upgrading to a AP

[stitch1986]

Ok so I bought a 3 day park hopper for $150 and I am planning on going next month as well as august to DL however I dont know if I should do the premium or the deluxe? any opnions let me know

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Will you be going over many deluxe block out days? If not, got with deluxe. Check out the blockout calendar HERE

 

[stitch1986]

I checked and only block out would be the 21 of aug rest is not blocked out and in march all the weekends r blocked out

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

I checked and only block out would be the 21 of aug rest is not blocked out and in march all the weekends r blocked out

In March the Saturdays are blocked, not all weekend. You can upgrade your PH on a block out day without any problems (in March) and they you'd just have to purchase a $45 block out ticket in Aug. It makes more sense to do the deluxe and just pay the $45 in Aug.

 

[Eeee-va]

From your days, it sounds like Deluxe may be the best bet.

But how many days are you even going? If you are ONLY going in March and August and you are paying $150 for March's admission, that means a Premium AP upgrade would cost $289 on top of that. I know ticket prices often go up, but a regular 6-day hopper is currently just $214, so the upgrade appears to be at least $75 more than just buying a regular hopper for August.

Now, the Premium AP price does include parking, so if you will be driving into the parks every day then it might make sense, but it's not really much of a perk if you will always be walking to the park from your hotel. There are also some food and merchandise discounts, but I'm not certain if those discounts alone will save you $75, particularly since you cannot upgrade until your March blockout date (unless you want to have to buy a blockout ticket!).

Meanwhile, if you are planning 3 days in August and 3 in March, then you wouldn't immediately save money with Deluxe either (though the food and possibly merchandise discounts might salvage it for you). $150 admission applied to a Deluxe AP means that you have to pay $149 for the Deluxe AP...but then you'll be paying at least $45 for a blockout ticket in August (I wouldn't be SHOCKED if that price were to rise).

So that's a total of $194 for your upgrade and blockout ticket, while 3-day hoppers for August currently cost $184 (and include one Magic Morning). You probably WILL make up that $10 difference in discounts, but the cost savings may not be great.

That said, it IS fun to be an AP-holder, just knowing that you can technically go to Disneyland almost any time you like. For better or worse, though, I think with the AP it is quite possible that you'll make a third trip to Disneyland before it expires, just because you can. At least, that's what appears to be happening with my AP, which was supposedly purchased just so we could visit in December after our June trip! Now we're planning another May or June trip before our tickets expire. So saving money on admission has led to some increased hotel, transportation, food, and merchandise costs!

(I'm not sure if the Give a Day promotion would work toward your AP, but it WOULD probably pay for a one-park ticket on your blockout day in August, provided that day isn't blocked by the program. Of course, then you'd probably want to upgrade to a hopper which would be I think $25, so your savings isn't much. )

 

[stitch1986]

thxs I am actually planning on going a week in aug and also you are probably right I will be most likely going more then next month and august lol well I would be driving but staying at one for the hotels due to we have the DVC points that we can use Thanks for the info you guys I might do the deluxe I mean 45 to pay for the black out is better than paying 91 or so for the day but I will be making a list of the pros and cons lol

 

[stitch1986]

so gonna get the deluxe so now where would I go to get the tickets? the ticket booth or guest relations?

 

[stitch1986]

ok I got a quick question, if I want to do a annual pass right away would i have to use one day just to get into the park? and lose the one day

 

[Eeee-va]

ok I got a quick question, if I want to do a annual pass right away would i have to use one day just to get into the park? and lose the one day

I'm not sure I understand what you're asking. Are you saying you want an annual pass right now (like February 4th)?

If you hadn't bought any admission media already, you could buy an AP voucher online, I believe, though there's not really much advantage to it (aside from locking in the AP price). In your case it may actually be a disadvantage, if you would be visiting in March during a blocked out Saturday, because with an AP you'd have to pay for that day.

Anyway, someone posted that the voucher would be good for a year from now and it's not activated until you go to the parks. You wouldn't technically have your annual pass until the day you entered the park but you wouldn't be "losing" any days in any way I can think of.

But you already have a hopper purchased for March, right? So to apply that value toward your Annual Pass I THINK you have to actually use it to enter the park. Then you can go to the Annual Pass Processing Center. There may or may not still be a processing center in DCA--if there is, I'm sure it's less busy. I know there is one on Main Street--I think it's at the Plaza Inn??? go down Main Street and keep on the left and you'll eventually see the signs.

You turn in your ticket, pay the difference between its price and the AP price, get your picture taken, and you get your AP. If you did it on 2/4, then your AP would be valid THROUGH 2/4/2011 (so it's really 366 days ).

I don't think I'm understanding your question, but the only way I can think of to truly "lose" days is if you had a multi-day pass that you were turning into an AP shortly before a blockout date. So let's say you're going to the parks Friday - Sunday, and Saturday is a blockout date for Deluxe APs. If you upgraded to an AP on Friday, you WOULD be losing that Saturday because you could have gotten in with your hopper but can't get in with a Deluxe AP (unless you buy a $45 blockout ticket). So if you were in that situation, you would want to wait until Saturday to upgrade.