Park Days

[ParkHoppers]

Based on most responses here I would say the AP is a big deal.

 

[zavandor]

I live in London, so Orlando for me is a 2 weeks long vacation. I usually visit in September and either do 11 nights at Disney and 3 Universal or 12 and 2. I usually visit in September because I like cheap rooms and low crowds. Every day is a park day, being able to purchase the 14 days UK tickets, but I normally go back to the resort for an afternoon break to avoid the hottest and busiest hours. Sometimes I spend the morning at DS or a water park and the evening in a park for a night show (I'm a sucker for night shows)

I've bought an AP twice, to time 2 stays on one AP 11 months apart, however with recent increased, an AP is just a little cheaper than 2 Ultimate tickets, so it's not worth the risk anymore.

 

[HappyDisneyWife]

Based on most responses here I would say the AP is a big deal.

It definitely is to me! We bought our first DVC contract in 2017 & I’ve had an AP ever since. If given the choice, I would still want an AP for myself & my hubby, but would prefer length of stay tickets for my kiddos (tied to our DVC stays, of course ).

We don’t have any regular travel times per se, but tend to plan ~3 trips (a week or so each) in Nov/Dec, Jan/Feb & May before the 11-month mark… and normally add in a few more trips along the way (again, in the week-10 day range).

For us, APs are all about flexibility! I’m present for 95% of the trips, and I really like the freedom of jumping in the parks whenever I want- even if just for an hour. I would have a very hard (read: impossible) time allowing myself to do that without an AP… it would be a dealbreaker. My husband usually has an AP as well, bc his schedule is harder to pin down & it’s easier for him to just join me on a trip than to “plan” it that way… trying to work around buying tickets with dates attached (the current MO)- just shoot me now…
That would be awful.

 

[WxKristin]

The general plan is one long trip (7-12 days) every other year for the family (this year around Labor Day/early Sept) with banking/borrowing. I would definitely do a length of stay pass for these trips, if available. But I also go with friends to run the W&D half marathon annually in November -- without the AP I typically skip the parks on this trip.

 

[Sandisw]

Based on most responses here I would say the AP is a big deal.

For sure, but I also think that if DPEP wanted to, they could get creative and offer something between multi day tickets, up to 10 days, used for one single trip and an AP that gives you unlimited access to over 300 days per year.

I would be happy with a yearly pass that allows me up to 30 days of use. I'd even be willing to pay the same thing as I pay for my Sorcerer AP. Hopefully, we will have some level of option beside multi day tickets, even if it is not the same old AP that I have gotten for the past 13 years!!!

 

[zavandor]

With worldwide economy suffering and revenge travel subsiding, WDW will soon need APH in the parks again.

 

[MonaMN]

At this point of our lives, APs are not a thing we are concerned about. We travel from MN and typically do a spring break trip once a year with our middle school aged kid. We don't want to eat up vacation days/time to drive, so every trip requires a flight - so it just doesn't make sense for us to fly there frequently. We do other trips as well to balance it out.

On occasion, we have added a quick weekend trip but that has only been to do a quick 3 night cruise or to do the Halloween party - so we have not added full park tickets then anyway.

 

[artesian]

With worldwide economy suffering and revenge travel subsiding, WDW will soon need APH in the parks again.

Firm believer after the pending litigation in CA and the potential slow down I think will happen in 2023 they will bring back some form of AP.

Although the idea of length of stay pass mentioned by @Sandisw would go a long way to get me back more frequently and longer per trip.

I think the bottom line is we need something in some way shape or form .

 

[bakerworld]

We've evolved into people who enjoy the resorts more than the parks - something I couldn't have believed 10 years ago and largely due to Disney holding back on the AP availability. And when we're in the parks we tend to sit enjoying a beverage rather than go on rides largely due to the pandemic followed by Genie+.

Optimally, we go to WDW in March, May and October, although in the last two years we've gone over July 4 additionally. In 2019 we went to the parks around 22 days. 2020-21 the park days reduced to 11 because we allowed our AP to lapse and then it wasn't available. In September 2021 we were able to purchase an AP and so far from then to now, in 2022, our park days have been 6 with an anticipated 10 days between our July and October vacations, largely due to being able to purchase an AP. Now that we've discovered how much we enjoy the resorts and Disney Springs it becomes a 'lets not waste our park ticket' incentive to push ourselves into the parks. Genie+ has reduced our ride enjoyment but I am hoping that will change as I get more use to the system - or use the system (if we do). First thing I have to do is get use to waking up before 7a. LOL

 

[CarlyMur09]

Typically, our trips are a 8-10 day trip in the spring (Apr/May timeframe), and a trip in Nov/Dec (anywhere from 4-8 days has been our tendency, depending on vacation and if we had any other trips).

We do try to throw in an occasional long weekend trip if possible (did a Festival of the Arts trip this past feb), but Dec and May tend to be our targets.

We have had years where we had 20+ days in the parks, but generally, it’s probably closer to 15 or so days.

We do have 400 points, but our trips last year put us in a perpetual borrowing state.

Still debating on waiting or not to renew our APs (5 golds currently) since we can renew starting this week, but funds are going to be extremely tight over the next month or so, so I may just wait until Aug (have until beginning of Sept to renew I believe) after bonus from work comes through, and see what happens with the next round of APs.

 

[Disneykate605]

Before becoming DVC members we stayed off-site and would buy 10 day non-expiring park Hopper tickets and go to the parks 2 or 3 days during a week long stay. That way one ticket could be used for a few stays. Once we joined DVC we would come 2 weeks a year as a family ( once in the summer and at Thanksgiving time) and my husband and I would also take a long weekend adults only trip and we continued using the 10 day pass method for a couple of years. About 5 years ago we bought AP's and now we usually go to the parks for at least an hour or 2 each day ( we would definitely not do this if we had to pay individually for each day).
We moved to Florida a year ago and now we started going at Easter as well and at least one weekend a month. If we didn't have AP's we would probably cut out many of the monthly weekends and we would cut down on park days during our other trips. A length of stay ticket would be ok in most scenarios but not all because if we have family or friends traveling to Disney we will go to meet them. We have to stay off site sometimes if we can't get a DVC room ( or are point poor). It would stink if we had to pay for a hotel room and buy tickets in those scenarios!
We don't mind spending most of our time at the resort and Disney Springs but we love our AP's for the flexibility they give us!! AP's let us do whatever we want, whenever we want! I would miss AP's if they were no longer offered.

 

[Ms.Minnie]

For the last five years we have been going to FL in Jan for three weeks, two of those weeks at WDW. The past three years we have spent the third week at VB. This coming Jan our plan is to spend the full three weeks at WDW with a split stay, one week at another resort other than our home resort and the other two at home resort.

One thought we have if no DVC annual pass is available is to get a few days on Shades of Green tickets. We still haven’t made any decision about that yet.

If there are no DVC annual passes, we will spend more time at the resort enjoying the pool, resort hopping, riding the different modes of transportation to see the “world”. I love riding the Skyliner. We will take the boat to Epcot from BW, get the Skyliner and go to HS, walk over to the buses and take the bus to OKW, from there we take a boat to DSs. You really get to see a lot of the “world” on this route. I love the boats and the Skyliner, so this is a win for me. We could take the same route but at the HS bus stop, get a bus to one of the MK resorts and do the whole monorail thing or walk the walkway from Poly all the way over to the Contemporary. There are many options available if you just get creative. We love to boat from the MK area over the WL and get a bite to eat at Geyser Point. I don’t think we will have too much trouble filling our time.

 

[chalee94]

Before becoming DVC members we stayed off-site and would buy 10 day non-expiring park Hopper tickets and go to the parks 2 or 3 days during a week long stay.

I still miss these non-expiring tickets as they were typically ideal for my DVC stays also.

With APs, I tend to go all or nothing. One year, I'll spend 3-5 weeks in Orlando and get the AP. The next, I'd skip the parks if I visit Orlando or visit other locations and not bother with an AP.

Not sure if I'll cave and renew the AP I have now just because I'm unsure if I'd be able to get back in if I don't renew... We'll see where things are in a few months.

 

[Noodlez]

I wish we could go more often, but flights are expensive from the UK and take a lot of time so we go for 2-3 weeks every year or two. I think if we lived in the US we would do a lot of long weekends, assuming we still got the same amount of paid leave that we get here.

 

[bwvBound]

So, all this talk about APs got me curious about people’s typical yearly visits snd days they do parks…ie: shorter Trips more often or longer ones less.

I will now be visiting 6 to 8 times a year usually no more than 3 night trips. So, for me, a ticket that allows 30 says admission over the year would work.

What are other people’s travel habits when using DVC?

ETA. Rarely do weekends.

West coast, two adults, drive time to DLR is generally <2 hours.

• We have an AP (Magic Key) for DLR; started Sept 2021.
• We do multiple short visits; generally 2 park days every month. (The frequency is driven largely by our "need" to get value from our current pass. If we didn't have the pass, we might visit the Grand Cal 2x per year with ZERO park days.)
• Over the past 12 months, we've had 12 nights at the Grand Cal through DVC -- each were 1 to 3 nights.
• We also have two off-campus timeshare within walking distance.
• Because our current pass includes parking -- we've also done several "day trips" to the parks -- but these are draining and infrequent.

I'd love a ticket choice that allows 12-20 park days per year. That would be great!
Edited after reflection: Actually, I'd be happy with 5-10 days per year ... maybe less?? Yeah, likely less.

 

[shoegal9]

South Florida, late 30s and no kids yet- but that's the plan.

We moved to Florida one year ago, prior to that we lived in Michigan and the D.C. area but I have been coming to Disney World since i was 3 years old at least once a year. We purchased DVC in 2018 at CCV and then added on at AKL and Poly. When we lived out of state we had the DVC AP and came 2 or 3 times a year for a DVC trip and sometimes a quick weekend if work trips brought us to the Orlando area. Now that we are only 2.5 hours away we still do our long (7-9 night) Labor Day trip and then we probably come up 6 more times in the year for long weekends. This year we did January & February (2 weekends), got married at the Polynesian in March with an Aulani honeymoon, back for Guardians opening in May, and now awaiting our September trip and have Halloween and early December weekends booked. We avoid holiday weekends, 4th of July, Christmas, Spring break... just not very enjoyable. But I know that will likely change when we have kids in school.

Being kinda local definitely means that we come more often- but we aren't so close that we can just pop in for a day. We drive up, stay on property, eat on property, and buy tons of merch (I would probably buy even more if they still had resort delivery for packages). Not having an AP would definitely be an issue for us. That being said, we do find that the more we come to WDW as quasi-locals and DVC members, the less we are in the parks. I'm fine spending less time in the parks and more time at the resorts and Disney Springs, but I still want the ability to enter a park if I want to to eat, drink and shop.

I'm guessing we spend about 20-25 days a year in the parks. And I consider the $800(ish) price tag for that to be pretty fair. If no APs I would probably come less and maybe stay in 1 bedrooms instead of studios or just have more non-park days.

 

[GGGT]

We usually visit 7 to 8 times annually. Four of these trips are with our entire family of 12 and 3-4 trips with just me and my wife. (Anywhere from 7-14 nights)

 

[paults]

we use to go 3 times a year with AP's but that has stopped when they stopped. Now with park reservations it's harder to do. If I have a 6 night trip with a 4 day park hopper and it's good for 7 days, how do I know what days I want to go to the parks at 5/6 months out? Do I have to pick my 4 park days now not knowing what we want to do of go?

 

[miksicnarf]

What was typical no longer applies . I live on the West coast and used to get an AP and book flights whenever I saw a good deal that I could match up with DVC availability--usually at least 2-3 trips per year, 8-10 days each. Now, there are no good deals--that, combined with cancellations and Covid surges make an AP a roll of the dice. That said, I would have bought one this year as I did 10 days in Jan. and have a week coming up next month. I'm also a Magic Key holder at DL (thank goodness we got in on those when first offered) and make frequent day trips there as well as short DVC stays if and when there's availability at VGC.

 

[CarolynFH]

If I have a 6 night trip with a 4 day park hopper and it's good for 7 days, how do I know what days I want to go to the parks at 5/6 months out? Do I have to pick my 4 park days now not knowing what we want to do of go?

No, all you have to pick is the start date of the ticket, which will determine the price, and make sure that the last date you can use the ticket aligns with your plans. Sometimes having the start date of the ticket be earlier than your actual first use day might be cheaper, assuming that the end date of the ticket fits. For instance, for our Dec. 2020 family trip, we bought 6-day hoppers that started on Dec. 18 because they could be used over a 9-day period, which meant they were fine for our actual use dates of Dec. 21-25. I can't remember how much it saved us, but for a 9-person family trip, every bit helps!