Question about upgrading to AP

[mla973]

We have purchased tickets already for an upcoming trip. They are 5-day non-hopping passes. I've recently been wondering about upgrading my ticket to an AP. I'd like some thoughts on if this would be worth it. (I know value differs between people.)

Here's what I am using to decide:
- 5 day non-hopping ticket at Disney price: $362
- Cost of Platinum AP: $798
- Would save on Memory Maker since Photopass is included ~$150 savings
- Discount on dining and merchandise

So, subtracting Photopass cost, plus price difference, the new "total" for the AP is $286, minus any dining and merch discounts received... AND I could use it again until Jan 2018. (Although we do not have a trip planned.)

Am I looking at this correctly? Is there anything else I should consider. We stay on property, so the parking savings doesn't affect us. Is there a website that lists the discounts? Thanks!

 

[Accident]

If you have a second trip planned in 12 moths, an AP is cheaper than 2 5 day tickets and it's a no brainer, you saved money on tickets right there and the rest is gravy.. 1 10 day ticket is cheaper than an AP but you can't use that on 2 different trips.

EDIT: go on disney's website and just make a card for both sets of tickets you will be within 12 months. Take that total and compare it to AP prices by clearing and making a new cart.

also to note: if all discounts require tickets, your going to be calling up to get the ticketless ap version of the discount so it doesn't mean you can't get the discounts that need tickets..

 

[Accident]

Sorry I missed the other questions...

Yes there is a site, right now it looks like you may need to log in to see it though so you would need the pass first. look for a link in the buying the ap process and the AP site doesn't work with a ton of browsers so you may need to try a few to get the page to show up. Rough numbers you can use is disney owned and operated you'll get 20% off merch until last day of sept when it will probably return to 10% since 45th year ends that day and it's special for the 45th. You get a little off hard tickets but more on cirque and after hours. a little off tours, 20% off character meals. Food varies, the better the place is 10%, the lower is 20%. many counter services in that list for the 45th. tours a little off.. minor room differences in cost but some last minute very restrictive discounts there also (don't count on getting a room discount, usualyl they aren't where peopel want to stay)

You also are eligable to buy the tables in wonderland card that right now is blurry if it can save you more since the AP discount but if it doesn't remain better on oct1, then getting it then probably would make up the difference if it lowers. (do the math for the second trip not this first one).

 

[mla973]

For our family:
2 adults, 1 child: $1,065 for three 5-day passes (no hopping)
2 adults, 1 child: $2,393 for three Platinum APs

So, at face-value not considering other perks, two 5-day passes would be cheaper by my math, right? (unless I'm missing something)

 

[Accident]

So, at face-value not considering other perks, two 5-day passes would be cheaper by my math, right? (unless I'm missing something)

Sorry, I forgot children aren't lower priced aps anymore and most are getting hoppers that want to upgrade so that's when it becomes cheaper.

In this case, you can get all the perks with just 1 person having the ap since everyone doesn't need memory maker and the ap holder will be there for the discounts... It can make doing package deals more interesting as you need to get the ticketless version because all guests will not have the same tickets and have to buy them separate (it'll break even the price difference, disney rarely discounts tickets and never discoutns them on a package).


One thing that usually happens. when you ahve an AP, it will burn a hole in your pocket. your park ticket is paid, you'll start to look for a weekend, good flights, something interesting happening will trigger a quick trip much easier. We all want the best value from the ap and it will eventually pull you down unexpectedly including all the other costs you weren't budgeting for.

 

[supersnoop]

For our family:
2 adults, 1 child: $1,065 for three 5-day passes (no hopping)
2 adults, 1 child: $2,393 for three Platinum APs

So, at face-value not considering other perks, two 5-day passes would be cheaper by my math, right? (unless I'm missing something)

If you don't have any future plans, then you only need one AP to get the discounts. Would the AP discount save you any money on your room reservation?

 

[scrapquitler]

We have purchased tickets already for an upcoming trip. They are 5-day non-hopping passes. I've recently been wondering about upgrading my ticket to an AP. I'd like some thoughts on if this would be worth it. (I know value differs between people.)

Here's what I am using to decide:
- 5 day non-hopping ticket at Disney price: $362
- Cost of Platinum AP: $798
- Would save on Memory Maker since Photopass is included ~$150 savings
- Discount on dining and merchandise

So, subtracting Photopass cost, plus price difference, the new "total" for the AP is $286, minus any dining and merch discounts received... AND I could use it again until Jan 2018. (Although we do not have a trip planned.)

Am I looking at this correctly? Is there anything else I should consider. We stay on property, so the parking savings doesn't affect us. Is there a website that lists the discounts? Thanks!

We fell into this trap (not that I'm complaining) and used the logic "we'll buy APs and plan two trips 11 1/2 months apart so we can save money on the tickets". Before we knew it, we finished the year with five trips. We saved a lot on tickets, but spent a lot more in airfare and hotels than we planned. But for us, yes, it was definitely worth it.

 

[mla973]

If you don't have any future plans, then you only need one AP to get the discounts. Would the AP discount save you any money on your room reservation?

Not on this trip, as we're renting DVC points (and usually do for each trip).

 

[loves to dive]

I always tell people to just do the math, if you don't save money on the price of the tickets to tickets comparison, it's not worth it. I never recommend taking the discounts into consideration since they are very fluid. I have had an AP for a number of years but I always do the math each time I renew, I know how many trips I'm going to be taking that year and how many days I'm going to have to buy tickets for. I always buy park hoppers but I never buy memory maker so I take that into consideration. The room discounts can be good or the general discount can be better. I have a trip booked for March that I was able to do a split stay through Orbiz using the general public discount and adding on the current 15% Orbitz discount, booking the most expensive leg first to get the highest amount of points, which I then applied to the lower cost leg of the trip to get the best discount for it. I paid something like $1700 for a split stay of two nights at CSR and 4 nights at BWI, the same trip with my AP discount would have cost over $2200. The restaurant discounts can change, we were there in Dec. and 2 out of the four places we ate was giving the 20% discount that is in effect right now, 1 gave the 10% regular discount and one didn't give a discount at all.

 

[Accident]

I always tell people to just do the math, if you don't save money on the price of the tickets to tickets comparison, it's not worth it. I never recommend taking the discounts into consideration since they are very fluid.

I agree with this although memory maker and parking if offsite is a savings you might gain that you can count on. I also primarily use tickets for if I'm saving money (well I did before I moved here) but I also knew roughly how much I would be saving at table service and how much table service I wasn't going to be doing to get a little bit of an idea if there was some savings. not huge numbers, maybe an extra $30-40 off the trip.

I found the first time we got an AP that we did go heavier on purchases because we had a discount and it was on sale and we may never get them again. Still not crazy in what we purchased and only added a little extra back in the area of savings..

I've never used a passholder discount on a room. Either it was for places we didn't want to stay, or they were more costly rooms where the general population discount was better as we got exactly what we wanted, where we wanted and didn't get upsold to a better room for a minorly better % off. The only time it would have saved money, it was too close to traveling where the cost to rebook the trip would have lost fastpasses and we no longer had a savings with the fee disney wanted to rebook that close.

 

[mrsR123]

Be wary of thinking that spending more money is saving any. That MM is only a savings if you would have bought it anyway. For just your small family, you'd need a lot of discounts to make up the expenditure in one trip. If you know you're going twice, then buy at least one AP. But for one trip, I would think hard. YMMV.

 

[DisneyFirstTimer10]

if you are for sure planning on another trip within the year and an AP saves you money then YES upgrade!!! We are DVC and go 3 times in one year to make the AP worth it- but we plan that out in advance so we aren't going down and spending money on a whim.

You could just get one AP for the discounts since it seems that 2- 5 day tickets is less money for your family. OR- make the second trip a few days longer.....

 

[soniam]

It doesn't seem worth it for you with only 1 trip. We barely broke even with 2 trips that had park hoppers. We did get some dining and merchandise discounts, as well as a hotel discount. The new dining and merchandise discounts have been a big boon. We used it a lot this trip, and it works with stuff bought on the parks shopping app. Finally bought that D&B Haunted Mansion purse I had been wanting. If you were doing 2 trips this year (13 months), I would say it could be worth it. You could also get APs for you and your spouse but not your child. DH and I have APs, but DS does not. He didn't go enough this year to warrant it.