So Confused

[DisneyCrazyGirl]

Hey everyone!

Hope you are all having a good day!

I am very confused at the moment and need some help from anyone that can provide it! As some of you know I am going to Disney in September. My reservations are made and already 1/4 of the trip is paid for. However, another oppotunity has presented itself. My mother is going down at the beginning of May and I was thinking of surprising her! I would fly down for a long weekend. My aunt works for Starwood hotels and they own the SWAN and DOLPHIN and she got my mom a suite to stay in (at more than 1/2 price). I must admit, I was EXTREMELY JEALOUS when I heard this and it motivated me even more to go!! :drevil:

My question. Since I am going down twice in 2005, is it worth it to buy an Annual Pass? I am fairly new to the whole Annual Pass market and do not know what it entails or anything like that! Please answer as many questions as you can:

How much is an annual pass?
Does it include water parks, DQ, Pleasure Island?
Are there any perks?
In 9/2005, my boyfriend is coming with me. Does he need a AP also?
Is it worth it to buy it for a total of 12 days in 2005?
Most importantly, what would you do?

I am sure I have more questions! Thanks in advance!

 

[jesserin]

Premium Pass - $515

Every Premium Annual Pass provides:
Unlimited admission* for 365 days to the four Disney Theme Parks: Magic Kingdom® Park, Epcot®, Disney-MGM Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom® Theme Park
The flexibility to go from Theme Park to Theme Park on the same day
A year's worth of unlimited access* to Downtown Disney® Pleasure Island; Disney's Water Parks: Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon; Disney's Wide World of Sports® Complex (days of operation depend on event schedule); and DisneyQuest® Indoor Interactive Theme Park
A wide array of Passholder benefits
Theme Park parking included
Convenient Walt Disney World® transportation - monorails, ferryboats, and motor coaches
*Excludes separately priced activities and events

When a Premium Annual Pass is ordered an exchange certificate will be sent by mail. The Premium Annual Pass can be redeemed at any Walt Disney World® Theme Park ticket window by presenting the exchange certificate and a valid photo ID. The Premium Annual Pass is good for 365 days from exchange certificate redemption.
-----------------------------------------------------


Theme Park Annual Pass - $395.00

Every Annual Pass provides:
Unlimited admission* for 365 days to the four Disney Theme Parks: Magic Kingdom® Park, Epcot®, Disney-MGM Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom® Theme Park
The flexibility to go from Theme Park to Theme Park on the same day
A wide array of Passholder benefits
Theme Park parking included
Convenient Walt Disney World® transportation - monorails, ferryboats, and motor coaches
*Excludes separately priced activities and events

When an Annual Pass is ordered an exchange certificate will be sent by mail. The Annual Pass can be redeemed at any Walt Disney World® Theme Park ticket window by presenting the exchange certificate and a valid photo ID. The Annual Pass is good for 365 days from exchange certificate redemption.

-----------------------------------------------------------

You can get great disounts on your hotel with the Annual Pass... However - you cannot purchase the Magic Your Way Dining Plan with the AP - although there is a discount dining card you can purchase for $50 that gives you great discounts on almost all Disney Restaurants.

---------------------------------------------------

Your Boyfriend will not have to have an AP if you do - he can just get a hopper pass... but here again, you can't book any pacakges with the AP plan - not a huge deal - but just be aware of that.


-------------------------------------------------------

Depending on if you do theme parks or Water parks - not to mention how many times you will visit Pleasure Island - the general rule is that more than 10 days in the parks and the AP will save you - less than 10 days and you'll loose on the AP...

Hope this helps!

 

[Gail Hayden]

Hey everyone!

Hope you are all having a good day!

I am very confused at the moment and need some help from anyone that can provide it! As some of you know I am going to Disney in September. My reservations are made and already 1/4 of the trip is paid for. However, another oppotunity has presented itself. My mother is going down at the beginning of May and I was thinking of surprising her! I would fly down for a long weekend. My aunt works for Starwood hotels and they own the SWAN and DOLPHIN and she got my mom a suite to stay in (at more than 1/2 price). I must admit, I was EXTREMELY JEALOUS when I heard this and it motivated me even more to go!! :drevil:

My question. Since I am going down twice in 2005, is it worth it to buy an Annual Pass? I am fairly new to the whole Annual Pass market and do not know what it entails or anything like that! Please answer as many questions as you can:

How much is an annual pass?
Does it include water parks, DQ, Pleasure Island?
Are there any perks?
In 9/2005, my boyfriend is coming with me. Does he need a AP also?
Is it worth it to buy it for a total of 12 days in 2005?

I am sure I have more questions! Thanks in advance!

This should answer your questions. http://allearsnet.com/pl/apass.htm

 

[vilegirl]

Speaking as an AP holder, yes, it's definitely worth it to buy an AP. Some people buy them just for the room discounts alone!

An annual pass is $395 I believe. It just includes the 4 theme parks. If you want to also include the water parks etc, that's a premium annual pass. I'm afraid I don't know exactly how much that is, but a bit more than just the standard AP obviously. If you go to www.waltdisneyworld.com and look under "tickets", it will break it all down for you.

There are several perks. Room discounts being the biggest one in my opinion. Also, you can attend special passholder events and previews, you can get discounts on some dining etc etc etc

Your boyfriend doesn't necessarily need an AP for your 9/2005 trip. He obviously needs some type of ticket to enter the parks (he can't get in on your AP is what I'm trying to say! :lol: ), but he wouldn't necessarily need an AP. If you have one, you could book the resort and therefore get the discount.

Hope this helps!! :wave:

-Linda

 

[DisneyCrazyGirl]

I just read something on allearsnet.com about upgrading a regular Magic Your Way Premium Ticket to a Premium Anuual Pass. I guess I could do that it May and pay the difference, but how will this affect my current reservation? See, this is why it is confusing to me. They should teach you this stuff in college before some of that other stuff i learned! (LOL) :lol:

I booked our vacation so far in advance so we could pay it off little by little. This is what him and I currently have booked

8 Days / 7 Nights at Coronado Springs
8 Day MYW Premium Passes
Magical Express Transfers

I cannot re-book this package for him if I buy the Premium Annual Pass, right? I AM SO CONFUSED. I apologize if I have confused you too!

 

[jesserin]

Okay - here's the deal.

If you purchased airfare with your package you need to keep it as there are strict penalties to cancelling air.

If you just purchased the hotel/ticket package - then you can cancel the package for a full refund within 45 days of travel... (about the mid June for your Sep trip)

Thus if you cancel - apply the refund to your AP pass and then make a room only reservation with your new discount (September AP rates will be available around May or early June) Then all you'll need to do is purchase a MYW ticket for your Boyfriend.

 

[shoppingnut]

The annual pass for just the parks is $395.00 and the premium annual pass is $515. If you go on the http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/tickets it explains the AP. You also get discounts on the hotel rooms and generally in September they have them. You can check our www.mousesavers.com to see some of the current AP hotel rates. Generally, if you go into the parks 7 days, the AP works out to about $55 per day and the more days you go the less it costs. I find it to be well worth it.

You might want to consider booking the hotel etc. w/Pam at Kingdom Konsultants if you get an AP. She is really great and if you book now at regular rates and an AP rate comes out for September, she will just move your reservation over to the lower AP rate.

 

[wannabeBelle]

All of the answers you have gotten thus far are perfect so I wont expand on any of them unless you want me to, but Id definitely say to go for the AP. I have one and love it!! That having been said, if you are looking at it for the room discounts, they arent announced all that far ahead of time and I can tell you I have had trouble getting the Coronado with the AP discount lately for some reason. I am not terribly picky regarding the resort so I usually just switch to whichever one has openings for the dates I want. It is something to consider. But yes, at 12 days the regular Annual Pass will be a savings, not having anything to do with the room discounts!!! Belle