When is the annual pass worth it for out of state

[Meridagal]

We will in SC, and normally go to Disney twice a year. Our first trip is a quick one only 2 or 3 park days, no hopper in June. Our 2nd trip is 5 or 6 days with park hopper during Christmas week. I’m thinking of purchasing 1 annual pass to get the memory maker and to get possible room deals. So far it looks like a break even without a room deal. What do you think? We normally stay at moderates for longer stays and deluxes for short trips.

 

[Pooh2]

I went into the MDE site and put in the dates I plan to go the next year, added them up, plus added $25/day parking (probably staying off-site), plus the cost of memory maker.
The total was more than the cost of the annual pass so we are planning on purchasing the pass and count any extra discounts as additional savings.

 

[kydisneyfans]

Really depends of several situations.

What annual pass? Some have blackout dates. Make sure it includes Christmas week.
Are you driving to the parks? Will the AP save on parking costs?
Are you getting memory maker? Will the restaurant/merch discounts help?

We are DVC and bought gold passes for 2019. We've already had a 7 day stay, our son/daughter in law to be are honeymooning a week there in August. All 4 of us will return in November, and my wife and I will do a long weekend somewhere in there too. We'll get 15+ park days from the pass. In addition, we bought the most highly discounted ticket we could find on UT, then used discounted Disney gift cards to bridge the cost, making the passes nearly $100 less a piece.

Breakeven is probably a no for me, as an unforseen circumstance may cancel a trip, then you have wasted money on the passes.

 

[kniquy]

Our first trip is a quick one only 2 or 3 park days, no hopper in June. Our 2nd trip is 5 or 6 days with park hopper during Christmas week.

I think in your situation it might not make sense. One person in the party could get the AP which would allow for shopping, dining discounts and the memory maker. You really have to run the numbers to see if it makes sense. Usually if you have a total of 10 park days then the AP can be a better deal.

I think in your situation if you run the numbers for one person to get the AP then it will make sense, but definitely not for all in the party seeing that you will only have a total of 7-9 park days between the 2 trips.

All the discounts do add up -shopping, dining, parking, room discounts(just the person with the AP technically has to pay) the memory maker for $169 (not positive about the price).

 

[Searc]

Really depends of several situations.

What annual pass? Some have blackout dates. Make sure it includes Christmas week.
Are you driving to the parks? Will the AP save on parking costs?
Are you getting memory maker? Will the restaurant/merch discounts help?

We are DVC and bought gold passes for 2019. We've already had a 7 day stay, our son/daughter in law to be are honeymooning a week there in August. All 4 of us will return in November, and my wife and I will do a long weekend somewhere in there too. We'll get 15+ park days from the pass. In addition, we bought the most highly discounted ticket we could find on UT, then used discounted Disney gift cards to bridge the cost, making the passes nearly $100 less a piece.

Breakeven is probably a no for me, as an unforseen circumstance may cancel a trip, then you have wasted money on the passes.

Non DVC out of state residents can only purchase Platinum AP's or above. They don't have any blackout dates.

 

[RangerPooh]

Our family purchases annual passes; when we lived in WA we carried them for DLR, and now that we're in TN we carry them for WDW. For us it makes sense. We go more than once per year and stay a week at a time. The discounts are great and we take advantage of them when possible for food and shopping. Plus when we go to the parks we park hop, and enjoy the convenience of not being tied to a single park per day. The built in Memory Makers is a nice perk too as in the past we rarely paid for it and would lose the pictures. These days we download so many.

 

[smiths02]

We will in SC, and normally go to Disney twice a year. Our first trip is a quick one only 2 or 3 park days, no hopper in June. Our 2nd trip is 5 or 6 days with park hopper during Christmas week. I’m thinking of purchasing 1 annual pass to get the memory maker and to get possible room deals. So far it looks like a break even without a room deal. What do you think? We normally stay at moderates for longer stays and deluxes for short trips.

Do you usually go June and December? Could you time June 2019, December 2019 and June 2020 so that 3 stays are covered under the Annual Pass?

 

[siren0119]

OP is not DVC so the only annual passes they can get are the Platinum/Platinum plus - no blackout dates.

Breakeven for the cost of AP's (based on CURRENT cost, I am anticipating they will raise the price again sometime in the next month or so like they did last year) is 11 park days, give or take. The amount of dining/souvenir spending needed to offset cost of AP's is pretty high at 10% discount (so you'd need to spend a solid $1000 to offset $100 of the AP - and not every food venue offers an AP discount) so I don't bother counting that.

You *might* be close to breakeven at 9 park days IF you are traveling during peak season, but otherwise AP's would probably end up costing you more in the long run.