WWYD - buying tickets to upgrade to AP?

[kniquy]

We are planning an 8 night trip July 2020 with plans on returning in Feb or April of 2021. So AP's make perfect sense for my family of 5. At this point if there are no price changes with buying 9 day tickets at UT, then buying discount Disney gift cards to pay for the AP upgrade I could save about $280. So pretty significant. But this is at the current AP prices.

I haven't followed typical AP price changes but as history states Disney likes to increase those ticket and AP prices every year, so conceivably i could be looking at less or no savings if I wait to upgrade our 5 tickets to APs during our July 2020 trip. And I bleivel I am correct in thinking the UT tickets are only bridged up to the price of the WDW ticket today, not the ticket price when i would be there in 2020.

Would you just bite the bullet and buy your gold AP vouchers now? would buy your UT tickets and bridge up to an AP when you get there? I'm torn and I know no one holds that crystal ball to see ticket prices next year.

Am I missing any certain pro's or cons to buying now or waiting?

 

[Mickey of the Villages]

It seems like you are having some fun with the financial modeling of your trip. I don't know if $280 is worth this much investment of your time. I recommend buying the AP and making up the $280 in enjoyment of the extras you get with the AP.

 

[starry_solo]

You are correct that if you purchase the regular tickets now and the price raises (for either the tickets or the AP), you would only get the bridge up to the price of the tickets as of today.

I would hold off on getting either the AP or the tickets. There are usually rumors (a few days ahead of time) of price increases. The APs just increased in price (over the summer) so I don't think it'll raise again this year.

 

[Marionnette]

We are planning an 8 night trip July 2020 with plans on returning in Feb or April of 2021. So AP's make perfect sense for my family of 5. At this point if there are no price changes with buying 9 day tickets at UT, then buying discount Disney gift cards to pay for the AP upgrade I could save about $280. So pretty significant. But this is at the current AP prices.

I haven't followed typical AP price changes but as history states Disney likes to increase those ticket and AP prices every year, so conceivably i could be looking at less or no savings if I wait to upgrade our 5 tickets to APs during our July 2020 trip. And I bleivel I am correct in thinking the UT tickets are only bridged up to the price of the WDW ticket today, not the ticket price when i would be there in 2020.

Would you just bite the bullet and buy your gold AP vouchers now? would buy your UT tickets and bridge up to an AP when you get there? I'm torn and I know no one holds that crystal ball to see ticket prices next year.

Am I missing any certain pro's or cons to buying now or waiting?

I think it would depend on what kind of deal that you’re getting on those GCs.

The biggest discount that I can see on UT is about $75 on a 10-day hopper. That translates to around a 11%-12% savings (plus any CC rewards if you earn them). If you can get a better deal than that on your GCs, it would be cheaper to go with purchasing your APs with GCs right from the get go.

 

[kniquy]

I think it would depend on what kind of deal that you’re getting on those GCs.

The only deals I typically get are buying them at Target for 5% off. I try not to be wasteful with my money but some of the ticket increased over the past few years have been fast and furious so who knows what they will do. I guess i should have some sort of heads up if/when prices will increase.

 

[Marionnette]

The only deals I typically get are buying them at Target for 5% off. I try not to be wasteful with my money but some of the ticket increased over the past few years have been fast and furious so who knows what they will do. I guess i should have some sort of heads up if/when prices will increase.

The last AP price increase occurred without fanfare.

 

[Sandisw]

Well, given you have a family of 5, even if the DVC pass went up only $50 a
Person, it would eat up most of that savings. IMO, I would just buy the AP vouchers.

Since the trip is still 10 months away, I might wait at least a few months and pay attention to an increase.