Upgrade to AP or wait for Play, Stay, Dine

[Nathana]

So for those of you who didn't see my previous thread about the surprise trip for my fiance, I'm going to WDW in a few weeks for the first time ever! My family is going, along with my fiance. Now, I'm planning a return trip for just the two of us in February. Right now, I already have 8 nights at Pop and a pair of 7 day tickets booked for us.

I need some advice: I've been throwing around the idea of upgrading our 7 day park hopper tickets on our coming trip to annual passes to use in February. I'd save 20-30% on the hotel, the cost of the actual ticket would be much less, and they would work like park hoppers, where right now we only have base tickets for the Feb trip. THEN I heard that Disney will probably do the Play, Stay, and Dine package again for this time, too. I've tried to do some research as to see what that all entails for discounts, but I can't find anything.

My question is, would it be cheaper overall to upgrade to AP's next month at WDW for the Feb trip, or cheaper to not upgrade, and wait for the Play, Stay, and Dine package. I have to pick one or the other, because play stay and dine only works if you book it ALL through disney on that trip. I have until September 20th (our last day on this first trip) to figure it out. Thanks!

 

[LizC]

If you get the AP you can also get a TIW card. I usually get the AP when I am in your situation because of this added bonus, as we love to eat out at WDW.

 

[minniemickeyfan]

So for those of you who didn't see my previous thread about the surprise trip for my fiance, I'm going to WDW in a few weeks for the first time ever! My family is going, along with my fiance. Now, I'm planning a return trip for just the two of us in February. Right now, I already have 8 nights at Pop and a pair of 7 day tickets booked for us.

I need some advice: I've been throwing around the idea of upgrading our 7 day park hopper tickets on our coming trip to annual passes to use in February. I'd save 20-30% on the hotel, the cost of the actual ticket would be much less, and they would work like park hoppers, where right now we only have base tickets for the Feb trip. THEN I heard that Disney will probably do the Play, Stay, and Dine package again for this time, too. I've tried to do some research as to see what that all entails for discounts, but I can't find anything.

My question is, would it be cheaper overall to upgrade to AP's next month at WDW for the Feb trip, or cheaper to not upgrade, and wait for the Play, Stay, and Dine package. I have to pick one or the other, because play stay and dine only works if you book it ALL through disney on that trip. I have until September 20th (our last day on this first trip) to figure it out. Thanks!

I guess for me the question would be if I think I might go again after Feb (even years down the road). I've kinda been in your situation before and what I did was went for the AP for the 2 trips. But then when my second trip came for Jan the Stay play and dine pkg was such a good deal for us when I went over our room and food costs, that we booked that with a 2 day base ticket and didn't use it since we had the AP. The tickets are good forever and you can upgrade them( a 2 day ticket is the minimum you can buy on a pkg). We now have the tickets for a future trip! It made sense in our case just because the room and food added up at almost as much as the Stay, play dine pkg.
it's hard to tell you exactly what to do, hope this helps some.

 

[PigletIsMyCat]

generally, if you're doing two week-long trips within 12 calendar months, an AP is the way to go. you will be eligible for discounts on rooms as well as other things - like tables in wonderland. i found that to be one of the best investments we ever made living in the area. only one of us had to buy it because it was good for everyone in the party (up to 6 people i think?) and it saved us 20% at most restaurants. at the time we still drank and it included alcohol discounts as well. even just counting the savings on food, i think we saved the cost of the card in 3 meals.

i would find out what would be worth more to you: free disney dining plan for the two of you or a 20-30% room discount. dining plan is almost never worth it for us if we have to pay for it; and usually the room discount is more valuable to us.