Worth it to get AP for the AP room-only discount?

[Violet Parr]

How good are these AP discounts? Could I save over $400 on a 7 night stay compared to the regular room-only discounts?

I'd look at the available rates, but the website prompts me to look at Annual Pass prices instead.


Thanks!

 

[disneyAndi14]

It depends where you are staying, some AP discounts are really good and others aren’t much better than the regular Disney discount/promo going on. The AP has many other benefits, we save quite a bit because we visit at least 3x a year. We get the discounts at stores, restaurants, and the PhotoPass pictures are included in the pass we have.

If you would only be getting it for a room discount it probably isn’t worth it, check the current promo rates, if you want it for the other perks it is really worth it.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

You can call WDW reservations and request AP rates over the phone so you can see if the AP offers you any savings. You can also book the rate without having AP's in hand, so, if the CM quotes you a good price, you can book it and then, simply purchase your AP afterward. You just need a valid, activated AP at check-in to maintain the rate. Keep in mind, when doing savings calculations, the AP also offers free Memory Maker plus discounts on food and merchandise, so, depending on what you dining and souvenir spending plan is, it could offer you a savings.

 

[Ninja Mom]

The important thing to consider about AP room discounts is that there seems to be a reduction, when compared to years past, of the number of rooms and the dates that these AP discounts would apply to.

You may very well find yourself in a position where, even on the first day that these discounts are announced, you call and are told that there is NO availability. It's happened to me twice and I'm also reading about other people who are calling promptly and are shut out.

The disney defenders will claim that it was my dates or that I wasn't connected exactly at X o'clock when these discounts were opened up but I called literally at the first moment, (and then repeatedly as the day went by) and I was pretty flexible in when I went and, to a more limited extent, where I stayed (Values or certain moderates). Even IF many people were calling to acquire these discounts, I'm still hearing about limited actual room inventory and many people striking out.

So from my experience I am coming to the conclusion that availability, is in all actuality, extremely limited or perhaps is being throttled for frequent guests (read AP holders). Since none of us here are insiders that would be allowed to post the real story we will all have to keep guessing and form our own opinions about what is going on.

~NM

 

[bumbershoot]

or perhaps is being throttled for frequent guests (read AP holders)

You feel that AP rates are somehow being throttled for AP holders? Not sure that makes sense.

Discounts are always limited. Always. They are never a free for all. And they always have date and place restrictions.

 

[chicagoshannon]

Just for a room discount? No. I haven't found that the AP gives any better of a discount than a general public discount. If you'll go more than 1 time in a year it is worth it due to cheaper ticket price overall. They can stop any and all other discounts at any time.

 

[Ninja Mom]

You feel that AP rates are somehow being throttled for AP holders? Not sure that makes sense.

Discounts are always limited. Always. They are never a free for all. And they always have date and place restrictions.

It makes sense when a company can market as having a certain discount (for example an AP Discount) but then offer very limited availability. That means that the company can get your attention with a sale. You then consider making a purchase. Then you discover that the sale price isn't available to you but you are now thinking about still making the purchase.

Companies realize that the important thing is to do anything possible to get you to consider making that purchase. They find that sales sometimes occur at full price when people discover that the discount is unavailable. That's why it pays the company to throttle discounts. A few years ago Disney came out and said that they were reducing consumers dependence on booking resort rooms with discounts. This is a natural outgrowth of that strategy. Disney gets all the benefit of a sale without having to sell as many 'units' at the sale price.

So yes, in my opinion Disney is throttling AP discounts. Can you see it now?

~NM

 

[TJA]

I agree that your resort AP savings really depends on what resort level you're looking at and sometimes the time of year as well. We've been AP holders for the last 16 years and I think it's safe to say we've used the AP room-only discount for many/most of our trips. But it's not the main reason we've had the AP. It's more because it has given us the freedom of going to WDW a few times a year and only having to make the renewal payment once a year. Our trips used to be longer, so we'd really make the AP purchase worthwhile. Nowadays, we still tend to go 3 times a year, but for less nights. So each year I have to sit down and weigh the pros and cons, compute the cost of buying 5-day hoppers each trip versus renewing the AP, etc. In the end, I just keep renewing AP's because that is the best value for us.

 

[Lynne M]

Moving this to the Discount Codes and Rates board.

 

[ShadowRegent]

We considered getting an AP for this reason to make use of the 40% discount on GF right now. We ended up finding a room on Priceline that was $200 cheaper for our stay than the passholder rates after using a 10% off coupon. It's always worthwhile to look around before assuming the AP rate will be best!

 

[vinotinto]

Setting aside the issue of availability, AP discounts are *usually* 5-10% off better than GP discounts. So, if you have a room that is $600+ each night, you would save $420 on a 7 night stay, assuming 10% off more than the GP offer. But, sometimes, there isn't availability, or recently, the weekends were excluded, or the discount may only be 5% more than the GP offer, or you are not staying at one of the deluxe resorts that are $600+ per night. You can call and get a quote with an AP over the phone, and that will give you more accurate info on how much you could save.

 

[Anthony Vito]

We did exactly this two years ago when we stayed at Polynesian and were unable to get Free Dining. We looked into getting one pass and the discount was enough to pay for the pass. Certainly look into it and compare the difference in pricing (as others have said, by calling WDW and asking, or it looks like on the AP Discount thread people will look up dates and prices for you if you ask). Then you definitely have to factor in the other discounts. For us, Memory Maker is a definite purchase for us, so getting that included with the AP is a $180 benefit which eats up a good portion of the difference between the price of tickets and the AP. Then look at where you're going to eat - most of the Table Service restaurants have a 10% discount for AP, and park merchandise is discounted 20%.

The only warning I'd give you is that you might want to think hard about how tempted you will be to go again within the year and think about the AP for more than just one person. We only bought the one pass, but then because of the discounts and because we didn't have to pay for another ticket (and let's be honest, that was all just an excuse because we really just wanted to go again), we went once more with the kids 8 months later and another time for a long weekend without kids. We weren't expecting to go again that soon, but if we had known, we definitely would have saved with APs for all of us. Having the one AP definitely encouraged us to look into going again, so it does have a certain "draw you back in" factor to it.

 

[Violet Parr]

I went ahead and got it! I am registered for a Dopey in January anyway. After I got it, I looked at the discounts for rooms and it absolutely paid for itself immediately! Woot!

 

[Ninja Mom]

I went ahead and got it! I am registered for a Dopey in January anyway. After I got it, I looked at the discounts for rooms and it absolutely paid for itself immediately! Woot!

If I may ask,
Where did you book? (I'm betting deluxe)
For how many days? (I'm betting 4 or less)
and Are the dates for your stay skewed before or after the marathon? (I don't know the dates for that event).

I have a theory that the AP discounts are hard to obtain for stays of more than 4 days at Values and Mods.

~NM

 

[Violet Parr]

Haven't booked for Dopey yet, but for August, we are booking for 5 nights. Lots of discounts at values and mods, honestly, with values close to $100, mods in the mid-100s to low 200s. I will likely be booking deluxe this trip.

 

[Violet Parr]

Just booked AKL. The discount was fantastic.

 

[cakebaker]

We've never failed to get an AP discount when we book and have APs. You might have to be flexible on your resort or your dates, but there's a lot of savings most times. Our last trip was 40% off rack rate at the Yacht Club. That savings alone more than paid for the cost of the AP on a 6 day trip. Deluxe resorts and Villa's are where you can really rack up the savings. On values, there's not a lot of wiggle room to save a great deal, but the discounts are always better than any public discount.

If you have to have a specific resort and are firm in your dates, it will reduce the availability. Some resorts are not included from the start.

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

No way. It's not an "across the board" discount, it's subject to dates & availability like the other ones. This means sometimes you can get fantastic deals (like 40% off at Yacht Club) and sometimes you get terrible deals (like $4 off/night at Yacht Club). There are lots of reasons to get an AP and I love having mine, but I wouldn't buy one only for the hotel discounts. I have the most success with the discounts when I have a 1-2 month time frame that I can be super flexible in.

 

[Violet Parr]

No way. It's not an "across the board" discount, it's subject to dates & availability like the other ones. This means sometimes you can get fantastic deals (like 40% off at Yacht Club) and sometimes you get terrible deals (like $4 off/night at Yacht Club). There are lots of reasons to get an AP and I love having mine, but I wouldn't buy one only for the hotel discounts. I have the most success with the discounts when I have a 1-2 month time frame that I can be super flexible in.

OP here. I completely disagree. I got it and found the room discount to be more than worth it for our summer trip. Now I don't need to buy tix for my Dopey trip in January.

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

OP here. I completely disagree. I got it and found the room discount to be more than worth it for our summer trip. Now I don't need to buy tix for my Dopey trip in January.

I've been an AP for 8 years and those are real examples from two of my trips in the past 12 months. You can doubt my experience(?) but if you scroll back through the DisBoards you'll find many threads discussing times when the AP discount seems to be pretty scarce. There are great deals for this summer but last year they were awful. It comes and goes and because of that I'll never tell someone to buy a $1000 AP *only* to hope for a discount on one trip.