Preferred AP vs Premier AP

[Buckeye Jones]

I am planning our first US trip. We are currently Disney AP holders, and I was going to purchase US AP’s too. I am torn between the Preferred and Premier passes. I was originally going to get Premier for the EP after 4, but then read that it is only good for 1 time per ride. My family likes nicer hotels, but I was hoping the Premier would give us flexibility in that area. However, it seems like the EP for Premier might not be worth the extra money. Should I just get the Preferred, and book the higher end hotels every trip? There are five of us, 3 kids ages, 15, 13 & 10, and 2 adults.

 

[Monykalyn]

We have the premier pass for our family, even when it’s four of us not five. We tend to go when park hours are longer, so we get good use out of the EP, even with the one time ride. Heck we waited in some regular lines over Christmas week (when it was packed) and wasn’t that bad. We also tend to stay offsite though, as our family prefers space, and we have a car. So the free valet or preferred parking is very nice as well.
We stayed in 1 bedroom suite at Hyatt House right across from Universal Christmas week- free breakfast no resort or parking fee. Newer hotel and very nice- since we had the Premiere EP we weren’t locked into universal hotels to get the EP.
I love our premier as it does give us flexibility but if you really plan on staying at Uni hotels for trips it may not be needed

 

[Buckeye Jones]

I guess I hadn’t considered staying offsite. We always stay onsite at Disney, and I just applied the same train of thought. Can I upgrade our passes later? Maybe I’ll get the preferred to start, and possibly upgrade to premier after our first trip.

 

[Buckeye Jones]

We are definitely a night time park family too. We don’t RD ever, and would rather close the parks that open them.

 

[Monykalyn]

Yes you can upgrade later so can make decision then too.
We own a timeshare at our local area and we use that to trade into one in Orlando, prefer the marriottt vacation clubs. I took my 16yo to HHN last year on a sorta last minute trip- had an extra use week we traded for Marriott Harbour lake 2 bed condo. Too big for just two of us, but it was about $500 cheaper than staying at universal value, and with free parking with ap, even with car rental we came out ahead. That to me is where we get our value out of the premier. But it’s not the way everybody likes to vacation (driving).