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View Full Version : AP..or Magic your way ??



disneycouple2004
11-06-2007, 01:33 PM
Yeppie countdown is at 45 days now :thumbsup:
time to purchase our park tickets..i have been doing my research and it seems like AP is the way to go for us..with DVC discount the prices are like this: ( for 2 adults)

AP...696.00..includes hopper
7 day hopper no expr..718.00
7 day hopper 14 day expr...528.00
these prices do not include the tax, shipping etc they add on.....and we have to have to the hopper option..we hop alot !!..love it...but no waterpark and DTD...

Thought i would see what everyone else thinks about this..of course we are not 100% positive about another trip before the AP expires but we always seem to find a way to return each year, so we are thinking positive about it. And even if we do not use it next year it seems to me the price difference is not that much, i am leaning toward the AP ....any input ??..thanks a million....
:D

Belle_0717
11-06-2007, 01:37 PM
DH and I both have APs - we just downgraded last month to the basic. We are not that interested in the waterparks anymore and there is not that much to do at PI either. If we want to go we can pay and get the DVC or AP discount. The Disney Dining Experience is worth the $60 extra a year - discounts at many of the restaurants in the parks, resorts and DTD. It's worth it. We average at least 2 trips per year.

The AP will expire 1 year to the date you purchase.

ibrowse17
11-06-2007, 01:43 PM
It all boils down to how many times you are going to go in a year. If you are going for 8-10 days per year, then the AP route is the way to go. As a DVC member, you do get an added discount on the purchase price which means you can compare the AP price to a 5 or 6 day park hopper. Also you have to think about if you are going to renew, which would bring the price of the next AP down even more. Good luck and have a great time:thumbsup:

Ian
11-06-2007, 01:49 PM
If you go at least once a year and can get at least 10-15 days worth of park admission out of each AP, then that's definitely the way to go.

What some people do is, they plan their annual trips so that they overlap the period their AP covers.

For example, they'll get an AP that's effective September 15th and take their 2007 trip from 9/15 to 9/22. Then, in 2008, they'll take their trip the week before that so they get both trips in on the same AP.

disneycouple2004
11-06-2007, 01:57 PM
DH and I both have APs - we just downgraded last month to the basic. We are not that interested in the waterparks anymore and there is not that much to do at PI either. If we want to go we can pay and get the DVC or AP discount. The Disney Dining Experience is worth the $60 extra a year - discounts at many of the restaurants in the parks, resorts and DTD. It's worth it. We average at least 2 trips per year.

The AP will expire 1 year to the date you purchase.

Yikes..i thought it expired one year from the date you first used it..( or picked it up at the gate) so does this mean i should not purchase it now >>:confused:..i was about to purchase it online ....

disneymom15
11-06-2007, 01:59 PM
What about purchasing 10 day hoppers with no expiration? Don't know what your price would be. Any remaining days would go towards your next trip.

JPL
11-06-2007, 02:09 PM
Yikes..i thought it expired one year from the date you first used it..( or picked it up at the gate) so does this mean i should not purchase it now >>:confused:..i was about to purchase it online ....

This is correct it expires 1 year from the activation date when you purchase online you will receive a voucher that needs to be activated at Guest Services at one of the parks. The count of 365 days begins when it is activated not when it is pruchased. However if you are renewing an AP it starts from the day the last on expired.

Zippy_D_DooDah
11-06-2007, 02:10 PM
We have really gotten our money's worth with an AP. We bought 2 last December and used them the week before Christmas, a week in February, a week in September, and we are doing a quick trip this December a couple of days before they expire. We will renew when we go back in March of '08. If you are visiting WDW a lot, then an AP is the way to go. I have also taken advantage of the special discounts that are sometimes offered to AP holders on several occasions (ie. discount on a family suite for one night at ASM this past September, and a great room rate again at ASM for our 3 night December trip that I just booked about an hour ago).

BMan62
11-06-2007, 02:13 PM
Why don't you get the regular MYW + PH for your trip and while you are there you can upgrade the tickets to AP's if you so desire.

I believe that you get a voucher for AP's and your 'year' only starts when you turn in your voucher. --- But I may be wrong!!!

JPL
11-06-2007, 02:14 PM
What about purchasing 10 day hoppers with no expiration? Don't know what your price would be. Any remaining days would go towards your next trip.

Unless your next trip is going to be outside the window of the annual pass the No expiration option is not really a good deal. Even if it outside this window chances are with the extra money your are paying for the option you could easily buy a new park hopper your next trip.

Ian
11-06-2007, 02:22 PM
I'll be honest ... I may be missing something, but I can't possibly fathom who would pay for the no expiration option.

If you buy a 10 day base pass for $239.63, adding on the no expiration option costs you a staggering $180!!! That's SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT of the price of the ticket itself!

So you raise the price of your 10 day pass to $419.63. Then you add the hopper feature and you're at $464.63.

An base AP costs $477.12. $434.52 on a renewal.

Unless I'm missing something, you'd have to be near brain dead to buy a 10 day hopper with the no expiration option.

JPL
11-06-2007, 03:02 PM
Unless I'm missing something, you'd have to be near brain dead to buy a 10 day hopper with the no expiration option.

That's what Disney is counting on. I mean how many people know Zero about visiting WDW (and MYW is the most confusing ticketing system out there)decide to go and tell a travel agent give me the works all the bells and whistles.

#1donaldfan
11-06-2007, 03:15 PM
AP all the way...........no doubt...:mickey:

Goofy Dad 13
11-06-2007, 03:26 PM
Unless I'm missing something, you'd have to be near brain dead to buy a 10 day hopper with the no expiration option.

Call me brain dead :tiphat: but I had my parents buy the 10 hopper with no exp on our last trip (we have APs for this year). They only want to do three days in the parks per trip, once a year. Instead of buying a three day hopper for each of their next trips, we had them buy the 10 day no exp option. They now have tickets for two additional trips (with an extra day for one trip).

It did save them money in the long run. No exp option is good if you make short trips and will not go often within the same year.

Ian
11-06-2007, 04:10 PM
Call me brain dead :tiphat: but I had my parents buy the 10 hopper with no exp on our last trip (we have APs for this year). They only want to do three days in the parks per trip, once a year. Instead of buying a three day hopper for each of their next trips, we had them buy the 10 day no exp option. They now have tickets for two additional trips (with an extra day for one trip).

It did save them money in the long run. No exp option is good if you make short trips and will not go often within the same year.For the record, I said near brain dead. :blush:

And see ... I said there might be something I was missing!

Three 3 day hoppers would cost you $261.20 each for a total of $783.60.

As mentioned above, the 10 day hopper with no expiration would only cost you $419.63. That's a savings of at least $363.97, not counting any increases in park admission that will almost definitely come each year.

So obviously I was wrong. There are legit reasons to buy those passes.

Sorry about the near brain dead thing there ;)

KylesMom
11-06-2007, 04:25 PM
DisneyCouple2004, with the DVC discount you get, I'd go for the A/P all the way. You then can purchase the DDE card for an additional $65, which can very well save you more money if you eat at many TS locations or enjoy adult beverages.


Yikes..i thought it expired one year from the date you first used it..( or picked it up at the gate) so does this mean i should not purchase it now >>..i was about to purchase it online .... A new A/P expires one year from first use. If you can, I'd purchase them now, just in case Disney decides to raise rates. You should be safe until the end of the year, but you never know . . . :mickey:

disneycouple2004
11-06-2007, 05:15 PM
THANKS GUYS...brain dead or not i am going for the AP.:thumbsup:

about to order it right now ...getting excited now..:D

see ya at Christmas time !!!

:cloud9:

CleveRocks
11-06-2007, 07:29 PM
Here's how to waste a lot of money:

Buy ANY pass with the no expiration feature, but have no idea what you will need for future trips.

For example, you buy a 10-day NE pass and end up using 7 days of admissions this time, leaving you with 3 days left. And let's say the next time you go you also need 7 days of admissions -- this means you'd need to buy a 4-day pass to add to the 3 left-over days. This scheme will cost each adult $192 MORE than if each adult had purchased a 7-day (expiring)ticket for the first trip and a separate 7-day (expiring) ticket for the second trip.

For someone who knows they will be making numerous trips using only 2 or 3 park days at a time, the 10-day non-expiring pass is an incredibly good deal.

It all depends on knowing how one will use park days in the future, and then doing the math.

Goofy Dad 13
11-07-2007, 03:27 PM
Amazing how many different options there are.

The other way it may acutally pay is with the water packs and More option. Even after your park days are uesd, the water park options are still good with the non-expire option. On a ten day ticket, you now get ten waterpark admissions if I remember correct. Keep them for future trips when you have an AP.

Ian
11-07-2007, 04:27 PM
THANKS GUYS...brain dead or not i am going for the AP.:thumbsup:

about to order it riNo, no, no ... you've got it backwards ... NOT buying the AP was near brain dead ...

McGoofy
11-07-2007, 04:37 PM
I love having AP's, and I know with the DVC discount you will get an even sweeter deal.

I just sent this same logic out in an e-mail to a friend of mine that is considering purchasing AP's this year, so all I did was cut and paste to this post:

The cost of an AP is $448/adult and expires one year from the first day that you use it. The cheapest park tickets that you can get is the 10 day Magic Your Way tickets, but if you don't use all 10 days at one time then you have to add on the "non-expiration fee." Also, to make it equivalent to comparing to an AP, you need to add on the "park hopper" fee. So that cost comes out to be $450, based on WDW's current ticket prices. Well, it's a no brainer if you think you will get to Disney 10 or more days in one year. (That could easily be two 5 day trips--say one in February and one next January for example.) On top of that, there are many discounts. The resort discounts are the biggie for us. We often get 40-50% off of rack rates. So anyway, the AP just makes it convenient to say, "Hey, let's run down to WDW for a few days."

We have thoroughly gotten our money out of the APs from year to year. I think you will be glad that you decided to go that route.

irish1967
11-08-2007, 08:26 AM
Clarification here - doesn't the AP expire one year after it is ACTIVATED rather than USED?

Since you have to activate the AP before it is used for admittance into the park, couldn't someone technically activate the AP and not use it that day?

When would it expire if I activated my AP on, for example January 1, 2008 but didn't use it for admission into a park until January 3, 2008?

Seems like activate and use are being said interchangeably in this thread and I am getting all confused :confused:

disneycouple2004
11-08-2007, 09:31 AM
:D
OK got it..i am NOT brain dead...:thumbsup:
AP Is on the way :D

thanks..McGoofy..thats really good info..

irish1967...you have a good point...i see some say first use...some say when you activate or pickup...i will start a new post with that question only..thanks !!