Question for those of you who have annual pass & PAP

[wendy1974]

I am considering purchasing either an Annual Pass or a Premium Annual Pass and I would really like to ask those of you who have them which is the better deal? I read on allears about some of the benefits but what I am most interested in is getting resort room discounts. Are there frequent discounts offered on rooms? And if so how much off of the rack rate do you save? I was also interested in when and how often they release special rates to AP/PAP holders???

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.
TIA

 

[jenjen212]

the annual pass will just give you unlimited entrance to all of the parks and work as a hopper. the premium pass is the same as the annual pass except that it will also give you unlimited entrance to the water parks, disney quest, and pleasure island. other than these things, it is the same benefits.

so... as to which is the better deal, it really depends on if you and your family would go to the additional places and actually get enough use out of it. if you would make several trips to disney in the year, than you could get more use out of using the water park / disney quest / pleasure island feature more than it would cost you to just pay for the day's entrance in to those.

the discounts are the same for either pass. we really make use of those discounts. they are worth it. even if only one of you has an annual pass, using that to book the room to get the rates discounted is worth it.

good luck!

 

[Ilovestitch]

APs/PAP's give great discounts on hotels- BUT you have to remember these discounts aren't guaranteed at all. That said- I think there's always been AP rates released for the past couple years. But, tourism is going up so Disney might not have to discount rooms.

Mousesavers.com has the historic AP rates and dates when they were released. For our May trip, the AP rate for deluxes was $100 off rack rate per night. So we saved $900- so it was definitly worth it to get an AP.

 

[seashoreCM]

This past year used a PAP enough so that after room discounts, parking benefit, etc. the theme park admission itself was about ten dollars a day.

The PAP is better than the regular AP when and only when you make four or more visits to water parks, Disney Quest, and Pleasure Island.

I found that much of the time, other room discounts such as AAA came within about $20. of the AP rate for moderate resorts and within about $10. of the AP rate for value resorts.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

Last few trips:
8/04 Coronado Springs & Pop Century
8/04 again Motel 6 and Pop Century
1/05 Pop Century
5/05 Motel 6

 

[wendy1974]

Thanks for all the help At most I would probably only be able to make 2 trips within a year to WDW and one of those trips would probably only be a 3 or 4 day visit where as the other would probably be a 5 day visit so it would probably work out better to get the AP as I doubt that I would be taking time away from the parks to go to Pleasure Island or a Water Park

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Just wanted to say that if you do get just the AP you can still get additional benefits such as dining disc. at certain restraunts 10%, discounts on watercraft rentals etc. We got PAPs this year because we plan on doing 3 trips, one is a conference for dh and 2 are spring break trips for the 3ds. I save $700 on the room, plus bought the dde card and saved a ton on food, next trip I plan to do shopping at world of disney for the discount and more etc.

 

[clkelley]

I usually get the regular AP, then I get a Pleasure Island AP, plus guest. My hubby gets the regular AP. I can then bring one of my boys into PI on Friday night for free, then we get a discounted PI admission for my other son (They are 17&18, so definitely old enough for Adventurer's Club and Comedy Warehouse). We only make it to the waterparks about once every couple of years, so the Premium AP is not worth it for us.

My boys get the regular AP, then a Disney Quest AP.

Carol

 

[Sinclare]

you also have to remember that how much you save vs regular tickets isn't the only reason to get a pass. For me and my son it's not having to worry about what we "Can do" because we can do anything we want when we wake up in the morning. If we get up and he decides he wants to go to a water park or DQ then we just go do it. We don't have to worry about whether we have a bonus to cover it.

That alone is worth alot.

 

[lovethattink]

Years ago when we lived in Pennsylvania, we bought just the AP. We'd do 2 trips a year and spend about a week with each trip. It wasn't worth the extra money for us to buy a PAP back then. We stayed at a motel with a waterslide, so we really didn't need to go to a water park or DQ.

Now we live in central Florida and we have a PAP. DH and DS(11) love Disney Quest. They go often. I love the waterparks. We go to WDW at least once a week, usually just for a few hours, to eat dinner or see a particular show. We use the AP discount for rooms often, although we just stay a couple nights at a time. When we do stay on property, we mostly stay at the resort and enjoy all it has to offer.