What is the break even point for an AP with DVC discount?

[rutgers1]

We are going to Disney in August and will spend about 13 days in the park. If finances permit, we'd like to go again next February, though I can't bet on that.

If we get the Premium Annual Pass (so we can go to the waterparks), how long will it take until it pays for itself? In other words, at what point would it be a better deal than buying the Magic Your Way package?

If we get the regular Annual Pass (without going to the water park), how long will it take for it to pay for itself, once again comparing to a comparable Magic Your Way package?

I would assume that it would pay for itself if we do go in August and then again in February, but will it pay for itself if we only go in August?

 

[bnlbebes]

subscribing...

I'm interested in knowing this as well...

 

[theostwalts]

subscribing too....wondered the same thing, especially about the PAP and water park visits.

 

[dvcbnd]

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

There really is no correct answer unless you can say with certainty how many times you would use a premium AP during the year and what your touring preference would be.

I would just go to a site like undercovertourist where you can just look at all the ticket prices and add them up and make comparisons.

If you are just going for the one 13 day visit ... a 10 day park hopper plus 10 water park (and more) admissions would cost $345 for an adult. This would be cheaper than a premium AP with your DVC discount. You would only have admission to actual theme parks for 10 of the 13 days, but you could use the other admissions for 3 days.

But, if you take a second trip in February ... the dynamics could totally change and make a premium AP worth the $.

 

[rutgers1]

I just did a wee bit of research. Please note that I am not at all savvy with the different options and deals, so I could be missing something.

Annual Passes

1) With the $100 DVC discount, the price for a regular AP for an adult is: $369
2) With the $100 DVC discount, the price for a PREMIUM AP for an adult is: $499.

Magic Your Way Tickets

According to the Disney web site, you can only buy 10 days at a time. Also, from what I can tell, there is no DVC discount.
1) The price for a 10-day pass for ONE park per day for an adult is $237.
2) The price for a 10-day PARK HOPPER pass for an adult is $287.
3) The price for a 10-day pass (non park hopper) with the Water Park option for an adult is $287.
4) The price for a 10-day pass with PARK HOPPER and WATER PARK option for an adult is $337.

Conclusion

If the information above is correct, the annual pass is not a good option if you are traveling to Disney for 10 days or less.

Now I will crunch the numbers for longer stays.

 

[rutgers1]

eyeheartgoofy.....You touched on something that I wasn't sure about. If you get the get the 10 day hopper plus water park option, does that mean that you literally can go to the parks for 10 days and then to the parks for 10 days, or do you have to use all admissions within a 10 day period? And if you can extend them beyond 3 days, do you have to get the no experiation option?

 

[vicki_c]

eyeheartgoofy.....You touched on something that I wasn't sure about. If you get the get the 10 day hopper plus water park option, does that mean that you literally can go to the parks for 10 days and then to the parks for 10 days, or do you have to use all admissions within a 10 day period? And if you can extend them beyond 3 days, do you have to get the no experiation option?

If non-expiring, the ticket is good for 14 days total. You can use any combination of the 10 park days and 10 other entries within that 14 days (except you can't do more than 1 particular theme park in a day unless you have a hopper). If you want to keep the left-over extra water park entries, you would have to add no-expire.

I'm not sure that would be worth it (not to me) since you have to pay for no expire based on the length of your original ticket, not how many park days you might have left. It can be expensive. You'd have to be really sure you would use those water park options in the future.

 

[vicki_c]

If the information above is correct, the annual pass is not a good option if you are traveling to Disney for 10 days or less.

Now I will crunch the numbers for longer stays.

That's correct and that's what conventional wisdom says.

However, there's some other factors you can consider:

AP room discounts can be good deals (of course we're in the DVC forum, so that's probably irrelevant here) but the 2nd thing is --

Tables in Wonderland dining discount card can only be purchased if you have an AP or a Florida resident. We love the TiW card even if they did make the new name really stupid!

Minor other AP discounts and special passholder stuff -- but they're not that great, in my opinion.

 

[Hunclemarco]

Hello

With the waterpark and more option, you get the 10 days at the theme parks, and an additional 10 visits to the other events....waterparks, disneyquest, etc...
Hope this helps a little.

Mark

 

[rutgers1]

OK, supposing my information is correct from above, let's look at stays beyond 10 days. For additional days, I am going to use the prices from the Disney site where they break down the prices for 10 days. With each added day, the per-day price goes down. I am assuming - and this is a huge assumption - that the prices do not go down after the 10th day. I am also assuming that they stay the same. In other words, whatever I pay for day 10 will be the same for day 11. Here we go....

11 Days...

1) The price for an 11-day pass for ONE park per day for an adult is $260.70 (taking into account additional day at $23.70).
2) The price for an 11-day PARK HOPPER pass for an adult is $265.70 (by adding $5 to the price of #1 above).
3) The price for an 11-day pass (non park hopper) with the Water Park option for an adult is $310.70 (by adding $23.70 to the 10 day price of $287).
4) The price for an 11-day pass with PARK HOPPER and WATER PARK option for an adult is $370.70 (by adding $23.70 to the 10 day price and then adding an additional $5 for park hopper and $5 for water park).

12 Days...

1) The price for a 12-day pass for ONE park per day for an adult is $284.40 (taking into account additional day at $23.70).
2) The price for a 12-day PARK HOPPER pass for an adult is $289.70 (by adding $5 to the price of #1 above).
3) The price for a 12-day pass (non park hopper) with the Water Park option for an adult is $334.40 (by adding $23.70 to the 11 day price of $310.70).
4) The price for a 12-day pass with PARK HOPPER and WATER PARK option for an adult is $404.40 (by adding $23.70 to the 11 day price and then adding an additional $5 for park hopper and $5 for water park).

13 Days...

1) The price for a 13-day pass for ONE park per day for an adult is $308.10 (taking into account additional day at $23.70).
2) The price for a 13-day PARK HOPPER pass for an adult is $313.10 (by adding $5 to the price of #1 above).
3) The price for a 13-day pass (non park hopper) with the Water Park option for an adult is $358.10 (by adding $23.70 to the 12 day price of $334.40).
4) The price for a 13-day pass with PARK HOPPER and WATER PARK option for an adult is $438.10 (by adding $23.70 to the 12 day price and then adding an additional $5 for park hopper and $5 for water park).

14 Days...

1) The price for a 14-day pass for ONE park per day for an adult is $331.80 (taking into account additional day at $23.70).
2) The price for a 14-day PARK HOPPER pass for an adult is $336.80 (by adding $5 to the price of #1 above).
3) The price for a 14-day pass (non park hopper) with the Water Park option for an adult is $381.80 (by adding $23.70 to the 13 day price of $358.10).
4) The price for a 14-day pass with PARK HOPPER and WATER PARK option for an adult is $471.80 (by adding $23.70 to the 13 day price and then adding an additional $5 for park hopper and $5 for water park).

Conclusion...

If I crunched the numbers correctly, and if my assumption about the price of additional days is correct, the Annual Pass does not make sense until the 15th day.

One area that I have not taken into account is expiration. If you wanted to take two trips - or more - in a given year that add up to 14 days, then the break even point would be sooner. If I am reading the Disney site correctly, it costs $20/day/ticket to add the no expiration option to a 10 day stay. That adds up quickly.

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

That's correct and that's what conventional wisdom says.

However, there's some other factors you can consider:

AP room discounts can be good deals (of course we're in the DVC forum, so that's probably irrelevant here) but the 2nd thing is --

Tables in Wonderland dining discount card can only be purchased if you have an AP or a Florida resident. We love the TiW card even if they did make the new name really stupid!

Minor other AP discounts and special passholder stuff -- but they're not that great, in my opinion.

Yeah, but that ends up making an AP MORE EXPENSIVE! LOL!

I was just planning on getting a MYW 5 day ticket for our DVC trip in April 2008. Then, in July 2007 I saw some AWESOME Beach Club AP rates, so I booked an unplanned trip to the Beach Club since we "could use the AP for April anyway". Then, in October 2007, I agreed to take a quick weekend trip with a friend who wanted to see WDW but didn't have anyone to go with ... booked an AP rate at POR and used my AP. Oh, and we did use the passes in April 2008 as well ... but that "savings" offered by an AP ended up costing us about $3500 when everything was all said and done.

 

[Caskbill]

One thing to consider is how many days would you actually go to one of the water parks?

Instead of a PAP you might just consider an AP and then use the DVC discount at the water parks for a couple of trips.

The price difference between a PAP and an AP is such that you could just get an AP and then pay the DVC-discounted price for your water park trips. The total paid could still be less than what a PAP would have cost.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[Kiderak]

OK, supposing my information is correct from above, let's look at stays beyond 10 days. For additional days, I am going to use the prices from the Disney site where they break down the prices for 10 days. With each added day, the per-day price goes down. I am assuming - and this is a huge assumption - that the prices do not go down after the 10th day. I am also assuming that they stay the same. In other words, whatever I pay for day 10 will be the same for day 11. Here we go....

But I don't think there is a way to get a pass for 11 days without buying 2 different tickets, such as 5 and 6 day. that would significantly raise the cost per day.

 

[rutgers1]

kiderak....You bring up the million dollar point. If spending more than 10 days requires an additional ticket purchase, then the annual pass' break even point would come much sooner.

 

[dburg30]

I dont know where you are from, but the longest you can buy is a 10 day ticket. If you are international, I think you can buy longer. I know that on a regular DVC pass at 369, I upgraded my wife's 10 day hopper pass for almost exactly $100. So after 11 days it was worth it.

Now, this doesnt take into account the water parks option, but I have a feeling it will be close anyway.

Here is the WDW ticket menu and as you see, 10 days is the longest..

 

[WDWorld2003]

I think it depends on what you mean by break even. We're buying one annual pass for my DH to get the AP discount on a room for two nights which will save us over $100.00 (could not get a DVC room for 1/2 to 1/4). Then we're buying a Tables in Wonderland card to save on dining.

However, we'll only be in the parks 5 days and probably won't be back in the next year. If somehow we do come back in the next year it would be great and a bonus! The savings from purchasing the AP will cover more than half the cost of the pass.

If they come out with room only code that doesn't involve an AP then we won't be purchasing it.

 

[rutgers1]

WDWorld2003.....If 10 days is the max for park tickets, then the AP definitely makes sense.

My next issue is going to be Tables in Wonderland vs. DDP. You mentioned that you are getting Tables in Wonderland for a 5 day trip. Unless you have a huge family, I am wondering if that will save you that much money over buying DDP. For the longest time, I have wanted to crunch the numbers for DDE vs DDP, but unless I can get my hand on the menus at the various restaurants, I think it is pointless.

 

[dburg30]

I think it depends on what you mean by break even. We're buying one annual pass for my DH to get the AP discount on a room for two nights which will save us over $100.00 (could not get a DVC room for 1/2 to 1/4). Then we're buying a Tables in Wonderland card to save on dining.

However, we'll only be in the parks 5 days and probably won't be back in the next year. If somehow we do come back in the next year it would be great and a bonus! The savings from purchasing the AP will cover more than half the cost of the pass.

If they come out with room only code that doesn't involve an AP then we won't be purchasing it.

That is correct. break even means different things to differnt folks. I look at it as far as the tickets go. Everything else is just icing on the cake and a plesant 'extra'. So I decide if I'm going to be at WDW more then 11 days in a 365 day period. If I am, being a DVC member, it's worth it to upgrade. If a non DVC member, then the days stretch out to 12 or 13 days to 'break even' on park admission. Of course buying the TIW card, any special AP discounts etc etc do add up, but I dont count on them

 

[jfinke]

Here is a spreadsheet i developed for my comparison this year. It is without the plus extras. With the demise of PI, I have no reason to purchase the plus.

Ticket	Cost	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24
AP	392.99	392.99	196.5	131	98.25	78.6	65.5	56.14	49.12	43.67	39.3	35.73	32.75	30.23	28.07	26.2	24.56	23.12	21.83	20.68	19.65	18.71	17.86	17.09	16.37
8 Day PH	281.95	281.95	140.98	93.98	70.49	56.39	46.99	40.28	35.24																
2 8 Day PH	563.9	563.9	281.95	187.97	140.98	112.78	93.98	80.56	70.49	62.66	56.39	51.26	46.99	43.38	40.28	37.59	35.24								
3 8 Day PH	845.85	845.85	422.93	281.95	211.46	169.17	140.98	120.84	105.73	93.98	84.59	76.9	70.49	65.07	60.42	56.39	52.87	49.76	46.99	44.52	42.29	40.28	38.45	36.78	35.24

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pk-WZqyAMQu9-X3C9RbHPAQ