Annual Pass Members Get Screwed...

[tommygunn]

I have a trip planned this July. I can't take advantage of the free dining promotion since it requires a ticket purchase. And the Fun & Sun offer is equal to any kind of discount that I can get as an AP member. Trying to remind myself why I bought the AP in the first place. Would have been better off without it and have more flexibility about which promotion to take.

 

[starry_solo]

You can still take advantage of the promotion and get the tickets saved for a future use.

 

[Tigger's ally]

Did you check price for a Passholder Sun and Fun Room offer?

I had a vacation booked for April 27-May 3rd and was waiting for the AP discounts to come out. Then today, the others dropped. Ended up getting OKW for Aril 28th- May 3rd in a 2 Bedroom villa for cheaper than I have gotten AP discount rooms for there the past four years. Last year we payed $600 plus tax same time period and today I got the Passholder Sun and Fun Room only offer for $480 plus tax. Totally thrilled.

 

[Laura's Dad]

What about Free Memory Maker and Food/Merchandise discounts? Also the upcoming AP rates may be better. It is obvious that Disney is trying to fill up rooms this summer. Bookings must be down in anticipation of SWGE.

 

[Anniefrances]

I have a trip planned this July. I can't take advantage of the free dining promotion since it requires a ticket purchase. And the Fun & Sun offer is equal to any kind of discount that I can get as an AP member. Trying to remind myself why I bought the AP in the first place. Would have been better off without it and have more flexibility about which promotion to take.

The Fun & Sun room only discount that was released today is 30% for several deluxes and 40% for AP holders. I didn't check for other categories since we were focused on booking YC. Anyway, since there was a better rate for AP holders for at least some resorts, you may want to double check your booking for available AP discounts

 

[Amy&Dan]

I was able to book under the Annual Pass discount for our dates when nothing under the general public deal was showing availability. I don't think the passholder one I got was better but it was available so I felt fortunate. I've had Annual passes off and for fifteen years. Sometimes they pay off better than others. I buy them because they save me money on tickets, and I like the dining and merchandise discounts. When I get a room discount it's nice but I can usually get the same rate or better with other discounts recently.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

I got 40%off today at YC in June. That’s the best AP deal in years. Don’t give up hope for July yet.

 

[Disney102015]

If you have an AP, but decide to get the Park hopper ticket to get free dining, how long is the ticket good for? (I know it’ll expire X days from the date of first use - just wondering if that first use could be, for example, 2 years out...)

 

[Dug720]

I got AKL Savannah View for like $368/night with the Sun & Fun deal for July (could have done Standard for like $235/night, but I want the guarantee of a Savannah view). And Pop for Rosh Hashanah Weekend at a discount of around $250 from what I'd booked it at. So even with an AP I'm saving money.

 

[lovewdwdvc]

First use is when you want it to be. I am just not sure how the new system will work with tickets that are “saved”

 

[tommygunn]

First use is when you want it to be. I am just not sure how the new system will work with tickets that are “saved”

Thanks for the info love and others. But I don’t think the above is correct anymore. Not according to the new expiration policies, otherwise I would have considered it. https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/tickets/ticket-dates/

 

[scrappinginontario]

We went to the parks for 8 days in December, will be going 4 days in April and another 8 days in August. It is still not worth it for us to purchase an AP due to losing out on 2 long FD trips.

It always pays to do the math and people will encourage you to upgrade to an AP as soon as you're going twice. That's not always good information.

 

[focusondisney]

If you have an AP, but decide to get the Park hopper ticket to get free dining, how long is the ticket good for? (I know it’ll expire X days from the date of first use - just wondering if that first use could be, for example, 2 years out...)

All tickets now have expiration dates. My understanding is that although it expires, you can use it towards a new ticket. You will only get the amount you paid for the ticket & will need to pay any increase amount for your new ticket. So you would actually have to get a new ticket in 2 years. You couldn’t just show up at the gate & scan in like you used to be able to do.

 

[Disneylover99]

If you have an AP, but decide to get the Park hopper ticket to get free dining, how long is the ticket good for? (I know it’ll expire X days from the date of first use - just wondering if that first use could be, for example, 2 years out...)

Package tickets now expire at the end of your package, even if you do not use your ticket. I thought I remember reading that you can pay extra to extend your expiration date, but I’d have to go through the ticket sticky again to see. As @tommygunn pointed out, you will still get the value you put into your ticket. However, you will most likely not be able to make fp’s on an expired ticket. I’m trying to weigh the worth myself.

 

[tommygunn]

The more I think about this, the more it really bothers me. We’re traveling with another family with identical accommodations. They’re passive Disney fans but we’re AP holders, DVC members- giving the mouse money at every turn. Yet they have free dining for 8 nights and we have a discount that works out to be about 15 percent.

Not feeling the love at all, actually feeling quite embarrassed. Our traveling companions are looking at us wondering why we can’t get the same or better discount. I’m sure they’re quietly laughing about it privately. I feel like a sucker.

 

[focusondisney]

The more I think about this, the more it really bothers me. We’re traveling with another family with identical accommodations. They’re passive Disney fans but we’re AP holders, DVC members- giving the mouse money at every turn. Yet they have free dining for 8 nights and we have a discount that works out to be about 15 percent.

Not feeling the love at all, actually feeling quite embarrassed. Our traveling companions are looking at us wondering why we can’t get the same or better discount. I’m sure they’re quietly laughing about it privately. I feel like a sucker.

Well as a DVC member & AP holder, you can’t look at just 1 week. The DVC membership was a long term discount that you chose when you bought in. You can stay at a deluxe resort for the price of your maintenance dues after your break even point. I don’t own DVC, but from what I read the break even is usually about 4 years. Not to mention the discounted APs thru your membership. And then all the discounts you get with the AP & DVC like food & merchandise discounts, discounts on party & after hour events tickets, free DVC events, the memory maker & all those photo downloads plus the ability to get the tables in wonderland card. We make 2 or 3 trips as AP holders with the TIW. We prefer sit down meals vs. counter service. Even tho we don’t drink, we save well over $1200 over the course of the year (just 2 adults BTW). For us, that’s better than one free dining trip with full priced tickets & room. Especially since we always stay with an AP or bounceback discount too.

Free dining was always offered to full rooms at slow times, not reward repeat customers. That’s what your DVC & AP perks are for.

 

[loves to dive]

I always buy my AP based solely on the cost of tickets. If it's cheaper to buy the AP I do, if not, I buy tickets. I never count on any of the discounts. In over 6 years of having one, I think I used the AP discount on rooms maybe twice, otherwise it was always less to either use the general discount or go through Orbitz or another third party. I rarely shop anywhere that gives the AP discount since I like to buy things like masks in Italy and we stopped buying other stuff years ago. It seems we even tend to eat places that don't give the discount but I do use the AP to be able to buy TIW, I've found we get pretty good discounts with that. I do like the idea of knowing I have the AP and if I want to take a quick unplanned 3 or 4 day trip I can and not have to worry about the tickets and we always buy park hoppers so that is good for us. We don't use the memory maker, even though it's "free" because we go so often and after a while you really just don't want any more pictures.

 

[Tigger's ally]

The Fun & Sun room only discount that was released today is 30% for several deluxes and 40% for AP holders. I didn't check for other categories since we were focused on booking YC. Anyway, since there was a better rate for AP holders for at least some resorts, you may want to double check your booking for available AP discounts

And I can't stress enough to look at all the offers on the website. I got a great deal off the website and when I called in to make reservations (cancel existing and make new) the CM on the phone couldn't come close to the rate I was getting on the website. I had to book it on the website under the AP Holder Fun and Sun, then he refunded the original downpayment from the first reservation.

One other thing. When you log in to MDE, the AP Holder Fun and Sun deal will not be on the list shown, you have to scroll over to the right to get that deal because there are so many other deals that are out now. Once I scrolled over and
checked the circle, the great price came up.....Got the 2 BR OKW villa for $480 a night yesterday, and just got a Lion King suite for arrival night for $340 plus tax which ends up pennies less that the two rooms at Pop that I had reserved.

 

[TJA]

I do wish there was a way AP holders could get in on the free dining deal without having to buy more tickets when we already have AP's. We are AP holders and did the FD last August, but it was time to renew our AP's so we used our tickets we had to buy with the FD package towards our AP renewal. I won't say it was an easy process because the CM did mess up my renewal total, but it got fixed after I got home and called them to inquire.

Having said that, maybe it was mentioned above already, but the latest batch of AP discounts range up to 40% again like the old days!! I'm kind of excited and hoping it's not just a one-time thing. If our room discount is high enough, free dining will never/rarely be the better deal for us in the end.

 

[pmdeve]

I got 40%off today at YC in June. That’s the best AP deal in years. Don’t give up hope for July yet.

What discount is this? Is it an AP discount?