So the Annual Passes

[AngiTN]

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.

You can get any photos taken by anyone on your friends list, your son doesn't have to be there, he just had to be on your family /friends list
Me, DH and DGD have old type passes
Got DD a new type AP last week
She is a member of my family /friends
We got all photos taken by anyone during our trip in our account
It also "turned on" the download options for all photos done this year, all trips taken without DD, and taken before we upgraded her to an AP

 

[cgh]

If that's the case that is wonderful! Solidifies the benefit of the AP for us.

Oh-and if i didn't make it clear, it only is cost effective for us to have one AP. I'll pay for everything (for the most part) and we are not there long enough for everyone to benefit.

 

[tarak]

I upgraded passes for two of my kids and me because we had two separate trips planned for a total of twelve days. I had planned a trip for May of 2017, but decided to just go in 2016 and take advantage of the APs, which don't expire until August. I think TIW was only $120 when I picked it up last August. I doubt I'd get that now at $150. We do get better deals on the room cost than I've ever seen with the AP discounts but we also get MM each trip and use the heck out of it. We have enough passes from UT for another trip, which likely won't happen for several years. I'd have to run the numbers at that time to see whether it's worth it to upgrade to an AP for one of us so we can get the food and merchandise discounts (assuming they even exist in a few years). Based on the price increases we've seen, I suspect it won't be.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I've been renewing an AP since 2000 and I'm DVC so unless I want to spend less than 10 days in the parks (I usually do that much during Food & Wine alone) I will be getting the AP. I have a gold AP now. I'm actually going down for New Years so no parks on the 31st or 1st, but I can handle that. Renewal was about $20 more than my last AP.

My friends who are linked with me get my photos also. Once I bought the gold pass and it was linked to my account, all the photos became downloadable for me and them.

 

[willieT]

Since I'm an Orlando resident, the Annual Pass is a pretty easy decision. We've had several years where we averaged about $15/visit -- back when the Florida Resident Seasonal AP was just $200.

But, aside from running the numbers, I think a great benefit of the AP is the ability to relax and not feel rushed to 'see/do everything' on each visit. It's hard to overestimate this benefit.

 

[eagillinois]

We have a Fl. Resident seasonal pass. The Fl. Resident room discounts are usually the same as the AP discounts so no real benefit there I have found (I always price both). I do use it for merchandise discounts and we try and go at least one day a month with a few 4 day trips a year which makes it worth it for us on admission alone. There are black out dates but those are generally times I don't want to fight crowds anyway so we are OK with that. I will renew mine next year.

 

[griff0525]

I have to say that in the past I have saved HUGE on room discounts. It's part of the way I have justified going so often! The math proved it before, but I won't really know til the end of this AP year to see if that's changed.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

AP rates now are not much better or more plentiful than the regular room-only discounts and can regularly be beaten by Orbitz or other third party resellers.

 

[OKW Lover]

I always got them to save money on resort rooms. Has anybody done the math - is it still a good deal?

Hard to answer this one without knowing how many days you visit and what level hotel room you stay in.

Still, I base the AP decision solely on park admission. If it costs less than a x-day hopper ticket then the AP is best. I count any AP discounts on food and merchandise as a bonus.

 

[fla4fun]

I agree that you should base your decision solely on whether you will be visiting the parks enough days to make it the most cost effective choice. Disney can change the "perks" attached to the pass at any time. If they were to decide tomorrow that there would be no more AP room discounts or no more AP merchandise discounts, they could do so. I spend between 40-45 days in the parks each year, so the AP is a no brainer for me. But I end up booking at least two of my trips each year through third party websites, because I end up traveling either when no AP discount is offered or during an overlap period where part of my dates would not be covered. I can often find a code on the third party site to use in addition to them matching the GP discount currently available, so that helps out too. My January and September trips I usually book direct with Disney, but lately it's been with BB rather than AP because I can book the BB earlier and the BB and AP are usually very competitive.

 

[Volfan1]

Me and DW got AP last June and plan to go one more time before they expire, but it will probably be our last. The price increase for photo pass does not appeal to us.