Questions for AP veterans

[DiPSU224]

Hi all,
I hope I'm not annoying anyone by asking another AP question, but after my last trip 2 weeks ago, we have decided to look into getting an AP. I tried to search the threads and get some info on the passes as well as looking at mousesavers.com, but sometimes I am kinda dense lol: ) and need things explained in a simple way to me. So I have a few questions if you could please answer them for me. Other threads have contradicting info on them and I wanted to see if I could find some clear answers.

1. Can I buy my AP through AAA and can they still make room reservations for me or should I go about doing that myself?

2. If I book a room before the discount rates come out, will the discounts apply when the rates come out?

3. Do all the hotels have the discount rates, and if so, what kind of rates have there been in the past? Has there ever been a time when there have been no discount rates?

4. Do the discount rates only come out at certain seasons, such as the peak season, or will they come out at all seasons?

5. If I buy my AP pass now, can I activate it anytime?

Everyone has been so helpful on these boards so I appreciate any info that anyone can give me. Like I said, I'm so dense sometimes...thanks in advance! :wave:

 

[wolf29]

I am in no way a veteran, this having been the first year that we have held APs. I can however lend some knowledge. If you book a room before the discount is announced, you must call and have the discount applied once it is announced. You may have to call a number of times to have this done, as the discounted rooms become available. Be persistent and this should not be a problem. I believe that all the rooms are offered at discount, usually in the 30%-40% range. Discounts are announced anywhere from 1-4 months in advance.Mosesavers does a good job of showing the breakdown. Your AP is activated upon entry to the parks, no matter when it is purchased. It will have the activation date on the back. Once activated, be certain to double check that the correct date is on your pass(activation not purchase date). It is easier to correct the problem then as opposed to later. In my opinion, if you are going to be in WDW for a total of 6 or 7 days in a year, APs are a great deal.

 

[WDWKat26]

Originally posted by DiPSU224
Hi all,
I hope I'm not annoying anyone by asking another AP question, but after my last trip 2 weeks ago, we have decided to look into getting an AP. I tried to search the threads and get some info on the passes as well as looking at mousesavers.com, but sometimes I am kinda dense lol: ) and need things explained in a simple way to me. So I have a few questions if you could please answer them for me. Other threads have contradicting info on them and I wanted to see if I could find some clear answers.

1. Can I buy my AP through AAA and can they still make room reservations for me or should I go about doing that myself?

2. If I book a room before the discount rates come out, will the discounts apply when the rates come out?

3. Do all the hotels have the discount rates, and if so, what kind of rates have there been in the past? Has there ever been a time when there have been no discount rates?

4. Do the discount rates only come out at certain seasons, such as the peak season, or will they come out at all seasons?

5. If I buy my AP pass now, can I activate it anytime?

Everyone has been so helpful on these boards so I appreciate any info that anyone can give me. Like I said, I'm so dense sometimes...thanks in advance! :wave:

Okay *cracks knuckles*

1. No you can't buy an AP through AAA, you can only purchase the Park-Hopper passes. If you are a AAA member I know you get 15% off rooms, you might be better calling 1-407-W-Disney to check availability of resorts than going to AAA, i've always had a better experience calling.

2. If you do book a room before the rates come out, i'm pretty sure you will not receive them, BUT you would have to call Disney reservations about that, depending on if you booked your stay in the days in which they are offering the discount.

3. Depending on when you go down there, specific hotels will have rates available. There are different discounts though (AAA member discounts, Cast Member-if you know a CM, and Annual Passholder). I'm not sure as to when the specific times are as to when they offer the rates, BUT I would think they are less available around the Holidays.

4. Look above.

5. If you buy your AP at the parks, the day you purchase it, is the day it's activated. So if you buy it February 15, 2004...it will expire February 15, 2005. I know you can buy Annual Passes at the Disney Store and online at www.disneyworld.com, but like I said the day you buy it in the parks is the day it's activated.


Hope I could help you out a little bit That's the best I can do for now!

 

[Dwarful]

I made our room reservations months before the codes came out, then I called back and got the price adjusted to reflect the ap rates. Then when the Disney Visa Card offered Double points I went and bought all 11 ap's ( the 2 yr old won't need one). So we were able to get the ap rates w/o having purchased the aps and we were able to get the same room reservation price adjusted.

 

[Yellowbird97]

We have been AP holders for about 5 years now and it has saved us some $$ in past years on hotel stays. I usually book our rooms before the AP rates are out and as soon as I see the new AP codes are in effect (mousesavers.com are a great resource) I call and have my reservations updated to reflect the new rate. We are staying at Pop Century in July for 3 nights and have two rooms. When I first made reservations the price was $99 per room, per night. I called and made the update with AP rate and now we are paying $69, so the savings is around $200. What we usally do is just get room credit for the extra amount already paid on our room cards when we check in and use it in the food court for a couple of days. It is a way a saving and prepaying a little in advance. Hope this helps

 

[DiPSU224]

Thanks for the answers guys...things are clearer now and I'm thinking hard about picking up one of these passes. If anyone else has anything they'd like to add, I'd appreciate it!

 

[slappy magoo]

1: AAA does not even offer Annual Passes to my knowledge, just Park Hopper Passes and Pckages that could include Length of Stay Passes.

2 & 3: I reserved rooms before discounted rates were announced. Called back a few weeks later when the discounted rooms for the time I'm going was announced and got the discount. However, I'm pretty sure only SELECT rooms in each hotel are offered the AP discount, so they might run out of rooms in your price range, at the hotel you want, at the time you want (?)

4: I'm pretty sure they always offer discounts to Passholders, but it's one of those things where they reserve the right to stop it at any time, so CMs aren't supposed to say it's ALWAYS available. And like I said above, there might be a limited amount of rooms in each hotel on any given day available for the discount.

5: When you buy your pass, you're sent a voucher that looks like a fake credit card. When you go to WDW and show them the card and ID, you'll get your AP and it becomes active that day.

Two more things to add into the mix of information...

If the main reason for getting an annual pass is the discount on the hotel room (and bear in mind, I have no idea how many APs you're thinking about buying), you only have to buy one pass to get the discount. You may be able to get away with getting ONE AP, and then getting Park-Hopper Passes or Length of Stay Passes for everyone else in your party/family, and save even more money than if everyone got APs. This could be especially true if you only plan to go once in the course of a year. But if you're going more than once, chances are you'll save in the long run if everyone gets APs.

There are APs that only include the 4 main parks (with discounted admission to water parks and Pleasure Island), and then there are more expensive passes that INCLUDE the water parks & PI. If you and your family/party only intend to stay at the main parks and don't care about the water parks or Pleasure Island, get the cheaper APs.

 

[DiPSU224]

Thanks slappy...My main reason for looking into the APs is that my boyfriend and I already have 3 more trips in mind over the next 2 years. One in December, another in May, and then possibly the next May again for our honeymoon. We have become addicted and wish we had gotten these APs awhile ago...:lol: