Ticket Planning for future trips (Nov and July)-Need some advice

[Steve BWV'99]

We are a family of 4, 2 adults, 2 kids (2 and 7), the 2 year old turns 3 in December. We have 2, 1 week trips in Socal scheduled for November 2010 and July 2011 and plan 3 days in the parks on each of those trips. We are staying at Newport so we would have to drive and park. I am trying to do some number crunching on what kind of passes to get. Here is what I found:

-Since PH's expire 14 days after we use them, we would need to buy 2 sets of PH's for each trip

-Other than the AAA membership I have, PH's dont include parking costs.

I was thinking of getting me, my wife, and oldest son Deluxe AP's with one of them with the parking add-on. The youngest would get a PH in July since he is still free in Nov

The cost breakdown (today's prices) would be:

Deluxe AP with parking (me): 378
Deluxe AP for wife: 299
Deluxe AP 7 year old: 299
1 PH for 3 year old: 154
Total: $1130

Does this seem the way to go or could I missing something? It seems the other combos using Park Hoppers come close (~50) but not enough to trump AP's. Thoughts?

Thanks for any help

 

[Lissame]

The one thing that pops into my mind is blackout days. You're not planning to go on a Saturday at all during your July trip, or anytime during Thanksgiving during your Nov trip?

 

[Steve BWV'99]

Lissame, great question. We will be going the week before Thanksgiving in November and during the weekdays in July.

 

[raftislander]

You do not get MM entry with APs. You could buy parkhoppers for the first trip then upgrade after you use the MM entry. If you are staying on property for your trips, this is unnecessary as that will get you into MM.

For $439 you could get one premium annual pass for yourself, as that includes parking, and which would give you a slightly higher discount rate at some locations -15% as compared to 10%. You would have to look at whether you thought it likely that you could make up the difference in costs with the increased discount.

 

[Brady's Mom]

Really the only thing we missed with our AP's was the MM. If early entry doesn't matter that much to you, I would just buy the AP's right away.

We loved having the freedom to plan a trip without having to consider the cost of tickets. We actually ended up going 4 times with our AP's - so be aware - trips can snowball!!

Your plan sounds good - I would do it the same way you are planning. You get discounts on food right away with the AP, which helps to offset some of the upfront costs, which is nice.