So the Annual Passes

[griff0525]

I'm sure this has been discusses, but I have to say I had a heart attack when I saw how much they are now. I always got them to save money on resort rooms. Has anybody done the math - is it still a good deal?

 

[MakiraMarlena]

It is going to depend on how often you plan to use them for park admission.

I would not get one solely to receive resort discounts unless I was also planning to use them for park admission enough times to make them worthwhile.

 

[griff0525]

I used to save so much on resort rooms! I am too lazy to figure out if I'd save anything now!

 

[AngiTN]

They have been worth it for us.
Not only for park admission but for the added discounts on Resort stays and the ability to purchase a TIW card. We are "heavy" drinkers

 

[griff0525]

Oh thanks for reminding me about TIW! I have been away from WDW too long!

 

[AngiTN]

I used to save so much on resort rooms! I am too lazy to figure out if I'd save anything now!

Well, the AP discounts are still about 5% (or more) over general discounts so you should still save something. Granted it's not a lot and if you aren't going to have trips totaling more than 10 days it's probably not worth it

 

[AngiTN]

Oh thanks for reminding me about TIW! I have been away from WDW too long!

To warn you, that price increased also

 

[griff0525]

LOL of course it did! hahahahahow much???

 

[AngiTN]

LOL of course it did! hahahahahow much???

up to $150 now (from $100)

 

[goofy4tink]

I have had an AP for many years. I seldom use it for room discounts.......I've found that the discounts just aren't that great for the times I've been going. I did like being able to get the TiW card, but once mine is done in May, that's it for me. I'll just use the AP food discount...only 10% but better than shelling out $150!!! I do get the AP for park entry...that saves me a ton of money over a year.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Discounts have been limited and could go away at any time. The only consideration should really be park admittance.

 

[gap2368]

I think i save with my AP but I did go 35 days last year and I still have 4 months on this one so I will renew my AP

 

[Accident]

The discounts offered in the last year, I've only saved about $50-$100 per trip on a room discount. They are doing amazing general discounts. Where I am saving money is the 10% off merch and some of the food costs. I didn't redo the math on where it saves more money since they went up because I got them on the old price..

 

[lovethattink]

Sticker shock for sure! Our son has the new Gold AP. Thankfully, mine and dh's doesn't expire until June. We aren't going to renew TiW when it expires because the break even point probably wouldn't be reached.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

How long is your trip and how often do you go to Disney in a year? Those are the 2 big questions for me.

I seldom saved much using my AP for resort discounts - by the time those came out only the expensive rooms were available so I didn't save money using my AP for resort discounts.

Where I save money is on the number of times I go and am in the actual parks and my shopping. For example in 2014 I was in the parks 18 days so that alone made the AP worth it.

 

[Eeyore's My Favorite]

Discounts have been limited and could go away at any time. The only consideration should really be park admittance.

The last few times we stayed on site there were no AP discounts available at any of the resorts we wanted to stay at so we ended up paying rack rate. I do use it a lot for dining & gift purchases though.

 

[loves to dive]

I buy mine based solely on park ticket prices. I tend to take 2 trips a years, 5 nights/6 days and before I got my AP always got PHs. The AP comes out less for me, especially since the renewal cost is less the 2nd year. Now that the price has increased I'll have to do the math again before I renew but mine doesn't expire until mid-Sept. I don't use the room discount often, it always seems to work out that using the general public discount and an Orbitz discount on top of that comes out better. I do use the food and merch. discounts.

 

[Day-Day]

We did 3 trips in a year when we had APs several different times. The discounts on some meals and merchandise was nice but didn't add up to a whole lot. We used it for a resort discount one time when we decided fairly late to make a trip and this was the only discount we could get. Other times, we had better rates with bounceback or general public discounts.

We currently have tickets purchased from Undercover Tourist and plan to upgrade to APs during our visit in May and force ourselves to make two more visits before they expire.

 

[DebbieB]

Photopass downloads are included now, but they kicked the price up $100.

 

[cgh]

I just bought an annual pass. For us, it didn't seem worth it for room discounts as it seemed a lot of those were available to the general public within a day or two. I ran the numbers for us, and it worked because (1) we have 2 trips planned- 1 with a 2 day pass, 1 with a 10 day park hopper pass (2) I typically get photopass (2) we are eating a lot of sit down meals and the TIW was worth it. (I totaled my expected meal cost, factored in the cost of the TIW). Now, the downside is that the photopass is only for photos that I'm in. It was not cost effective for us to have more then one annual pass. For my son, if they had a kids pass, it may have been cost effective. But, without that it was $100 more to get it.

We have the Disney Visa so the AP discounts alone weren't that much better to make a difference.

I have read of people doing 2 trips in a year-say late may then early may the next year and reaping the benefits. We don't anticipate doing that. Our Disney trips tend to correspond to work trips my husband has.

ETA: This was for the Platinum pass.