bj-sailaway said:
Sorry to be dense, but what is an AP?
an Annual Pass ticket to WDW.....it gives you unlimited entrance into the parks for a year, plus some other discounts (like 10% off some backstage tours, 10% or something like that discount on purchases at a particular store in downtown disney, discounts on onsite accomodation when available - these discounts aren't always available)..
for non-florida residents, there are two kinds of annual passes - the regular and the premium..
the regular gives you unlimited entrance into the 4 theme parks (MK, epcot, MGM and AK)...
the premium annual pass gives you unlimited entrance into the 4 theme parks, plus unlimited entrace into the 2 waterparks, disneyquest, the pleasure island clubs and the wide world of sports....i think that's it..
for anyone who will be vacationing at WDW for longer than a certain amount of time, even on one visit, the annual pass works out cheaper than other tickets....although this might not be true for those coming from the UK, where you seem to have tickets that aren't available in the states..
you also get a discount on the AP itself when you renew it the following year (i can't remember how much...maybe as much as 10%)...
but these tickets are very expensive...
we have premium annual passes and they cost something like $540 each....for 4 people that really adds up...
on the other hand, what the poster was suggesting is to check out the AP resort rates.....for example, in august i got an AP rate of $124/night at the WL for a standard room...i think the regular rater at the time was about $250 or so....so that's quite a bargain...over the 10 days we stayed, we saved about $1250......quite good.....so it makes sense to buy one AP to get that rate, since you only need one AP........
The only downside is you have to have it all up front,but what a saving 
