Logic Behind the Purchase of AP's?

disney junky · Oct 18, 2018

We have purchased AP's a few times, mostly if there was a really good deal or when our DD was attending UCF and working as a castmember. We've never renewed.

Now that I'm retired and DW has built up vacation time and can travel more freely, I wonder how others approach them. We activated our current ones this month, and we have three trips that are planned on these. I'm wondering if renewing them next October will be worthwhile, since we will be point poor, and I'm not sure if we'll get the use out of them. We've never renewed before.

There are the incidental benefits of the discounts and free parking, but I'm wondering how other DIS'ers approach them. I've always felt 10 days was a magical number for no real reason. I hate to overthink them, but I do find myself now dreaming of more trips, even paying cash, to get the most use from them.

Thoughts?

Ms.Minnie · Oct 18, 2018

I have been getting annual passes every other year for several years now. I too have never renewed my annual pass because I wouldn't have been able to get the same amount of use that I normally do when purchasing new pass ever other year. I usually get two trips of at minimum 10 days each trip on one annual pass with this year being the exception. I will be getting three trips on my current annual pass because we are taking an extra trip in early Dec (I just retired this year so have more time to travel :sunny:

) I feel that it is cheaper for my husband and I to buy the annual pass rather then getting park passes for the time we are at WDW. For example on my current annual pass we purchased in Jan 2018 I will have had 30 days use at the parks if I go to a park each day.

I also buy a Tables In Wonderland card every other year and I definitely feel we get our monies worth out of it. We do at least one table service meal each day, some days two if we decide to go out for breakfast. The card does save us a substantial amount of money.

Whatever you decide enjoy your planning. I'm not sure how with the new tickets this will all workout. Keeping my fingers crossed that it will all be ok...

hakepb · Oct 18, 2018

I’ve never renewed, as I have 6+ mo gaps between trips.

Looking at current prices, it seems (5) new gold AP’s are the same total as (6) AP renewals:
(5)x619 gold AP=$3095 for 60mo of valid passes
(6)x517 gold AP renewal=$3102 for 72 mo of valid passes

12/5=2.5 so I think a 3 mo+ break between trips is the “break even” point where renewals don’t make financial sense.

In comparison to base tickets, where a 3 day ticket is $311-$364 each, a gold AP is less than (2) 3-day non-hoppers...and is the same price as some 10 day hoppers alone.

4luv2cdisney · Oct 18, 2018

disney junky said:
We have purchased AP's a few times, mostly if there was a really good deal or when our DD was attending UCF and working as a castmember. We've never renewed.

Now that I'm retired and DW has built up vacation time and can travel more freely, I wonder how others approach them. We activated our current ones this month, and we have three trips that are planned on these. I'm wondering if renewing them next October will be worthwhile, since we will be point poor, and I'm not sure if we'll get the use out of them. We've never renewed before.

There are the incidental benefits of the discounts and free parking, but I'm wondering how other DIS'ers approach them. I've always felt 10 days was a magical number for no real reason. I hate to overthink them, but I do find myself now dreaming of more trips, even paying cash, to get the most use from them.

Thoughts?

Would you be planning at least 1 trip on the renewal? Just compare the renewal price to whatever park tickets you would buy in the next year. For a $517 renewal, it's pretty likely that you would still break even with ONE trip on them especially if you factor in Memory Maker (if you would buy it) and a few discounts. I had to buy 1 AP this year for a non-family member (full price) and it's a real eye-opener as to the great deal DVC APs are. A DVC AP renewal is barely more than a single trip park ticket whereas a full price AP you really have to get 2 trips out of it.

As for cash trips, don't forget you can get a points transfer from another member once per year. Might be a good way to get some points to play with if you're not wanting to add-on. Another thought would be to see if you can book a bounceback while on one of your trips. Even renting......sometimes you can get last minute point rentals super cheap (if you don't mind a stay at SSR). Obviously there's the AP room discount at times and the cash discount thru DVC, too. You still get your DVC benefits and can take advantage of other deals! Win-win!

I am looking forward to the day when DH and I can snag some cheap airfare, rent some last minute points and use our AP and DVC perks for super cheap trips! Actually, my DD16 and I were able to something like that in Feb. Super cheap flights, free Moonlight Magic party and a couple of nights at SSR. No other parks. Didn't have our APs yet. So we hung out at Disney Springs, toured AKL, ate some yummy food.....spent a couple hundred bucks.

Enjoy your retirement!

disney junky · Oct 19, 2018

4luv2cdisney said:
Would you be planning at least 1 trip on the renewal? Just compare the renewal price to whatever park tickets you would buy in the next year. For a $517 renewal, it's pretty likely that you would still break even with ONE trip on them especially if you factor in Memory Maker (if you would buy it) and a few discounts. I had to buy 1 AP this year for a non-family member (full price) and it's a real eye-opener as to the great deal DVC APs are. A DVC AP renewal is barely more than a single trip park ticket whereas a full price AP you really have to get 2 trips out of it.

As for cash trips, don't forget you can get a points transfer from another member once per year. Might be a good way to get some points to play with if you're not wanting to add-on. Another thought would be to see if you can book a bounceback while on one of your trips. Even renting......sometimes you can get last minute point rentals super cheap (if you don't mind a stay at SSR). Obviously there's the AP room discount at times and the cash discount thru DVC, too. You still get your DVC benefits and can take advantage of other deals! Win-win!

I am looking forward to the day when DH and I can snag some cheap airfare, rent some last minute points and use our AP and DVC perks for super cheap trips! Actually, my DD16 and I were able to something like that in Feb. Super cheap flights, free Moonlight Magic party and a couple of nights at SSR. No other parks. Didn't have our APs yet. So we hung out at Disney Springs, toured AKL, ate some yummy food.....spent a couple hundred bucks.

Enjoy your retirement!

Our mindset seems to be, if we have them, let's use them as much as possible.

We live in central PA and usually fly out of Baltimore, Southwest. Because we bought the AP's with the nice discount this year, we planned the October trip we just completed, an April trip for which we rented points, and then a June trip with the kids and grandkids. That's the trip that exhausted our points. We use a Southwest cc and we can fly very cheaply or free most of the time.

Our DD and her husband and our grandkids just moved to Raleigh from here with his job. That has created an entirely different scenario given that we have a halfway point we will be visiting anyway, and to head the rest of the way, either by flying or driving is much more convenient.

There are intangible benefits to having passes. I remember we used to buy 10 day non expiring park hoppers when our daughter lived in Orlando. We used the annual passes, but our son and other would use those for their shorter visits. Even with those, if you used a day, it was gone. The annual passes give you a different feel, because if it starts raining or it's too full, you head back; you haven't lost a day.

DW gets six weeks vacation per year, most of which rolls over if unused. So her vacation time isn't an issue. We are planning on her retiring in three and a half years, but until then, she has plenty of time. I dream of a day we can stay 10 days or more. That would be awesome.

Are there times when there are last minute points to rent? This is new to me. We are renting points for the first time this April trip..

Thanks for the input.

Spartan86 · Oct 19, 2018

disney junky said:
Are there times when there are last minute points to rent? This is new to me. We are renting points for the first time this April trip

Absolutely! Owners rent “distressed” points late in the UY at a lower rate plus the rental brokers advertise late bookings at a lower price. As was said, unless a dedicated reservation you can probably plan SSR, but that works for us .

Deb & Bill · Oct 20, 2018

Lots of members will have last minute points. But it's availability that is the crux. Especially from mid-Sept to mid-Jan. I always love seeing the posts for non-owners looking for distressed points for Christmas or Thanksgiving, or Wine & Dine weekend for example.

Kazrak · Oct 20, 2018

Deb & Bill said:
Lots of members will have last minute points. But it's availability that is the crux. Especially from mid-Sept to mid-Jan. I always love seeing the posts for non-owners looking for distressed points for Christmas or Thanksgiving, or Wine & Dine weekend for example.

Heh. A friend of mine keeps asking in late June if anyone is willing to rent points to him for an early August trip. Not quite W&D weekend, but well into busy season and selection's pretty thin by the time he's asking.

E2ME2 · Oct 20, 2018

disney junky said:
We have purchased AP's a few times, mostly if there was a really good deal or when our DD was attending UCF and working as a castmember. We've never renewed.

Now that I'm retired and DW has built up vacation time and can travel more freely, I wonder how others approach them. We activated our current ones this month, and we have three trips that are planned on these. I'm wondering if renewing them next October will be worthwhile, since we will be point poor, and I'm not sure if we'll get the use out of them. We've never renewed before.

There are the incidental benefits of the discounts and free parking, but I'm wondering how other DIS'ers approach them. I've always felt 10 days was a magical number for no real reason. I hate to overthink them, but I do find myself now dreaming of more trips, even paying cash, to get the most use from them.

Thoughts?

Since joining DVC in 2011, we've been buying APs every third year (at whatever DVC discount we can get at the time) and not renewing.
We travel the latter half of January in Year 1, & the early half of January in Year 2 (so we get 2 trips usage, anywhere from 14 - 28 days),
and in Year 3 we just don't go into the parks at all.
Our upcoming January trip is a "Year 3" scenario.
We will have 19 Nights total in Orlando - 10N DVC, 9N-SPG Points, and we will just be enjoying the sunshine.
The 10N at DVC are at our home resort - SSR, and we will spend a good part of that time in Disney Springs.
This strategy has worked well for us so far, and really reduces the average cost of tickets per year. :darth:

Deb & Bill · Oct 20, 2018

We've bought annual passes multiple times during our 21 years of owning DVC. But never renewed. Just bought and planned more than one trip. The passes we just activated will get us six days Oct 2018, three days Dec 2018, four days Mar 2019, five days May 2019 and six days Sept/Oct 2019. So 24 days. Then we'll probably buy a FL resident Silver pass and if we can apply an annual water park pass towards those, it will be even better. We bought the water park annual passes when we thought we were staying offsite during summers. But we moved to the beach instead, so no need for water park passes.

Dawn68PA · Oct 22, 2018

We usually go every January and September, sometimes only a week, sometimes 10, 11 days. I plan so we can get 3 trips out of an annual pass. Renewing wouldn’t do us much good since right now those are the only times we are able to go....maybe in a few years we can go more often!

Castillo Mom · Oct 22, 2018

We live in California and have gotten WDW APs two times in a row now and fear I may have set a precedent. In the past, our pattern was to visit every other year and stay a minimum of 10 nights, so the last couple of times, I figured APs made sense for us and they did! The thing is that both times we purchased APs, I squeezed in a second trip within 12 months. The first time we did that, I paid cash the second trip that year since I didn't have enough points. This last time, I purchased a 2nd contract so we'd have enough points. Well, that wasn't the only reason I added, it was in the works anyway. We're skipping WDW for the next two years, visiting Aulani next fall and then Tokyo Disney in 2020. Since our next visit to WDW won't be until 2021 and there'll be more to see what with park expansions, we'll be staying at least two weeks, so APs will make sense which means a 2nd trip in 2022!

oufpat · Oct 22, 2018

We buy them every 2-3 years depending on the discount and scheduled trips. The last DVC AP discount was pretty good. Hoping for another good promotion in the future.

karrit2000 · Oct 24, 2018

I never renew unless I have a trip planned within 1-2 months of my current pass expiring. I tend to visit 2-3 times per year but never in summer or the Christmas or Easter holidays. Usually always in November for F & W but depending on my other trips my pass doesn't expire around then. I may skip F & W next year totally or go before my pass expires in October.

DSLRuser · Oct 24, 2018

We used to do a single AP back in the 90's / early 00's to get the 35% discount or better for deluxe room only reservations. Wilderness lodge for $175 a night...yes please. But Some time in the 00's, Disney raised rack rates and change the discounts. Even with AP discount, same room was now close to $350. So we stopped getting them, and even did some off site experimenting.

Now that we are DVC members, we got 4 of the AP's last year. We have been fortunate to have 4 trips included in the 365 days for a total of 21 park days. Math is very easy on that one being good for us.

With my current job, I travel down to central Florida a few times a year, and it is nice to have the option of swinging by a park on a night where I dont have work commitments (but that makes this kids very unhappy)

DizMagic · Oct 24, 2018

Very rarely renew. Usually buy every 2 years and make at least 3-4 trips over 12 month period. We like to visit other vacation spots in off years. This also allows for banking of points and making better / longer stays when we do go.

bobbiwoz · Oct 24, 2018

We renew our AP’s and go NYE, usually. We are cruising this NYE, and if we like it we will probably continue, so we will be able to downgrade the pass. Of course DCL cruises are very expensive, so even with downgrading the pass, we will still be spending more money. :sad1:

but it’s OK...I REALLY want to start every New Year with Mickey! My birthday follows soon after, so it’s my Birthday Gift.

We will be using the pass on 29 and 30th this year....waiting to book FPs.

GaSleepingBeautyFan · Oct 24, 2018

I've had AP's for the past 10 years and always renew. I live 8 hours away and go so much that I know I get my monies worth from them. I'm not sure what the actual amount of times to go to get your monies worth is.

Now that both kids are in college, I'm going to have to cut down going. So I most likely won't renew my AP in January for the first time in 10 years. Makes me sad actually.

I'm still hoping to get in a long weekend or two next year but I just won't be going enough to make an AP worth it.

Crystal824 · Oct 25, 2018

Ms.Minnie said:
I have been getting annual passes every other year for several years now. I too have never renewed my annual pass because I wouldn't have been able to get the same amount of use that I normally do when purchasing new pass ever other year. I usually get two trips of at minimum 10 days each trip on one annual pass with this year being the exception. I will be getting three trips on my current annual pass because we are taking an extra trip in early Dec (I just retired this year so have more time to travel ) I feel that it is cheaper for my husband and I to buy the annual pass rather then getting park passes for the time we are at WDW. For example on my current annual pass we purchased in Jan 2018 I will have had 30 days use at the parks if I go to a park each day.

I also buy a Tables In Wonderland card every other year and I definitely feel we get our monies worth out of it. We do at least one table service meal each day, some days two if we decide to go out for breakfast. The card does save us a substantial amount of money.

Whatever you decide enjoy your planning. I'm not sure how with the new tickets this will all workout. Keeping my fingers crossed that it will all be ok...

This is what we do too. We generally get APs every other year. Then we get two-three trips out of our APs. We got APs for our trip last April that was 10 days. We took a long weekend trip this summer (4 nights 5 days). Then we have another 9 day trip planned for March. We will probably go another 18-24 mo. or so without a trip, and then get APs again.

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