If you’re reading this, it’s probably because you love Disney. My household has undergone a unique shift in recent years. My husband and I honeymooned at Disney and had a great time. Then we took a few adult only trips, and he made sure to tell me that while Disney was fun, he “wanted to do other things” and definitely didn’t want to “go back every single year.”
Enter the little one, who SavEars might recall was lovingly nicknamed Bongo before her arrival. We took her for her first trip in May of 2017, then found ourselves back for a quick Christmas trip in the same year. Somehow I talked Mr. D. in to taking her back for a 2018 and 2019 trip (you know, one a year until she starts school), then going somewhere else. My exact words were “Then in 2020, we can go to California. I bet she’d love San Diego…oh, and we can go to Disneyland too.” It may be the lack of sleep, but somehow, he has agreed to my plans! Buwahaha.
So, here we are, with trips planned for 2018 and 2019. “Hold up!” I cried…to myself, because he was at work and Miss Bongo was taking a nap. “Let’s check out Annual Pass prices.”
Annual Passes hold a lot of appeal, even if you don’t live in the state of Florida. We are currently living in South Carolina and are closer to Disney than we’ve ever been before. Since we will be able to drive on our future trips (unless some killer airfare deal pops up), we can funnel that money in to more trips- but first, I had to determine if Annual Passes made sense for us.
So how did I do that? Through a lot of insanity. I idle at crazy planner sometimes, so if you are imagining me feverishly scribbling in notebooks, cross referencing calendars, checking and double checking pricing, discounts and my eye twitching…well, you’ve pretty much nailed what happened.
Annual Passes are good for 366 days. So if you activate it May 1st, 2018, it will be good through the end of the day on May 1, 2019. The first thing I did was sit down with my calendar and check when my husband would be able to take vacation for 2018 and 2019. I wanted to make sure to book the 2018 trip for later in the month of May, so when we go in early May of 2019 we will have plenty of time to use our passes. If I booked for early May 2018 and late May 2019, the 366 day period would have already passed and my passes wouldn’t be valid, so really make sure to double check your dates. Our dates checked out, so next up was tackling the pricing!
The current price for a Disney Platinum Pass is $894. You can bet your bottom dollar the price will be increasing again next year as well. Since we knew we wanted to/could go at least twice in a 366 day period, it made sense to lock in the rates. Thanks to Couponing to Disney, I knew when prices were set to increase and I managed to lock in under last year’s rate, $779 per pass. So let’s break down our trip and see if the numbers make sense. One thing to know: Bongo will not have her own Annual Pass. My Mom is coming on our trip in 2018 and plans on taking care of Bongo’s ticket:
Park Tickets: We usually go to Florida in two week chunks (staying at a timeshare off site). While we typically don’t do parks every day, we would conservatively go at least 7 days. A 7 day base ticket currently costs $415. Annual Passes give us the option to park hop, so a park hopping ticket would run us $490. Total Cost for 2 Trips without AP (2 7-Day passes with Park Hopper): $980 per person without price increase for the 2019 season.
Parking: We stay off site and the price of parking has just increased to $22 a day. I wouldn’t be surprised to see that go up again next year. With 2 7-day tickets, we will need 14 days of parking. Total Cost for 2 Trips without AP (14 Day parking total): $308 without price increase for the 2019 season.
Memory Maker: Love it, need it, gotta have it. I will not do a trip without it because it has spoiled me. I love letting someone else worry about getting the magical pictures- and I love actually getting to be IN the pictures! I always buy 30 days in advance, which drops the price from $199 to $169. Total Cost for 2 Trips without AP: $338
Total Cost of tickets for 2 Adults (two trips), 14 days parking, 2 Memory Maker packages: $2606*
Price Paid for 2 Annual Passes: $1558*
Savings: $1003
* This does not include tax.
PLUS! Discounts & Perks: You get up to 20% on select dining and merchandise. If you like table services (and we do), you’re going to get at least 10% off your bill. Be sure to plan out your table service meals to maximize this discount, but conservatively we are going to save $30.20 on just our 2018 trip. Annual Passholders often get special little perks and discounts, like savings on rooms, or special items at events. We can also get discounts on tours and events, as well as sports, recreation and spas! There is no way to put a price on these perks, if we choose to enjoy them!
As you can see, Annual Passes just made sense for us, even if we don’t take advantage of every single perk. Since we will have the passes, I fully plan on hitting the parks at rope drop, doing some rides, meeting some characters, then leaving by lunch time! You can better believe we’re going to take advantage of park hopping as well. I have grand plans of sweeping in to Epcot to grab some Schoolbread or maybe a caramel popcorn and sashaying back out. I’ve also floated the idea of a Halloween or Christmas trip, Adults Only! Who knows, maybe I’ll even check out those Annual Pass room discounts.
Pro Tip: When talking about a trip, casually ask their preference like it has already been decided. “So, did you decide if you’d rather to an Adult Halloween trip or all of us go again before Christmas?” Mr. D. just rolled with it because he figured he had forgotten he agreed to it.
Amy Grosky Bergman says
Kristen, you are a riot! Luckily, my whole family is Disney crazy,(my boys are now 21 and 24). We love to go on family trips. We used to buy annuals for everyone, now just for me and hubby. The boys get hoppers. You should look into dvc, it has saved us a bundle over the last 12 years.
Kristen says
I would love to do DVC! We already have the less special timeshare, so that won’t go over well right now, but maybe in the future!! :D