AP...or not to AP?

[memobrien]

Ok...so i think we are going to go in Jan because we have family members who want to come with us. We would need two rooms for the trip and we are planning on staying at a Delux. I'm thinking about splitting the trip between Poly and AKL.

Anyway... I'm wondering if it is worth getting an AP for the discount. It looks like we would need two rooms for 4 nights and then 1 room for 3 additional nights.

Anyone have an idea on if this would be worth while?

Maura

 

[sleepybear]

By all means, yes. Get one AP for the person making the reservations. A basic AP costs about $450. The average AP discount is about $75 a night. For two rooms, that's $150 a night. Multiply that by all the nights you're staying, and that pass is definitely paying for itself.

 

[memobrien]

Is it usuall that big of a discount in the value season as well? I wasn't sure if that would make a difference or not. Does the rate vary from hotel to hotel within the difference delux resorts?

Oh one more question....you can get the dinning plan with that, right?

Thanks,

Maura

 

[HauntedPirate]

Yes, you can get the dining plan. It's still a Magic Your Way package, just using the AP discount for the room.

You can get discounts at Value Resorts, but they are typically a smaller dollar amount - I wouldn't expect to get more than $10-20 off per room per night with an AP discount. Also remember that AP discount rooms are limited in number.

 

[Douglas Bray]

Call Disney before you by an annual pass if you want to add the dining plan.

When I was there last time you couldn't add the dining plan to a room with Pass holder rate as that room was reserverved with a room only rate, (no passes where being purchased therfore it wasn't a "Magic Your Way Vacation"). I had to reserve one room witha passholder rate and a second room with the Magic Your Way including a one night pass for each of the four people who where over 10 so that I could add the dining plan.

This worked for us because there where 2 adults, 2 teenagers, and one 2 year old. We wanted a second room for the teenagers. THe dining plan saved us a fortune due to the amount that the teenagers ate on the trip.

Have a great holiday!!

 

[DisneyJoe]

Oh one more question....you can get the dinning plan with that, right?

If you want to use the AP to get a room discount - no MYW dining plan, as it is a room only reservation.

 

[wdwmomof3]

This may seem crazy but if you have the AP and get that discount, if you run across another room discount would they give you both? I wouldn't think so but I was just wondering.

Also, the discount that we used last year on a value resort was not the 10-20 dollars off like I thought it would be, it was almost half off. My sister had reservations for Pop for 8 nights and saved $450.00. I had two rooms for 7 nights and saved almost 700.00. I am just wondering if the AP could even beat that.

The only thing better to me is free dining.

 

[sleepybear]

Is it usuall that big of a discount in the value season as well? I wasn't sure if that would make a difference or not. Does the rate vary from hotel to hotel within the difference delux resorts?

Sorry, I should have said that's $75 a night for deluxe resorts. It's considerably less for value. As far as a difference between deluxe resorts, I don't think there is one. If there is, it wasn't noticeable to me when booking my last trip.

 

[poohbear6103]

Not sure if still available, but when we had our AP last year we were able to get the Disney Dining Experience card. This let us get 20% off at Disney restaurants. I know it is not Free Dining, but in case it is not available with an AP, this is something worth looking into.

Also, we've always gotten really good rates with the AP. In '05, we got 40% off our room during our stay. This was the value season though in Sept. It definitely paid itself off.

 

[wannabeBelle]

Hi All, The Disney Dining Experience card and the Magic Your Way Dining plan are two TOTALLY different things. With an AP you CANT get the MYW dining plan at this time. Without an AP you cant get the DDE card unless you are a Florida resident. They also work differently as well so they cant be combined.
Also any discounts on vacations ( resort room discounts package discounts, AAA discounts etc.) CANNOT be combined at all.
Also note that not all rooms or even all resorts are included in every discount released. Are you able to be a little flexible on the resorts you want, the dates you are going away or bette yet both? Belle

 

[memobrien]

thanks guys for the tips! i'm wondering if there is a way i can get what the discount would be before i bought the pass. i thought you had to have the pass in advance to know what the discount would be.

Maura

 

[wannabeBelle]

Hi there again, The answer for that one is a solid maybe. AP rate discounts are never guaranteed and in some cases are not given at all depending on the time of year and demand for hotel rooms. The last round of discounts that was announced was from 8/5/2007-9/29/2007. This was only announced last week. So if you waited until the discounts become available, call up and purchase your AP over the phone you can get your AP exchange voucher and apply for a room with that ( You must have an Active AP to check in as per the rules of the discount) As far as knowing what the discount is, once it is announced, usually Pam ( KingdomKonsultant) on these boards or myself or ELizabeth (PinkRose) will post this information on here. Belle

 

[Master Yoda]

Let me see if I can take a stab at some of your questions and shed some light in a few other areas.

You do not need an AP to book a room at an AP rate. You will need an AP or AP voucher to access the AP section of Disney's web site and at check in.

You can not get the dinning plan with an AP. You MUST purchase a MYW ticket to get the dinning plan. There was a loop hole last year where you could get the dinning plan for your entire stay by purchasing a one day MYW ticket but I do not know if it still exists or if it would even be worth it if it is not during a free dining promotion.

Disney's Dinning Experience (DDE) is completely different from the dinning plan. The dinning plan is essentially a set of pre-purchased meals where the DDE is a 20% discount card that can be used at select Disney restaurants. You must be either an AP holder or a Florida resident to get the DDE
card and you must either have your AP or AP voucher to get the card as an AP holder. As to which plan will be better you will need to plan out your dinning and crunch the numbers. For our family we have found DDE to be better than the Dining plan but your situation can very well produce different results.

AP discounts are NOT guaranteed and when available are not available at every resort or even every room type at a particular resort. If you can get one and you are staying at a deluxe resort the discount on 2 rooms could easily pay for you AP twice over on a 7 day trip with 2 rooms.

You are planning a long trip with quite a few variables including multiple families, resorts and options. That along with a possible change in Disney's room rate polices can make this an incredibly overwhelming task. The best advice I could give you would be to contact Marie at Kingdom Konsultants (wannabebelle on this forum) to book your trip. (Marie@KingdomKonsultant.com) She can give you all of your options and book everything for you at no charge. She will also re-book you if a discount becomes available. You will want to book ASAP because if you wait too long your room options will be quite limited.

 

[AEfx]

AP discounts are NOT guaranteed and when available are not available at every resort or even every room type at a particular resort.

Just note, if you choose to do this you are taking a gamble that rates will be released. If you are comfortable gambling with your vacation, then so be it. But you have been warned...

AEfx