney Ticket Options.

 

[dgaston]

When we talk about the non-expiring 10 day plus waterpark ticket, most of us have signed up for the newsletter from www.mousesavers.com Mary has a link to undercovertourist.com that saves a few extra dollars per ticket.

If you purchase non-expiring tickets the days are good forever, and the waterpark tickets will probably last many trips.

Disney also offers a Premium Annual Pass that includes admission to the waterparks, and Disney Quest. If you will visit four waterparks within the year, then that's a good choice. I just purchase the Annual Pass with the DVC discount since we are well over 10 park admissions per year.

 

[ut*disney]

...most of us have signed up for the newsletter from www.mousesavers.com

Disney also offers a Premium Annual Pass that includes admission to the waterparks, and Disney Quest. If you will visit four waterparks within the year, then that's a good choice. I just purchase the Annual Pass with the DVC discount since we are well over 10 park admissions per year.

Thanks for the tip!

We have been to Disney four times in the past four years and have never made it to a water park. Of course, our children were three when we started and it has been mainly during the Christmas season when we have vacationed at WDW.

Since we are now DVC owners, we feel we will be able to take a day to relax at the hotel and enjoy the pool. Or maybe take a day away from Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios and go to a water park. We have never done this before and all of this is very new.

If we are going to go to Disney for two weeks out of the year, I don't want to buy park tickets for a family of four if it would be cheaper to buy an AP. I just don't know what is the best thing financially to do. I am not understanding all of this.

 

[tink'smom2B]

I just want to add that we have always purchased the non-expiring tickets and they worked so much better for us! Our last tickets were purchased in 2001. We finally used them up last year and purchased the 10-day no-expire with 10 waterparks for our trip this year. We manage to get many, many years of enjoyment by only using a few days each year. Maybe I'm just a frugal nut, but there are other things to do in Florida each year than Disney. On our trip last week we only spent 4 of the 10 days in a Disney park and we had a blast

 

[DenLo]

Congratulations and Welcome Home!

It really depends on whether you go to the parks daily during your vacations. I know we often do one park in the morning and other in the afternoon or evening. Or we might go to Epcot just to have dinner. With the DVC $100 discount if we go to the parks more than 8 days in a 12 month period, then an annual pass is a better deal than buying park hoppers.

However, I just realized that we don't get the water park option. Sorry maybe someone else would know those figures.

 

[drusba]

For a description of the kinds of tickets you can buy and prices go here: http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/tickets.htm
The AP is the only one that has a DVC discount.

 

[ut*disney]

For a description of the kinds of tickets you can buy and prices go here: http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/tickets.htm
The AP is the only one that has a DVC discount.

Thanks for the link! If I have added it up correctly, for a family of four it would only be $1,466 for AP. If I did 10 days park hopper + water park + no expiration tickets, it would total $2,158. If I just did 10 days park hopper + water park tickets, it would be $1,322. For just $144 more, we could get AP. Or am I doing this wrong?

 

[castleri]

You are correct and if you plan your trips carefully you could actually get 3 trips from an AP. If you were to go the end of December this year and then in one of the summer months and then plan a trip for the week before the December one of this year you would get three trips from one AP. We have done this a couple of times but we are able to travel in Sept since we weren't dealing with school schedules and the first year went the last week of Sept then in April and then the next to last week in Sept. Keep asking your questions until you feel you have a good understanding of what you need to know so you can make good decisions for your family. Welcome home and may you have many wonderful trips.

 

[Sandisw]

We go only once a year, in the summer, because I teach. We bought the AP's last year and planned our 2010 trip to happen 1 week earlier so we are getting two trips out of one pass.

I won't renew the passes this summer, and then buy new ones in 2011 that will cover both that trip and 2012's.

We hope to eventually get in a fall weekend trip every other year, the year we still have the AP's.

Good luck!

 

[toniosmom]

I bought an 8-day park hopper w/no exp last year and we still have one day left on them (after two trips). I wish I had bought the 10 day as it was a better value and could have stretched it to three trips. Last summer, I bought APs for us before the price went up a bit and plan to activate them during our December trip. We will be traveling in December, April, and November, getting three trips out of them, which is the best value for us. In years when we only travel once or twice, I will likely be buying the 10-day no exp park hopper.

 

[AirGoofy]

Thanks for the link! If I have added it up correctly, for a family of four it would only be $1,466 for AP. If I did 10 days park hopper + water park + no expiration tickets, it would total $2,158. If I just did 10 days park hopper + water park tickets, it would be $1,322. For just $144 more, we could get AP. Or am I doing this wrong?

I'm not checking your math, but you can input the numbers. For us, before we bought DVC, it was parks every day. Now, it is parks every other day, and we do 2 trips a year. The DVC resorts are so nice and I enjoy spending time there as well. Even if we go to HHI or VB, then we still do parks only every other day on the next trip to DW. Our dds (8,5) enjoy the relaxing days, swimming, and character resort meals. So, the no-expiration would work better for us. If you plan on being in the parks a lot, go with the AP. If you're going to slow down, then try without them.

 

[ercrbc]

Congrats on passing UT*Disney! I am glad you started this thread, I have been wondering the same thing about tickets/APs and water parks. Suddenly DH has a big itch to go to the water parks (neither of us have ever been to them).

I think the 10day hopper with water parks may be a good idea. We only go Sun-Fri so if we only did 3 park days we would get three trips out of them for sure.

 

[toniosmom]

Congrats on passing UT*Disney! I am glad you started this thread, I have been wondering the same thing about tickets/APs and water parks. Suddenly DH has a big itch to go to the water parks (neither of us have ever been to them).

I think the 10day hopper with water parks may be a good idea. We only go Sun-Fri so if we only did 3 park days we would get three trips out of them for sure.

You'd get more than 3 trips out of them if you don't do a waterpark on the same day you do a theme park. They count them separately, so you get 10 days at the theme parks PLUS 10 days at the water parks. You can really spread this out, if you work it right.

 

[es45]

You'd get more than 3 trips out of them if you don't do a waterpark on the same day you do a theme park. They count them separately, so you get 10 days at the theme parks PLUS 10 days at the water parks. You can really spread this out, if you work it right.

And the remaining waterpark passes don't expire (if you bought non-expiring) correct? I could see us using the park part of a 10-day ticket (non-expiring with waterparks) before we use all of the water park passes....

 

[ut*disney]

I'm not sure if our vacation pattern will change now that we own DVC now. I JUST CAN'T GET OVER THAT!!!! I guess KNOWING we have so many more years we will be going to Disney, we will be able to take relaxing vacations while we are there. I've never thought about relaxing at the hotel on the day we have character dinners. That is a great idea. The kiddos LOVE to go to the parks. We are usually there from early in the morning until the park closes. We were *s0* disappointed when we went during Spring Break this year. We have always gone during Christmas time and love their park hours! We would stay until the park closed. Yes, we would be out until 2:00 a.m. The kiddos might have been sleeping in the stroller, but that gave us time to ride the adult rides, or mommy time to shop. Sometimes when it is late like that we like to sit on the benches and people watch.

Here is another silly one...

Do the AP include the water parks?

If the AP does include all four parks + water parks, I just can't see how it would be cost effect to spend $2,158 for two adults and 2 children (7 years old) for 10 days park hopper + water park + no expiration when you can get 365 days of parks + water parks for $1,466. That is a difference of $692.

We spend a LOT when we go to Disney. We do a LOT of shopping. If the kiddos want something and it isn't something they already have, we let them get it. We could use the $692 saved in spending money...or gas money since we drive all the way from Texas.

I know several of you have said you purchase the 10 day park hopper + water parks + no expiration. I really would like to hear your thoughts on how this has saved money.

With today's economy, we are always trying to look for savings somewhere.

 

[toniosmom]

And the remaining waterpark passes don't expire (if you bought non-expiring) correct? I could see us using the park part of a 10-day ticket (non-expiring with waterparks) before we use all of the water park passes....

That's true -- for a non-exp ticket, you can technically use up all of the park pass days and still have all of your water park days. I plan to try this when my son gets older. He's only 5 now, so when he gets old enough to climb up those slides himself (without ME), I'll start including the water park option.

 

[Disneypubgal]

I bought an 8-day park hopper w/no exp last year and we still have one day left on them (after two trips). I wish I had bought the 10 day as it was a better value and could have stretched it to three trips. Last summer, I bought APs for us before the price went up a bit and plan to activate them during our December trip. We will be traveling in December, April, and November, getting three trips out of them, which is the best value for us. In years when we only travel once or twice, I will likely be buying the 10-day no exp park hopper.

Can you just upgrade it to the 10???