What's your "worth it" point for getting an Annual Pass?

[ArielSRL]

I'm definitely getting them for our 2018 and 2019 trips. I will time it so we can use the AP for both trips. However, we usually do 7 day park hoppers and Memory Maker so its pretty much a no-brainer to get it.

Plus, we live less than 7 hours away so I'm sure we will make an extra short trip or two down while we have the APs.

 

[tlmadden73]

The annual pass option WILL change my plans though, "forcing" me to go within one calendar year when I may have gone at different times of the year or more spread out (lately we've been going every year and half, but for really short (2-day) trips, but it may be worth it and "convincing" me to go longer than I may have without it.

Now I just have to figure out when to take the first trip in Fall of 2018 --- so very far away!

 

[gatorlisa]

How do I go about getting any AP discounts on resort rooms (if there are any) if I am booking my trip months before I plan on using (or perhaps even purchasing) the AP?

I purchased an AP online in late December 2016. I did not activate it at a ticket booth until September 2, 2017. In the months in between, I was able to get access to the Passholder section of the website once I was logged into my MDE account and could see the AP hotel discounts. I was also able to use the 20% passholder discount while shopping using the ShopParks app before the pass was activated. As others have mentioned, you won't be able to see or book any of the AP discounts for hotels if you haven't purchased an AP yet, and will have to do that over the phone. But, if you've purchased the AP and it's linked to your MDE account, you should be able to see the AP hotel discounts and book them online.

 

[tlmadden73]

I purchased an AP online in late December 2016. I did not activate it at a ticket booth until September 2, 2017. In the months in between, I was able to get access to the Passholder section of the website once I was logged into my MDE account and could see the AP hotel discounts. I was also able to use the 20% passholder discount while shopping using the ShopParks app before the pass was activated. As others have mentioned, you won't be able to see or book any of the AP discounts for hotels if you haven't purchased an AP yet, and will have to do that over the phone. But, if you've purchased the AP and it's linked to your MDE account, you should be able to see the AP hotel discounts and book them online.

Good to know.
Thanks.

My guess is that you have to activate the Annual Pass within a year of purchasing?

Also .. can you upgrade existing tickets to an AP that haven't been activated yet (or even attached to my MDE account yet) online or on the phone, or can that only be done in person?

 

[Pdollar88]

I just purchased my AP in September for my trip in March 2018. Just having it makes me feel excited and magical -- I agree with the mindset factor being a big plus in my book. This is my first AP -- it recaptures a lot of the feeling of ease and not fretting about using tickets that I had when I was a cast member in the college program. So just from that I love it.

But the cost alone seems worth it to me. I was going to be purchasing 6 day tickets for the trip in March, plus the Disney After Hours tickets. With PH ticket cost and the DAH ticket savings with my AP, I only need another $271 to get to the AP cost. I think that's going to be laughably easy -- based on my table service ADRs, I should save about $60 on that. And since I plan to go on at least one more longer trip before March 2019, and probably a trip in October 2018 -- I think it's very worth it.

I am definitely going to feel the desire to just pop down for a three day weekend with my AP though.