Questions for current PAP holders.

[lana772]

We, DH, DD12, DD10 and myself have booked a DL vacation for 12/21-12/28 this year. We are staying at the GCH and have park hopper tickets for 6 days.

It has been years since we had PAPs to DL, but I remember there being a decent discount for the resort hotels.

After doing some math it has dawned on me that it may be cheaper for us to get the PAPs and book the hotel with the discount. (With my math and a 25%hotel disc the price is almost the same I have paid for my current package).

Does anyone know what the PAP disc for GCH is for the week of Christmas?
Has anyone done this? Is it as good a deal as it seems?

The AP prices are much higher than when we had them, so I want to make sure I am making a wise choice. Needless to say, we would love the excuse of having APs to come back.

 

[lana772]

I should add that we do go to DL every year, so I'm sure we would use the APs again.

Our hotel of choice for Christmas is GCH, but we will also stay at PPH for other trips to DL, so I would be interested in the disc price for PPH durring off season.

 

[hjgaus]

I just checked a few days ago but the AP rates calendar only shows rates until October.
We used to buy AP for WDW for the same reason. Since we live in So Cal we have been PAP for the last 2 years and used the AP hotel rate for our recent 4th of July stay @ PPH.(only 1 night) but we felt it was good to catch a break on the price! Even did concierge for the 1st time! If you feel you will be using the pass more than 1 visit within the year than I say it's worth it!

 

[Rhonna]

It doesn't matter which AP you have (PAP, DAP, etc.) the hotel discounts are the same. You don't have to buy the more expensive PAP, unless you want the higher discounts for food and merchandise on your trips.

If there are no special offers during your time frame an AP holder gets an automatic 10% off rack rates.

I believe the BEST discounts may go up to 30% off. However when they advertise "Discounts of 30% off." or "Discounts of 25% off." You will find the deepest discount is for PPH. The GCH and DLH are a bit less of a discount.

Right now they are not showing the AP rates into December. Also, there are no AP discounts for that time frame (other than the automatic 10% off).

With regard to PPH at another time, you would need to know your dates to know the prices.

With regard to your December dates. Since it's x-mas time and GCH is popular in that season, I'm not sure if they give discounts or how much of a discount you might be able to get, once they are posted.

We've found that usually you can get better resort AP rates at WDW than at DL. DL resort hotels are spendy, even with an AP discount.

 

[lana772]

Oh.... I hadn't even considered the disc on food and merchandise. That sweetens the deal even more.... hmmmm!

 

[Rhonna]

Oh.... I hadn't even considered the disc on food and merchandise. That sweetens the deal even more.... hmmmm!

The PAP merchandise discount is 20% - for other AP's it's 10%.

The PAP food discount is 15% - for other AP's it's 10%.

 

[lana772]

That's the same it was years ago when we had it.
This is our first Christmas Day trip, so I guess it's wishful thinking of a Hotel disc. I remember staying at GCH and getting a 30% disc, but that was in February when GCH was new.

 

[Rhonna]

I remember staying at GCH and getting a 30% disc, but that was in February when GCH was new.

Jan. and Feb. are probably the slowest times of the year and best times to get the better discounts.

If you book under the AP rate (you don't have to have an AP to book, but of course buy the voucher before you go) for your Dec. trip, you can always call reservations and have them apply the new rate if/when a discount (AP or public) comes out.

Sometimes the public discount is just as good as the AP discount.

I can't remember clearly but someone had a breakdown of when you break even with an AP. It is something like if you spend $150 a day in food/merch. and stay 9 days or more for the entire year you have your AP. I can't remember if that was for a PAP or DAP. But that may have changed since they raised the AP prices quite a bit just recently.

 

[lana772]

Thanks Rhonna.
It looks like PAP is the way to go for us. I'm sure we will spend more than 9 days in the park. Since our first trip on the AP will be on Christmas we might as well get the Premium.
Looks like it's going to be a fun year.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Thanks Rhonna.
It looks like PAP is the way to go for us. I'm sure we will spend more than 9 days in the park. Since our first trip on the AP will be on Christmas we might as well get the Premium.
Looks like it's going to be a fun year.

With your dates, you really need to get the PAP. From December 22-31, all other annual pass levels are blocked out.

 

[CamoMama]

Oh.... I hadn't even considered the disc on food and merchandise. That sweetens the deal even more.... hmmmm!

And don't forget, free parking with the PAP.

 

[GrandBob]

And don't forget, free parking with the PAP.

That's free parking for the parking lots and structures for the park. The holder will still have to pay hotel parking, if staying on-site with a car.

-Bob

 

[MrHappy]

yeah, the 20% discount was the big reason I went with the PAP. We bought about $2000 of merch in the 4 times we have gone this year, plus over $1000 in food. That's $400 for merch and $150+ for food. So I paid $50 to get into the park. Depending on how many people you have, you only need one PAP to get the discount for everyone. It might be cheaper, depending on how many times you plan on going, to get one PAP and get tickets for the rest. $300 for a week adds up fast.



Problem with buying an AP to get a discount on the hotel is that they don't give you a number or start the time of the AP until you visit the first time, but you should be able to get at least the 10% when it's active. One thing you might try is get the AP and then the first day you go in the park, go back to the hotel and ask for a refund on the difference. You might be able to get it on a gift card or something so that you can use it in the park. I did this on getting DVC and getting a discount on the PAP.
With Disney's Timeshare, they offer a $20 discount on the APs and all the discounts at all the parks.

 

[hjgaus]

yeah, the 20% discount was the big reason I went with the PAP. We bought about $2000 of merch in the 4 times we have gone this year, plus over $1000 in food. That's $400 for merch and $150+ for food. So I paid $50 to get into the park. Depending on how many people you have, you only need one PAP to get the discount for everyone. It might be cheaper, depending on how many times you plan on going, to get one PAP and get tickets for the rest. $300 for a week adds up fast.



Problem with buying an AP to get a discount on the hotel is that they don't give you a number or start the time of the AP until you visit the first time, but you should be able to get at least the 10% when it's active. One thing you might try is get the AP and then the first day you go in the park, go back to the hotel and ask for a refund on the difference. You might be able to get it on a gift card or something so that you can use it in the park. I did this on getting DVC and getting a discount on the PAP.
With Disney's Timeshare, they offer a $20 discount on the APs and all the discounts at all the parks.

Do you mean just purchasing a PAP? I am DVC & a So Cal Local so I had a choice of which discount to use but that is it either way. We found out that we got BETTER discounts for food & merchandise as PAP's than being DVCer's.
Although the combination of both - getting a place to stay on points and unlimited park tickets for a year is the best of both worlds!

 

[hjgaus]

Forgot to add - the discount for being local or DVC WAS just $20.00 off per ticket.

 

[disneegrl4eva]

although its too early to see the discounts for GC yet, I am going to throw out a number here and we will see just how off I am...I have a feeling that during the week of christmas when you are planning on going you are going to be looking at closer to $500 a night with at least ..right now the GC is going for $356 a night for mid oct. and weekends are $414 and thats just in Oct. so i think GC is going to be a pretty hefty thing even with AP discount

 

[lana772]

Problem with buying an AP to get a discount on the hotel is that they don't give you a number or start the time of the AP until you visit the first time, but you should be able to get at least the 10% when it's active. One thing you might try is get the AP and then the first day you go in the park, go back to the hotel and ask for a refund on the difference. You might be able to get it on a gift card or something so that you can use it in the park. I did this on getting DVC and getting a discount on the PAP.
With Disney's Timeshare, they offer a $20 discount on the APs and all the discounts at all the parks.

I called on this and was told to book the room at the going rate and at least a day before check out show the front desk our new season passes and they will change our rate for the entire stay.

 

[lana772]

although its too early to see the discounts for GC yet, I am going to throw out a number here and we will see just how off I am...I have a feeling that during the week of christmas when you are planning on going you are going to be looking at closer to $500 a night with at least ..right now the GC is going for $356 a night for mid oct. and weekends are $414 and thats just in Oct. so i think GC is going to be a pretty hefty thing even with AP discount

Your numbers are pretty close, depending on the room choice. We have stayed in all 3 resort hotels and a few off site. The only 2 we will consider are PPH and GCH. Since this is a special Christmas Day trip we will only consider GCH.

 

[lana772]

yeah, the 20% discount was the big reason I went with the PAP. We bought about $2000 of merch in the 4 times we have gone this year, plus over $1000 in food. That's $400 for merch and $150+ for food. So I paid $50 to get into the park. Depending on how many people you have, you only need one PAP to get the discount for everyone. It might be cheaper, depending on how many times you plan on going, to get one PAP and get tickets for the rest. $300 for a week adds up fast.

This is what we discovered the first year we did PAPs. We will not consider other APs because we don't want to have to think about block out days.

 

[lana772]

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP.

Last night when my husband got home from work I mentioned this to him and got a "no duh" response. He was kind of surprised that I had not done it in the first place. I guess sometimes I have to be reminded of stuff.

So needless to say my reservations are changed to room only and our PAPs will start when we get there.... if we can wait that long.