Stay 2 weeks - AP or 10 day with Pluses ?

[pooh2001]

What type of ticket would you buy if you stayed at WDW - on site at a resort - for 14 nights - actual park time use would be 13 1/2 days, 1 1/2 days used for travel.

10 day park hopper with pluses (5 I think) would leave us 3 1/2 days of not going to a WDW park.

AP will allow us to visit a WDW park for 13 1/2 days and buy a DDE card.

AP cost $420.68 for an adult
or $31.16 per day

10 day park hopper with pluses cost $364.23 for an adult (advance, expires)
or $36.42 per day - and for 3 days do the pluses

10 day park hopper NO pluses cost $247.08 for an adult (advance, expires)
or $24.70 per day - and for 3 1/2 days do what?

We are not big on water parks. If we stay at the Dolphin or Y/BC we have
no problem hanging at the resort pool for 1/2 a day - or wandering around DTD for an afternoon. We never did the mini-golf yet either.

From the 10 day park hopper with no pluses to the AP the difference is
$6.46 per day - or for 2 weeks $87.41 more for the AP ticket.

Is the AP ticket cost worth the freedom of going to the WDW parks (which my family enjoys) any time you wish ?

We are only planning WDW vacations for 2006 and 2009.
So the AP ticket will only be used once for 13 1/2 days.

We have never done 13 1/2 days. Our longest WDW vacation was 9 1/2 days.

Thanks for any advice you can give us :thewave:

 

[beattyfamily]

I think it's worth it! I enjoy the freedom and the discounts.

You can buy your souvenirs at World of Disney and get 10% off. Then there's the free parking. The discounts on water sports and on restaurants and like you said on the DDE card.

I think it's worth even if you just buy one for one of you.

 

[liznboys]

I agree with beattyfamily. I'd get AP's for sure! The freedom they give you is worth it. We have AP's for the first time this year. Granted, we are taking 3 trips on them, but after having them for our 12 night stay in Feb. it would have been worth it to get them JUST for that one trip! We also took advantage of the DDE card, and the World of Disney discount. Totally worth it for us!!

 

[MelanieC]

I say buy the annual passes. Those are 3 days you can use to visit parks. We go to Disney for 10-15 days usually and we love it now that we buy Annual passes. Plus, we save SO MUCH money with the DDE card. If you spend $1000 in food you save $200 (less $50 for card).

Plus, could you go again for a vacation the following year prior to the expiration of the annual pass? That is what we do. For example we went for 15 days this past November and are going for 16 days this July. Its definately worth it to us, and I believe the cost was only a few dollars more than if we bought passes for the number of days we needed them.

We are also lucky to be able to get a discount at the SOG because DH is in the Air National Guard.

 

[snappy]

What type of ticket would you buy if you stayed at WDW - on site at a resort - for 14 nights - actual park time use would be 13 1/2 days, 1 1/2 days used for travel.

10 day park hopper with pluses cost $364.23 for an adult (advance, expires)
or $36.42 per day - and for 3 days do the pluses

10 day park hopper NO pluses cost $247.08 for an adult (advance, expires)
or $24.70 per day - and for 3 1/2 days do what?

I think you have the wrong cost for the park hopper with pluses that expire.
When purchased in advance from Disney, they are $295 for adults and $253 for children including per Mousesavers. Your price for the hopper only (no pluses) is correct. Hope this helps.

You may also consider the benefits of taking a day off from the parks several times during your stay to sleep late, etc. In that case the 10 day hopper would probably suffice and cost less. You would not even need the pluses.
If you get the pluses it still costs substantially less than the AP and has 5 pluses which the AP of course does not offer.

Taking "resort days" might help you recharge and enable you to get to the park entrance earlier the next day. Getting to the parks early is the single best way to make the most of you r WDW vacation, IMHO, followed by judicious use of Fast pass.

That being said, if you are planning to take a second trip, the AP is the way to go. Not sure where you are staying but if you book early the AP discounts on WDW resorts are substantial.

Whichever way you go, I hope you have a great time.

 

[disneyfreak2127]

We have AP's (actually planning to upgrade them while we are there in June b/c we are DVC members and now get a discount). We like the AP b/c it enables us to do partial days in the parks w/o feeling like we are wasting a "hopper" day. We will often stay at the resort for the morning or even into afternoon and then head into a park to enjoy some favorite attractions and to go to a PS for dinner. It seems some of our favorite places to eat are in WorldShowcase (Teppanyaki, Le Cellier, Norway). Or we may just want to catch Spectro, Fantasmic, Illuminations or wishes. I have totally given up stressing that we aren't getting our money's worth. This June's trip will bring our AP total days to 18. Pretty cheap over the year. And, we are probably not done yet. They expire Nov. 22 and at least myself and the kids will try to go back for a few days.

Take time off from constant park touring, you will need it to re-energize!

 

[seashoreCM]

Save some of the plusses for non-theme-park days. You may well cover all 13-1/2 days with one ten day pass.

With a second trip planned within a year, AP's are the better bet for 13 or more theme park days, not counting AP benefits or MYW advance purchase discounts.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/dispass.htm
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