Annual Pass question Canadian posters

[eeyoremum]

Hi,

I was hoping to get some Canadian perspective but all ideas would be great.

We are planning a surprise trip for our kids in December. We are looking at going the 26th until Jan 2nd. I know it will be nuts busy...we have been this particular week before.

My question is about purchasing an annual pass. I have priced it out it would be about $2600 for the premium pass for my family (3@10+, 1@3-9). I understand that we would no longer qualify for the dinning plan but could purchase a dinning card.

I was quoted POR with 7 day ph, wp+ dinning for just over $3700.

My question are these:

Did you find you got your monies worth with an AP living so far away.

How does the dinning card work. Is it worth it?

What types of AP discounts do you recieve?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Monty]

AP being worth it or not shouldn't be based on discounts, the discounts aren't always available.

I had APs that I got based on going every February for seven days, it worked out cheaper to get APs than to get two seven-day hoppers each. I then proceeded to get tempted! :lol:

Instead of just two February trips almost a year apart, I ended up going down in June and August as well! But it was worth it! We did get AP rates at Contemporary in June, which was an added bonus. There are also discounts at World of Disney in DTD and a few other benefits.

They now have DDP for AP holders, but I preferred the DDE discount, it is applicable to more things and you're not tied to a fixed number of credits for TS, CS and snacks.

 

[Raptorsr]

As was said you can get the dinning plan but am pretty sure there isnt any discounts during that week for rooms. Also with the dde you have the automatic gratuity added on for 18% of the 20% you get off, so only 2% off your food orders and mostly only at sit down restaurants outside the parks or in epcot. So unless your going again in the year the annual pass might not be worth it.

 

[Monty]

As was said you can get the dinning plan but am pretty sure there isnt any discounts during that week for rooms. Also with the dde you have the automatic gratuity added on for 18% of the 20% you get off, so only 2% off your food orders and mostly only at sit down restaurants outside the parks or in epcot. So unless your going again in the year the annual pass might not be worth it.

That's a misrepresentation of the discount on DDE unless you're so cheap that you don't tip at all.

DDE saves you 20% on meals for up to ten people at a sitting, alcohol and full meal included. Yes there is an automatic 18% gratuity, but you would tip over and above the full price without it, so you still save a lot of money.

 

[eeyoremum]

You can get the DDP with an AP. I like the DDP because you can pay up front and not have to bother with purchasing food. Now the question is why Disney didn't tell me that when I called to inquire?

Regarding room discounts I know they are not what to base the decision on. CAA give pretty decent discounts so I am not too concerned about that. Do you get any other discounts in stores or anything?

I am guessing you did get your monies worth with the AP since you went down so often. Did you get the waterpark pass or just the parks?

 

[Monty]

You can get the DDP with an AP. I like the DDP because you can pay up front and not have to bother with purchasing food. Now the question is why Disney didn't tell me that when I called to inquire?

Regarding room discounts I know they are not what to base the decision on. CAA give pretty decent discounts so I am not too concerned about that. Do you get any other discounts in stores or anything?

I am guessing you did get your monies worth with the AP since you went down so often. Did you get the waterpark pass or just the parks?

Just the parks. I have 9 leftover PI/DQ/water park admissions from old pre-MYW passes that we would use if we felt the urge [I'll be using one for the WDWMagic meet on the 30th for AC]. We take swimsuits, but never really have wanted to go. :shrug:

 

[Monty]

JPVonDrake posted about the AP DDP in here.

 

[eeyoremum]

JPVonDrake posted about the AP DDP in here.

Great thank you.

 

[Raptorsr]

Im not being saying its cheap, just letting it be know that that is on the dde now. Some people still don't know that is tacked on when considering.
For me its not being cheap, I tip on the bases of a flat fee for the amount of work being done and time frame not a percentage. IE: if Im there for one hour and with manitobas minimum wage being over $8 now. I will tip accordingly for a wage I make in a restaurant, so $3 for the hours of work to suppliment their income. I dont see how a $10 meal and a $70 meal should be a difference for the amount of work being done, its mostly food costs in the price of the meal, not labour.

Not trying to argue or make a forum out of this just my thoughts and why I think it should be know about the gratuity being added on to the DDE at the bottom of all literature.

Pretty sure allearsnet has a listing of the discounts on their site.too

 

[Monty]

OK, how about thinking of it this way: DDE saves you 2% plus whatever you would normally tip yourself, which still saves you lots of money.

 

[eeyoremum]

As was said you can get the dinning plan but am pretty sure there isnt any discounts during that week for rooms. Also with the dde you have the automatic gratuity added on for 18% of the 20% you get off, so only 2% off your food orders and mostly only at sit down restaurants outside the parks or in epcot. So unless your going again in the year the annual pass might not be worth it.

That's a misrepresentation of the discount on DDE unless you're so cheap that you don't tip at all.

DDE saves you 20% on meals for up to ten people at a sitting, alcohol and full meal included. Yes there is an automatic 18% gratuity, but you would tip over and above the full price without it, so you still save a lot of money.

It was my understanding when I call disney to inquire that ALL food and drink was 20% off with the exception of some snacks. Is this incorrect?

The added gratuity would not bother me I liked when it was included in the DDP, it is just one less thing to worry about.

 

[Monty]

It was my understanding when I call disney to inquire that ALL food and drink was 20% off with the exception of some snacks. Is this incorrect?

The added gratuity would not bother me I liked when it was included in the DDP, it is just one less thing to worry about.

Not all. The quick service is not included except where there are no table service available that accept the DDE. Some restaurants don't accept it. For example, at DAK, neither Rainforest Café nor Yak & Yeti accept the DDE card, so you can use it at CS restaurants there, but at MK, TS restaurants accept DDE so you can't use it at Cosmic Ray's or other CS restaurants.

No snacks, unless at a CS restaurant that is on DDE.

 

[SweetMagic]

It was my understanding when I call disney to inquire that ALL food and drink was 20% off with the exception of some snacks. Is this incorrect?

The added gratuity would not bother me I liked when it was included in the DDP, it is just one less thing to worry about.

You cannot use the DDE for ALL food and drink. It's not accepted at CS locations in the parks, it's for TS meals only. It can be used in most theme park, resort, and *some* DTD TS restaurants. It can also be used at some food courts in resorts.

Here's a list, scroll a bit: http://www.allearsnet.com/din/dde.htm

 

[ClemsonTigger]

I don't know if it's been made clear in discussions so far, but DDE is an annual membership available only to AP members. For the one time fee, you have this discount available.

Dining Plan however is linked to your actual stay time, so you pay an amount per day.

Even with having to pay full price for counter and snacks, I have found DDE saves much more over the course of a year. Heck, one visit to V&A's more than pays for the card.

Back to AP, there is a 10% discount on some dining, on tours, MVMCP/MNSSHP, water parks, sporting activities and cry PI, special event and merchandise access and shopping in certain stores.

The one question I have is in relation to purchasing the premium pass...do you use water parks, DQ, etc?

 

[eeyoremum]

No we have actually never been to the wp or to dq. We are not interested in PI so that is not important. I just thought buying it all at once it would be more cost efficient. Also, my sons would love to go to both wp and dq we just have never paid the extra before.

 

[ClemsonTigger]

I'll have to do the math...but a single WP + DQ visit may be cheaper to pay with the discount than paying for the premium.....not sure.

 

[shoppingnut]

Also something to consider going in December/January time frame is that it may not be warm enough to go to the waterparks.