Should I upgrade from Premium to Premier AP?

[sophie832]

DH and I have D-land Premium APs. Just want to make sure I am calculating all this correctly, since it seems it would be cheaper to upgrade to a Premier pass when we renew, rather than purchase separate WDW tickets.

At current prices (let's hope those hold out), a renewal will cost $679 per AP. The Premier AP costs $1062.44...I assume there is no discount for renewing the D-land portion, and thus I would be calculating the difference between the $679 and the $1062.44 when I calculate the WDW portion. Our trip to WDW will either be 7 or 8 nights, but either way an 8-day MYW PH w/WP ticket would be the way to go for us. That would currently cost $447.30 through Disney, or $421.09 through UT (w/Mousesavers link). So, my comparison calculations look like this:

$679+421.09 = $1,100.09
vs.
$1062.44

A difference of $37.65 in favor of the Premier AP.

Also, the Premier AP gives us all the AP discounts at WDW, and we could do TIW since we probably won't be doing a Dining Plan.

That means we should just do the Premier AP, right? Doesn't make any sense to do it any other way, does it?

I am a little concerned about price increases in the near future, but there's really not much we can do. I could buy a voucher for a D-land AP, but since I get a $20 discount for renewal, I am not sure it would make much of a difference to purchase a new AP voucher before a price increase. If WDW prices are going up, though, we are stuck with buying the Premier at the new price. That isn't figured into my calculations above, since I could buy the individual tickets in advance now, and save the difference due to any price increases. Would the price of the Premier AP go up more than $37? Hard to say.

 

[Robo]

DH and I have D-land Premium APs. Just want to make sure I am calculating all this correctly, since it seems it would be cheaper to upgrade to a Premier pass when we renew, rather than purchase separate WDW tickets.

At current prices (let's hope those hold out), a renewal will cost $679 per AP. The Premier AP costs $1062.44...I assume there is no discount for renewing the D-land portion, and thus I would be calculating the difference between the $679 and the $1062.44 when I calculate the WDW portion. Our trip to WDW will either be 7 or 8 nights, but either way an 8-day MYW PH w/WP ticket would be the way to go for us. That would currently cost $447.30 through Disney, or $421.09 through UT (w/Mousesavers link). So, my comparison calculations look like this:

$679+421.09 = $1,100.09
vs.
$1062.44

A difference of $37.65 in favor of the Premier AP.

Also, the Premier AP gives us all the AP discounts at WDW, and we could do TIW since we probably won't be doing a Dining Plan.

That means we should just do the Premier AP, right? Doesn't make any sense to do it any other way, does it?

I am a little concerned about price increases in the near future, but there's really not much we can do. I could buy a voucher for a D-land AP, but since I get a $20 discount for renewal, I am not sure it would make much of a difference to purchase a new AP voucher before a price increase. If WDW prices are going up, though, we are stuck with buying the Premier at the new price. That isn't figured into my calculations above, since I could buy the individual tickets in advance now, and save the difference due to any price increases. Would the price of the Premier AP go up more than $37? Hard to say.

If there a "renewal" rate for the Premier pass, you should be able to get it.
Guests are generally allowed to change the kind of AP they get at renewal time, at the renewal rate.

 

[OKW Lover]

Two drawbacks; One is that your Premier pass would expire on the same date as your current DL pass. Second, a WDW basic AP is currently ~$750, so it may be less expensive than your other options if you don't need the water parks.

 

[Robo]

Two drawbacks; One is that your Premier pass would expire on the same date as your current DL pass...

While that is true, the new pass (being purchased at renewal time and not an upgrade done at some months into a running AP) would be good for a full year at both parks after purchase.

 

[figment_jii]

I don't think there is a renewal discount for the Premier AP.

While this probably won't make a huge difference in your calculations, you have listed the full price of the 8-day MYW PH tickets, but there are cheaper options out there (like Undercover Tourist or similar authorized sellers). I just looked at UT has 8-day MYW PH for $402.33, which is about $18.50 less than the gate price of the tickets. So that would increase the difference to about $55 instead of $37.

I still think it's largely worthwhile to upgrade to the Premier AP...but it does depend on how much shopping and dining you do. The AP discounts aren't as good at WDW as they are at DLR. Very few dining discounts (but the TiW would take care of that) and less shopping discount (only 10%). The hotel discounts can be much better at WDW, so if you're staying onsite, that is something to look into.

 

[OKW Lover]

While that is true, the new pass (being purchased at renewal time and not an upgrade done at some months into a running AP) would be good for a full year at both parks after purchase.

Yes, this is a good point as well.

In the past I've had both a Premiere AP and at other times separate AP's for WDW and DL. It really just came down to the timings of our visits to the parks.

 

[sophie832]

The price I included in my calculation for purchasing the ticket separately is the Undercover Tourist price for 8-day PH w/WP.

I appreciate everyone's replies. We have been Premier APs before, but only when we were taking 2 trips in a year. I think we will probably end up doing the upgrade since we really don't need the dining plan and like the extra discounts.