AP Break Even

[jkh36619]

I always found a week trip + a long weekend trip as the break even point.

 

[cakebaker]

Staying on site, I save money for as little as a 4 day trip. My savings at the Yacht Club was over $100 a night better than any public discount. I don’t even need to include photopass or dining and shopping discounts. Never mind I saved quite a bit on DAH tickets as well. I’ll get 4 trips out of my current AP and that’s the real downside to buying an AP. It burns a hole in your pocket! lol

 

[QueenElinor]

Staying on site, I save money for as little as a 4 day trip. My savings at the Yacht Club was over $100 a night better than any public discount. I don’t even need to include photopass or dining and shopping discounts. Never mind I saved quite a bit on DAH tickets as well. I’ll get 4 trips out of my current AP and that’s the real downside to buying an AP. It burns a hole in your pocket! lol

I got mine for the room discount as well. It paid for itself at the BWI right at about 4 days, not counting any other discounts.There are 5 of us (all "technically" adults) so I think it will save hundreds in food alone- we rarely get out of a TS restaurant for less than $200.

 

[Takket]

i'm not sure what DAH is... but if you stay at a Disney hotel the AP discounts are usually deeper than the generic public discounts. even 5 or 10% more can make a huge difference

 

[PerfessorZ]

i'm not sure what DAH is... but if you stay at a Disney hotel the AP discounts are usually deeper than the generic public discounts. even 5 or 10% more can make a huge difference

DAH = Disney After Hours, a ticketed event

 

[Farro]

We bought one for our 10 day trip next year, May 2020. We will also purchase a 9 day hopper for our other ticket.

We always get memory maker, buy a number of souvenirs, do some paid after hours and eat sit down every night. I'm thinking we will find it to be a benefit/break even. This isn't even counting on a resort discount.

 

[mckenk]

Best thing to do is run the numbers. I broke even getting one this year - we are taking two trips, and I added up the cost of 1 day in EPCOT, a seven day park hopper, a memory maker, hotel savings, and discount on merchandise (things I KNOW we are going to buy). I didn't include dining since we are doing the dining plan for both trips.

 

[YawningDodo]

Yeah, I found it hard to find a break-even point on a 6 day trip--I might have broken even on it, but the only reason I'm planning to buy an AP is that I know I'll be back for a second trip (just barely) within the same year. Knowing I'll save upward of $150 on tickets alone between the two trips makes it easier to not worry about whether I'm squeezing every penny out of it; I can just grab whatever AP discounts are available/make sense for me as a bonus.

 

[Deanie1]

Are there usually room discounts for AP holders or is this a pretty rare occurrence? We like to stay at moderate resorts.

 

[QueenElinor]

Are there usually room discounts for AP holders or is this a pretty rare occurrence? We like to stay at moderate resorts.

They seem to be fairly common. In Dec. I picked up a regular room discount for our trip in May, then in early Jan switched to the AP discount- it may have been out sooner but I didn't get the idea to switch for a little while, then had to call in and ask about the AP rate. You don't have to actually have an AP to get it, but you do have to have the pass by the time you check in or they will charge you rack rate.

It's harder to break even on an AP staying at a moderate resort than at a deluxe, because the rooms are less expensive AND they are not as steeply discounted as some deluxe resorts can be, so the percent discount just adds up to less money. You'd have to run the numbers to see if it's worth it as compared to a general public discount.

You can't see the AP discount on the Disney website unless you are a passholder, so you'd need to follow these forums until you see that a discount pops up, then call in and ask. But the CM was very helpful to me, he calculated the cost of the stay with AP discount, compared it to general public discount I had, and we agreed it would be a good idea to switch. He offered to sell me the pass right there, but I waited and got it a few weeks later.

 

[hertamaniac]

I may have missed it, but is this for a Florida resident AP? We are residents and found the AP to be well worth it when purchasing the weekday option (we don't want to be near the parks on weekends or during the blackout dates).

 

[Dbktmc]

AP holders get 20% off most merchandise (some places are 5%, 10% and 15%). This includes snacks & drinks in the stores too (at your resort, for example).

I did not know about this discount! We have had multiple AP's over the years as we always plan 2 trips over two summers. This is our first year going without the dining plan so I will be sure to ask for discounts everywhere.

Thanks!

 

[cakebaker]

Are there usually room discounts for AP holders or is this a pretty rare occurrence? We like to stay at moderate resorts.

Up to now, AP discounts have been consistently available. The current one is one of the best out in a long time. I got 40% off my YC stay.

That said, with the opening of SWGE, who knows what will happen.

 

[Miffy]

The current AP room discount is so good that it was significantly better than the bounceback we originally had booked. This is for the first week in May at AKL. We saved maybe $500 or so by switching to the AP discount. I was surprised it was so good.

 

[Leafsgirl36]

We always buy points from a friend of mine so we stay at BLT so we won't need it for an accommodation discount. We aren't going until January next year and I would only be the one buying the annual pass. We live in Canada so we will probably only get one trip out of it. We are booked for a week and want the memory maker and want to attend a number of DAH events (if Disney still has them). I was hoping that there would be a discount on the dessert parties as that would have convinced us to buy a pass. There are 4 of us in total, myself, my husband, my daughter in law and my grandson. The amounts seem close but I am still not convinced that the annual pass will be my best purchase.

 

[cakebaker]

Without using the room discounts

We always buy points from a friend of mine so we stay at BLT so we won't need it for an accommodation discount. We aren't going until January next year and I would only be the one buying the annual pass. We live in Canada so we will probably only get one trip out of it. We are booked for a week and want the memory maker and want to attend a number of DAH events (if Disney still has them). I was hoping that there would be a discount on the dessert parties as that would have convinced us to buy a pass. There are 4 of us in total, myself, my husband, my daughter in law and my grandson. The amounts seem close but I am still not convinced that the annual pass will be my best purchase.

Without using the room discounts it’s very difficult to justify an AP for less than a 10 day trip.

 

[Idoc]

Without using the room discounts


Without using the room discounts it’s very difficult to justify an AP for less than a 10 day trip.

Two day park hopper in June is $313. Go twice (4 total park days) and it’s $626 for 4 days. A Gold annual pass is $609. A renewal $517. Easily beats 4 days of parks if you are resident or even DVC.

 

[cakebaker]

Two day park hopper in June is $313. Go twice (4 total park days) and it’s $626 for 4 days. A Gold annual pass is $609. A renewal $517. Easily beats 4 days of parks if you are resident or even DVC.

Right, but the person I was responding to is taking 1 trip of 7 days and isn’t local. In that case, it’s hard to justify an AP without using a room discount.

 

[jkohmi]

We broke even with one adult member of our party (2 adults, 2 kids) getting an AP on a 7-day trip, but we were staying offsite with a car, so free parking was a big factor. I did the calculation using just tickets, memory maker, parking, and it was pretty close, so we figured the food and merchandise discounts would make us at least break even. We were hoping but unsure about whether or not we'd get a second trip out of it, so breaking even was good enough for us, although we did end up saving some money on just that trip in the end. (Then we booked a second family trip and then third adult trip within that year, so we really should have gotten at least both of the adults APs, but we didn't know that was going to happen at the time.)

 

[Remy is Up]

As many have said, it is individual analysis. What is "break Even" for one person may not be for another. I never use discounts on hotels, food, merchandise, as part of the calculation. I always treat it as park price per day over the course of the year vs what the AP costs. For me, generally it is much cheaper to do APs since we go every 2-3 months for at least a long 3 day weekend, 4 day weekends here and there and one or two trips of 5-7 days. The ability to purchase TIW and the discounts are just a benefit later on. Getting BC in June for a couple of nights at 40% off is nice, getting discounts on MKAH is very nice. The merch discounts are negligible. The food discounts are ok. But, the biggest benefit after the better price per day on admission and free parking, is being able to get TIW. We eat at sit downs to break our day up and have a nice meal. The 20% off the meal and Alcohol at Sig restaurants and some of the better lounges makes it worth it. That generally pays for itself within 3-4 meals. Then the rest of the year is gravy. I figure just in the past year ( it expires in July and we still have a June trip), the TIW cost me 150 and when I went through receipts, we have saved well over 800 bucks already over the course of the year on food and drink with TIW.