Annual Pass worth ?

[Smiley/OCD]

Is it still true that if we buy, it doesnt activate until you try to use it the first time? Like if we were to buy now, and then not actually go till say september? and then wed renew in september?

I could see us buying now, going for our anniversary, Halloween ( never seen the decorations) maybe christmas ish to see decorations, then again in march for my birthday, and such. Just trying to navigate all the pros and cons.

Yes, you can link them now to the MDE but DON'T validate them until you get there. The clock doesn't start ticking until you validate. Check Sam's club online...you must be an active member to see the discounted price...we joined about three weeks ago and bought the passes at the old price. I don't know if they are still at the lower price. Again, if you're not a member, it will only show the current price. If you join and log in with your membership #, the price was discounted. Good Luck!

 

[Mainahman]

Yes, you can link them now to the MDE but DON'T validate them until you get there. The clock doesn't start ticking until you validate. Check Sam's club online...you must be an active member to see the discounted price...we joined about three weeks ago and bought the passes at the old price. I don't know if they are still at the lower price. Again, if you're not a member, it will only show the current price. If you join and log in with your membership #, the price was discounted. Good Luck!

I looked earlier, and we have a Perks at work setup at work, and its just about a hundred dollar discount if i buy them through there, plus i get points for the purchase for other things within there. SO if we do it, ill definitely do that. We could go alot more, if i can convince my wife for the shorter weekend trips to stay off site.

 

[KikoKea]

We've enjoyed the freedom an AP gives us for going when it suits us. We like being able to go on arrival day, even if it is just for 3 hours, without 'wasting' a ticket. Our trips are very relaxed and the hotel pool is now an attraction.

 

[Mainahman]

We've enjoyed the freedom an AP gives us for going when it suits us. We like being able to go on arrival day, even if it is just for 3 hours, without 'wasting' a ticket. Our trips are very relaxed and the hotel pool is now an attraction.

That's what I want to be able to get to. To be able to say, hey we both need a few days. Let's take 2 PTO days and head down. Even if it's just one park day, and then pool and hotel downtime.

 

[KikoKea]

That's what I want to be able to get to. To be able to say, hey we both need a few days. Let's take 2 PTO days and head down. Even if it's just one park day, and then pool and hotel downtime.

It is much more relaxing for us, for sure. When I make our plans and schedule, I try to put in pool time, but there's been evenings where we decided to just skip the park and float in the pool on the spur of the moment. If you have 2 days, you can relax by the pool in the morning and have lunch, then go to the park until closing, which is nice. We like the parks at night with the lights on, so if nothing else, we'll go in the evening.

 

[Trackmaster]

Seeing as you live so far away, and you're not eligible for the benefit of the Florida in-state discounts, you'd have to be a real addict to break even on an out of state pass. The perks that you get on the AP are pretty negligible for the most part. The levels mostly refer to the blackout dates. Disney isn't like the other parks that give crazy perks with the passes. With Disney, its basically gate, parking, and nothing else. I don't really care about the photos so I don't really count it as a valuable perk.

You're better off doing multi-day tickets (which have deep discounts).

 

[DISR]

Depending on your trip profile, you may want to consider just one AP for one member of the family. I got one for myself on the last trip and purchased the 8 day park hoppers for the wife and kids. The AP allowed me discounted merch/food/bevages, discounted MNSSHP tickets, and included photopass. When I did the math, it looked to be about a break even. I'm not sure it works with the new pricing, but it did last year.

 

[Trackmaster]

Depending on your trip profile, you may want to consider just one AP for one member of the family. I got one for myself on the last trip and purchased the 8 day park hoppers for the wife and kids. The AP allowed me discounted merch/food/bevages, discounted MNSSHP tickets, and included photopass. When I did the math, it looked to be about a break even. I'm not sure it works with the new pricing, but it did last year.

Yeah, that's a good idea. That takes care of the parking too, and you only need that from one person.

 

[Mainahman]

Were about to book a 4 day 2 park day trip in september for our anniversary. This is the "see this is doable" trip i think. i could see us going on one of these quick jaunts, once a quarter, and then maybe an actual vacation week itself throughout the year. The actual pass cost, would come out of our yearly bonus from work, and then wed either stay off site for some of these shorter jaunts, to save additional money where were driving as well, and then spoil ourselves with a few days at an onsite hotel. In september were looking at staying at all star movies, as its the cheapest currently,and on site etc. 10 years this year, and she hasnt tried to kill me yet, so a few days with the mouse is in order.

 

[larryz]

Four trips? Definitely worth it. My own personal break even is two 4-day trips.

Two five-day park hoppers is $956 from UT. That doesn't include any parking or discounts, so with that in mind, I'd say that if you plan to visit 10 days or more during a year, an AP is definitely worth it.

 

[JustAFan]

We've enjoyed the freedom an AP gives us for going when it suits us. We like being able to go on arrival day, even if it is just for 3 hours, without 'wasting' a ticket. Our trips are very relaxed and the hotel pool is now an attraction.

Going on arrival day is nice. There's no rush to catch the earliest flight out. It's also nice to go on departure day and get a couple more rides in before Magical Express whisks us away.

 

[KikoKea]

Going on arrival day is nice. There's no rush to catch the earliest flight out. It's also nice to go on departure day and get a couple more rides in before Magical Express whisks us away.

Yep. Since we are driving now (8 hrs to SC), we can sometimes squeeze in a morning at MK and early lunch at Cosmic Ray's before we hit the highway. Makes leaving a little easier with the Space Mt adrenaline rush still going.

 

[Mainahman]

Going on arrival day is nice. There's no rush to catch the earliest flight out. It's also nice to go on departure day and get a couple more rides in before Magical Express whisks us away.

see thats what im talking about! my wife loves the idea of the " room only" on arival day, but then she realizes she could be in the parks, so we end up adding a day.... this way we could just do it! ha!

 

[Plowboy]

I've been on the fence for awhile now about the AP thing. We are currently scheduled to be at the world the first week of Oct. this year. I already purchased 2 3-day hopper tix from Maple Leaf. If I add/convert to AP after entry on our first day, I could use it for the balance of the trip, again in April '20 for 4-5 days (our anniversary) and late September '20 for 4-5 days. Does this sound right or is my thinking flawed?
P.S. we fly Southwest points from California so getting there is 0 $$'s.

 

[Hcalvert]

I just got my first AP pass during my last trip in July. For that trip, I already paid for 6 day hoppers during our 9 night/10 day trip. Those tickets cost about $1581. I had to pay an additional $2000 for my me, my husband, and my son to get APs. We had planned a quick 4 night/5 day trip in January 2020 and the tickets would have cost $1526.80. The other trip we are planning is a 14 night/15 day trip in June 2020 and the tickets are hard to price since Disney only sells 10 day tickets, so I used that price of the tickets, which was $1902.44. Therefore, if my tickets were bought separately, they would amount to about $4950. I paid about $3579 for the APs (and I paid with discounted gift cards, which I did not factor in). Of course, I bet I have a better deal once tickets prices are raised again.

 

[Mickey1968]

Where did you see those flights? Ha! i couldnt find them. Heck that cheap and we actually would fly. We work 15 to 20 south of nashville, we could totally get a co worker on their way home to drop us at the airport on a friday after work, and be sleeping at POP that night!

I am actually attending a conference in Nashville the weekend before Halloween and decided to pop down to do a MNSSHP because I was able to pick up a $65 direct flight on Southwest to Orlando, then my return flight from Orlando to OKC was about the same as it would have been for Nashville to OKC. I did the same thing last year.

 

[Mickey1968]

I've been on the fence for awhile now about the AP thing. We are currently scheduled to be at the world the first week of Oct. this year. I already purchased 2 3-day hopper tix from Maple Leaf. If I add/convert to AP after entry on our first day, I could use it for the balance of the trip, again in April '20 for 4-5 days (our anniversary) and late September '20 for 4-5 days. Does this sound right or is my thinking flawed?
P.S. we fly Southwest points from California so getting there is 0 $$'s.

Yes, that should work out right. You just need to make sure your last trip is over before the day you first used your original ticket.

The first time I bought an AP I did so at the end of November, then did a May trip and a Halloween trip each for 5 park days at least. The next year I didn't do a pass then did it again another year and started it in early October when I was down for a conference (and hurricane Michael), then allowed myself to go back that same year around early Dec I think to make up for the whole hurricane ruining my vacation after the conference was over. Then did my usual May trip again. Having the AP also makes it okay to just go into a park for an hour or two on arrival and departure days without feeling like you wasted the ticket.

 

[Mickey1968]

I am still trying to decide if I will do an AP for myself this year or not. I am going for 4 or 5 park days over Christmas week, will go again for that amount of time in late April or early May again next year and then will most likely do Halloween for the same amount of time. You pay the premium price for your first three days of each pass, then days 4-10 are only like $10 each. Here is my Disney math with nice round numbers for one adult. Getting over that initial investment of the pass is the hard part.

$660 4 day, park hopper
x 3 trips
$1980
- 1191 AP Platinum out-of-state
$789 SAVED by doing the AP

This is before any other savings like parking at the parks ($25/per day, but you still have to pay $13-24/per night at the resort), dining and merch discounts, and room discounts. However, using your AP for tickets does exclude you from taking advantage of the not-so-free dining promotions they do.

I think I have convinced myself to get an AP again despite the huge up front cost! Woot!!

 

[J Hedge]

We bought annual passes last November planning to do what the OP suggests, since we can usually get cheap airfare out of KC and I can get decent offsite hotel deals through work. The "problem" we've had with that plan is that so far every "cheap" long weekend trip we've planned has turned into at least a week long on site trip.

I guess vacation scope creep is a thing...

 

[addacollier]

Can I ask, when driving from DC to Orlando, how long is the journey and where do you stop?

Thanks