What is the best way to go ? Ap or hoppers ?

[Catrinabeach]

Seeing how much people are paying for their rooms in Sept is making me wonder if I should be doing this differently.

Dh and I are going June 4 - 14th. We planned to get 10 day hoppers with water parks.

Then we are going back in Sept 15 - 22 (if we get in lol) for the free dining and plan to get 8 day hoppers.

We are going again in Dec but that one I think we would need to leave alone since there are 7 people booked in 2 rooms with 8 day hoppers and the 40 % off code on the room.


But since it's just Dh and I in both June and Sept (well our friends are coming in Sept but in a separate room so I could book them with a separate reservation) would it make more sense to get the annual pass for Dh and I and then just book 1 day base tickets for each of the June and Sept trip ?

How much does it cost to upgrade 2 of the 1 day base tickets to annual passes when we get there ? I'm guessing that would be the smartest thing to do.

We want the dining plan with each trip.

So should we book June 4 - 14th with 2- 1 day base and dining, Sept 15 - 22nd with 2- 1 day base and dining and upgrade 2 of the tickets in June for annual passes ? Would we save money that way ? How can I figure that out if it saves us money ?

 

[Catrinabeach]

Also can you use the AP to go to the water parks or pleasure island ?

 

[CanadianGuy]

Complicated question:

To get the DDP you will have to buy at least one day base tickets for each stay.. regardless of whether or not you have an AP. You'll have to do the math to see if that works out better for you. It might.

I am not above cracking open a spreadsheet to figure out what works out best. You might want to do that. Figure up your trip costs the way you have them now..

Then price them out with just 1 day base tickets instead of many day hoppers you have in them now. And compare it all in a spreadsheet.

The PREMIUM annual pass.. (costs about 100$ more than a regular AP) gets you into waterparks and Pleasure Island.

 

[Catrinabeach]

Ok I did the math. Except I don't know what it costs to upgrade a 1 day base to an AP ?

So I went with as if I was buying one without using the 1 day base.

It doesn't save me anything unless I want to go threw the hassel of changing the Dec trip. And I'm just too lazy to do that.

So I will stick with my original plan ! Thanks !

 

[CanadianGuy]

Basically the 1 day base ticket would shave 68 or 71$ off that AP cost.

 

[thelionqueen]

Having been in your EXACT position in 2005 I can offer up what I did..(BEST decision I've ever made too)

We "bit the bullet" and used our 1 day tix towards the purchase of annual passes for our group. While it was INFINTELY hard to spend an additional $400 (over price of 10 day park hoppers) at the gate of Magic Kingdom (GULP) it saved us TONS over the next year.

We used the passes on 3 other trips (including a trip to Disneyland..YES you can use WDW AP's @ Disneyland, just not the other way around) and haved us THOUSANDS!

In fact, we are doing it again on our Sept free dining trip. It's just nice to know that if you are going to WDW anytime during the next year, park tickets are not an expense again. Just my .02

 

[smep013]

We are planning to "bite the bullet" as well and buy two APs.

Yes, the up front cost is tough, but we plan on returning in October and again next summer, so we feel that it will pay for itself. I read somewhere that if you plan to spend more than 10-days, the AP pays for itself.

So my question is this: I am booked for my August trip and added the DDP. I had to pay the 1-Day Base ticket to get the DDP, which was fine by me because we wanted the DDP.

Can I apply that $142 to the purchase of these APs (that we'll buy between now and our trip in August?)

THANKS!

 

[thelionqueen]

We are planning to "bite the bullet" as well and buy two APs.

Yes, the up front cost is tough, but we plan on returning in October and again next summer, so we feel that it will pay for itself. I read somewhere that if you plan to spend more than 10-days, the AP pays for itself.

So my question is this: I am booked for my August trip and added the DDP. I had to pay the 1-Day Base ticket to get the DDP, which was fine by me because we wanted the DDP.

Can I apply that $142 to the purchase of these APs (that we'll buy between now and our trip in August?)

THANKS!

You can only upgrade with the ticket in hand and at the parks!! We have done this before and planning on doing it again in Sept. Basically any park ticket you have can be upgraded at the park but now downgraded. We will be using this credit towards our AP's or water park AP's. Since your park tickets will be included in your KTTW cards, you must present the card to change tickets at the park.

 

[smep013]

Great! So we would go to WDW, check-in, and go to MK our first morning and upgrade at the ticket window to 2 APs? And they would apply the cost we already paid for the MYW 1-Day Base Ticket?

Are there places to do this in all the parks? Or just at MK? What about the TTC?

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

 

[Mousema]

Guest relations at all parks and DTD. I just did it last week. I traded my 8 day park hopper in and got an AP for $188.50. I'm going back for 8 days in October and am already ahead, even without the trip I'll probably take next Feb or Mar.

 

[DisneyMomJen]

Having been in your EXACT position in 2005 I can offer up what I did..(BEST decision I've ever made too)

We used the passes on 3 other trips (including a trip to Disneyland..YES you can use WDW AP's @ Disneyland, just not the other way around) and haved us THOUSANDS!

I did not know that you can use WDW AP's at DisneyLand! I'm shocked! I may have to rethink next years Spring Break and try Disneyland!

 

[thelionqueen]

Having been in your EXACT position in 2005 I can offer up what I did..(BEST decision I've ever made too)

We used the passes on 3 other trips (including a trip to Disneyland..YES you can use WDW AP's @ Disneyland, just not the other way around) and haved us THOUSANDS!

I did not know that you can use WDW AP's at DisneyLand! I'm shocked! I may have to rethink next years Spring Break and try Disneyland!

I know, a lot of people do not know you can use WDW AP's @ DL, and if they did, I think more people would buy the WDW AP.

Anyway, hope it helps!!
TLQ

 

[Deborah_Mary]

From the sounds of it - and how often you plan on going... AP's would definitely be the way to go even if you need to buy 1 day base ticket for you and dh. You can just hold onto them and upgrade them to AP's at a later time.

I personally just ran the numbers for our own family and if take 2 trips in one year (one 8 day and one 5 day for example) - it would be best (and cheaper) for us to all have AP's (currently dh is the only AP holder). My kids will each need a ticket or AP this year seeing as my youngest is now 3.

Hope this helps!

Deb*