Will the Annual Pass price increase matter to you and your vacation plans?

[jo-jo]

For the first time I almost regret buying DVC. I'm thinking next yr, using up all available points and then skip a few yrs.

I think everyone accepts $20- $40 increase as normal, $120 is just out of line.

And to think we bought 10 day tickets for our Dec trip while still hoping a DVC ticket deal would be coming down the pike. Now instead of saving money, we'll be paying 20 bucks more for an 11 month AP.


I also can't imagine how families can afford trips these days. I know for our two kids, we've helped somewhat with buying tickets or letting them use DVC points . But there a limit to that too.

 

[DougEMG]

the change isn't going to effect us for a couple of years, at which point the rules may be all different at that point again.

We've got the old annual pass which we are using for our trip this Oct-Nov and then again for Apr-May 2016. Then in 2017 we are taking a break from Disney, so it won't be till 2018 that I'll have to get a new annual pass. Out of the current options, I'd be going with the Gold pass that has the blackout days.

 

[MsTessP]

We will be getting the gold pass which will amount to less than an $18 increase. We will be reevaluating TIW, but there are DVC and AP discounts, so no big deal.
If anyone is selling BWV Aug UY over this increase, let me know so I can hopefully scoop them up.

 

[vallerii]

It's going to take a lot more planning ahead for us. We go roughly 2 times a year. This year we're going during Christmas on the old passes. Next year having already done the holidays recently we'll probably go with gold instead, but then we'll really have to consider future plans to determine which kind of pass to get (or if it makes more sense some years to just take a longer trip with length of stay passes since add'l days are pretty cheap once you get past about 6-7 days and skip ap's)

 

[disneymom2one]

Yes. We are locked into Christmas break due to our jobs (college faculty members). Our daughter is also at a different college. The only time the three of us can vacation is Christmas time. The blackout dates apply to us and I just can't justify the AP. We're getting 6 day passes for the upcoming trip. We've been AP holders for years but I just can't do it anymore. We'll keep our DVC though because I love the resorts.

 

[cvjw]

The price increase doesn't really bother us. We never visit during Christmas or Easter week anyway - we can't stand being in the parks when they are that crowded. Purchasing the gold passes will work well for us. We purchased MM during our summer trip and loved it, so having that included in the gold pass is a bonus for us.

That being said, we are thinking of selling some DVC points. During our last two trips in late May/early June and a couple of weeks ago, the parks were just so crowded that we found it hard to do much without a FP. All of the advanced planning that is now required just takes some of the fun out of the trips for our family.

We will still visit Disney, just not as much as we did.

 

[Granny]

We have gone during Christmas week a couple of times...can't see that happening again. But because of this, along with the 50% increase in the cost of TIW, we will probably be scaling back our Disney travels in the future. Or possible start renting a vehicle to enable more off-site dining. So yes, I can see our vacation plans changing based on this.

 

[disfanforlife]

Last year was the first time that we went in December 13-20, so it would have effected us if it was in our plans to go then this year. But we decided we didn't want to go away the week before Christmas and are going in Januar for our family trip. DH and I are going alone in November. For us, we won't plan to go during those peak times. Luckily we can take our vacation off season and prefer to anyways.

 

[Splashboat]

We are set with tickets for next year but I think we will probably go several times in a year (using the gold annual pass) and then skip every other year down the road. I would rethink things if they ever offer us the FL weekday only passes. We don't like the weekend crowds anyway and that price is much more reasonable for us.

 

[FRANKTSJR]

For the first time I almost regret buying DVC. I'm thinking next yr, using up all available points and then skip a few yrs.

I think everyone accepts $20- $40 increase as normal, $120 is just out of line.

And to think we bought 10 day tickets for our Dec trip while still hoping a DVC ticket deal would be coming down the pike. Now instead of saving money, we'll be paying 20 bucks more for an 11 month AP.


I also can't imagine how families can afford trips these days. I know for our two kids, we've helped somewhat with buying tickets or letting them use DVC points . But there a limit to that too.

Why 11 months?

 

[jo-jo]

Why 11 months?

The black out dates add up to about a month.

 

[FRANKTSJR]

The black out dates add up to about a month.

Wow- yes. That by itself is almost a 10% increase,

 

[disneynutz]

We are fortunate that we have certificates and non-expiration tickets to last another 10 years or so. Once we use up the AP's, we won't be buying again, just like we are changing our plans and won't be buying a TIW this year or eating at the Disney restaurants as often.

Bill

 

[DVC Mike]

we are changing our plans and won't be buying a TIW this year or eating at the Disney restaurants as often.

We can't safely eat offsite due to my wife's food allergies, so it's either Disney restaurants or cooking meals in our room.

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[DebbieB]

I bought an AP voucher last Thanksgiving because of a rumor that the member discount was going away even though my next WDW trip is this December. Turned out to be a good deal, I missed 2 price increases and after I activate it on December 5 it will also cover my May and October 2016 trips.

I don't go during Easter or Christmas so the gold will be fine for me.

 

[DVC Mike]

Yes, we are selling our DVC. This was the last straw for us.

Yes, We are now seriously thinking of selling !

I still enjoy going. I'm just going to have to accept that it's going to cost more. While I'm not thrilled with this latest round of price hikes, I'm still looking forward to my next trip.

Disney hasn't been an inexpensive vacation. I guess there is a limit to how much I'll pay, but I haven't reached it yet. Clearly, some others have.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Got questions about DVC?
★ ☆ ★ THE DVC INFORMATION CENTER ★ ☆ ★
in the DVC Forums has the answers to your questions about the Disney Vacation Club.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
​

 

[PBB]

We purchased annual passes last month for a trip in a few weeks. Once these passes are done....we will no longer go to Walt Disney World. Purchasing annual passes made sense to us since we live in Atlanta. We would travel to the parks 2-3 times in a year and skip a year.

The aggressive pricing structure in combination wth the lack any new rides that are e ticket quality has made the parks too pricey and stale. Most importantly, the best asset of Walt Disney World that has taken a huge reduction is Casrmember morale. Many of the Castmembers are just going through the motions. Their heart isn't there anymore. The NextGen technology has also become a problem for us. Too much obsessive compulsive planning for us. It is no longer a vacation going to WDW. Plus, I don't trust Disney with the database information. I fully expect that eventually they will sell off your information. It is too creepy for me...

At this point, we will vacation at Hilton Head and Vero and maybe use our points at DVC resorts without the parks. We talked about for the price of annual passes we can buy tickets to Hawaii. Hawaii has to be better than WDW parks......

 

[points envy]

The black out dates, are times we would never be visiting WDW. The way we see it, a $100 increase for a family of 5 is a drop in the bucket for disney standards. I'll buy a 12 pack of beer and bring it to the pool instead of buying it pool side. Anyone who is in the midst of a membership (dvc) fire sale because of inflation, would be selling regardless. Peace and Love.

 

[rapunzels]

the change isn't going to effect us for a couple of years, at which point the rules may be all different at that point again.

We've got the old annual pass which we are using for our trip this Oct-Nov and then again for Apr-May 2016. Then in 2017 we are taking a break from Disney, so it won't be till 2018 that I'll have to get a new annual pass. Out of the current options, I'd be going with the Gold pass that has the blackout days.

Holy cow.. can you imagine how much tickets will cost in 2018? I can't even imagine. At this rate, they will cost $300 more than they do now.

 

[keaster]

If anything we will probably use our points more outside of WDW. We've already done Aulani and plan to do it again, also plan to do Vero and HHI someday.

In fact we were just talking about how Aulani may have been one of our least expensive vacations. No park tickets...2 or 3 airline tickets were paid through credit card points...and the rental van we got a great deal.

We may even *gasp* see what we can experience through RCI.