pay seperately or base ticket upgrade?

[embracethechaos]

What would you do? We all have 10 day base tickets. We were planning on adding the memory maker to share with family on the mde. Would it be less hassle and cost to upgrade one of our tickets to annual pass with photo pass and parking costs included? I see that parking at the parks is now 20dollars. We have some meal reservations at disney hotels outside the parks. Will we have to pay again to park at the hotels for meals and if so will they be the same cost as the parks parking. With party tickets and park days and the odd day at a hotel meal I figure it will be about 12 or 13 days parking costs. It seems to me that the annual pass upgrade would pay for itself if all the parking is then included. And also if you dissers agree with this... I need to be sure how to go about the upgrade to include all our pics. Our first nts were going to be mbbbq and mmshp so would i have to pop into the mk with my base ticket before either of these to have used it once and thenhead to a guest relations for upgrade and just leave the park and I be good to go for any disney parking from then on hotels and parks??

 

[ravenclawtrekkie]

Parking at the hotels for meals is free unless you choose to use valet parking. Just tell them when you drive in that you've got a dining reservation. Given this fact, would you still be paying to park at least 12 days?

Assuming you aren't a FL resident: The price of a Platinum pass is $797.69 with tax. Your 10-day base ticket is $388.73, also with tax. That's a difference of $408.96. 12 days of parking at $20/day is $240, Memory Maker is $169. That totals $409. Not a huge difference there, unless you plan to get a lot of use out of the AP discounts. (Edit - I have no idea if tax is charged on MM, I looked at the online checkout process and there wasn't any added, but I didn't want to go too far and accidentally buy it, lol.)

If you are a FL resident, the pass price is cheaper and the upgrade becomes a much better idea. The FL Platinum is $691.19 with tax, and the Gold is $584.69.

 

[mrsR123]

AP holders also receive a discount on certain meals and shopping; that discount might help your math.