When we moved from NY to Charlotte seven years ago, Disney became an 8 hour door to door drive. As a side note, when we went with friends from here, they flew. Their door to door time was 6 hours, they had to go thru the whole airport routine, and had to rent a car when they arrived.
Anyway, Disney now became something we could do on a long weekend.
I like the daisy chaining of benefits that we do. We are DVC members, so we can get a discount on AP, at times that discount can be substantial. Since we have AP, at times we have purchased TiW. It was a no brainier when it was $75, but at $150, not as much so. Who knows what the future will bring.
Multiple visits a year means that we can do what we want. I will never wait 2 hours for a ride. Either we RD, FP, or we skip it until next time. Knowing we will be back in a few months makes decisions like that easy. We tend to take a break in the afternoon, head back to the hotel for a while. I do not feel that we have to go commando every day to get in as much as possible. There is always another day, always another trip.
Having an AP means Free Parking (the other FP). I used to travel quite a bit for work, so on those long weekends we tend to stay off site, and often on points. Driving also means that we will often leave after work, and we will spend the night outside Jacksonville. It makes the drive a little bit easier. Cheaper rooms, just over two hours from Disney means we can still make it there the next morning for opening.
I also learned why people think we are crazy. Our school district has for a few years turned the MLK holiday in January into a five day weekend for students. For some middle and high school students, depending on final schedule, it could even be six days. We had planned on going to Disney, when friends of ours asked if we would mind if they came with us. Having planned way in advance, and having a friend who was a cast member at the time, we were able to swing the five days, four nights at the All Stars for just over $300. Throw in a free (points) stay at a Hampton Inn in Jacksonville, and my cost of the trip including driving, parking, hotel and passes was at $400 before any food.
Our friends booked a basic package at All Stars, with passes for the parks. That came to $1,900, before gas, the extra night on the way down, etc. They were looking at about $2,200 for the same time we were only paying $400. Don’t get me wrong, the AP cost something, but their cost was already worked into the trip the previous summer (July). And we used the passes again for the next summer trip (in June). But their $2,200 vs. our $400 means we can do the trips more often.
We have been known to drive down on a Friday night to meet up with friends from New York for a Saturday, and perhaps Sunday morning. But we are drivers, and as I stated before, an eight hour drive is not a big deal to us. but nice to meet up with old friends from time to time.
So to answer the original question, what I love most about the AP is that we get our monies worth, and we get to be really flexible.
