Seeking Opinions from AP Holders

[raytheyounger]

I'm considering an Annual Pass for my family (3 people, child is early teen), and I'd like some opinions. We are 7-8 hours away from WDW by car. I have some flexibility about how much time I can take off of work and when (within reason). We also homeschool, so we have that flexibility as well. For those who have been in a similar situation, how often did you go? Are there certain times of year that you went? Certain events you attended?

This past year, we went twice. One trip was for 9 days going to the parks for most of those days. The other was for 5 days where our only park activity was MNSSHP (lots of fun, by the way). I could see us going at least once a quarter with one longer trip, and the other trips would be shorter (3-4 days). I'm curious for those who did this, do you feel it was a good return on investment (considering both time and money required)?

 

[kmb584]

I'm considering an Annual Pass for my family (3 people, child is early teen), and I'd like some opinions. We are 7-8 hours away from WDW by car. I have some flexibility about how much time I can take off of work and when (within reason). We also homeschool, so we have that flexibility as well. For those who have been in a similar situation, how often did you go? Are there certain times of year that you went? Certain events you attended?

This past year, we went twice. One trip was for 9 days going to the parks for most of those days. The other was for 5 days where our only park activity was MNSSHP (lots of fun, by the way). I could see us going at least once a quarter with one longer trip, and the other trips would be shorter (3-4 days). I'm curious for those who did this, do you feel it was a good return on investment (considering both time and money required)?

For my family, purchasing annual passes is absolutely worth it. While we only visit twice per year, each trip consists of 9-11 park days depending on our length of stay. We also enjoy park hopping and while we don't do so every single day, we do hop at least 4-5 days (mainly for a dinner reservation or to catch a nighttime show). When I renewed our passes in October, I paid $1,352.56 for myself and my daughter. If I were to purchase 10-day park hopper tickets for us twice each year, I'd pay $1,955.38. That right there is a huge savings. I also purchase Tables in Wonderland which saves me 20% at almost all table service restaurants and includes alcohol. This year is extra special too because the AP merchandise discount is 20% (also available at certain quick service and table service restaurants) instead of the usual 10%.

 

[HopperFan]

Also 7-8 hours away with great flexibility.
For years we have spent around 4-6 weeks total per year.
This is anywhere from 4 day to 10 day trips.
Stay onsite if price is right.
Watch close the offsite hotel specials.
Stay Hilton when I can since our favorite points program.
Watch great rates for condos offsite for week trips.

The great plus for AP, we drive down and arrive late
afternoon and don't blink about heading to a park.

When time to leave, we get up early, head to park,
have lunch then drive home.

We basically travel from mid/late August through beginning of June.

Have been summer months but hate the heat and crowds.

Avoid holiday from Dec 19 - January 5-ish. Love mid December.
Although this year 2 of us are going for NYE at Epcot (one night only as we will be staying at beach close by).

 

[scrapquitler]

We are in New England, so we fly each time because the idea of 24 hours in the car each way is very unappealing to us, and last year we had APs. We all went for 7 days in April, Two of us went for 4 days in September, We all went for 10 days in November, two of us went for 4 days in January, and we all went again for 8 days in April. We had a blast and we are doing it again with our new 13 month APs starting in January.

 

[johnsgrl]

We are 8 hours drive away as of last year, had APs every other year even when we were in New England. So far we've gone for a long weekend in May, a single night in September, a week in October, and a week planned early May. I also have a business trip for late January that I will ditch the work crew at night for to head to the parks. The AP's are a great value for us since we can pretty easily visit when we want and don't have to think " geez, I would love to go for a quick trip but don't want to spend for more tickets" and parking is free even if we are not staying onsite (not that we have stayed offsite, but the option is open for us).
However, the down side is the passes cry out to be used and its all to easy to justify a previously unplanned trip because you already have tickets.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Also 7ish hour drive away but we tend to fly - just so easy and usually cheap out of Atlanta. My kids are younger so my experience probably doesn't totally relate, but FWIW....

Just finished our first year with APs. We had been going around two times per year pre-AP but went four times this past year with APs. A small part of that was wanting to get our $ worth but it's mostly because we just really enjoy it.

Two of our trips were 7-8 nights, one was 4 nights, one was 3 nights. The longer trips were planned roughly 3-6 months in advance, the shorter ones were 1-2 months in advance. All were booked with what I considered a reasonable AP room discount which was a bit better than the general public discount at the time. Trips were last week of Feb, last week of July, long weekend second week of September (MNSSHP) and long weekend after Thanksgiving (MVMCP). We have trips planned for President's Day weekend, the Princess Half weekend, and first week of April already for 2017.

I very much enjoyed the flexibility of being able to book the last minute trips - LOVED it.

I'm sure things will change over time as the kids get older but at the moment I can't imagine NOT having APs. It just fits our family and our style so well right now.

I used the food/drink/merchandise discounts more than expected, as well as the discounts on party tickets and other similar things. Those are all relatively small $'s, but every bit is appreciated.

Having AP's gets two thumbs up from me!

 

[lovethattink]

I'm considering an Annual Pass for my family (3 people, child is early teen), and I'd like some opinions. We are 7-8 hours away from WDW by car. I have some flexibility about how much time I can take off of work and when (within reason). We also homeschool, so we have that flexibility as well. For those who have been in a similar situation, how often did you go? Are there certain times of year that you went? Certain events you attended?

This past year, we went twice. One trip was for 9 days going to the parks for most of those days. The other was for 5 days where our only park activity was MNSSHP (lots of fun, by the way). I could see us going at least once a quarter with one longer trip, and the other trips would be shorter (3-4 days). I'm curious for those who did this, do you feel it was a good return on investment (considering both time and money required)?

We had AP when we lived up north and didn't homeschool. In 1999, we came to FL 4 times. But prior to that, we repeated coming twice a year then skipping the following year.

As for money and time required, we drove back then, was an 18 hour day, so one day was shot. You have a 7 to 8 hour drive and depending when you arrive, you still have the better part of the day to do something.

Money-wise, having an AP will get you discounts on merchandise, food, and resorts. If you want to pay extra, you can get TiW, but with this year's added food discounts to the AP, it's not as worth it to buy TiW as in past years.

As for the Disney math, you'd have to see how many days you need to stay to break even with the AP.

 

[Accident]

Here is what I recommend. Go onto the disney website and make a cart of just tickets without buying them. Do it for the "head of household" by themselves first. So if your planning 2 trips that need 5 day tickets, put in 2 5 day tickets. If you normally get hoppers, add in hoppers as APs are hoppers but don't do that if you skip. If you do the waterparks, put on the water parks and more option. If you normally get memory maker, put that into the cart as well. Now take that number and save it. If you stay offsite, add in the parking cost per day ($20/day). Now delete the cart and put in the equivalent AP (with or without waterparks). Which cart was cheaper? that's the tickets you should be buying for the head of household.

the important thing to get an apples to apples comparison on ticket price is you must put the tickets in exactly how you have to buy them. Don't use a 10 day ticket for 2 5 day trips, the 2 5 day tickets because tickets expire after 14 days costs more than a 10 day and it messes up the math. If your gonig to do 5 days every year and then 3 more 3 day weekends, that's 4 tickets that should end up in your cart to get the price.

Now do the same thing for everyone else your thinking about getting aps. this time, don't add in memory maker or consider parking unless you take multiple cars. save the number, clear the cart and put in their aps. Which cart was cheaper? that's the ticket you want.. Some of the perks you only need 1 person to get the discount so things like memory maker, parking, food discount you don't need everyone to have an AP and sometimes it's getting 1 AP where you really save the most money so treat everyone separate. You do want to consider the AP holder has to be there to get them so if your group/family splits up, you want to consider each person that might need the merch and food discount because you travel that way. My daughter is an adult, she wanders the parks alone so we both have aps because the savings is there when she's alone and buying stuff or parking on her own, etc. Ticket wise, it would be cheaper to just buy her tickets but that's not the only savings that an ap offers so it is a better total cost of disney visit for her to have one.

Now not considered is the discount on food, merchandise, tours, hard ticket parties, rooms, eligible to purchase tables in wonderland, AP only merchandise, Free food and wine/flower and garden gifts, etc etc etc so there is more savings but these are harder to figure out.

Also not considered is how much of a hole it burns in your pocket and how many additional trips and what those would cost your going to be willing to take. Pandora opens, you'll be right down. Something happening only 1 weekend, you'll consider it. Meet and greet with disney blog, you'll probably consider trying to sign up and come down for that day or two, especially within driving distance where flight costs don't matter and a cheap value room is more than enough for the quick trip.

Good luck!

 

[CarrieR]

I live a two hour plane ride away (and no kids) but I can tell you for me, APs work like this -

Someone in my friend-group proposes a trip to WDW. Inevitably, there is already a trip in the works, so I run the math to look at ticket costs. If tickets are within $20 or so, I go for the AP (I can pretty easily count on saving a small margin through some discount or other.)

Generally, I end up with 2-3 full weeks and then "sneak away" for long weekends as the opportunity presents itself. Example: Southwest ran a $69 airfare sale a while back. Already having park tickets, that was easy to justify as a midwinter getaway. I did a F&W/Dapper Day trip for peanuts - flew on points, split a discounted room with a local friend - F&W was literally the most expensive part of the trip.

For me, I have more fun because the pressure to do it allllll isn't there. I can play tour guide to others, knowing that I've seen it all before and can see it again. Or just take a lazy day without that go-go-go pressure.

It DOES make it hard to justify going anywhere else for vaca during the year. But if you're willing to dedicate 12 months of vacation dollars to WDW, highly recommened.

 

[Klayfish]

We are a family of 5, we live in the northwest suburbs of Atlanta. So we're a 7-8 hour drive, just like you. We had an AP from June 2015-July 2016 (we had an extra 10 days on our pass due to WDW generosity). Yeah, the drive is a bit long, but it's not horrible. Everyone's situation is different, but here's what we did.

June/July 2015 - 17 day trip
Sept 2015 - 3 day trip over Labor Day
Nov 2015 - 4 day trip over Thanksgiving
Dec 2015 - 5 day trip over Christmas (I worked from our rented condo at WDW on Dec 23rd, and did WDW at night)
Feb 2016 - 4 day trip over Presidents Day (worked from the condo Friday)
June/July 2016 - 17 day trip - worked from the townhouse for 3 business days

I think I miscalculated a day or two in the above, because I'm pretty sure we totaled it up to 50 days spent in WDW over the AP year. Yes, it was well worth it, in our opinion. We had a marvelous time and made memories that will last forever. Sure, we spent more money because we had to rent a house repeatedly, board our dog, etc..., but worth every penny.

We're all set to go back in June 2017 and start the cycle all over again. Can't wait!!!

 

[disnut8]

We are two adults and live in the Atlanta area and have annual passes. We go every three day weekend a year and love the passes as we consider ourselves "free roaming vapors" so we can go to each of the four parks, park for free, and get discounts. We have even driven down for what I call Mouse Suicide Runs where we leave Friday after work, drive halfway, get to the park around Saturday noon, see a concert or whatever else we are there for, stay Saturday night and then drive home Sunday.

 

[Anniefrances]

We are about a 7 hour drive from WDW and on many years average 3 trips per year. The main one is our summer vacation, usually 9-12 days long. We also spend either Thanksgiving break (my kids have the whole week off from school), part of the December break, or Spring break there. This trip is usually 5-7 days. Then for a special occasion, like a birthday, we get in a "short" 3 - 4 day trip (plus almost a half day on arrival day). Except for the Nov/Dec trips, I've always managed to book reasonable resort rates with AP discount. On years that I an unsure of travel plans, I have let our AP lapse and purchase tix from Undercover Tourist to get the small discount. Once we get closer to the trip I then have a better idea of plans for the rest of the year and upgrade to AP when on site.

 

[Imagineer5]

I am not in the same type of scenario, but if I was it would be a no-brainer! I live in mass. and fly down 2-5 times per year, and have an AP. I use it to buy TiW which usually pays for itself after 4-5 days of Dining (usually sooner, but this last trip I wasn't drinking lol). Also often stay offsite to save $$, so it covers parking which is awesome too.

The only "downside" is I find myself booking more trips than I might otherwise those AP's burn a hole in your pocket! And the renewal savings is about $100 too, so might as well renew and do it all again next year! haha

 

[LSUfan4444]

For those who have been in a similar situation, how often did you go?

We are about 11 hours by car. We took three trips (flew twice and drove once) in 2013.

January for Marathon week (flew) 9 nights
September for NSSHP (drove) 8 nights
December for MVMCP (flew) 10 nights

 

[PeasandCarrots]

We're even further than you and fly but still get APs. If you go a few times a year it's totally worth it. We go 3-5 times a year for 5-9 days each time.

 

[Lynzer4]

I will say that as a pass-holder last year I ended up with more trips then I had planned with I got it LOL!

I had 3 trips planned (Princess Run/work conference, a week in September and a week in June). So I figured out pricing and knew a AP would be the best options. What I didn't think about was once I had it I thought I need to make the most of this pass and add 3 more trips! While the other 3 were shorter weekend trips I did go way more then I had originally planned.

And I live in Illinois so flying is how I get there. If I was 8hr drive I would do it for sure.

So if you think you might end up with more then just your 2 trips and you are okay with that then I say DO IT. I loved having an AP and I am debating getting one now with the extra month!

 

[famy27]

We love our APs, but they are such a temptation. We are actually going twice in January, once in June, and we just added a March trip for three days, because the institute day for my DDs is the same day as the DVC member party at MK, so how could we not go? We live in Chicago, so if we can get reasonable airfare, I'll be checking what DVC availability I can get or using my other timeshare to exchange. We did pay cash for one of our stays last year at BC with a really nice AP discount.

We went four times last year (Thanksgiving, early March, 4th of July, and Labor Day). Our longest trip was 6 days. We find, as mentioned above, that we don't feel such pressure to "do everything" now. But we definitely haven't saved any money, because anything we've saved, we've just used for another trip. But we wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[JPKnapp]

I am exactly 8 hours away and we just bought APs for my family of 5 for the first time after thinking long and hard about it for weeks for the exact same reasons. It seems, like you, I don't mind spending money, I just want it to be worth it. I am also a frequent traveler and Hilton is my stash of points. What I really like about the APs is the ability to be spontaneous with a trip.

I also have a pretty flexible work schedule, but we use traditional schools. The extra month and discounts on food put us over the top this time. We'll get two Christmas seasons to use them. Granted, we had a basis number of trips planned to make the tickets justifiable, but not a 'no brainer'. This last time, for a 4 night trip, we left after school at 2pm, got to parks at 10, then we left for home after 1/2 day in the parks on Sunday (school/work night). That was a little too aggressive in hindsight.

 

[raytheyounger]

Everyone, I appreciate the time and thought that went into your feedback. Predictably (given the audience to whom I posed my question), people seem very satisfied with their decision to purchase APs and use them anywhere from a little to A LOT. It's good to hear that people are making great memories with friends and family.

 

[Anal Annie]

Everyone, I appreciate the time and thought that went into your feedback. Predictably (given the audience to whom I posed my question), people seem very satisfied with their decision to purchase APs and use them anywhere from a little to A LOT. It's good to hear that people are making great memories with friends and family.

We live in the mid-Atlantic (about a 15-16 hr drive) and buy AP's because we also own DVC so we can "afford" to go 3x a year. If we didn't own DVC we wouldn't go so often and in turn wouldn't buy AP's. We couldn't afford to go without having our DVC accomodations available to use. We usually fly on our shorter trips (2x) and drive on our longer summer trip (becuz DH has a hybrid). This year we've already had 19 nights at Disney and will have another 6 in January. Buying AP's isn't just about paying for the tix. There's also meals, transportation costs and lodging. The AP's work for us but make sure you figure in all of the other costs associated with taking multiple trips. It does add up.