Annual pass no longer a cost saver

[Robn752]

Me and DH are thinking of getting the AP this December. We are going 3 times in the next 12 months. This will save us a least a 1000 on tickets. Question, we normally book DVC through Dave's. Will the room discount with AP be cheaper when we go Sept. and Dec. 2020?

 

[SaintsManiac]

Me and DH are thinking of getting the AP this December. We are going 3 times in the next 12 months. This will save us a least a 1000 on tickets. Question, we normally book DVC through Dave's. Will the room discount with AP be cheaper when we go Sept. and Dec. 2020?

It really just depends. I booked AKL through DVC Rental Store and the AP discount that came out later didn't make much of a difference. I want to say it was a couple hundred more.

 

[bumbershoot]

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.

Maybe something shifted in 2010, but since I’ve been going to Wdw since that year that hasn’t been the case. It’s always been *more* than 10 days or two trips in a year that’s the AP breaking point.

With the DVC discount even in 2010 (pre gold pass etc) it made the 10 day trip worth it, but not the normal price of the pass.

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

The whole point of an AP, however, is to make future trips worth it financially to the guest, enabling them to come back and spend more money in other ways.

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."

Agreed.

 

[Biggen]

After 6 years of buying a Fl Res Silver pass, my family is out. I was paying around $265 a person when we 1st got them. Now they are up over $500/person. I get prices increase over time, but nothing should ever double in 6 years unless it's Amazon or Netflix stock.

We are doing Universal next year. Taking the time to see all their new attractions. Disney priced us out for a while.

 

[starry_solo]

Me and DH are thinking of getting the AP this December. We are going 3 times in the next 12 months. This will save us a least a 1000 on tickets. Question, we normally book DVC through Dave's. Will the room discount with AP be cheaper when we go Sept. and Dec. 2020?

One other thing to think of, with an AK hotel room or AKV room through Disney, you will get daily housekeeping.

 

[tbssenterprises]

I for one wish they took Memory Maker out of the mix. I don't need the photos. Imagine shaving almost $200 bucks off the AP. That would be a blessing.

 

[Robo]

I for one wish they took Memory Maker out of the mix. I don't need the photos. Imagine shaving almost $200 bucks off the AP. That would be a blessing.

And, consider that even if you DO want MM, all it takes is for ONE member of your party to have it on their AP...
but EVERYONE who buys an AP is still paying "full price" for MM with each and every AP purchase.

(As far as I can tell, including MM as an AP perk was not so much something that could be "removed" at a $200 cost savings,
but rather to the contrary, it was more likely just another way of trying to quantify/justify the new much higher AP cost...
without MM actually being a real "value" for each and every AP guest.)

 

[georgina]

I had 5 shorter trips on my last AP. I let it expire a year ago, and will be upgrading this trip because I will visit 2 more times over the next 12 months. It works for me but certainly not for everyone.

 

[Sarahslay]

When I think about all the money I've saved on rooms, food, merch, and tickets I know I've got a good deal and it makes sense for me. However, I also know that I go often enough for it to become a deal, I have my 6th trip on this pass coming up in January, it paid for itself during the second trip and I've continued to get amazing room discounts and stuff ever since. If I didn't have an AP, as a non-DVC and out of state visitor, I wouldn't be able to go so often. I mean, it's still pricey, but it can be a cost savings under the right circumstances you just have to sit down and really do the math.

 

[Disneypro1]

My best friend always gets APs for his family. If it’s not best for you ... don’t get one. It’s different for everyone. They probably go 20-30 days a year. We go 10 every other year, to either DL. Or WDW. So we don’t buy APs. But for some. It’s clearly worth it to buy them..

 

[randumb0]

After 6 years of buying a Fl Res Silver pass, my family is out. I was paying around $265 a person when we 1st got them. Now they are up over $500/person. I get prices increase over time, but nothing should ever double in 6 years unless it's Amazon or Netflix stock.

We are doing Universal next year. Taking the time to see all their new attractions. Disney priced us out for a while.

$500? have you not been renewing? I just renewed for less than that

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Sorry I wasn't clearer in my OP. If you take 3-4 trips in a year or 6 trips in a year or Disneypro's friends go 20-30 times a year, than obviously an AP has tremendous value. Let me explain. Years ago, when we were going every year, and we were a family of 5 traveling together, I would price out the tickets. It seemed like the price for a 10 day park hopper plus pass was around the same price as an annual premium pass. (700 or so dollars) Not taking discounts into account, because I was just cost comparing for buying the pass. It would make sense to buy the AP, and then we could easily plan another trip later in the year and not have to save up for the pass. Use points from DVC and enjoy a bonus trip.

This time I am just looking at a single 12 night trip. So I was looking at prices to see if I should get a AP because in the olden days, and AP would be less than a 10 day pass with 2 add on's. Not the case any more. That's all I'm saying. I don't have a spread sheet that shows all the factors involved with the benefits of an AP. I was just stating the price has increased A LOT.

Thank you @bumbershoot for letting me know about the gold pass. I didn't realize the only blackout dates were the 2 major holidays, I never travel during those holidays anyway.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Me and DH are thinking of getting the AP this December. We are going 3 times in the next 12 months. This will save us a least a 1000 on tickets. Question, we normally book DVC through Dave's. Will the room discount with AP be cheaper when we go Sept. and Dec. 2020?

We are AP who book almost exclusively through David's(or we use to we just bought DVC). And in our experience renting points usually wins out. We booked 7 times in 3 years and I've gotten DVC rooms in the 40-50% off range before where the absolute best AP will get you is 30%. Also you have to be very patient and wait for the AP rates to drop and then bum rush customer service before the room type you want is sold out for the promotion(this happens a lot for more popular resorts). Also it's entirely possible AP rates may not apply to your travel dates at all. With Davids, or any renting of points, the discount is always there if the rooms available.

 

[DisneyandBeerLover]

We're going on 4 trips, all of which will be more than 5 days. We're also merchandise and food people, in fact all of our trips are planned around either pin events or events with a lot of merchandise. This pass will pay for itself for us. However, it's frustrating that it's $1200.

 

[lorenae]

I'm getting a Florida resident silver pass, which is about the same as a 6 day PH. The discounts won't be all that great for my use, but DAH is discounted a bit and I want to do it in January.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Me and DH are thinking of getting the AP this December. We are going 3 times in the next 12 months. This will save us a least a 1000 on tickets. Question, we normally book DVC through Dave's. Will the room discount with AP be cheaper when we go Sept. and Dec. 2020?

Our “discount” with David’s is much higher than the AP discount, it doesn’t even come close. It’s more like 50% off.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Sorry I wasn't clearer in my OP. If you take 3-4 trips in a year or 6 trips in a year or Disneypro's friends go 20-30 times a year, than obviously an AP has tremendous value. Let me explain. Years ago, when we were going every year, and we were a family of 5 traveling together, I would price out the tickets. It seemed like the price for a 10 day park hopper plus pass was around the same price as an annual premium pass. (700 or so dollars) Not taking discounts into account, because I was just cost comparing for buying the pass. It would make sense to buy the AP, and then we could easily plan another trip later in the year and not have to save up for the pass. Use points from DVC and enjoy a bonus trip.

This time I am just looking at a single 12 night trip. So I was looking at prices to see if I should get a AP because in the olden days, and AP would be less than a 10 day pass with 2 add on's. Not the case any more. That's all I'm saying. I don't have a spread sheet that shows all the factors involved with the benefits of an AP. I was just stating the price has increased A LOT.

Thank you @bumbershoot for letting me know about the gold pass. I didn't realize the only blackout dates were the 2 major holidays, I never travel during those holidays anyway.

When was a 10 day hopper plus water parks (that’s the one you’re referring to, right?) near $700? For one you mean? We have bought those for years, sometimes just the plain hoppers, and they don’t come close. Years ago it would only have been about half that if memory serves. Am I just half asleep and reading your post incorrectly?

 

[Disney1fan2002]

When was a 10 day hopper plus water parks (that’s the one you’re referring to, right?) near $700? For one you mean? We have bought those for years, sometimes just the plain hoppers, and they don’t come close. Years ago it would only have been about half that if memory serves. Am I just half asleep and reading your post incorrectly?

Yes, sorry. For one pass. Not for a family of five.

 

[cakebaker]

Still a huge money saver for me. We stay at Deluxe or DVC most of the time and the AP discount, even with the price increase, has me saving money with a single 5 day stay before I ever add in the savings on dining, shopping, special event tickets and memory maker. I have 4 trips on my current AP so I've been out of the red for a long time. It will be a while before I see my savings reduced though as I bought a voucher from Sam's at the old price that I won't activate until next spring. Even so, renewing will be a no brainer.

 

[Disneylover99]

It depends on what time of year you’re getting your 10 day tickets.

10 day hopper tickets over Christmas and New Years cost significantly more then 10 day tickets in August. If we know we’re going over Christmas, we’ll turn those tickets into AP’s.