When you stay in the World, How do you buy passes?

[prplcrzy]

I am very interested how other DVC members (and non DVC members) purchase tickets when they visit Disney.

 

[Penny12]

AP, no contest

Penny!

 

[dianeschlicht]

AP is the best deal. The last one we had 29 days of park use. We had a January trip, September trip and December trip to use as many days as possible. Of course, now we are in a non-use cycle, so we aren't going to WDW until the last 10 days of January.

 

[dvc_john]

Thru Dec 31, 1999, it was the free passes!(for us old-timer OKW people). For the last year and a half, it was park hoppers. In December, I retire, and will get an annual pass!

 

[robinb]

I'm surprised to see how many people buy regular APs and not Premium APs. I thought we were the only ones! We have regular APs since we started going to WDW using the free park passes with our DVC ownership at OKW. Those did not include Pleasure Island or the water parks. Since we didn't have kids at the time, we didn't see any reason to go to the water parks. We tried PI twice and were just not impressed. Our DD is now 2 and loves to swim. However, I still don't see the value in buying a PAP until she is older and can really enjoy the water parks.

BTW, we already have 9 days on our APs. We're going to add another 7-9 days in Novemeber (my DH is going on businees, DD and I are playing) and another 10 days over NYE. We will also probably go again in 2002 before our APs expire in July 2002.

 

[buckylarue]

We did the PAP's this year since we knew we'd get at least 3 trips in on them (looks like 4 now!)...other times we'll buy PH+'s, especially if we plan to go elsewhere (like Anaheim or Paris?) during the year. We have to do PI at least once each trip, if just for Adventurer's Club, plus we like to get to the water parks.

 

[jel0511]

Ap's, we are taking our first trip home in two weeks YEAH!!! We'll be there for 5 days, and are planning another trip for next july for 10 days, so we'll get 15 days use out of them. We don't get PAP's because our kids are young (dd 3 DS 4months) and we wouldn't go to the water parks. Next year we might go for one day, but we'll just pay the admission then.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We seldom do water parks, so we get the regular APs and if someone wants to go to a water park one day, it is just extra that day. In four years 2 people have done water parks on two different days, so the PAP seems like a waste.

 

[cindy_k]

I buy Length of Stay. (Ultimate Park Hopper)
So far we only go once a year for 7-8 days. I like the freedom of being to spend a little time at Disney Quest every night and dropping by Pleasure Island. Not to mention running to water parks for a few hours.
All without worrying about using options.

This year I am going to get it without the first and last day to save some $$.

 

[Granny]

Before this year, we couldn't go to Disney often enough to make an AP work for us. Also, being non-DVCers until recently, we split our stays to a few days on-site to "do Disney" and the rest off-site to do Sea World, Busch Gardens, etc. So we got length-of-stay passes since we knew we would do Disney every day we stayed on-site.

Now that we are DCVers, we will go to the park hopper tickets because we will stay on-site the whole time, but not go to Disney parks every day.

I guess AP could be in our plans if it looks like we can get to Orlando often enough.

So our ticket purchasing plans are as flexible as the DVC...we make up our mind every trip on how to do it!

Granny

 

[Wislodgers]

Since we are usually only able to go once a year, the hopper pass seems to be our best deal. I save up and go to our local Disney Store and purchase each ticket as we have the money. It works out great for us, and since tickets are a big expense it is nice to know they are paid for before we go there!

 

[ceejay13]

Regular AP's for us. We don't visit the water parks or seldom visit Pleasure Island and try to fit 2 trips in a year so it is most economical for us.

 

[Caskbill]

Since I like math and statistics, I wrote a small Excel spreadsheet for our laptop to keep track of our time on our annual passes. So far after 6 months, we've had 18 days at WDW, and 101.2 hours in the theme parks (22.0 AK, 35.8 Epcot, 18.7 MK, 24.8 Studios). Note: we don't go to the parks everyday.

Thus far, it's an average of $3.23 / hour of theme park usage.

Also travel time has been 16.45 hours. This includes only travel from our resort to the parks, or travel time between the parks. Travel is always shortest when we drive directly, longest when we take Disney transportation (boat or bus), or walk. (EG walk from MGM to Epcot).

With 6-months to go, and three trips planned (totalling about 60 more days at WDW or in the area (off-site), we expect to add lots more park time onto those passes. Disney, meanwhile will still get lots of our money from souveniours and food (mostly food). We do plan to do the water parks at least once, (we'll just get a day pass for that), and of course lots of time at DD.

Our longest single day was 11.50 hours park time. Our shortest was 1.75 hours. That's what's great about the AP. Stay as short or as long as you want. You don't feel like you have to stay from opening to closing to get the most out of your money.

 

[TiggerFreak]

CDSMOUSE,

I hope no one follows your deceitful advice.

TTFN
TiggerFreak

 

[KNWVIKING]

We buy the AP's using the DC discount,(which isn't much).We get three trips ,34 days total, in a 52 week span. We thought about PAP's but this last 52 week cycle had two nov-dec trips in it. Typhooon lagoon is always closed this time of year for refurb,River Country is closed for the season so Blizzard beach is the only water park open. We're not really crazy about BB anyway,prefer Typhoon lagoon, and the weather in Nov-Dec isn't always the best for water parks. In May they offer a special water park pass,good at all WP's for I think it was 14 days for the price of a one day water park pass.Our current AP's will expire at the end of our Dec trip.We won't renew them till we go in May of 2002. Because that 52 week cycle will include two May trips,we may consider the PAP's.

 

[JimB.]

Florida Resident "Seasonal" pass

 

[KCritter]

This is the first year we bought APs and I like it so much better than Park Hoppers.

When we used the PHs, I felt like if we were going to use a day, we'd better get a full days use out of it! Take no prisoners! I felt like I had to spend every single minute in the parks to get my money's worth.

With the AP, if we want to spend the morning in the park and then the rest of the day lounging by the pool, it's OK. Or we may just pop in to the park to see the fireworks or the parade. It's so much nicer.

 

[Johnnie Fedora]

We plan on buying an APs every three years, and use them for two longer vacations (maybe more) within one year. The next year we will opt to stay at DVC but NOT buy APs. Instead, we will visit other Orlando attractions If WDW wants my $money$ every year, they need to offer DVCers a real $$$discount on passes.

 

[one_cat]

Our plan is to buy an AP, go 3 to 4 times on the AP then skip a year.

 

[Coastie]

Does the Stars and Stripes Length of Stay Pass count? Our first trip "home" at VWL is scheduled for June 30, 2002 - July 7, 2002. The first stop after unpacking is to visit The Shades of Green, formerly the Disney Inn. They provide discounts for military, reserve, DOD, etc. Our 6 Day S&S pass is $251 fo adult and $201 for kids, a savings of almost $200 for a family of four (off the gate price and no tax).