Thread for People staying off site

[Happiest mommy]

planning on buying AP for the first time does it really come with free parking? that would be super!!! we are so looking forward to renting a home with a private pool this next trip and getting some greats tips here, we have always stayed offsite at Hotels never rented

 

[wdwpracticalprincess]

Be aware, though, that MB detection is not perfect. We missed about 20% of our ride pictures even though all our party members were wearing MBs.

20%?!?! That's quite a lot considering how much it cost! I love the ride pics and especially looking forward to ride video. In your opinion, still worth the cost of MM and, for us off-site peeps, the cost of MBs?

 

[itchin2go]

The traffic around WBC is a piece of cake, south of WDW around 192 isn't bad either but the traffic east on I-4 (directionally north) can be horrible. My DD has to go to swim practice while on vacation and it took us over an hour to get from WDW up to the YMCA at Sand Lake Road and International Drive.

Now that you say that, the only traffic issue we've ever had was when we were going to Universal. It wasn't bad, but it was "stop and go" in places.

 

[ParrotBill]

20%?!?! That's quite a lot considering how much it cost! I love the ride pics and especially looking forward to ride video. In your opinion, still worth the cost of MM and, for us off-site peeps, the cost of MBs?

Well, we use the photographers a lot, so rides photos were only 10% of our pictures overall. So worth it for us even with the misses. We were able to recover a few missed ones on the phone with the Photopass help desk... not sure how but he found some. This was almost a year ago, last August, when the ride system was only a couple months old. Maybe it's better now!

 

[jamnmom]

planning on buying AP for the first time does it really come with free parking? that would be super!!!

Yes! APs give you free parking. You only need to have one person in your party with an AP to get the free parking. It also gets you discounts at shops and dining. You have to tell CM when you're paying and show them your pass to get the discounts, but it can range from 5-15% off. Not all locations honor APs for discounts...and those that do don't always ask if you have it. There are also deals only for APs offered throughout the year. For my family, just getting more than 10 days in parks and free parking justifies the cost.

 

[Happiest mommy]

Yes! APs give you free parking. You only need to have one person in your party with an AP to get the free parking. It also gets you discounts at shops and dining. You have to tell CM when you're paying and show them your pass to get the discounts, but it can range from 5-15% off. Not all locations honor APs for discounts...and those that do don't always ask if you have it. There are also deals only for APs offered throughout the year. For my family, just getting more than 10 days in parks and free parking justifies the cost.

WOW! sounds like something we should definetly buy since we will be there for a little over 10 days yay! where do you usually buy your AP? thanks for the reply

 

[gunderda]

You are right, somebody needs to be wearing a MB to register ride pictures... make it the person who registers the Memory Maker so the pictures appear in that user's MDE account.. easier that way. Be aware, though, that MB detection is not perfect. We missed about 20% of our ride pictures even though all our party members were wearing MBs. If persons other than the MM main person is wearing a MB, then they must set their MDE account to share pictures with the MM person.

So our family is a group of 7, the tickets were all bought by my Dad who has the MDE account. I also have one but I'm linked in his account.
All magic bands were ordered and linked within my Dad's MDE account. So let's say my nephew (who is 10) has his MB scanned, it should show up in my Dad's account right since there are no other MDE accounts associated with my nephew?

 

[jamnmom]

WOW! sounds like something we should definetly buy since we will be there for a little over 10 days yay! where do you usually buy your AP? thanks for the reply

You can either buy them online at Disney's website; OR (and this is what we do...no real rhyme or reason for it, though) you can purchase 10 day tix and then 'upgrade' once you get to the parks. There is no difference in your total cost. I don't know which would be better or easier now that the MBs are out, though. It may be easier to just buy them online, get your MBs and get all of your FP+, etc taken care of ahead of time. That way you don't have to worry about linking an AP to a band that already has 10 day tix and FP+s on it. Does that make sense??? No matter which way you do it, you will need to keep your card ticket with you to show for parking and discounts. If anybody else has a better explanation for this...PLEASE share. I would also like to know; just in case we decide to do APs this year, as well.

 

[robinb]

You can either buy them online at Disney's website; OR (and this is what we do...no real rhyme or reason for it, though) you can purchase 10 day tix and then 'upgrade' once you get to the parks. There is no difference in your total cost. I don't know which would be better or easier now that the MBs are out, though. It may be easier to just buy them online, get your MBs and get all of your FP+, etc taken care of ahead of time. That way you don't have to worry about linking an AP to a band that already has 10 day tix and FP+s on it. Does that make sense??? No matter which way you do it, you will need to keep your card ticket with you to show for parking and discounts. If anybody else has a better explanation for this...PLEASE share. I would also like to know; just in case we decide to do APs this year, as well.

We used to buy tickets from Undercover Tourist via the Mouse Saver's newsletter that had a "face value" under the cost of an AP but with the biggest discount. I would use the pass once and then "bridge" to the AP price which means I would pay the difference between the "face value" and the AP price and pocket the discount between the original purchase price and "face value".

 

[SandiKB]

We're planning a trip in January, and I was looking at the Y.E.S ticket options, question... anyone know if these tickets are the same as far as FP+ and MM go?

 

[mckennarose]

We're planning a trip in January, and I was looking at the Y.E.S ticket options, question... anyone know if these tickets are the same as far as FP+ and MM go?

We used YES tickets last Sept/Oct and the FP+ worked the same as other tickets. The only difference I remember is that they didn't send us the ticket numbers until the day before our 30 day window opened. (we were staying offsite) I added ticket numbers to MDE and got our FP+. We didn't use MM, but I think you can do that too. We had ride pix show up on MDE so I know they picked up our magicbands. (we bought magicbands at DTD on our arrival day)
I *think* there's a thread on here somewhere about the YES program, but I couldn't tell you where it is.

 

[SandiKB]

We used YES tickets last Sept/Oct and the FP+ worked the same as other tickets. The only difference I remember is that they didn't send us the ticket numbers until the day before our 30 day window opened. (we were staying offsite) I added ticket numbers to MDE and got our FP+. We didn't use MM, but I think you can do that too. We had ride pix show up on MDE so I know they picked up our magicbands. (we bought magicbands at DTD on our arrival day)
I *think* there's a thread on here somewhere about the YES program, but I couldn't tell you where it is.

Thank you I meant to add that I'm going to buy MB's, my brain is just so fried right now lol

 

[drgamera]

Thank you I meant to add that I'm going to buy MB's, my brain is just so fried right now lol

Note that in many cases, booking a tent campsite at Fort Wilderness for one night, taking advantage of the free parking for two days, and getting up to 10 free MagicBands is cheaper than just buying the MagicBands. See the "throwaway" thread for more: http://www.disboards.com/threads/throwaway-room-read-post-2041-before-posting.3218652/

 

[CTDisneyfan816]

I'm sorry, but, I am not understanding your last two sentences. First, staying with friends would probably save you more then that, but that aside, the park hoppers are not done daily, they are a one and done for whatever ticket you have. Perhaps, I'm just not understanding what you are saying.

Park hoppers cost me $64 extra for the 5 days whereas staying at a room would have cost me $500 plus. Still making out over $400

 

[larryz]

It wasn't bad, but it was "stop and go" in places.

On an interstate, I interpret "stop and go" as "bad."

 

[itchin2go]

On an interstate, I interpret "stop and go" as "bad."

I would call it "not ideal".

It was still moving though, and not stopped for a protracted period of time. It worried me (as far as getting somewhere on time), but it ended up to be a non-issue ... just mildly irritating.

 

[robinb]

On an interstate, I interpret "stop and go" as "bad."

I would call it "not ideal".

It was still moving though, and not stopped for a protracted period of time. It worried me (as far as getting somewhere on time), but it ended up to be a non-issue ... just mildly irritating.

It took me an hour to go 13 miles up I-4 to Sand Lake Road over Christmas break.

 

[theyoungs07]

Buying one AP and then purchasing the TIW card is a must for us when we stay offsite. Getting $17 a day free parking, and then getting 20% off of character meals is great if you have a lot of TS meals planned. From a 10-day hopper the price to upgrade to an AP is around $250, then $100 for TIW means that for a 10 day trip we just need to spend $1000 (before TIW) at TS to break even. If you have a larger party, this is not hard to reach.

 

[itchin2go]

Buying one AP and then purchasing the TIW card is a must for us when we stay offsite. Getting $17 a day free parking, and then getting 20% off of character meals is great if you have a lot of TS meals planned. From a 10-day hopper the price to upgrade to an AP is around $250, then $100 for TIW means that for a 10 day trip we just need to spend $1000 (before TIW) at TS to break even. If you have a larger party, this is not hard to reach.

I have done the math on this several times, but I don't think it works for us. We're just a party of 3, though.

 

[robinb]

Buying one AP and then purchasing the TIW card is a must for us when we stay offsite. Getting $17 a day free parking, and then getting 20% off of character meals is great if you have a lot of TS meals planned. From a 10-day hopper the price to upgrade to an AP is around $250, then $100 for TIW means that for a 10 day trip we just need to spend $1000 (before TIW) at TS to break even. If you have a larger party, this is not hard to reach.

The break even point for the TIW card is $500. 20% of $500 is $100. We are a party of 3 and will usually break even on our first trip and then save on our subsequent trips. The TIW card is usually good for 13 months so we bought ours in December and we'll use it again this December.