When to buy annual pass

[goatinthegrove]

We have been making it to Disney either once or more a year for a little while now and have finally decided that an annual pass may be the way for us to save a little money. Really wish we had done it last winter when we were down in December and then turned around and came down again in January for a last minute quick visit. Even if we don't make it down for any quick trips like last winter we should still be able to fit two winter trips in the same 365 day year (January one year, December the next). My question is just what is the best way to do this as I have read about a lot of people here upgrading to an annual pass once they have already booked one trip and are already there.

We have always taken advantage of room discounts on previous trips since they have been a better deal for us than free dining. We're not very big eaters. From what I have seen the room discounts look to be a little better for annual pass holders so I would think it would be better for us to purchase the pass when booking the trip instead of upgrading once there. Am I seeing something wrong?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Klayfish]

We don't stay on property, or eat much of their food, so take that into consideration with our advice. We bought our AP late last summer, so that we could "bookend" two long trips. We actually had no intention of buying an AP at first. We bought a 10 day pass that started July 4th, 2015. We had a 17 day trip planned. Halfway through the trip, my wife and I were talking about everything and just decided to inquire what an AP would cost us, as we had never looked into it. When we found out we'd get a credit for what we paid for the 10 day toward our AP, it really got us interested. The 10 day pass cost something like 2/3 of what an AP cost. So it also made perfect sense. Our AP started with that trip in July. We knew we'd come back for Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Xmas and Presidents Day. Plus we would end the AP with another massive 17 day trip at the end of June 2016 (less than 3 weeks away now!!!). So when all is said and done, we'll have spent something like 45-50 days at WDW on our AP that only cost a fraction more than a single 10 day pass. Money very well spent.

Going forward, we have decided that we won't renew the AP after we get home from this trip. It expires July 3rd, 2016. We're going to wait until July 2017 and do the same thing all over again. Start the next AP with a 2+ week trip in July 2017, do all the holiday weekends, and top it off in June 2018 with another 2+ week trip. It works out for us because my wife works for the school district where our kids go to school, so they're all off at the same time...and my job gives me a bit of flexibility, so your situation may vary.

 

[scrapquitler]

We booked a package, and then upgraded our passes during our trip (April 2015) and then used the heck out of them until they expired in April 2016. I didn't find any AP discounts that were a great deal when I was booking trips. I actually did better on room prices booking with Travelocity once and Southwest Vacations once.

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

We don't do the dining plan either - the room discounts are way better for us. We became AP holders when our DD did the DCP and we went 5 times in that year. This year we are going to 2 weeks in the summer. This February we let our AP lapse because it would be 6 months before we went. We purchased new APs before we were about to book for the summer. You pay upfront but the AP doesn't start until you activate it at DW. So our AP start date will no be until we get there in the summer. We buy the TOW card and that saves a lot of money on food. I hope that helps.

 

[DizDaD7]

We have been making it to Disney either once or more a year for a little while now and have finally decided that an annual pass may be the way for us to save a little money. Really wish we had done it last winter when we were down in December and then turned around and came down again in January for a last minute quick visit. Even if we don't make it down for any quick trips like last winter we should still be able to fit two winter trips in the same 365 day year (January one year, December the next). My question is just what is the best way to do this as I have read about a lot of people here upgrading to an annual pass once they have already booked one trip and are already there.

We have always taken advantage of room discounts on previous trips since they have been a better deal for us than free dining. We're not very big eaters. From what I have seen the room discounts look to be a little better for annual pass holders so I would think it would be better for us to purchase the pass when booking the trip instead of upgrading once there. Am I seeing something wrong?

Thanks in advance for any help.

I believe what you are referring to is bridging...There are plenty of discussions scattered throughout these boards....

IWe are DVC members so we usually get a good discounts on the AP's, so take this with a grain of salt, because I'm not sure what the break even point ( in terms of days within a 365 yr calendar) would be? For us what we did was buy our tix (whichever saved us the most $$ ) from either undercover tourist or Parksavers.. We get a great deal right off the bat. Then once youi arrive in WDW you use that ticket at least once then go & upgrade it to the pass. All you pay is the difference between the DISNEY price of your tix ( not the discounted $$ ) & the AP you want. The AP start date would revert back to when you 1st used your original ticket. So in all actuality you can use it on your 1st day or last day of that initial trip. For me with usually 18 or 19 total nights spread out on 2 separate trips, makes it well worth it....Especially the last 2 times that DVC ran their crazy deal....Also take into account that you do get 10% on purchases as well & some dining discounts too...

 

[DizDaD7]

One thing I forgot to add was the AP % off deal I used for my in laws when they stayed last summer @ BWV. I believe it was 35%... Savings of like $2000, which was nice.

 

[DizDaD7]

One thing I forgot to add was the AP % off deal I used for my in laws when they stayed last summer @ BWV. I believe it was 35%... Savings of like $200

 

[Accident]

@goatinthegrove you can book a room with ap discount without an ap by calling but you'll be charged the rack rate difference if you do not upgrade to ap within 24 hours of checkin.

If you don't have tickets to upgrade, get them online to get site access to ap discounts

 

[goatinthegrove]

Thanks for all the answers.

We don't stay on property, or eat much of their food, so take that into consideration with our advice. We bought our AP late last summer, so that we could "bookend" two long trips. We actually had no intention of buying an AP at first. We bought a 10 day pass that started July 4th, 2015. We had a 17 day trip planned. Halfway through the trip, my wife and I were talking about everything and just decided to inquire what an AP would cost us, as we had never looked into it. When we found out we'd get a credit for what we paid for the 10 day toward our AP, it really got us interested. The 10 day pass cost something like 2/3 of what an AP cost. So it also made perfect sense. Our AP started with that trip in July. We knew we'd come back for Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Xmas and Presidents Day. Plus we would end the AP with another massive 17 day trip at the end of June 2016 (less than 3 weeks away now!!!). So when all is said and done, we'll have spent something like 45-50 days at WDW on our AP that only cost a fraction more than a single 10 day pass. Money very well spent.

Going forward, we have decided that we won't renew the AP after we get home from this trip. It expires July 3rd, 2016. We're going to wait until July 2017 and do the same thing all over again. Start the next AP with a 2+ week trip in July 2017, do all the holiday weekends, and top it off in June 2018 with another 2+ week trip. It works out for us because my wife works for the school district where our kids go to school, so they're all off at the same time...and my job gives me a bit of flexibility, so your situation may vary.

Klayfish, sounds like you really got your use outta that pass, and still are, have fun in June. Your plan with the passes sounds pretty similar to ours except our flexible travel time comes over the winter, instead of the summer and we really like staying on Disney property.

@goatinthegrove you can book a room with ap discount without an ap by calling but you'll be charged the rack rate difference if you do not upgrade to ap within 24 hours of checkin.

If you don't have tickets to upgrade, get them online to get site access to ap discounts

Thanks Accident, didn't know that was an option.

 

[goatinthegrove]

One thing I forgot to add was the AP % off deal I used for my in laws when they stayed last summer @ BWV. I believe it was 35%... Savings of like $2000, which was nice.

Love those discounts, we've been using the 30% room discounts our last few trips since we're usually winter month travelers.

 

[msmama]

Just know that I bought my AP to get two trips out of it - like you. I added 2 other trips throughout the year!! So that AP ended up costing me a lot more, lol.

AP room discounts are usually within 5% of the general public discounts, from what I've found - no more than that anyway. Of 4 trips, I used the AP discount for 2 of them and regular room only for 2 of them because that's what worked best for me. The AP discounts do tend to pop up a little later than the general public discounts too (may change depending on the time of year) and don't necessarily have the same availability.

Also, now that they include photopass discounts, we found that to be a nice extra benefit.

 

[goatinthegrove]

Just know that I bought my AP to get two trips out of it - like you. I added 2 other trips throughout the year!! So that AP ended up costing me a lot more, lol.

I can definitely see this this happening to us too since it already did last year without the pass. Hard to pass up a quick trip south to hang with The Mouse!

 

[DizDaD7]

I can definitely see this this happening to us too since it already did last year without the pass. Hard to pass up a quick trip south to hang with The Mouse!

But be forewarned, Once you get your hands on an AP, it'll do some crazy things...Like make you spend a ton more $$$ on other trips that you might try and squeeze in.....LOL, The Mouse is waaay smarter than we are.

 

[MichelleWDWfan]

I chose not to renew my AP this year due to the hike in the price, it expired during my trip in March
The last 2 years I got 3 trips each year out of my pass.
The room discounts were nice, not to mention the merchandise discount too.
Now I am wishing I renewed that pass because my son wants to spend his 21st bday at WDW.

 

[smidgy]

Also, now that they include photopass discounts, we found that to be a nice extra benefit.

uck! I wish they hadn't included that. and MAKE you pay for it. they upped the price for the AP and included the photopass. obviously,not enough people were "opting" to pay for it. sigh

 

[smidgy]

But be forewarned, Once you get your hands on an AP, it'll do some crazy things...Like make you spend a ton more $$$ on other trips that you might try and squeeze in.....LOL, The Mouse is waaay smarter than we are.

it does tend to "burn a hole in your pocket" lol

 

[Accident]

I concur on the burning pocket... You start to watch for things going on and it's hard to say no, even for a weekend sometimes.

 

[momtwoboys]

we havent had AP's in many many years, but will be upgrading 7 day parkhoppers in april! first time in long time our dates line up to get 2 uses
in a year! april 18-24 2017 and april 13-19 2018! wahoooo

 

[cutigerlady]

We figured out that if we planned two trips a year, the APs worked out to be a better deal for us. We ended up going 9 times in 2015! The AP room discounts are not always the best discounts, but occasionally it was the best rate (usually off-peak and off-AP peak times). We bought our AP vouchers online in advance and exchanged them for the passes at Guest Services. This allowed us to use the vouchers to book our FP+ in advance for the first trip we were using them for (and we ended up beating the price increase on APs). We didn't want to hassle with buying a discounted ticket and then trying to upgrade the ticket to an AP because I've heard of all the hassle with finding a CM that knows how to bridge the ticket correctly. Plus, you have to make sure to use the ticket before upgrading it. When we upgraded our kids tickets to APs, they messed it up and set the expiration date of the AP to the date I purchased the ticket and not the date they first used the ticket. This required several phone calls to fix, because we didn't catch the mistake until we were home from our trip.

 

[cleophus12]

Price hike was mentioned in a Previous post. We purchased our APs with the DVC discount and that was a real deal compared to the cost of renewal these days. I don't think I will renew when mine expires in June. However, I have used it on those "pocket Burning" trips (more than I ever intended) and loved every minute of it.