FL Resident Passholders, what do you think of the AP Prices?

[Minnie's BFF]

I also went to the Florida Weekday Pass, weekends are too crowded at the parks and we stay away on those days. Same with the holidays and summers just to hot for the parks.

Same here. Since we don't have children, and you couldn't pay me to go during the hotter months, we find the Weekday Pass to suit our needs. We usually go twice during the fall/winter, so we usually get about 8 days of admission per year. If that type of pass wasn't offered, and discounts on hotels, we wouldn't be going.

 

[Poofiesdream]

Same here. Since we don't have children, and you couldn't pay me to go during the hotter months, we find the Weekday Pass to suit our needs. We usually go twice during the fall/winter, so we usually get about 8 days of admission per year. If that type of pass wasn't offered, and discounts on hotels, we wouldn't be going.

We too have no children and my daughter in law works at MK so we go a few times a year. I buy my pass's from AAA.

 

[AndyGator]

This times a million.

I miss the days where my family and I would pile into the car (grew up in Daytona), would be at the park about 30 minutes before opening, head into Tony's for breakfast, ride every single attraction with no more than an hour wait, watch fireworks from the hub area and not dodge millions of strollers or ECV's, stay until the park closed at 2 a.m., then ride home in a deliriously happy and exhausted state. Now my family and I make the 5 minute drive to the park, wait 20ish minutes to board the boat with hundreds of ed off tourists since the monorail is down, walk from attraction to attraction to see 60+ minute waits and no fast passes, no openings for sit down restaurants, and wall to wall people watching fireworks, parades, and the castle show. We end up walking around the park for a few hours and never actually DO anything. And that's just MK - it's pretty much the same for other parks at WDW as well.

****Standing Ovation******

I'm with you 100%

 

[AndyGator]

beyond the initial meetings and break even calculations, I have not. Are you referring to if I've thought about buying in, or renting points, or buying resale?

I would just like to hear a Financier's perspective on it. Doesn't seem to be a good investment. Either buying direct from Disney or resale. From some of your other comments it sounded like you would have a 10 tab excel calculation for it.

 

[Master Yoda]

I would just like to hear a Financier's perspective on it. Doesn't seem to be a good investment. Either buying direct from Disney or resale. From some of your other comments it sounded like you would have a 10 tab excel calculation for it.

DVC is not an investment. If you had to compare it to anything it would be a boat that you use for entertainment.

 

[devoy1701]

I would just like to hear a Financier's perspective on it. Doesn't seem to be a good investment. Either buying direct from Disney or resale. From some of your other comments it sounded like you would have a 10 tab excel calculation for it.

I believe people have created excel spreadsheets for this, I'm sure if you asked in the DVC section of the forums someone would provide. I have broken down the numbers in the past to lesser extent. I think I figured if I bought in, my break even would be 6 or 7 years, not including the maintenance fees. That was the part I could never get over. You were easily talking $700/year no matter what, and I know the cost per point has risen since then. If I paid cash for it, it might make sense, but the perks I liked really would have been being able to use points elsewhere or on a Cruise, but it was rigged so your points weren't worth as much on those types of trips. Bottom line for us was that if we would have bought in, it would have been because of an emotional decision and with rose colored glasses. We love WDW and they feed off of that love to try to commit you to a $20,000 "investment" + Annual Fees. We've since realized that we love vacationing other places a lot more than we love WDW, and we would have eventually gotten to a point where we would have felt obligated to use our points and visit...almost like we would be chained to it.

DVC is not an investment. If you had to compare it to anything it would be a boat that you use for entertainment.

Agreed. It's an amenity really. Something strictly for entertainment. It's not going to make you any money. It might save you some money in the end though. like Yoda's boat example. If you're REALLY going to want to boat every weekend...it's going to cost you a lot of money to rent a boat that often...you might was well just buy one (or find a friend with a boat!). If you know you're going to spend 14 days on property at WDW ever year and you know you're going to be staying in Deluxe hotels for all of those 14 nights, it might make sense just to buy DVC.

One of the other reasons it didn't make sense for us is while we would spend 10-12 nights a year on property, we did so on AP rates, usually getting 2 nights at a Mod for $99/night, 3 nights at WL for $144/night. We probably split our stays around 5 nights Deluxe, 7 nights Moderate...all at discounted rates. During the DVC presentations, they always present their break even points based off of rack rates (which nobody pays).

 

[JohnD]

I also went to the Florida Weekday Pass, weekends are too crowded at the parks and we stay away on those days. Same with the holidays and summers just to hot for the parks.

It's a better deal than the 4-day park hopper. Cheaper (since June 1, $222.59 WSP vs $243.36 4 Day PH). Extra time in the parks if you only have a week (5 days M-F rather than any 4 days in a row). Good for a whole year. So, what if Easter, Summer, and Christmas/New Years are blocked out? Those are the busiest times anyway. Not able to do the weekends might be a drawback. So I could always upgrade to the seasonal ($329.00, or $107 more). I'll decide that later if it comes to it.

 

[MissM]

Love didn't want to renew this past August when our passes were expiring. The renewal savings and the fact you don't have to repay the down payment when you renew eked out the go-ahead for one more renewal. But it's definitely a chunk each month hitting my credit card. (Nearly $70 for the two of us.) We don't go as often as we used to and Love's getting burnt out (I could go much more then he wants to) so I doubt we'll renew again next August.

Given the fact it's more-and-more expensive to head out there (even just the cost of the half tank of gas and a meal and some drinks means we can easily spend $100 for a day trip) and given the decrease in actual fun (longer lines, crowds, rude people, tour groups, booking dining 6 months in advance, booking rides 3 months in advance, etc., etc.) I don't think I can sell him on another year. And to be honest, I'm not sure I could even be convincing in my argument anyway as even I am starting to feel it's all just a bit too tarnished an experience these days.

AP's don't really get any perks - I can't remember the last time there was an AP event (John Carter screening maybe?) and it's been a few years since they even did one of the annual gifts they used to do (like the lithos or calendar, etc.) plus discounts for rooms and such haven't been worth staying over (it's a heck of a lot cheaper to drive the hour home than drop $200+ on a room for one night!), just feels like we're starting to be relegated to second class guests. The money (or at least perception of money because I'm not entirely sure that FL residents don't often wind up spending more money throughout an entire year vs a family in for one week once every 5 years) seems to be on the tour groups and such so that's where the attention is being paid.

I'd opt for the Seasonal Pass (we've had it in years past since we don't go in the summer or spring break; Christmas is the only time we've gone that's "peak") but the break-even point between the two passes for parking is like 7 visits or something? So it just made sense to do the full annual instead. But it's a lot of money and I'm really starting to agree with Love that even though I love going, I'm not sure it's worth what we're paying to go these days.

 

[luv]

It's kind of crazy. I get the regular pass, now, but may not renew. Maybe I'll just get the Epcot later-in-the-day one. I don't know.

I'm not skimping on my Uni AP. I like the FP feature!!!

But the cost for renewing passes (and all my passes come due in the same month - WDW, Uni and Sea World - so I notice it) is getting kind of ridiculous. Uni and Sea World for a year may be okay.

I'd be thrilled to stay out of the parks on blocked-out days. It's too hot and crowded, anyway. If they'd give us parking with the other pass, I'd be pleased as punch to make the switch. Parking at hotels for three of the four parks would be such a pain. I already hate parking at the MK.

 

[luv]

I would just like to hear a Financier's perspective on it. Doesn't seem to be a good investment. Either buying direct from Disney or resale. From some of your other comments it sounded like you would have a 10 tab excel calculation for it.

Anyone with financial sense will tell you not to buy time-share. Just say, "What do you think about time-share?" and you'll hear all you need to know, lol.

If you're concerned with trying to save money, an offsite condo rental will be a better idea.

 

[devoy1701]

It's kind of crazy. I get the regular pass, now, but may not renew. Maybe I'll just get the Epcot later-in-the-day one. I don't know.

I'm not skimping on my Uni AP. I like the FP feature!!!

But the cost for renewing passes (and all my passes come due in the same month - WDW, Uni and Sea World - so I notice it) is getting kind of ridiculous. Uni and Sea World for a year may be okay.

I'd be thrilled to stay out of the parks on blocked-out days. It's too hot and crowded, anyway. If they'd give us parking with the other pass, I'd be pleased as punch to make the switch. Parking at hotels for three of the four parks would be such a pain. I already hate parking at the MK.

We had Seasonal Passes for 2 years before upgrading to APs. We had the same mindset...we didn't want to be at the parks during the dredges of summer or during the Peak Holiday times either. It was almost like they were doing us a favor. But the flexibility of being able to park wherever you wanted was nice. I think if we end up purchasing passes again, we'll end up going the Seasonal Route. Would love to do the weekday pass, but the wifey is a teacher and feels guilty about EVER using one of her 8 personal days. ay yi yi.

It's nice to see that I'm not the only one who thinks that the price of APs are getting out of hand. I know there are always those people who say that even for $500 it's a steal because you can go to the parks whenever you want and that it's a privilege, but we've personally hit our tipping point with the full APs. We got out in 2010 before these last 2 big price hikes, and I guess they really don't want us back. Maybe this is by design? And if that's the case, it's another bad TDO decision of how to handle the excessive crowds. Instead of finding a real way to disperse the crowds throughout the property and add more attractions and activities, let's just discourage the local market to not come anymore. That's what it's feeling like anyway!

 

[woodardfamily]

Same here. We will not renew this November.

We did not renew in September...Disney has priced our family out.

 

[rsoxguy]

Our AP's expire in January, and we likely will not renew. My daughter is in college, so we don't go often enough to justify the cost. Honestly, I would question the value if she were home full time.

 

[Epcot-Rules]

Love didn't want to renew this past August when our passes were expiring. The renewal savings and the fact you don't have to repay the down payment when you renew eked out the go-ahead for one more renewal. But it's definitely a chunk each month hitting my credit card. (Nearly $70 for the two of us.) We don't go as often as we used to and Love's getting burnt out (I could go much more then he wants to) so I doubt we'll renew again next August.

Given the fact it's more-and-more expensive to head out there (even just the cost of the half tank of gas and a meal and some drinks means we can easily spend $100 for a day trip) and given the decrease in actual fun (longer lines, crowds, rude people, tour groups, booking dining 6 months in advance, booking rides 3 months in advance, etc., etc.) I don't think I can sell him on another year. And to be honest, I'm not sure I could even be convincing in my argument anyway as even I am starting to feel it's all just a bit too tarnished an experience these days.

AP's don't really get any perks - I can't remember the last time there was an AP event (John Carter screening maybe?) and it's been a few years since they even did one of the annual gifts they used to do (like the lithos or calendar, etc.) plus discounts for rooms and such haven't been worth staying over (it's a heck of a lot cheaper to drive the hour home than drop $200+ on a room for one night!), just feels like we're starting to be relegated to second class guests. The money (or at least perception of money because I'm not entirely sure that FL residents don't often wind up spending more money throughout an entire year vs a family in for one week once every 5 years) seems to be on the tour groups and such so that's where the attention is being paid.

I'd opt for the Seasonal Pass (we've had it in years past since we don't go in the summer or spring break; Christmas is the only time we've gone that's "peak") but the break-even point between the two passes for parking is like 7 visits or something? So it just made sense to do the full annual instead. But it's a lot of money and I'm really starting to agree with Love that even though I love going, I'm not sure it's worth what we're paying to go these days.

I couldn't agree more. It does feel like residence with AP's are second class guests. I read on this forum where UK guests get free dining, there are bounce back offers, no of which have ever been offered to us. We as a family spend around $15,000 per year at Disney and we are never offered anything free. It's like they know we will continue to return because we are residence. It is defiantly loosing it's luster.

 

[Master Yoda]

I couldn't agree more. It does feel like residence with AP's are second class guests. I read on this forum where UK guests get free dining, there are bounce back offers, no of which have ever been offered to us. We as a family spend around $15,000 per year at Disney and we are never offered anything free. It's like they know we will continue to return because we are residence. It is defiantly loosing it's luster.

UK residents are offered that because the data shows that they tend to spend money like it is water when they are here and the travel for about 2-3 weeks. It is not unlike Vegas where they throw down for the wales that show up a couple of times a year and drop 6 figures vs. the local that shows up every other week.

 

[cbettua]

We never visit during the blackout dates. So we bought the seasonal passes. For 299 each to go almost all year, I think its worked out good for us.

 

[Epcot-Rules]

UK residents are offered that because the data shows that they tend to spend money like it is water when they are here and the travel for about 2-3 weeks. It is not unlike Vegas where they throw down for the wales that show up a couple of times a year and drop 6 figures vs. the local that shows up every other week.

And I'm 100% OK with this. I just think it would be nice for them to drop us a crumb every once in a while. Show us some appreciation.

 

[dhsaddict83]

Being new to Florida, before I bought my AP in January, I did a fair amount of research as far as what I'm getting for what I'm going to pay and finally decided on the unlimited/year-round pass for all 4 parks. I will agree that the monthly payment program definitely helps to defer the cost of it.
Since this is the first time I've paid for my own AP, I don't have anything else to compare it to, and I've kept track of when I've gone in Excel (I go almost every weekend), and so far, it's averaged out to <$8.38/visit (cost still decreasing as the year isn't over yet) so while Disney might be increasing the prices of their APs, it's a no brainer for me, I'll keep renewing it!

 

[devoy1701]

Being new to Florida, before I bought my AP in January, I did a fair amount of research as far as what I'm getting for what I'm going to pay and finally decided on the unlimited/year-round pass for all 4 parks. I will agree that the monthly payment program definitely helps to defer the cost of it.
Since this is the first time I've paid for my own AP, I don't have anything else to compare it to, and I've kept track of when I've gone in Excel (I go almost every weekend), and so far, it's averaged out to <$8.38/visit (cost still decreasing as the year isn't over yet) so while Disney might be increasing the prices of their APs, it's a no brainer for me, I'll keep renewing it!

Valid point. Your benchmark price is $500, so if you were OK buying in at that price, you'll probably be good to go for a few years here.

But imagine if you were like some of us who bought in when it was $350/year for that same pass!

 

[Master Yoda]

And I'm 100% OK with this. I just think it would be nice for them to drop us a crumb every once in a while. Show us some appreciation.

It would be, but I think the reality is they don't feel they need to. No company offers perks out of the kindness of their hearts. They do it as an investment. If perk A costs them $1000 and they make $1500 they will keep doing it. If per B costs them $1000 and they don't generate a dime, it will go away at light speed.