Tickets/AP advice, timing and dining promotion question

[studiojmm]

So, yes, I've read the Tickets sticky thread . . . This is more advice than technical question, but it does include technical questions about ticket bridging.

So we are starting to plan a Sept 2019 mother-daughter trip and were planning to do a split stay. We'd start at Disney for a few days (and probably go to a Halloween party), then road trip some educational sites (homeschooling), and return to Disney for a few days the end of a two week period.

We'd probably need 4 park ticket days + the halloween party (assumes party day is otherwise not a park day) but would be onsite for a total of 7 (or maybe 8) nights, split 4 and 3 (or maybe 4). I have room-only reservations for 7 nights, but those are changeable.

So here's all that I'm weighing:

Tickets
A 4- or 6-day ticket starting on our first or second day won't be valid through the end of the second stay based on the new validity dates. Two shorter tickets cost more than the longer one.

We could do a 6-day ticket with flex dates OR just commit to another visit within a year and buy an annual pass. We otherwise wouldn't buy park hoppers and that and going into the parks for partial days on what would otherwise be non-park days is a nice perk.

Annual Pass Timing
Buying an annual pass is a significant chunk of change, so when do I do it? By 60 days, obviously, I want to have tickets in my account, but is there a benefit of buying one or both passes before that?

If I see a room-only discount for AP holders I could potentially call and get that applied? Is that likely much better than what I've got now, which is 20% off? Maybe another 5% for value resorts right?

Bridging?
Is discount ticket-AP pass bridging making for savings anymore? I should have paid more attention to the math on our holiday trip because we were offered an AP upgrade to a discount ticket in the app, but I don't really remember the numbers. I *think* I did the math at the time and the cost difference reflected what we actually paid.

Possibly Adding Dining
I'm kind of assuming there's no scenario where the "free" dining makes financial sense for two vegetarians (one of them picky) who's previous and perfectly acceptable strategy has been to depend heavily on grocery delivery and packed snacks + one sit down meal daily. However, we do really enjoy the Food & Wine festival and could potentially use all our snack credits there (credits aren't doled out by day, the are all there when you check in, right?), so I'm curious if either of the following would work:

If we purchase a package 6-day ticket with free dining package attached to the first half of our stay, can we upgrade it to flex dates when we are there so it lasts through the 2nd stay? OR can we upgrade those tickets to annual passes? Does free dining create any restrictions there? Does bridging save money in this scenario anymore?

Conversely, we could take the 10% off our one sit-down meal with the AP. (20% seems exclusively coffee these days)

Finally, Transportation
Is there any reason using Magical Express both ways but picking up a rental car at the airport instead of boarding a flight in between stays would not work? Is there a more convenient option?

So, suggestions? Am I missing anything? Thanks!

 

[Robo]

Annual Pass Timing
Buying an annual pass is a significant chunk of change, so when do I do it? By 60 days, obviously, I want to have tickets in my account, but 1. is there a benefit of buying one or both passes before that?

2. If I see a room-only discount for AP holders I could potentially call and get that applied?
3. Is that likely much better than what I've got now, which is 20% off? Maybe another 5% for value resorts right?

Bridging?
4. Is discount ticket-AP pass bridging making for savings anymore? I should have paid more attention to the math on our holiday trip because we were offered an AP upgrade to a discount ticket in the AP, but I don't really remember the numbers.
5. I *think* the cost difference reflected what we actually paid.

Finally, Transportation
6. Is there any reason using Magical Express both ways but picking up a rental car at the airport...

1. Only advantage is if your timing beats a rate increase.
(Rate increases can happen at any time with little to no "advance warning.")

2. Yes. And, more importantly,
guests can book an "AP discounted room" even BEFORE owning an AP or AP certificate.
(Don't need to have the AP in your MDX account in order to book the AP room.)
Only actually obtaining the AP is needed on the trip in which you use the AP discounted room.
3. Unknown. "Deals" come and go.
4. Yes. That info is found in Post #6 (HERE) of the All About WDW Tickets sticky thread.
5. If that happened, then the upgrade could have been incorrectly processed by the CM.
6. Baggage delivery to (and sometimes from) the WDW resort.

 

[studiojmm]

1. Yeah. No one was really expecting the latest DL rate change and that's unusual right? We had plenty of warning about this fall's WDW price increases, but Feb is a common time for changes. Any bets?

2. So I could book the rate by phone when I see it and then buy the AP on check in? Of course, I'd want a pass for FP+ reservations. Assuming a non-active AP works for that or do I have to set an active date?

 

[Robo]

1. Yeah. No one was really expecting the latest DL rate change and that's unusual right? We had plenty of warning about this fall's WDW price increases, but Feb is a common time for changes. Any bets?

2a. So I could book the rate by phone when I see it and then buy the AP on check in?
2b. Of course, I'd want a pass for FP+ reservations.
2c. Assuming a non-active AP works for that
2d. or do I have to set an active date?

1. Not unusual for "surprise" rate increases at WDW.
2a. Yes.
2b. Yup.
2c. Yup.
2d. Nope

 

[studiojmm]

Tracked down some AP answers in previous threads:

• Annual Pass Timing
• Booking FP+ on a non-yet-active AP - I figured this had to work.

 

[StarSeven7]

It looks like you got all your questions about the AP answered. Just wondering, couldn't you do all your Disney days at the beginning or end of the trip instead of splitting them up? Buying annual passes is a huge chunk of money just to be able to go 2 weeks apart!

 

[studiojmm]

It looks like you got all your questions about the AP answered. Just wondering, couldn't you do all your Disney days at the beginning or end of the trip instead of splitting them up? Buying annual passes is a huge chunk of money just to be able to go 2 weeks apart!

We could, but are a few considerations:

1) Hotel costs would go up - between $130-190 depending on which end of the trip we cluster the days. Right now we are staying on property on the lowest rate nights in the time frame and heading for other destinations on the more expensive nights. We are also only at Disney on weekdays, meaning lower crowds.

2) Since we usually purchase Memory Maker, the math supports the annual pass.
2 annual passes < 2 x (2 x 6 day tickets + 1 memory maker)
And it's likely that the ticket price goes up between visits. It's not a huge difference though ~ $25 per person.

So then . . .

Do we really want to commit to go back for at least another 6 days within 12 months? Can I swing basically making the ticket purchase for two trips at the same time? And do all the monetary and non-monetary benefits outweigh the sticker shock, purchase timing, and commitment fear issues?

I'm leaning toward yes.

We might save a bit more if we get further discounts on the room and off dining. But between park hopper privileges and the likelihood that we use the pass to enter the parks more than if we were using ticket days over the same length visits potentially means more laid-back visits. When we've gone previously, we've done one park per day and quite a few rope-drop-to-closing days (I've only managed to get this kid to go back to the resort to chill midday one time). That's part of why we wanted to break the trip up. There are only so many of those high energy days we can do in a row. We could plan resort days or . . . we could take a few days away doing something more low key.

However it might make sense to put the Disney part of the trip entirely on the end even with the annual pass, because that makes it much more likely that we fit in a Sept 2020 trip on the same pass . . . .

Anyway, thanks for your input.

The only outstanding question was has anyone had any luck recently (like since October) saving money by bridging a discount ticket to an annual pass?

 

[bumbershoot]

The only outstanding question was has anyone had any luck recently (like since October) saving money by bridging a discount ticket to an annual pass?

Robo is the ticket and AP and upgrade guru, and he answered “yes” and pointed you to the thread...

4. Yes. That info is found in Post #6 (HERE) of the All About WDW Tickets sticky thread.

 

[studiojmm]

Thanks @bumbershoot When I looked at @Robo's first reply, somehow I only saw the first paragraph (internet not great today and scrolling is glitchy). That's why I basically asked all the questions he answered in paragraph 2 for a second time.

Just an FYI, it was not a cast member that calculated the annual pass upgrade amount. It came as an alert and offer in the MDE app.

 

[Lynne M]

Since this mostly pertains to tickets, I’ll move it to the Theme Parks & Attractions board.