when is an AP worth it!!(w/DVC Discount)

[ClarabelleCow]

All this talk of the DVC discount has me wondering. WE are going down in February, but will only be doing the parks for at the most 3 days. But depending on what I do this summer (HH - 2 br or GV), I may have points left for the Fall at WDW, adding approximately an additional 4-5 days. So at absolute max 8 days in and out of parks. Would it be a good buy to buy the passes, or just use PH or LOS??? (los dropping some days)

 

[goofy4tink]

We bought APs for the first time in August. But, we had 8 days then, we'll be using 7 days over Thanksgiving and then dd and I will use 7 days in June. So, that's 22 days total...comes to about $19 a day. I also use the AP to get a good break on a room for the week-end days so as not to use my points. And that way I get to try other resorts! I would think that if you are only going to be in the parks for a total of 8 days within a 365 day period it might not be cost effective. It would come to about $38 a day. And what if you decide you can't go again this fall?

I would go with a PHP. With a PHP you can use what you need this trip, and the remainder of the days never expire. That way, if you don't go again in the fall, you still have those pass days left. I would also get a 6 day with the pluses. That way, you can use 3 days now, have three days left and the pluses for when it's warmer. You wouldn't be likely to be at the water parks in Feb.

 

[Terry S]

Many sources including mouse savers say that the break even point on a non-discounted annual pass is 8 days or more. Going from that estimate, I would say that 6 days or more would be the break even on a DVC AP. Of course that doesn't even take in to account any of the discounts asscociated with an AP. I would say get the AP only if you are absolutely sure you will be going to WDW on a 2nd trip. The nice benefit of this is when you go in February you could go to the parks more than the 3 days even if it is only for an hour.

 

[JudithM]

I plan to buy an annual pass using the DVC discount in 2005. I am estimating that the AP will cost me $300. For the sake of rounding numbers & making the math easy ... let's say a one day ticket costs $50 (I know it is costs more). 300 divided by 50 is 6. So my break even point would be 6 days at a WDW park.

Plus I like the flexibility of coming & going to the parks without having to feel rushed, commando style, whatever. For example, if I want to have dinner at EPCOT & watch Illuminations, I can spend a few hours in the park without feeling like I am using/wasting a day on a park hopper ticket.

 

[Doctor P]

With a 7 day PHP pass available at discount for about $310, I have figured that breakeven is about 7 park days. Six days is definitely a loser, IMHO, and eight days is now a clear winner.

 

[Nanajo1]

The AP discount at WOD as well as Dining discounts should be considered when doing a cost analysis.

 

[Doctor P]

True, but only if that money would be spent anyway.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

A DVC-discounted regular WDW Annual Pass (Ages 10 and Over) -- which provides 366 consecutive days of admission to the 4 major theme parks only (and then expires) -- is $379 - $100 (discount) + 6.5% tax = $297.14.

An advance purchase 6-day Park Hopper Plus (Ages 10 and Over) -- which provides 6 days at the 4 major theme parks and 3 days at the "plus" attractions, such as water parks, and which never expires -- is $295 including tax.

Based on the numbers above, a DVC Annual Pass and a 6-day Park Hopper Plus cost just about the same. For 6 days, the 6-day Park Hopper Plus is without-a-doubt the better value because of the Plus features.

Beyond 6 days, it's a matter of how much you value the Plus features. I'd rather have 3 Plus features than 1 more theme park day, so even for 7 days, I still consider the 6-day Park Hopper Plus to be a better value.

For 8 or more days, the DVC-discounted Annual Pass looks good to me.

However, also consider that another advatange of the 6-day Park Hopper Plus is that the days don't expire. Let's suppose you think you'll go to the 4 major theme parks exactly 7 times in a 366-day period, based on nights that you've booked or that you plan to book. But what if, during your stay, someone is ill or you decide to go to Sea World. No problem. Your Park Hopper Plus passes will be good on a future visit. But with Annual Passes, you may have just "broken" your economic case for buying them.

By the way, an advance purchase 7-day Park Hopper Plus (Ages 10 and Over) -- which provides 7 days at the 4 major theme parks and 4 days at the "plus" attractions, such as water parks, and which never expires -- is $317. That's worth considering too. For just $22 more than a 6-day Park Hopper Plus, you get an additional theme park day and an additional Plus feature (neither of which expire).

 

[TheWho]

I agree with Judith, having the option to visit EPCOT and watch fireworks and have a snack is great. In the past, I could never do that because I would be wasting a hopper day. They're smart. I will probably add a couple of days to my week at BWV because for ~$300 I have freedom to travel in and out of the parks. This new perk is awesome.

 

[crisi]

Horace has a great analysis - it really depends on if you need or want the pluses - although Terry's point on the discount is good as well. Use all the pluses on a seven day hopper at waterparks, and you've saved $120 over a regular AP. Use the AP room discount for a weekend getaway and you can save more than that.

I'll add that a LOS is about the same as a hopper. The advantage of the hopper - you can "save" days. The advantage of the LOS - the pass is paid for, you might as well go into Epcot just for Illuminations. The LOS also includes DQ, hoppers don't. So that might play as well. And for me, I lose things. Hoppers with days left on them that I can't remember where I put them after the last trip are worthless.

So, upshot - you need to do some math (or figure out if doing the math is worthwhile).

 

[littlestar]

I think for the first time ever, we are going to go with the Annual Pass for my husband and me. We would have bought two more for my daughter and her boyfriend, but with the boyfriend not being a resident of our household, we can't get the discount for him and I know my daughter won't use the pass enough if he can't go to the parks when she does. We also have another daughter and son-in-law we would have bought annual passes for if we could have gotten the discount, but alas they are not residents of our household. So, it will be 7 day park hopper plus passes for the rest of our family. Just me and the hubby will take advantage of the Annual Pass. I really like the idea of being able to pop over into the Magic Kingdom for an hour. Or go to Epcot for dinner and not waste a hopper day.

We have a 7 night trip planned in January and a late fall trip planned. We are going to use some of our Disney Visa reward dollars to offset the cost on the annual pass. We charge a lot of everyday things during the year (and pay the Visa off each month). That will help bring our cost down some more for the Annual Pass purchase!

 

[lllovell]

We already had season passes that expire December 5th. Going down this weekend and I wanted to renew to take one more short trip before the Christmas season is over, but its too cost effective to wait for Jan 2nd to come around.

Our first trip down October a year ago, we bought 5 day passes. I could tell right away that we were going to have to come back and come back often. On our next trip, we turned the remaining days into a season pass for hubby and I and one son (the other is under 3). It made an immediate difference in how we spent our time at the parks. We still go for long days, but if we dont do EVERYTHING in one day, then so what? We know we will get back at some point to do it. We also have done things like gone to AK just to see the Lion King show before driving home on our last day there and if you were using a PH, you wouldn't do that and waste a day for a couple of hours.

I know things will once again shift when we finally "go home" in April of this next year and that is fine. I suspect that our time in the parks will balance out even more with our time doing things outside the parks and that just makes the AP even more valuable to me. Besides, I have not tried hardly ANY of the restaurants mentioned in another thread here that you all are raving about and I am ready to swim all day one day and then go in for dinner and illuminations.

 

[timC]

Horace. I like your assessment.

We enjoy our "plus" days as much as a "park" day, so I'd factor these into my b/e calculation. Based on the number of nights/yr we typically spend at WDW (12), and factoring in travel days, "plus" days, and the odd non-park days, I'm still not convinced AP's are right for us. The the cost/benefit is at about par...

The difference for us would be a "cultural" one...switching from commando-style parking, to casual parking. Currently we dedicate days as park-days and non-park days. This allows us to maximize our PHP investment. If we chose a more casual style, doing parks everyday but for a lesser amount of time each day, perhaps the AP would be better.

On the Disney-side of the question, I assume WDW expects a return-on-investment from this discount. They already have a lot of DVC members buying AP's. And with a $100 discount they're giving up a lot of profit. Their ROI will have to come from families like mine who convert from PHP to AP's. I'm a classic PHP customer... and if I'm on the fence, I'm sure others still are too. In addition, I wonder if DVC is partially subsidizing these discounts, in order to add value for new buyers... This may be where the ROI is realized..

 

[FLYNZ4]

I have not been on the boards in a while... and came on today to figure out our best deal for APs.

Here is our itinerary:

Aug '05 - 12 days @ SSR with all 5 of us (3 adult children)
July '06 - 12 days @ DVC with all 5 of us (3 adult children)

Clearly from just the above, it makes sense for us to get PAP w/DVC discounts. We will probably go into some park just about every day, and we also tend to use the water parks, PI, DQ, etc quite a bit when we are there in the summer.

Now for the twist: My wife and I are going to CSR for one night on Saturday Dec 11, 2004 (no passes needed), and then VWL for 5 nights starting on Dec 12th. We would want park admission for 5 days 12/12 - 12/16. My understanding is that there are no AP discounts available until after our stay (discounts start 1/2/05). We do not plan on taking any additional trips between Dec '04 and Aug '05

Question #1: Does it make sense for us to start our APs now in December, and then be "out of sync" with the kids... and not get any discount on the APs... or should we wait till Aug '05 to buy our PAPs and just buy 5 days of admission this December?

Question #2: If we just buy 5 days of admission this December, are we better off getting an 5 day LOS w/discount, or should we get a 5 day PH pass. I expect that we will use all 5 days in the parks... and I do not expect that we will visit any water parks or Disney Quest. We will probably go to PI one or two nights during the week.

Question #3: I need to check if I made my single night reservation at CSR using an AP special. Assuming that I did... if I do not buy APs for the December trip, I should cancel the CSR reservation... even though I have never been asked to see my annual pass at check in. Do they really check? I have no hesitation about canceling CSR and going to any random hotel in the area. The only reason that I booked this was because we do not arrive until quite late (10:00 PM flight arrival)... and we will literally just spend a few hours in the room before checking into the VWL the next morning. I did not want to check directly into the VWL because it is a weekend with the higher point value.

Thanks in advance.

/Jim

 

[elfbo]

Question #1: Does it make sense for us to start our APs now in December, and then be "out of sync" with the kids... and not get any discount on the APs... or should we wait till Aug '05 to buy our PAPs and just buy 5 days of admission this December?

I would say wait until Aug 05 to buy the PAP's. That will allow you to have 24 days at disney for one pass. If you buy in DEC you would only get the 5 days, and then 12 for aug 05 for a total of 17 days.

 

[NMW]

I think 8 days would be worth it. Plus, you'll get the discounts associated with having an AP. Also, if you vacation next year less than 365 from your activation date you can use it again. So,You might be able to get some days out of it for your next years vacation too. Friends of ours get Ap's every two years and they go in Nov and then again a week or two earlier in Oct. So, two uses .

 

[pplasky]

I don't think anyone mentioned that 7day PHP at hotwire is $303, including tax. Since my children love DQ, we want the plus options. We also like doing a water park now and then. If we don't use all the days, they don't expire. Since Disney made the renewal on an AP retroactive to the original AP date, it never made much sense for us to go that route. If you are sure you'll go for 10 days and use the parks everyday, then AP may be good, otherwise, I would wait for a year when you may be visiting the parks for more than that to purchase an AP.

 

[elfbo]

I don't think anyone mentioned that 7day PHP at hotwire is $303, including tax. Since my children love DQ, we want the plus options.

The pluses on the parkhoppers does not allow DQ as a plus option.

 

[DrTomorrow]

elfbo is correct; the only tickets that include Disney Quest are the Premium Annual Pass, the FL PAP, and the UPH (Length-of-stay).

 

[senecabeach]

Please correct me if I'm wrong??

I plan to order the new discounted APP vouchers in Jan 05 for use in 06.

They take effect when you use them.....Right??

Will be going home on 3 seperate trips in 2006, about 18 days total, with extended family (for their first time..Ya-Hoo)!

So..yes.. this will certainly be a "big" savings for me!