Some Ticketing Questions - DVC & Gold Annual Pass

[JZCubed]

So I'm reevaluating the Annual Pass/Ticket needs of my family and y'all have better insight and information than if I call Disney. More importantly, y'all can help me 'think aloud'.

My generic situation:
We travel once a year for a split-stay at Swan & Dolphin (I use 'free' credit card points for 5-nights) and then stay at Bay Lake Tower (for 4-5 nights) - for 9-10 nights & in-Park total.

We used to travel twice-a-year, but my (only) child is now in school full-time and once-a-year works out best. But since we previously traveled twice, an Annual Pass had always made sense.

Now, the math is not so crystal clear and I'm looking for opinions and/or advice - in case I'm missing something in my calculus.

We do not travel at Christmas or Easter, and we do not go to Water Parks. We utilize Park Hopping.

Since we seem to buy a fair number of pictures after each visit, we had finally decided to purchase our first Memory Maker/Photopass for our upcoming trip, but this is now included in the Annual Pass.

So the Gold Annual Pass is fine for us (and might even save us some $$).

Gold Annual Pass costs $549; Renewal is $466 (for adults).

My Disney Experience shows 9- & 10-Day Tickets cost $446 & $456, respectively, and with Park Hopper.

My thinking is for me to purchase one Annual Pass and to purchase [2] 'My Way Tickets' for my wife & child. [1] Annual Pass makes sense, because My Disney Experience makes the math work, but I'm not certain about the other [2] people in my family.

Question #1 - If I purchased just [1] Annual Pass, is there a discount I am not seeing if I purchased [2] 'My Way Tickets' because I'm an Annual Passholder and/or DVC member?

Question(s) #2 & #3 - If [2] members of my group have 'My Way Tickets' while staying at Swan & Dolphin, will they be at a disadvantage to obtaining FP+ that an Annual Passholder would receive? As I recall, Swan & Dolphin guests had a disadvantage for 180+10 dining ADR's, but not for FP+ - am I forgetting/missing something?

Request - please feel free to ask questions and/or offer advice if you believe I am missing anything in determining my best course of action for buying admission for my next Disney vacation.

Thank you in advance.

 

[erionm]

Question #1 - If I purchased just [1] Annual Pass, is there a discount I am not seeing if I purchased [2] 'My Way Tickets' because I'm an Annual Passholder and/or DVC member?

Not really understanding what you are asking here.

Question(s) #2 & #3 - If [2] members of my group have 'My Way Tickets' while staying at Swan & Dolphin, will they be at a disadvantage to obtaining FP+ that an Annual Passholder would receive? As I recall, Swan & Dolphin guests had a disadvantage for 180+10 dining ADR's, but not for FP+ - am I forgetting/missing something?

Swan/Dolphin room reservations can be linked to MDE and are eligible for the 60 day FP+ on-site booking window.

 

[kittyab]

We opted to get the annual pass for our last trip even though a 10 day pass was almost the same. We were there for 14 days I want to have extra options plus if we decided to come back within the year we already had a portion of the trip paid for.

 

[supersnoop]

Can you schedule your annual trips so that they fall within 366 days of each other? In other words, can you go in July this year and June next? Then you just buy an annual pass every other year and get two trips out of it.

 

[JZCubed]

Can you schedule your annual trips so that they fall within 366 days of each other? In other words, can you go in July this year and June next? Then you just buy an annual pass every other year and get two trips out of it.

That's a good idea.

I'll see.

 

[JZCubed]

Not really understanding what you are asking here.


Swan/Dolphin room reservations can be linked to MDE and are eligible for the 60 day FP+ on-site booking window.

That was my recollection.

Thank you.

 

[CMNJ]

Question #1 - If I purchased just [1] Annual Pass, is there a discount I am not seeing if I purchased [2] 'My Way Tickets' because I'm an Annual Passholder and/or DVC member?

No there is no discount on regular park tickets for DVC or AP.

 

[JZCubed]

No there is no discount on regular park tickets for DVC or AP.

Thank you.

 

[Minniesgal]

What do you mean by My Disney Experience makes the math work?

 

[hakepb]

What do you mean by My Disney Experience makes the math work?

It almost sounds like the OP is talking about the Photopass downloads, now included with the new AP's

 

[JZCubed]

What do you mean by My Disney Experience makes the math work?

Ooops, sorry.

Yes, as next Post suggests - Photopass (I meant Memory Maker).

 

[JZCubed]

It almost sounds like the OP is talking about the Photopass downloads, now included with the new AP's

Yup.

Thank you for the correction.

 

[Minniesgal]

See this is the bit that i think is unclear and I get the impression that the passes are not working the way Disney wants them to.

CMs explained to me it is photopass that is included not memory maker. Meaning with 1 annual pass you get the photos of only the person with the annual pass. how does this work if a family gets photos taken together with only 1 annual pass. Do you not get any of them? Or does it work that if you scan your band you get every photo you are ion?

 

[wilma-bride]

See this is the bit that i think is unclear and I get the impression that the passes are not working the way Disney wants them to.

CMs explained to me it is photopass that is included not memory maker. Meaning with 1 annual pass you get the photos of only the person with the annual pass. how does this work if a family gets photos taken together with only 1 annual pass. Do you not get any of them? Or does it work that if you scan your band you get every photo you are ion?

My understanding is that the AP holder is entitled to free photo downloads so each time their MagicBand is scanned for a photo, that photo will be available to download for free. However, if another family member were to have a picture taken elsewhere in teh park, even if that person is linked with the AP holder on MDX, their pictures would not be added to the entitlement. Which is the opposite to how Memory maker works, where all pictures taken by people you are linked with will be available to download with the MM entitlement.

 

[OB1]

It makes sense to have the 1 annual pass - that is exactly what I would do in your situation. You may have a few perks that you do not have with DVC - meals, shopping, etc. It will also be even better once you can renew at the DVC rate.

Agree that the only issue is that you have to be the MB that is scanned for photos.

 

[supersnoop]

CMs explained to me it is photopass that is included not memory maker.

There's a vocabulary problem. "PhotoPass" is the system; the website, the photographers, the cards. "Memory Maker" is a product that allows you to download all your photos from the "PhotoPass" site. Everyone always has access to to "PhotoPass." There's really no difference between "being able to download all your photos" and "purchasing Memory Maker." It's really the same thing.