Hey, there, hi, there, ho there! I was wondering if anyone could tell me if an Annual Pass makes sense for someone like me who doesn't live in Florida but who plans to visit WDW once a year? Is it more economical? Thanks so much!
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Is an Annual Pass for a non-resident worth it?
- Thread starter Magenta Panther
- Start date
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
Potentially the savings on an on-site room could really help pay for the pass if you're going for a week or more.
Monty
Brilliant...and Canadian
- In the Parks
- No
Discounts beyond the actual ticket price skew the "break-even" point calculation.
I did one trip staying at Beach Club with an AP discount. The 42% discount on the room for 8 nights comfortably covered the full cost of my AP, my son's 9-day Hopper, buying a TiW discount card which helped keep our food costs within the savings as well. As a result, for less than the rack rate cost of the room we were in, we had a complete WDW vacation.
The "downside" was having that dang AP burning a hole in my pocket for the subsequent 50-odd weeks... Travel from Canada for the extra three trips I made to WDW that year totally negated any "savings" from the AP!
This past September I bought the Premier Pass because I am going to DL next August [holiday around the D23 Expo] and the ticket price-point worked out favourably. Unfortunately... the pocket-burning nature of having that ticket means I will be going to WDW for the WDWCelebrations' event in spring and maybe I'll take my son to DL sometime before our August trip [he'll be getting a Deluxe Pass for the August trip, getting it early doesn't change anything].
So yes, non-residents can save with an AP... But it can be very tempting to totally blow all those savings once you have it!
EDIT: Oh, and the discount shopping with the Premier Pass saved me hundred$ on shopping while at the EPCOT 30 events...
I did one trip staying at Beach Club with an AP discount. The 42% discount on the room for 8 nights comfortably covered the full cost of my AP, my son's 9-day Hopper, buying a TiW discount card which helped keep our food costs within the savings as well. As a result, for less than the rack rate cost of the room we were in, we had a complete WDW vacation.
The "downside" was having that dang AP burning a hole in my pocket for the subsequent 50-odd weeks... Travel from Canada for the extra three trips I made to WDW that year totally negated any "savings" from the AP!
This past September I bought the Premier Pass because I am going to DL next August [holiday around the D23 Expo] and the ticket price-point worked out favourably. Unfortunately... the pocket-burning nature of having that ticket means I will be going to WDW for the WDWCelebrations' event in spring and maybe I'll take my son to DL sometime before our August trip [he'll be getting a Deluxe Pass for the August trip, getting it early doesn't change anything
].So yes, non-residents can save with an AP... But it can be very tempting to totally blow all those savings once you have it!
EDIT: Oh, and the discount shopping with the Premier Pass saved me hundred$ on shopping while at the EPCOT 30 events...
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
Determining if an AP makes sense is mostly about number crunching how many days you'll be at the parks.
A base AP is $574 (up 10.6% from last year). It allows for park hopping but not water parks. An adult 3-day hopper is $299, times two is $598. In this example, an AP makes sense if you can plan two 3-day or longer vacations within 366 days. (APs are good for 366 days.) However, you can buy a 6-day with no expiration for $500. So this is the least expensive of the 3 options.
Let's instead assume you want to do two 5-day vacations in twelve months. The AP is $574, two 5-day hoppers are $650 ($325 X 2), while a 10-day with no expiration is also $650.
The longer each vacation is, the more an AP makes sense. The price of an AP is fixed whereas the price of separate tickets for each vacation increase as you extend the length of each stay.
Note that the break-even point is different when you add in the water parks. From a ticket perspective, WDW seems to be pushing the water parks lately. (It's only $22 more to add the water parks to most hopper tickets while DVC members currently are receiving a $300 discount on PAP through the end of the year, which includes water parks. The "normal" DVC discount is $150.)
If you visit once a year, an AP makes sense if you can adjust your vacation plans slightly so your first day from this year's vacation and your last day from next year's vacation are 366 days or less apart.
A base AP is $574 (up 10.6% from last year
). It allows for park hopping but not water parks. An adult 3-day hopper is $299, times two is $598. In this example, an AP makes sense if you can plan two 3-day or longer vacations within 366 days. (APs are good for 366 days.) However, you can buy a 6-day with no expiration for $500. So this is the least expensive of the 3 options.Let's instead assume you want to do two 5-day vacations in twelve months. The AP is $574, two 5-day hoppers are $650 ($325 X 2), while a 10-day with no expiration is also $650.
The longer each vacation is, the more an AP makes sense. The price of an AP is fixed whereas the price of separate tickets for each vacation increase as you extend the length of each stay.
Note that the break-even point is different when you add in the water parks. From a ticket perspective, WDW seems to be pushing the water parks lately. (It's only $22 more to add the water parks to most hopper tickets while DVC members currently are receiving a $300 discount on PAP through the end of the year, which includes water parks. The "normal" DVC discount is $150.)
If you visit once a year, an AP makes sense if you can adjust your vacation plans slightly so your first day from this year's vacation and your last day from next year's vacation are 366 days or less apart.
We don't live in Florida and have gotten an AP a few times because it made sense. We normally only go twice a year for about a week to 10 days... It never made sense for everyone in the family though, just for me and only because at the time of the initial trip I was able to save enough on a room to justify it... On average the total savings after buying it were maybe 300-400... Based on one stay in one of their hotels...
Some years I have skipped it because they didn't have a discount the time of the first trip and if I can't justify it up front I'm not going to assume I can cover the cost on the second trip... Would also say that in general it seemed that trips I was going down in september or October were more likely to have the best room discounts... Can't remember them ever having any good ones in the very busy seasons.
Some years I have skipped it because they didn't have a discount the time of the first trip and if I can't justify it up front I'm not going to assume I can cover the cost on the second trip... Would also say that in general it seemed that trips I was going down in september or October were more likely to have the best room discounts... Can't remember them ever having any good ones in the very busy seasons.
Blueskyze
Well-Known Member
Discounts beyond the actual ticket price skew the "break-even" point calculation.
I did one trip staying at Beach Club with an AP discount. The 42% discount on the room for 8 nights comfortably covered the full cost of my AP, my son's 9-day Hopper, buying a TiW discount card which helped keep our food costs within the savings as well. As a result, for less than the rack rate cost of the room we were in, we had a complete WDW vacation.
The "downside" was having that dang AP burning a hole in my pocket for the subsequent 50-odd weeks... Travel from Canada for the extra three trips I made to WDW that year totally negated any "savings" from the AP!
This past September I bought the Premier Pass because I am going to DL next August [holiday around the D23 Expo] and the ticket price-point worked out favourably. Unfortunately... the pocket-burning nature of having that ticket means I will be going to WDW for the WDWCelebrations' event in spring and maybe I'll take my son to DL sometime before our August trip [he'll be getting a Deluxe Pass for the August trip, getting it early doesn't change anything
So yes, non-residents can save with an AP... But it can be very tempting to totally blow all those savings once you have it!
EDIT: Oh, and the discount shopping with the Premier Pass saved me hundred$ on shopping while at the EPCOT 30 events...
I couldn't agree more about the pass burning a hole in my pocket!! We bought AP's in January, knowing that we were doing two 8 or 9-day trips this year. Two trips quickly turned into 4 (the original two, plus 2 more long weekends), and now we are planning at least one more before the passes expire, and maybe two. Of course, we've gotten the AP room discount and good deals on flights, and I'm planning to buy a TiW card before they expire. But we have still spend a lot more $$ on WDW trips than we originally planned. Worth every penny, though!
Susan Savia
Well-Known Member
We've had APs for many years. We stay offsite. So, the parking is free, we can hop around parks, we get merchandise discounts, some dining places are discounted tho we rarely use it for that. We always arrive about 2 or 3 pm at our motel, check in and head to the parks. We couldn't do that if we only had a specific number of days ticket as we'd feel like we were 'wasting' a day just for a few hours. We usually stay 12 to 14 nights and it's usually once a year although this year we went in September just to try the MNSSHP and stayed a week. Our passes will expire in February (2013), but we won't get new ones until the next year (February 2014) when we make our annual trip. And then the following year we'll visit in January, so it's like getting two visits in on one AP.
dreamfinder
Well-Known Member
It can definitely be worth it. The biggest way to make it work for you would be to plan your second trip so it falls within the use of the AP. So late March this year, early March next year. Or whatever floats your boat. Still just taking one trip a year, but planning wisely to help save you money. The ability to buy TiW can often help to save money as well. The same concept applies, buy it once, use it for both trips. We usually break even early in our first trip, so the second trip is pure savings with the TiW. They also currently have the 10% merch discount which is nice.
I wouldn't ever count on AP room discounts when figuring your breakeven point. Since they flucuate, may or may not be available, and heck some of the GP discounts are pretty much the same as AP discounts right now, it's not a sure thing. The one exception to this is if they have a currently announced AP discount that fits your plans, then by all means book it and buy the AP when you get there.
As Monty said, the biggest problem with having an AP is how you may find yourself trying to maximize its use, and ending up spending more by doing extra trips.
I wouldn't ever count on AP room discounts when figuring your breakeven point. Since they flucuate, may or may not be available, and heck some of the GP discounts are pretty much the same as AP discounts right now, it's not a sure thing. The one exception to this is if they have a currently announced AP discount that fits your plans, then by all means book it and buy the AP when you get there.
As Monty said, the biggest problem with having an AP is how you may find yourself trying to maximize its use, and ending up spending more by doing extra trips.
Spike-in-Berlin
Well-Known Member
It depends on your visit schedule and type. How often do you go in one year, how long do you stay and where do you stay. Do you buy a lot of merchandise? If you are for example always staying at a Disney resort it definitely can pay off. We are from Germany and we purchased two Premium Annual Passes last year. WE visited WDW three times in 12 months and always stayed at Disney resorts and every stay was at least for more than 2 Weeks so a MYWT was not enough for us (maximum 10 days). We only stayed in annual passholder rooms and saved hundreds of dollars on the rooms alone. Not to talk about that we did two more vacations at WDW after the first where we didn't have to pay for any new tickets.
Yes an AP can be worth it.
Thanks so much for the advice, everyone! Usually I stay in a WDW resort when I visit, but next year I may be staying off-site. I was attracted to the idea of an AP by its ease of use, plus the free parking and discounts. Usually I say around 10-11 days at the parks. So given all that, it looks like an AP might be worthwhile for me, no?
It depends on how that 10-11 days is spent. The only way to know for sure is to run the numbers as math never lies. Add up what you would spend on tickets, parking, etc and compare that with the price of an AP. If tickets, parking, etc even comes close to an AP the AP is the way to go.
Monty
Brilliant...and Canadian
- In the Parks
- No
For one person, 11 days in-park it's an automatic. Your parking saves you $165 and any combo of MYW tickets for 11 days would cost more than $409 [which is the difference after you factor in the parking]. Even if you skip a day and do a ten-day hopper at $400, add $150 for parking your cost would be $550 where you'd pay $574 for an AP with a 10% discount on shopping all you'd have to do is buy $250 worth of discounted stuff whether food or souvenirs.
The math gets more complicated if you're not alone, then you need to decide if both of you should get an AP or only one. More complicated the more people in the mix.