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

[Goofy DVC]

I look at the change this way. We will purchase Gold renewal passes at about $500 a piece after taxes. We will spend 13 days at DW. That puts our daily cost at about $38 per ticket, per day. Still a good value for us. Everything else with regard to this issue is just noise.

 

[disneyfan2kids]

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

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Do the recent changes in the types and pricing of Walt Disney World Annual Passes matter to you? Will it result in any changes to your vacation plans?

If you previously purchased the regular Annual Pass, in the future will you be purchasing the Gold (with blackout dates) or Platinum AP - or perhaps none at all?

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Yes, I will stop going more than once per year and I will significantly reduced park visits to add in non-WDW attractions. They lost me with this one.

 

[pmaurer74]

I still can't get my head around the thought of a family of four spending $2,764.76 for Annual Passes.

we did... so to me the DVC renewal prices look great but we are becoming DVC members during our AP. We are getting 3 trips out of the APs... regular tickets were running us about $1400 per trip so as long as we went twice. We were going to go to Disneyland but the airfare was the same price as the APs so we went that route instead and are getting three trips out of it. However, I think we are going to DL in spring 2017 and are planning a huge WDW family trip in Dec. 2017... during the third week of December during the blackout time so it does effect us. We have gone the past two Decembers during the third week of December. So the news does frustrate me. Likely in a few years we will be gold APs and adjust but it will likely be different by then.

 

[Peepster]

We've had it, too! Just simply cannot afford the extensive price increases Disney has implemented. Our Christmas trip this year will be our last for a very long time. We plan to hang on to our points for a bit and pay the maintenance but have no plans to take a trip back there for several years. And that's a first for us who have been taking multiple trips per year since becoming DVC'ers in 2001. I'm happy that many can still afford it and enjoy it and realistic enough to know that we will not be missed and Disney will continue to thrive. We will explore new affordable adventures.

 

[SerenityValley]

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

No the price increase will not change our travel plans / habits. Our travel pattern is currently so varied that we just buy tickets as we need them.

 

[Kidanifan08]

For now, this will not change the way we plan Disney trips. We have active PAP's through April and DS9 has one through July. All three of us have two unactivated AP certificates, which should get us through 2019. We bought AP certificates right before the $399 PAP deal, so those have been around for awhile. I also bought new AP certificates in February, just before the price increase earlier this year. Sounds like all of those passes will be activated to Platinum passes. We go in the summer, so we may eventually upgrade them to Platinum Plus for the water park access. We generally get the Memory Maker for most of our trips. I am debating whether we should upgrade one of our current PAP's now to get the Photopass access, but I need to do the math. I do like the Gold option, as we virtually never travel during the block out dates.

 

[jodifla]

Our passes last through August, and after that we were taking a year off anyway. After that, we'll see what we do. We'd never buy any more than the Gold, anyway, as we stay away from Christmas and Easter. I have a son who even as a teen really loves Disney, and I have always enjoyed it, and my DH likes the DVC resorts a great deal. We'll just have to crunch the numbers and see.

 

[a742246]

We usually go twice (March, November) every 12 months on our AP's. Now we will go 3 times in that 12 months, skip a year(our March trip) then do another 3 trips in the following 12 months.

 

[edk35]

It will definitely affect our travel until our youngest gets into college. We must adhere to his schedule for the rest of this year and next. He is a jr. this year. We really enjoyed our spring break trip this year and of course NOW those dates are blacked out for gold. We would love to go again before he graduates however....... I will not be paying the other AP prices. NO WAY. We are lucky in that we can use the Military Salute tickets that are available each year, but they too have black out dates for spring break weeks as of a 2013. We would probably just have to get UT discounted hoppers.

We are going next month and happy that we can use the military tickets. We are not buying any AP's anytime soon. The gold wouldn't be bad if they hadn't blacked out spring. I don't care anything about PHOTO PASS. I agree with previous posters who feel like Disney gave the SHAFT to DVC members on that gold pass.

 

[edk35]

I won't be surprised when they start charging a special event fee for Food and Wine or just for breathing.

 

[edk35]

I can also see us driving down and splitting time by going to Universal and other parks in conjunction with DW. Gone will be the days we spend 7-9 days at just Disney World with prices like this.

 

[tjkraz]

I can also see us driving down and splitting time by going to Universal and other parks in conjunction with DW. Gone will be the days we spend 7-9 days at just Disney World with prices like this.

Splitting time between WDW and US will cost you even more.

A 4-day WDW pass with park hopping runs about $350...4-day Universal with hopping (but no Express Pass) is around $250...nearly $600 total.

Meanwhile a 10-day WDW pass is $450 while the Gold AP which could be used for additional trips is $550.

You'll get access to a greater variety of attractions by spending time at both US and WDW but strictly from a dollars-and-cents standpoint, it's almost certain to be the most expensive alternative.

 

[edk35]

Splitting time between WDW and US will cost you even more.

A 4-day WDW pass with park hopping runs about $350...4-day Universal with hopping (but no Express Pass) is around $250...nearly $600 total.

Meanwhile a 10-day WDW pass is $450 while the Gold AP which could be used for additional trips is $550.

You'll get access to a greater variety of attractions by spending time at both US and WDW but strictly from a dollars-and-cents standpoint, it's almost certain to be the most expensive alternative.

Lucky for us we get military discounted tickets for US so that will help too. I don't have a problem getting the GOLD but it won't be while my son is in high school.

 

[jodifla]

Splitting time between WDW and US will cost you even more.

A 4-day WDW pass with park hopping runs about $350...4-day Universal with hopping (but no Express Pass) is around $250...nearly $600 total.

Meanwhile a 10-day WDW pass is $450 while the Gold AP which could be used for additional trips is $550.

You'll get access to a greater variety of attractions by spending time at both US and WDW but strictly from a dollars-and-cents standpoint, it's almost certain to be the most expensive alternative.

But you can also do what we did last year: Use our DVC but go to Universal, take a short DCL cruise, then come back to DVC and do a water park, mini golf and other activities. We got a great week's vacation (even used points for our cruise) and spent much less than buying WDW tickets. It was also nice to see what Universal was offering. They have some stellar rides there now.

 

[Judique]

Yes. It's made me have to reevaluate my next trip in 3 weeks.

I have a couple of annual passes in my possession along with several sets of non expiry tickets.

I was all for starting my pass on Oct 31st. Now my pass has more value and I'm not sure if I want to use it up this trip!

Decisions, decisions!

I'm only going for 8 nights this time, but it's food and wine! Meaning I'll want to walk into Epcot most nights (from BWV).
And then to get value, I'll be booking last week in October for 2016....

Sounds okay, right?

But....if I were to just get a 5-6 day magic your way for under $300 (with my $30 off Amex offer at Undercover tourist), I could delay starting the annual pass until 2017, and use it for 3 visits February/ 2017/November 2017/ January 2018 and be able to meander around all I want for 3 trips divided by the cost of the pass - $516.53.

I usually do the Oct - Nov trip every 2-3 years. Plus this year there may be no winter trip as we are expecting a family addition for Xmas. And we are doing Hilton Head over July 4th, 2016.

I don't want to 'spend' 5-6 days of non expiry. On a winter trip of 2 weeks, 2-3 days of non expiry are enough. I find loads to do and like my cheap BWV studio as a home base to explore - 10 points standard view in January, paid for contract and $6 something a point in dues? Cheap cheap cheap...

I think it's time to get out the Amex card again.....Thanks for helping me figure this all out!

 

[quinnc19]

Since my daughter is only 8, we will still be going to WDW. However, we often would go during the third week of December and probably won't anymore due to the Gold blackout dates. I am kicking myself for not buying more AP vouchers and non-expiration tickets 6 months ago (especially considering the low return I've gotten on my investments since then).

 

[Judique]

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.

I enjoy going also.

Just will take a look at the options for each visit.

My budget is my budget. Having been there done that so often, I'm not stressed to do it all. Disney will get what I intend to spend.

I've also had to adjust how I eat at Disney. I've got several issues. I've found that a combo of Disney restaurants, offsite and fixing food in my room works for me.

I've still got Disney experiences to look forward to. I've never done Hoop De Doo .

That will be an evening on some future trip. So, all is good!

There is still a place for DVC'ers in the parks.

 

[rfc0001]

I enjoy going also.

Just will take a look at the options for each visit.

My budget is my budget. Having been there done that so often, I'm not stressed to do it all. Disney will get what I intend to spend.

I've also had to adjust how I eat at Disney. I've got several issues. I've found that a combo of Disney restaurants, offsite and fixing food in my room works for me.

I've still got Disney experiences to look forward to. I've never done Hoop De Doo .

That will be an evening on some future trip. So, all is good!

There is still a place for DVC'ers in the parks.

Hoop-Dee-Do is our must-do family tradition -- love it!

 

[tb1972]

We've already booked a Spring Break trip Mar. 13-19. Our PAP's will expire before that trip and I believe we'll opt for the Gold AP. Unfortunately, the black out date will be in effect the last day of our trip.

 

[rfc0001]

We've already booked a Spring Break trip Mar. 13-19. Our PAP's will expire before that trip and I believe we'll opt for the Gold AP. Unfortunately, the black out date will be in effect the last day of our trip.

We usually spend our last day at the resort/pool anyways. Buying a Water Park AP is another good option (can wait to start it with first visit) -- $110/$99 adult/child with lower renewal rate