Pros/cons to having only one person in your party with an Annual Pass

[Maureen123]

I am considering purchasing an Annual Pass for myself only to be able to take advantage of some of the discounts (parking, etc.) Also, because my husband doesn't always go, our adult daughter now has a "big girl job", our son is about to start college, and a son a junior in high school - I have a feeling our party is going to be a different make-up every time.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of having only one in your party with an AP? Does it make it difficult to book packages? Would love to hear your pros and cons.

Thanks!

(sorry. posted this somewhere else but realized it probably belongs in the Budget category.)

 

[mistysue]

The pros are saving a ton of cash if not everyone is going many days.
The con would be if you are not staying on-site, AP have limited FP+ or park day reservations vs people with a multiple day ticket.

 

[Eastern]

I usually only have one person in the party with the AP for discount purposes. There is an "AP" entrance line at the parks that is probably not in effect or not any benefit during Covid limitations.

In terms of using it for the resort or package discount, the person with the AP needs to be going, so consider that. I have one son who always goes so he is usually the one I assign the pass to.

 

[crazycatstacy]

We are going next December with myself, husband, mother in law, 11 year old nephew, adult daughter and her husband. I am the only one getting the annual pass and the only downside I have thought of is the discount for merchandise for others. If my daughter wants to use it I can pay and she can venmo or paypal me (we don't typically carry a lot of cash on vacation). If my mother in law wants to use the discount we will likely have to square up after vacation when she can write a check or get cash.

 

[DanSchwartz]

Or family has used one annual pass for years. It works great. We still get the free parking and merchandise discounts. We also get the meal discounts for the entire table even with just one annual pass. We've also never had trouble using the annual pass entrance with other family members even though they just had regular tickets. You can certainly still use the perks for other family members that don't have the pass. It's still a great way to save money if the passholder visits the parks a lot with others.

 

[WorldOfPooh]

I guess this is why they have the thumb scanner. Because you could just give the AP magic band to someone else in your party if they wanted to park hop alone.

 

[loves to dive]

We have almost always had one person have one. That would be me. I used to go to the parks at least twice, if not three times a year so it made sense. My son usually went once or twice but you never knew so it didn't make sense for him. The advice I always give is get the AP only if it makes sense $ wise for tickets and don't count on any of the perks when deciding. I have used the AP discount once for a room, otherwise the general discount and/or Orbitz stacked was a better deal. The restaurants that give the discount tend to be a moving target, if we got one great but it wasn't always available. We used it for merch if we could, but again, a moving target. A lot of the stores in WS at Epcot don't give a discount and those are the ones we tend to shop at (masks in Italy I'm looking at you). If you are staying on site you get parking for free anyway. If you don't always get park hoppers or aren't interested in park hopping the higher price might not be worth it. If you don't get memory maker (or whatever it's called) and won't use it, the higher price might not be worth it. It's simply a math thing.

 

[Shari Bowman]

so if only one person in your group has the AP, can the whole group use the AP line for rides?

 

[EpcotGuy]

There is no AP line for rides...

 

[Shari Bowman]

Okay, thank you. Still learning what the benefits might be to have one person in our group have an AP. I appreciate the response.

 

[Eastern]

We've also never had trouble using the annual pass entrance with other family members even though they just had regular tickets.

Good to know. We have visited when 1 or 2 people don't have an AP and we always had them go in the regular line and waited for them up ahead.

 

[Eastern]

so if only one person in your group has the AP, can the whole group use the AP line for rides?

That line is only for park entry.

 

[tink89]

Pro would be the discount. Cons would be if staying offsite and they all have MM on their ticket you can not go in with them. This is Disneyland, never been to WDW so not sure if it work the same there.

I went with 12 people during xmas and only I had an AP. We did stay on site so we had EMH. With 12 people and doing character dining and just eating anywhere or shopping my discount came in handy. I paid for everything and they would just quick pay me the cash. We all saved all around that the AP basically pays for the upgrade.

 

[DanSchwartz]

Good to know. We have visited when 1 or 2 people don't have an AP and we always had them go in the regular line and waited for them up ahead.

We've never had a problem with a few others entering through the AP entrance after the passholder entered. I assume they prefer not to make parties split up to enter. Give it a try next time. I've never seen anyone stopped or told to enter a different line.

 

[WorldOfPooh]

Basically the AP's have become less and less of a value as Eger/Disney keep taking away things.
The discounts at all the food places was pretty good but then they started excluding some of the cheaper ones or reducing the discounts. Just a couple years ago the Boardwalk Pizza Window had I think a 15% discount which was pretty substantial if you got a whole pie and then they got rid of that.

Along with all the Not So Scary and After Hours, which are effective AP blackout dates (even if you have unlimited) the value of the AP is getting more difficult to justify.

Now with park hopper gone during the pandemic, I just can't see getting an AP under the current conditions. Especially since they aren't discounting it because of COVID. It's still above $1000.

 

[LovesTimone]

Getting the AP would work if you all plan to stay together, if you plan on splitting up then discounts for food or merchandise will not work for the whole party...

If you are buying merchandise for someone else, there are ATM's in the parks so they can give you the cash on the spot... If you prefer to handled it right away...

With the AP line for getting into the parks, I have noticed that before Covid and all this mess, that if the adults had AP and for whatever reason the kids did not they let them in with the parents or grandparents, others adults or family members or large parties were being told that was a Special line for AP holders only, and redirecting to other lines... the end of the other lines... and not letting them through... So if this is the case, you might just want to stay with your party in a reg. line, or you go through the AP line and wait for the rest of your party... so if for some reason they are redirected, you are not wasting time.

 

[SugarSweetLee]

Now with park hopper gone during the pandemic, I just can't see getting an AP under the current conditions. Especially since they aren't discounting it because of COVID. It's still above $1000.

I don't even think that you can purchase a new one at this time...can you? I asked in the MDE chat a couple of weeks ago and they said they didn't know when APs would be available for sale again.

 

[DanSchwartz]

I don't even think that you can purchase a new one at this time...can you? I asked in the MDE chat a couple of weeks ago and they said they didn't know when APs would be available for sale again.

No, they aren't selling new annual passes right now. They are just permitting current passholders to renew. They are also stopping platinum passes for now because the water parks are still closed indefinitely.

 

[Christina Lutz]

my husband and I are in the same boat with wanting AP

 

[SugarSweetLee]

No, they aren't selling new annual passes right now. They are just permitting current passholders to renew. They are also stopping platinum passes for now because the water parks are still closed indefinitely.

That's what I thought. It also looks like they removed platinum passes from the pricing page.