Annual pass no longer a cost saver

[Disney1fan2002]

It used to be, if you were going to WDW for 10 days or more, it was worth it to get an annual pass because the pass cost equaled approx. what a 10 day pass cost. Not any more. An annual premium pass will cost me just over $1000 with my dvc discount. A 10 day park hopper plus flex pass is $739.

What happened? It's more like 14 days before the annual pass is worth it.

 

[DL1WDW2]

Surge pricing.
?

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

For people who stay off site frequently, the 25 dollar per day parking fee savings add up.

 

[Sandisw]

It used to be, if you were going to WDW for 10 days or more, it was worth it to get an annual pass because the pass cost equaled approx. what a 10 day pass cost. Not any more. An annual premium pass will cost me just over $1000 with my dvc discount. A 10 day park hopper plus flex pass is $739.

What happened? It's more like 14 days before the annual pass is worth it.

If you a blue card member of DVC, you would qualify for the Gold pass which is around $744 with tax. It has a few black out dates at Xmas and Easter but a great deal.

 

[mom2rtk]

Not surprised. Disney likes to identify any methods of cost savings and shut them down.

 

[SaintsManiac]

They priced my family out of APs on this last increase. Luckily I am sitting on 6 day hoppers right now that expire in 2030, so those will be nice on our trip for the 50th. I thought about upgrading them to passes then, but I just don't want to imagine how much they will cost!!!!

 

[Robo]

It used to be, if you were going to WDW for 10 days or more, it was worth it to get an annual pass because the pass cost equaled approx. what a 10 day pass cost. Not any more. An annual premium pass will cost me just over $1000 with my dvc discount. A 10 day park hopper plus flex pass is $739.

What happened? It's more like 14 days before the annual pass is worth it.

There are (and have been) other "perks" of AP that have factored into AP "savings"compared to daily tickets.

It has not been the case that the AP was simply a value for "10 days and over" in the parks.
If it were that simple an equation, there would not have been dozens of posts per year asking (and long discussing) what was the break-even point for buying an AP.

If it were that simple, we could have just posted a "10 days" as the answer and been done with the discussion.

-And, BTW, I am in no way saying that the incredibly high increase in AP pricing is a "good thing."

 

[WIll C]

APs (normal Plat ones, not DVC) tend to be better values with multiple trips. Two five days trips and it pays for itself. If you aren't going multiple times, it's not a great value anymore. If you are a DVC member, a single week trip when you include the benefits (see Robo's post above) will easily pay for it.

 

[Brett Wyman]

The math isn’t that simple. There are also large discounts in shopping, dining, and rooms, BUT this price increase priced us out as well and it’s a loss to Disney’s bottom line. With AP we looked for an excuse to pop down, and spend money at WDW. Now we will be guaranteed to do a single trip each year.

I think there is mass mismanagement across the parks division and we are already seeing the results of this with the multiple failed attraction launches, unending price increases, and reduction of entertainment in the parks. And Disney’s stock price is reflecting these results. Heads will roll soon at the executive level I believe. I’m still a huge fan but I let out a big sigh and just shake my head with each new announcement.

 

[shocker]

Does the 10 day pass have an expiration date? Buying an AP gets you 12 months of entry.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Does the 10 day pass have an expiration date? Buying an AP gets you 12 months of entry.

YES it gets you 12 months of entry, we all know this. If you are an out of town guest there are many factors to consider before you purchase or renew an AP. If you cannot make multiple trips in the year, it may not be worth it.

 

[gatormom2tots]

Priced us out....out of state and non DVC members family of 6. It killed me but we let them expire. We will go back to big trips every couple of years and probably only do pass for 1 member for parking and discounts.

 

[gharter]

For us, it still makes sense.
But, we use the DVC discount for the Gold Pass and go twice a year. We also plan the following years trip inside that 12 month window so we get 3 trips out of a 1 year AP.
As mentioned, the discounts don't hurt.

 

[shocker]

YES it gets you 12 months of entry, we all know this. If you are an out of town guest there are many factors to consider before you purchase or renew an AP. If you cannot make multiple trips in the year, it may not be worth it.

Yes, but the OP may be comparing apples to oranges. You used to be able to compare a 10 day non-expiring hopper pass to an AP you would use for 10 entries to see if discounts & free parking make it "worth" it. I'm trying to figure out if the 10 day flex pass can be used in a similar comparison and I'm guessing not.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

When was an AP ever equivalent to a day 10 ticket? I thought discounts excluded the number used to be 12 or something because of the need to tack on the more expensive days 1-4 after a 10 day. It doesn’t make sense for the cost to be equivalent to their longest ticket.

The AP with the increases is very expensive, but so are their park tickets. I think it’s relative. It’s all extremely high. Our AP’s are cheaper than buying tickets for our 2 trips, because the tickets themselves went up so much. With how front loaded the tickets are, it makes sense that the number of separate visits is what makes the AP worth it or not. I wouldn’t expect one trip to do it, discounts aside.

 

[bakerworld]

We do not travel over the holidays - although I do have to watch for Easter - or use the Water Parks. Twice we've been during Easter week and didn't realize it until we were there. Once during Mothers day - which apparently is TIW blackout date.

I was going to try and not get an Gold AP last year but the cost of a 3D PH was less than $200 under the cost of the Gold AP so .... It MADE us plan a labor day weekend trip (Dorian!) at the Dolphin as were were 'out' of DVC points. Anyway, we found that 8 days was the limit - after that the Gold AP was the better deal so even without the Labor day trip we were still at 9 park days.

 

[Mome Rath]

You have always had to look at each calendar year and how many trips + how many days per trip and run the numbers, and that usually did need to include at least 2 trips per calendar year...

 

[DavidNYC]

AP pricing really never should be looked at in comparison to a ticket for a single trip. You always would have needed at least a 10-day trip plus taking advantage of a lot of AP perks to even make a single AP worth it for one trip (and even then you only needed one AP for your party to get the perks). The prices have risen but in a comparable manner to other tickets.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

It has been a deal for me. I got my platinum pass on April 1st. - I'm also DVC so I'm not always paying for a hotel room - only when the points run out.

So far I've gone for 14 days (points ran out and my last 4 day trip I used AP rates to get the resort room) and saved 1060.53 in discounts. (I keep track in a notebook after every trip using my saved receipts and the difference between the full price hotel room and the AP discount hotel room cost I paid).

I live 8 hours away near Atlanta. Sometimes I fly, sometimes I drive. My husband wants to go for a weekend in December (which I got the hotel rooms for using the AP Discount although we have to switch hotel rooms each night so there is that issue) so I've got another 2 days coming on it (the 3 day will be our driving days added up) and then I have a 6 day trip in February.

At that point I'll decide if I'm renewing when it comes up for renewal or waiting until another trip and buying a new one to start the cycle all over again. I normally buy one so I can be sure to get 2 full 5 or 6 day trips from it. Between doing that and the discounts I usually come out ahead - add in the extra day here and there when I'm in Orlando or weekend trips and it pays off for me.

Sorry this ended up longer than I thought.

 

[katherine52478]

One perk for us for getting the AP (non DVC, out of state) is the ability to buy TIW. That alone saves us $100s as we like to eat at mostly table service restaurants and lounges and we do a lot of fancy (read: expensive) drinks.

It also gives us the ability to book multiple trips in a year. We tend to stay at the Dolphin a lot due to my Marriott status so the hotel cost isn’t as large as booking direct with Disney and we have Spirit and Frontier offering low cost flights. I have four trips (with different family members) in 8 months planned/taken.