Annual Passes or Not?

[cer]

We have always done a vacation pkg, never pieced it out so we are treading on new soil here.

We have decided that we are not doing the dining plan this time for a family trip in June- unless it is free - maybe. Our kids will be coming with us in June, but not in Jan. So we are thinking about buying our park tickets separately and getting them 7 day park hoppers for the June trip and then Annual passes for DH and me...

So here is the deal:

The best I can tell on pricing is that
7 day parkhoppers for 2 is $734.86
my husband and I will be back in Jan for the marathon, so add a minimum of 3 day parkhoppers for 2 ($636.88) and that is $1371.74. (best I can tell - it would probably be even more b/c ticket prices will go up - right?) So total for this deal would end up being minimum of $1371.74 for 10 days of park hopper purchased separately (have not even considered no expiration - would that be better? - or are they doing away with that?).....

Annual passes for 2 - $1,222.62
With an annual pass, you CAN park hop RIGHT? And we would not have to limit ourselves to 3 days in the parks when we go in Jan....

So, then we invest $100 in Tables In Wonderland....get savings there.

I guess the question is, do you risk not being able to take advantage of a vacation pkg?

What are the pros/cons...am I missing something?

Thanks!

[Itchy]

We had annual passes a year ago and really used them and got our moneys worth and so did disney.

They are great and yes you can park hop. You also get purchase discounts, room discounts, and you can even get the dining plan when offered.

I would go to the WDW web site to see all of the things you get with your pass.

The best thing is if you want to go to WDW a 100 times in the year your pass get you in.

Hope this helps...

[DizneyRox]

Buy the AP now (not in June). Activate it in June and I can't imagine a situation that you won't save money over getting seperate tickets. But ONLY if you actually do end up going in January.

You may be able to see a breakeven if you include TiW savings in your June trip. You'll see a break even quicker the more TS meals you have with more people. We usually make up for the cost of the TiW after a couple of days, but that's when it was $75. And there were just two of us.

You want to get those APs before the price increase that's coming. And judging by the earnings report, it will be coming and will be significant.

[cer]

Buy the AP now (not in June). Activate it in June and I can't imagine a situation that you won't save money over getting seperate tickets. But ONLY if you actually do end up going in January.

You may be able to see a breakeven if you include TiW savings in your June trip. You'll see a break even quicker the more TS meals you have with more people. We usually make up for the cost of the TiW after a couple of days, but that's when it was $75. And there were just two of us.

You want to get those APs before the price increase that's coming. And judging by the earnings report, it will be coming and will be significant.

Rox - do I just purchase the AP's from the Disney website, or is there another better way? How do I go about purchasing the TIW card?

[Strmchsr]

Rox - do I just purchase the AP's from the Disney website, or is there another better way? How do I go about purchasing the TIW card?

You can purchase from Disney's website. No advantage to doing it any other way.

The TiW card you get from guest relations when you get there or you can order it from the site. However you have to have an activated AP to get the TiW card so just wait until you arrive and activate your APs to do that.

[DizneyRox]

Correct,

Get the AP now, you can either do a will Call pickup, or mail them to you. They will be vouchers which you exchange at Guest Relations at WDW. That's the day the one year timer starts ticking. At the same time, get a TiW card, that starts ticking at that point in time as well.

There are no pre-purchase or other discounts available on AP for the "normal" guest. There are CM discounts, DVC discounts, maybe military, but no pre-purchase discounts. You just avoid the inevitable price increase which usually hits the AP pretty hard.

[mechanic]

Plus there are often great room only discounts for ap holders.
Free parking, merchandise discounts, etc.

[greengeen]

Yess!! I think you will find that having APs and TIW saves you tons. I can't think of any advantage of "packages". We have NEVER found a package that saved us money! Good luck!

[disneydeb]

Where do you activate an AP?

[Dopey's Girl]

You can activate your AP at Guest Relations at the parks.

[E-OR]

We have had AP's a few times. We had them last year and ended up working it out so we got 3 trips out of them. Way worth it. Our last trip though they offered free dining and we had to buy a 2 day park hopper to get the free dining. We saved the two day park hopper and will be returning in March were we will switch them out for AP's. We will be in WDW in March, returning in September and hopefully again in early March next year to get that 3rd trip out of these. We bought our AP's at EPCOT. You can get them when you get to WDW. Keep in mind that if you want to use a water park you have to add this on. We bought separate AP water park tickets because we did no use the other options that this add on gives. It was a little cheaper to do this.

[DisneyDawgette]

When exactly will the price hike for the AP happen? DBF and I are planning on buying them to activate for our trip in December 2013 to be used through all of 2014. But I didn't know there was going to be a hike soon...

[DizneyRox]

When exactly will the price hike for the AP happen? DBF and I are planning on buying them to activate for our trip in December 2013 to be used through all of 2014. But I didn't know there was going to be a hike soon...

News usually hits the Web the Friday before the Sunday they go up, so there's not much notice. Disney doesn't usually let the cat out of the bag early. There is also no set date where it usually happens. Was Aug for a few years and then they surprised us with a June increase. I'm not surprised that they want to capitalize on the summer crowds to bring in a little more revenue.

If I recall, numbers are down this year over last at WDW, so I'd expect an increase sooner than later...

[DisneyDawgette]

Thanks! Goodness, it's hard to believe they could go much higher than they already are! :/