Would You Still Own DVC if APs were No Longer an Option

[WilsonFlyer]

Without an annual pass I'm not spending 3-4 weeks a year at WDW, and if I'm not spending that much time in WDW I certainly don't need all my DVC points. So no annual pass means I will sell some/all of my DVC points and probably just give up on WDW and stay at Universal instead.

Right there with ya. Put to the side, the money I could get out of my points right now buys us a lot of days at a deluxe at USO. A LOT. It gets really hard not to know that.

 

[Ronaldo17]

Not for us I'm afraid, no AP would mean no DVC .

 

[karrit2000]

When I went last year they had the buy 4 days get 2 days free offer so it took away a bit of the sting of not being able to buy an AP but I only went once to burn off my banked points from the previous use year. I was hoping they would resume AP sales while I was there so I could upgrade my ticket but it didn't happen until several months later. Then the AP passes were only sold for such a short window before they stopped them again and before I had any plans for another trip. I have no incentive to book multiple trips if I need to by admission tickets each time. Add on having to pay for Genie+ on top of several 100's of dollars per ticket is pure greed. I don't think so many of us would be so upset if there was at least some sort of discount being offered to us on multiday ticket media directly from Disney. At least before they offered the AP discounts they usually offered us discounts on multiday tickets. This year I'm once again going just enough days and staying in a bigger villa to burn off banked points. But as I posted earlier I'll probably spend half that trip visiting other Orlando Attractions rather than spending all my days at WDW parks. And I'm seriously considering selling off at least one of my contracts.

 

[GeneralLeia003]

I didn’t buy the Magic Key Pass when it first released at Disneyland (August) and now the tier I need is sold out. So I just buy tickets and cringe at the prices. And hope they open up those passes again.
As for WDW, we only go once a year so it doesn’t matter if we have an AP there or not. I used to have the Premier pass but I know they won’t be bringing that back.

 

[AnnaS]

I think/my gut feeling - they are making more money selling tickets. For someone who makes multiple trips within a year - they would need to shell out more money. Anyway Disney can make an extra dollar.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

We had annual passes at one point with our DVC, but the new prices were too high to make it worth it since we usually just do two 5 day trips and didn't want to be locked in. Are they even selling DVC AP's right now? I go back and forth. We love Disney and our experiences there. But the huge price increases are getting annoying since they've taken away most perks for DVC. Not even sure what benefit there is right now to buying direct if they aren't even selling DVC AP's.

 

[aokeefe]

We are resale owners so don't get the discounted AP's so no we won't sell. On years we do buy the AP we go multiple times. If they stop selling AP's or if we don't choose to buy an AP we will just take 1 trip, stay in a larger point room and/or use points at Hilton Head.

 

[Marionnette]

We are resale owners so don't get the discounted AP's so no we won't sell. On years we do buy the AP we go multiple times. If they stop selling AP's or if we don't choose to buy an AP we will just take 1 trip, stay in a larger point room and/or use points at Hilton Head.

It's not just about the discount, though. For some owners, having any AP is key to being able to use their annual allotment of points and also go into the parks. If Disney stops selling APs, the cost of making multiple trips each year becomes cost prohibitive. Hence the number of posts declaring that owners will divest themselves of some of their contracts.

 

[Skywalker3]

No. I agree w the chicken/egg analysis. From 2000-2010, we were going regularly about once every year/18 months. Started researching DVC so we could have options of staying together w extended family, having larger accomodations. THen we discovered Star wars weekends, so started wanting to go at least twice in a year. DVC and APs started for us at the same time , 2011. Since then, we've never done less than 2 trips/year. We don't renew APs every year, we might skip some time, but we haven't done Disney w/o APs since 2011, and frankly, we don't want to do Disney w/o APs. We are planning 2 trips in 2022. Since we didn't renew our APs last March, I can't even have that option, and now looking at regular tickets. One trip is in June for our daughter's high school graduation. One is fall break. 5 day tickets for each, priced out over 1200. DVC AP would be about 950. If APs dont' come back, WDW will not be our main travel destination after this year. It's just not how we want to do Disney, with limited X amt of day tickets. Not sure we'd sell DVC, but would start renting out our points and go elsewhere.

 

[jo-jo]

I'd like to know why Fla residents get better tickets than DVC? I'd jump at the chance to buy the tickets that they get. I don't know the name but the one that blocks about 1/4 of the year and weekends......that would fit perfect for us. If you are going 2 or 3 trips a year, missing a few weekends is no big deal. But until recently, we were buy AP , do two or three trips one year, skip a year people.

edited to add.....If I was a local, I'd hardly spend a dime at disney, pack a PB sandwich, can of soda, go in for 4 or 5 hours. next week rinse and repeat.

We are doing a trip soon at the tail end of our AP year. Not going to renew. We are planning a 2 week trip in Dec. But it's just too risky healthwise to lay out 1 1/2 grand and maybe never go back. For that Dec trip, we have several comp tickets. DH will use those and I'll buy a 10 day ticket.

And since we are soon coming to the end of trips health wise, we'll keep our points and say to our kids use the points or we rent them out.

 

[SLThomas318]

I'd like to know why Fla residents get better tickets than DVC? I'd jump at the chance to buy the tickets that they get. I don't know the name but the one that blocks about 1/4 of the year and weekends......that would fit perfect for us. If you are going 2 or 3 trips a year, missing a few weekends is no big deal. But until recently, we were buy AP , do two or three trips one year, skip a year people.

edited to add.....If I was a local, I'd hardly spend a dime at disney, pack a PB sandwich, can of soda, go in for 4 or 5 hours. next week rinse and repeat.

We are doing a trip soon at the tail end of our AP year. Not going to renew. We are planning a 2 week trip in Dec. But it's just too risky healthwise to lay out 1 1/2 grand and maybe never go back. For that Dec trip, we have several comp tickets. DH will use those and I'll buy a 10 day ticket.

And since we are soon coming to the end of trips health wise, we'll keep our points and say to our kids use the points or we rent them out.

I understand Disney wanting to eliminate the guest who doesn't spend any money while in the park, but I'd be curious to know what percentage of annual passholders that is? We are out of state DVC owners and have added on to our membership just so we can go more often. Since our room and tickets are "paid" for prior to going on vacation, we feel like we can just enjoy ourselves when we go.... this means sit down meals, snacks, over priced drinks at the pool, extra experiences. And I get that it is a "steal from peter to pay paul" situation.... I'm probably giving Disney the same amount of money... if I had to buy tickets every trip, then I'd be doing a lot less in terms of extras. BUT if I had to buy tickets every trip, then we just wouldn't go as much and wouldn't need all our points. Why would Disney not want to capitalize on such a captive audience such as DVC? Between DVC and an annual pass the majority of our vacation dollars are going to Disney at the moment. Just the other day we talked about getting away for a few nights without kids for the first time and since we have DVC and an annual pass we decided on Disney. If I had to pay upfront for tickets and a room, then we would have gone with another location.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

I am actually surprised by the results of this poll. I would have thought the number who would sell would be higher. I tend to forget that a lot of DVC holders are once a year / every other year guests. I used to be - and back then I didn't get AP's. So I guess it makes sense thinking it through. I only started AP's when I started using studios and budgeting for 2 shorter trips a year.

 

[peabody58]

When we had an AP, I would never leave the bubble as I wanted to get the most value out of the AP. Hence, lots of TS meals but few if any souvenirs.

Now with the prospect of no AP for a while and still having 4-5 trips of 4-5 days each planned through 2025. I am researching outside the bubble alternatives. We always drive from GA, so no problem for us. Old Town, Fun Spot, Kennedy Space Center, the list goes on and on. Actually getting a bit excited about the possibilities for a different type of vacation. But if they bring the AP back, I will again fork over the $$ and stay in the bubble!

 

[iheartglaciers]

I would still own DVC without an AP, but I would have less points and go less often.

 

[JenSop]

I go once a year, but only had APs once in my 15 years of ownership. (I got three trips out of that AP.) I'm also a TA, so I get a really good discounted park ticket once a year. Not as much incentive for me to get APs.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

Interesting question.

For many years after buying DVC, we did not have APs. We were (still are/but empty nesters now) a family of five and always purchased 10 day park hoppers/non-expiry. Sometimes with the added "plus" for water parks. We got two - three trips out of them and sometimes had a water park day left. These were the best I felt for us at the time. I miss these tickets.

The past 5-8 years - can't remember, DH and I have purchased APs. They have worked for us since we get 2-3 trips out of them. It kind of forces us to keep going back since we have an AP. We will keep renewing as long as they let us. If Disney also stops renewal, we will buy a few base day tickets. For us, it's not worth all the $$$ anymore sine we spend less and less time in the parks.

I really can't say for now what we could/might eventually do. Time will tell. We still love Disney, being in bubble, going with friends/kids/grandchildren, etc. but in the end - there are a ton of places to see in the world. Will decide where we spend our $$ -

We loved those NE tickets, too. When we bought into DVC, we bought 10-day NE tickets for the whole family and used 2 days (plus maybe a Halloween party) for each trip. Because we went every other year, those tickets lasted 10 years! My DH and I started traveling without the kids once they got older, so we ended up having to buy more NE tickets for us. Then they stopped selling them. We were okay with that because we had decided we wanted to start doing Disney differently after my retirement. We looked forward to longer, more relaxing trips maybe 2-3 times a year. We wanted APs because we planned on hitting a park for just a couple of hours each day. We bought our first APs in January 2020, a few months before my retirement with the plan to activate them in November of that year. Well Covid hit, so we rescheduled our trip to November 2021. Then Omicron hit, so we rescheduled our trip to November 2022. During all of these delays, we have fallen out of love with Disney. We just aren't happy with the changes they have made. So we have decided not to activate our APs until things are more back to normal (if that will every happen) and when we are happy with Disney again (which I think will happen but doubt the love will be there like it once was). Next week, we are headed down for a few days and are planning on just a resort-only stay. When November comes, we will buy two-day PHs and do a similar trip like we did with NE tickets. Eventually, we will activate our APs. When we do, we will likely get three trips out of them and finally have what we had been looking forward to for so long. Will it be all we dreamed of? I'm not so sure. But we will see, and after that, we will decide what we want to do. If APs aren't available, I'm sure we will take another long break from WDW. We will probably go only to take future grandkids for a few trips and buy multi-day tickets for each trip. We will not sell our points though because it's probably the only way to afford a place to stay at Disney with grandkids. I do believe we will use our AKV points more at DHHIR than at WDW though.

 

[tidefan]

We've already started altering our trips to go to Aulani, Vero, and HHI more often. Since the pandemic started, the only time we've been at the parks was for Boo Bash last September at BLT over Labor Day weekend, and for that, that was the only ticket we bought. We prefer the Aulani trip anyway, especially now that Southwest flies there...

 

[AnnaS]

We loved those NE tickets, too. When we bought into DVC, we bought 10-day NE tickets for the whole family and used 2 days (plus maybe a Halloween party) for each trip. Because we went every other year, those tickets lasted 10 years! My DH and I started traveling without the kids once they got older, so we ended up having to buy more NE tickets for us. Then they stopped selling them. We were okay with that because we had decided we wanted to start doing Disney differently after my retirement. We looked forward to longer, more relaxing trips maybe 2-3 times a year. We wanted APs because we planned on hitting a park for just a couple of hours each day. We bought our first APs in January 2020, a few months before my retirement with the plan to activate them in November of that year. Well Covid hit, so we rescheduled our trip to November 2021. Then Omicron hit, so we rescheduled our trip to November 2022. During all of these delays, we have fallen out of love with Disney. We just aren't happy with the changes they have made. So we have decided not to activate our APs until things are more back to normal (if that will every happen) and when we are happy with Disney again (which I think will happen but doubt the love will be there like it once was). Next week, we are headed down for a few days and are planning on just a resort-only stay. When November comes, we will buy two-day PHs and do a similar trip like we did with NE tickets. Eventually, we will activate our APs. When we do, we will likely get three trips out of them and finally have what we had been looking forward to for so long. Will it be all we dreamed of? I'm not so sure. But we will see, and after that, we will decide what we want to do. If APs aren't available, I'm sure we will take another long break from WDW. We will probably go only to take future grandkids for a few trips and buy multi-day tickets for each trip. We will not sell our points though because it's probably the only way to afford a place to stay at Disney with grandkids. I do believe we will use our AKV points more at DHHIR than at WDW though.

I have done two resort only stays. One was with my daughter and her friend. They did the parks, I did everything else
One resort only was with my DH years ago. My friend's mom could not go and we took over the reservation last minute. Our winter getaway.

We will keep renewing for now. We have been back three times since it re-opened after it closed for COVID. Many changes, but we still enjoy it. Some of our trips are with friends or with our children/grandchildren.

We also use our points for HH and Vero beach. Our winter getaway. We have 10 nights at OKW and 1 week at Vero coming up.

If we don't have an AP someday, we can easily do some base ticket days - if we want and add Vero or HH to our stay. Change it up.

But - those NE tickets were the best!! I would be happy with having same choices Florida residents have.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

I have done two resort only stays. One was with my daughter and her friend. They did the parks, I did everything else
One resort only was with my DH years ago. My friend's mom could not go and we took over the reservation last minute. Our winter getaway.

We will keep renewing for now. We have been back three times since it re-opened after it closed for COVID. Many changes, but we still enjoy it. Some of our trips are with friends or with our children/grandchildren.

We also use our points for HH and Vero beach. Our winter getaway. We have 10 nights at OKW and 1 week at Vero coming up.

If we don't have an AP someday, we can easily do some base ticket days - if we want and add Vero or HH to our stay. Change it up.

But - those NE tickets were the best!! I would be happy with having same choices Florida residents have.

We love HHI. It's our favorite place to visit! We really enjoy it more than WDW. To be honest, I don't think it's all Disney's fault that we aren't as in love with it as we used to be. Due to Covid, our attitudes about crowds have changed, and as I (won't speak for my DH) have gotten older, I have become more frugal. We have thought after this year we might use our AKV points for resort-only stays, but without DME, flying isn't as appealing, and it's a longer drive than HHI. So we are really leaning toward going to HHI twice each year instead, once using our HHI points and once using our AKV points. Less crowds, less transportation costs, less expensive (but better) food, more relaxing. We have until 2030 to activate our APs, so before then we will take a year off from HHI to do WDW. After that, we will go back to multiple trips to HHI. Then if we decide we miss WDW and they are selling APs, we might get one and travel there for a year instead. Somewhere in there, we want to take future grandkids a few times. But I already dread what the ticket prices will be at that point! After our HHI points expire, I can see us still going to the island and using our AKV points at WDW or giving them to family members to go.

 

[heynowirv]

Since no one can buy them now unless they are renewals the question is kinda moot for those of us who've never bought them in the past. Of course that could change once we are done with the No expiration tickets we still have left.