Premium Annual Pass

[della]

We are a large family (8) and looking to go to WDW twice in the coming year. During the first trip ds will celebrate his b-day and has asked to go to Disney Quest on that day. Also, the kids are asking to go to Blizzard Beach on at least one of the trips. Is it worth it to get the Premium Annual Pass over the regular annual pass? We would use for the premuium part for the above attractions but not for any of the others allowed. We are DVC owners so we would not use the AP rates at a resort.

Also, is there a discounted way to purchase annual passes or premium annual passes? Thanks!

 

[mickeymost]

You might be better off getting the MYW tickets. You can get the pluses on the passes with expiring or non expiring. You might want to do the math and see which may be the better way to go. It depends on how many days your looking to spend on each trip.

I'm in Ocean Count too!!

K

 

[cranbiz]

Your best bet is to go to Deb's site and do the cost analysis of MYM tickets vs. PAP's. How many days will you use etc.

I love DQ but don't go there enough or to the water parks at all, therefore the regular FL resident AP works best for me. We are using up our left over pluses to do DQ on occasion, but most likely will not upgrade to PAP's when out of pluses.

You gotta do what's best for you but if flexability is your most important concern, then the PAP may be the best way to go.

 

[Pocahontas1]

I'm kind of in the same boat with you. I'm going in June and December and started thinking about the AP. I know we are going to a waterpark and if I had the option, I take DS (5) to DQ, but no way I'd pay for the ticket. After I added up the three days at parks this summer and then three or four days in the winter, it looked better.

Also, I think we'll go down in Oct for MNSSHP. If I'm really good, I can squeeze a trip in next summer too. For me the PAP definitely works out better. If you think you will go more than twice then get the AP. We wanted the PAP just to have the options of waterparks and DQ. Also, we wanted to park hop and I hated to pay the extra $$$ on the MYW tickets just to hop one or two days.

Like you, we're DVC, so we're eligible for the DVC discount. I think the adult PAP is right about $415.00 and the child's is a bit more than $350.00. We got a DVC postcard yesterday and the regular AP is about $300.00 for adults and closer to $250.00 for kids.

Also, with the AP, you can get a Disney Dining Experience card and save 20% on meals at a lot of the sitdown restaurants. With such a large group, you could save a lot of money that way, too. I think the DDE card is $50.00 with the DVC membership

Best thing to do is sit down and figure it out. That's what I did and the PAP worked out better for us. Of course, now we will do a lot more than we had originially planned if we had just gotten the MYW tickets.

 

[GoldenOldie]

Your DVC membership will allow you to get reduced rate AP's or PAP's. Using what you have described , your best bet would be to purchase regular AP's (DVC price $314.18 adult/$267.32 child) and pay for DQ and water park separate ($36.21 x 2 = $72.42 adult/$29.82 x 2 = $59.64 child).

You could buy the DVC PAP for $415.35 adult/$353.58 child but it works out cheaper to get the regular AP and pay for the other two places.

By the way, a regular AP will get you a small discount on ($4 adult/$3 per child) on both DQ and water park tickets.

 

[Evil Queen]

I finally bought PAP's this year. We normally only go every 1 1/2 to 2 years, but this year after our longer Sept. trip we are going to start going every 2 months for a 2-3 day stay. We enjoy water parks, so that was the main reason for getting them. We are planning a few nights out of the year at DTD.

For us it made more sense. If I feel it's too much next time I will think "less is better."

Like other's have said sit down and do the math. Good luck, it took me two months to really decide. I threw many scenarios into the mix as well.

 

[Luv2Roam]

We have WDW PAPs, live locally, and I almost bought regular APs this year.
Going to PI, DQ, etc is a nice option. But how often do we go to any of the extras? Not much.
I can't say that we really get our money's worth from the PAP, vs an AP. DH wanted to stay with PAP, so we did.
It's nice for the convenience. But if I did not live locally I would not have considered it at all. Having kids would help justify some of the cost. Make sure to crunch numbers and see if you really would come out ahead.
I thnk it is one of those things if you owned PAP's, you may be more apt to go to other places that normally cost extra.
Maybe try it one year. If it doesn't suit you, then renew with APs next time.