Only one (long) trip this year... should I buy an annual pass?

[JenzyHP]

I like Universal but I can't imagine spending a week there. It is way smaller than Disney. Their AP could be cheaper for you than a regular ticket.

 

[MrsJamesPSullivan]

Everyone else has given you all the reasons I would for getting the AP. I just want to assure you that you have not outgrown your favorite Disney rides. There are an awful lot of with graying hair making repeat trips. It's not the years it's the attitude.

Have a great honeymoon and long, happy marriage.

 

[Minkishly]

Just buy it and don't fret. Plan another trip and you'll feel like you're saving money.

I'd definitely be so tempted to return! I'm not 100% sure if we'd be able to, though. The likelihood would be greatly increased, but there's still the off-chance that we wouldn't be able to because of work / life. I really like the way you think though.

I've only been to Universal once, and have no interest in returning, so I can't comment on how long there is too long. However, I think you're close to the "worth it" point if you spend 14+ days at WDW. Are you staying off site or on? If you're off site and driving, which is what we do, then you'll have to pay to park. The AP will take care of that, so that's an expense you won't have. However, if you don't plan to return during the 12 months your AP would last, I would probably skip it. But if you can make even one more trip, then I'd say go for it.

The AP would be the only way that we'd spend more than 10 days at WDW. We haven't decided on whether we're driving, so I'm not factoring that into the equation. If we were, I think it would indeed tip the scales in the AP's favor. The likelihood of a return trip within 12 months is at best 50 / 50, but if we didn't get the AP, it'd be 0% chance of returning for the next couple of years. Thanks for your advice!!

No, it's not crazy to consider purchasing a AP for a one off trip. We regularly visit for 5-6 weeks and purchase an annual pass for the trip.

The AP will give you a few advantages:

1. Free Parking if you're driving (you also get free parking when staying on site so this might not be an advantage)
2. Merchandise Discounts - This can be quite substantial if you plan to purchase a lot
3. Sometimes you can get resort rooms at a discount if you're an AP Holder.
4. Discounts on Food & Drink - up to 20%
5. Park Hopping - This adds an extra charge onto Magic Your Way tickets and we find with extended trips we hop often.
6. Photopass/Memory Maker is included with the AP

Magic Your Way tickets cannot be extended beyond 10 days. If you wanted to go into the parks again, you would need to purchase another Magic Your Way tickets with however ever many days you wanted to hit the parks.

You can upgrade while you are there, however any discounts you would have received before (food, merchandise, parking) will be lost if you chose not to upgrade until a few days into your trip.

There is more to go at WDW then Universal. I agree, I think 8 days at Universal is quite alot especially if you plan on being in the parks everyday. I would be more inclined to do 12-14 days at WDW and the rest at Universal.

From the trip you have planned, I think it would be a good investment to purchase the annual pass. It gives you freedom to hop, spend as many days in the parks as you would like, gives you discounts on food and merchandise and Photopass/Memory Maker.

This is such a helpful post because you're definitely on the same train of thought as I am! I've calculated, and the only way we can spend more than 10 days at WDW is if we spring for an AP. It would definitely be not worth it to get an additional X days Magic Your Way ticket. Even topping up our 10 days ticket to an AP would be a loss because we'd miss out on the discounts for the days already spent, and we would have paid additional $ for Memory Maker.

I think the hard decision we have to make now is to decide whether 10 days at Disney is enough. If only money wasn't an issue - then I'd definitely spring for the AP. But the additional money definitely warrants more careful planning and plotting.

Thanks so much for your advice! C: I love your avatar, btw. I adore Amy Adams. She's so perfect as Giselle!

Any chance you are considering returning to celebrate your 1 year anniversary? My favorite part of having an AP is the option to hop down to Orlando if I end up snagging cheap airfare or if business puts me in the area for another reason.

The other part I love about having an AP is that I don't feel like we are burning a park day if we want to go into EPCOT to have dinner but spend the day hanging at the resort pool.

You should consider how $500ish dollar difference fits in to your overall budget though. If that amount is painful to swallow, I think you can absolutely be happy with 10 day park tickets!

I would buy it and then you would have an excuse to go back! Right now, you get 13 months instead of 12, and also it's 20% off merchandise. If you did go back, there are frequently good AP discounts at the resorts.

I think 6 days at US would be way too much.

I found that if you plan to visit parks at least 10 days within a year then a- is worth it. ALso as pp said when you figure in the other added discounts ap offers its worth it. PLus Disney just upped the benefits of ap for the 45th anniversary..there's a thread on it. CHeck it out...I would do the ap..you never know you just might want to go back again within the year and having an ap makes a short trip that much more worthwhile. HAppy honeymood

(I decided to respond to all three of you at once because my responses would be 99% the same thing. Thank you all for your advice and input though!)


The 45th anniversary benefits were actually the thing that made me consider the AP! You're right, the AP is definitely getting more and more appealing. I just have to recalculate our budget to see if we can make it work. Thank you for responding and for your good wishes! Before we considered an AP, the odds of us returning were 0%. However, the possibility of the AP does open some... highly interesting doors. Urgh, but the $500 is indeed not a small amount. I'm definitely going to corner the hubby to be for a serious discussion.

I would buy a 10 day WDW ticket and an Orlando Flex Ticket.

This. I would want some down days. I can't do the park everyday for 18 days.

I feel like we could be crazy enough to do 18 straight days of theme parks (with a mix of Disney and Universal), but I'm intrigued by the Orlando Flex Ticket. Thanks for bringing that to my attention, I actually didn't know that it existed! I'll definitely check that out!

I like Universal but I can't imagine spending a week there. It is way smaller than Disney. Their AP could be cheaper for you than a regular ticket.

The nice thing about Universal is that their APs come so much cheaper than Disney's. I guess it does make sense though, given the amount of content that each park has. Honestly, if not for the Wizarding World of HP, I'd probably be content with just a 3 days ticket. Having said that, we both adore Harry Potter though which makes me think that we'd want to spend at least 5 days there. Thanks for replying!

Everyone else has given you all the reasons I would for getting the AP. I just want to assure you that you have not outgrown your favorite Disney rides. There are an awful lot of with graying hair making repeat trips. It's not the years it's the attitude.

Have a great honeymoon and long, happy marriage.

Thank you so much for your sweet words. c: I'm definitely worried that I've grown a little jaded; but I'm pretty sure that's just because I've been away from the Disney Magic for far too long. 7 years... how did I even survive?!

Your comment made me smile a lot, thank you for that!

 

[JenzyHP]

Wizarding world is awesome. Diagon Alley beats anything I've ever seen theme park wise. Enjoy!

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

I feel like with staying off-site, the AP would be worth it for free parking! Even if you only go to Disney 10 days, that's $20 parking per day for a total of $200 spent on parking.

 

[Disney_Alli]

We were in WDW and Universal for 24 days total in August 2015 for our wedding and honeymoon. Now our APs came with our wedding package but if they hadn't we still would have bought them. Some days we would wander in to the parks around 11 just for lunch and FP+ reservations and then head back to the hotel. I think the AP is the only way I could tour and not be a total commando about squeezing every second out of the tickets that we could. In the end the only day we were in a theme park was our departure day. Every other day (including our wedding day!!!) we were in the parks for at least a couple minutes. We only did Universal two days and both days were with family. If I was doing it over we would have headed back there for a third day just the two of us.

Have a blast and enjoy!

 

[nursejackie]

It is indeed a long trip! We figured that since we're spending the money and the time to travel all the way to Orlando, we might as well linger there for quite a while. Plus, the last time we visited WDW was a good 7 years ago. I'm planning to really make up for lost time.

We're actually not that interested in visiting other locations other than Universal and Disney. We'll probably weave Disney Springs and the Orlando Premium Outlets in somewhere, and perhaps spend some time exploring the WDW resorts. 7 days at Disney is probably a little too little; the minimum we'd consider is 10 days, with perhaps a shopping / rest day inserted somewhere in the middle of the trip.

We aren't staying on-site, but we haven't decided if we're going to rent a car yet; so for the moment, I'm not including the free parking in my decision making process. I can see how that would really tip the scales though.

Thanks for your advice!




Good question! I probably should have stated from the start that we're looking for a more relaxed pace for our honeymoon. So while we'll plan our itinerary with the crowd levels and Fast Pass+ in mind, we also won't sweat it if we decide to hit the parks a little later and sleep in instead.

To me, Disney is more about the overall atmosphere, whereas Universal is mostly about the rides. Disney holds a lot of sentimentality for me because I basically grew up with my Disney princesses. On my very first trip to Disneyland (I think I was 12 years old), I promised myself that I would return to Disney once I've found my true love. I do worry that I've outgrown some of the Disney attractions (like Jungle Cruise), but I think the Disney magic is something that we definitely want to spend a lot of time immersing ourselves in.

Universal, on the other hand, speaks to the thrill ride junkies in us. We're totally going to spam the fluff out of The Hulk, Dragon Challenge (oh, be still my heart), The Mummy and Jurassic Park while we're there. We've never been to either of the Harry Potter lands, so that's definitely going to be exciting as well. Other than the Harry Potter areas though, I feel like Universal doesn't have the same "magic" that Disney has.

I'm sorry that your vacation was plagued with illness! That can really suck, but it sounds like you guys made the best out of a bad situation. We're not really pool people though (my fiance only floats very tentatively and is highly suspicious of the water), but lounging around with butter beer definitely sounds highly appealing.

Heh, you're right! I'm horrid with math and logic. $223 does seem like a big difference, but the fact that we get an additional 2 (or maybe 3) days out of it is really more of the draw. The discounts are like a nice little tempting bonus.

Thanks for taking the time to respond! You definitely gave me a lot to think about.



That 21 WDW park hopper sounds amazing! I doubt that it's available to us though, otherwise we would totally spring for it. We'd probably skip the water parks, but you're right that the freedom to move about without feeling like a day has been squandered is pretty great. My worry about getting the 10 days ticket is that we'd constantly be trying to squeeze the most out of every Disney day.

When will you be going to WDW?



I feel like the possibility of going back to WDW would be a lot higher if we got the AP because the cost of the next vacation would be significantly lowered. The only limitation, of course, is whether or not we'd have enough vacation days for another long trip. Although the extra month bonus does make it a little more possible since we'd have more time.

We're mostly looking at reservations for BOG, Crystal Palace, Akershus and Tusker House; I'm not sure about Crystal Palace and Tusker House but I think I recall seeing a 10% discount for BOG and Akershus. I'll have to check that out!

Thanks so much for the advice! ♥



We're not American, but I haven't come across any longer ticket options.

Hmm! You're right, let me do some calculations.

10 day ticket (with park hopper) : $499.50 (inc tax)
2 day ticket (with park hopper) : $274 (inc tax)
Memory Maker: $149

Total: $922.50

Platinum Pass Annual Pass : $797.70 (inc tax)​

Yikes. It seems that if we do decide on 12 days at Disney, we'd have to go the AP route. We just have to decide if those extra 2 days are worth it. Then again, if we got the AP, I think we'd be way more inclined to drop in at Disney every once in a while. Like you said, we'd have the freedom to just stop by to catch a meal and watch the fireworks.

Another thing about the AP is that we honestly don't know how many days we'd want to spend at Universal. My estimation is 6, but it could drop to 5. The AP would allow us to change our minds more readily as a fail-safe. The 10 days ticket would be more economical but it definitely has a little more room for regret. There is the option of topping up tickets at the end of our trip, but that would mean that we paid the extra $149 for Memory Maker for nothing.

Thanks for helping me look at things another way! I have to admit, after doing the calculations, I do feel a little more inclined towards the AP.



We haven't really decided on what we're going to buy yet, but I do know that we'll be buying stuff. I have to admit: the AP discounts for merchandise is a nice and tempting bonus.



Thank you so much for the well wishes!

You're right, I definitely need to check out which restaurants are applicable for the discounts. I feel like if we do decide to rent a car, the AP would be a done deal. As of now though, we're still undecided because driving would be a little tougher given that we're utterly unfamiliar with the territory. Plus, my fiance is a skittish driver to begin with and the switch from left-hand to right-hand driving is rather unappealing to him.



That's the first batch of replies! Going to start on the next. c:

We are going December 10-26th. The 21 day ultimate ticket is only available to UK residents. It is £350 and for that we get 21 days consecutive park entry, including park hopper, water parks and memory maker. This is more expensive now as the pound is so weak, but still good value for money. We like to take advantage of the early morning magic hours, go back to our resort after lunch to the pool or to a water park, then we go back out again early evening to another park. 66 days and counting

 

[Minkishly]

Just a little update! I spoke with my fiancé and we have decided to spring for the AP.

We're probably going to cut back on some of the decor for our wedding dinner but I think that sacrifice is more than worth it. After all, fewer flowers won't take away from what it means to be married to him. Plus, the memories from a disneymoon (and possibly an anniversary trip.. shh... ) are forever.

Thank you all for helping us to arrive at this decision! I do believe that it's the perfect one for us.