I became an AP for the first time in May, and while I enjoyed the food and souvenir discount, this next trip we are staying on site and taking advantage of Free Dining so I’m not using my AP at all. I even have to pay for parking at the resort. I definitely will not be renewing!
Are you getting your money’s worth on ticket price savings?
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No, because with FD I had to buy the package and thus pay for tickets in order to get the 60 day FPP. I live too far to drive so only visit twice a year.
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I’ve debated getting the AP and just can’t justify it. I can go about 14 days in a AP year, but that’s right on the edge of the “break even” price point for me. I know I’d get discounts and perks, but with me living 14 hours away I can’t “gamble” that I’d save enough. Even though I’d love to go to WDW everyday I don’t want to feel like I have to go just to get my AP value.
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Yeah I would only get an AP if I could break even with tickets alone. It’s too much of a gamble with the other savings categories, and could cause you to subconsciously spend more to “save” more.
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I ran the numbers and the up to 20% AP Room only discount was a better deal than “free” dining.
I live in Oklahoma and am in my 2nd year of having an AP and it has most definitely paid for itself.
Next trip is 7 park days and I saved $470 on our rooms. Paying OOP is always cheaper than the dining plan for our family so “free” dining is never worth it for us. And we EAT. A lot.
Add to that my Memory Maker savings of $170 and my souvenier discount of 20% and my Tables in Wonderland discount of an extra 10% at participating restaurants and I’ve more than paid for it.
Can’t you save your Park Hopper ticket from this package and use it later OR to bridge to an AP renewal?
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Just bought an AP and am booked via MVT. Their discounts aren’t what they used to be. Now I would sure be interested on how you saved 30% on room only because that’s what I got .
I booked direct to get my discount. I have a typo I need to fix above because my resort was up to a 20% savings as we are in a value and not a deluxe.
I saved approximately $200 over an 8 night stay multiplied by 2 rooms for a $400 savings and my friend saved $70 for her 3 night stay.
The deluxe resorts are at the 30% range. Moderates at the 25% range.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/special-offers/passholder-holiday-rooms-special-offer/
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We ran the numbers and if I used the 30% AP room discount instead of Free Dining it would have cost $600 more for our family for 7 nights at WL because we definitely want the Hoppers and DDP. If I end up applying my Hoppers to renew my AP it’s an even better deal, but I’m not sure if it will be worth it with the recent increase in cost.
I may be reading this wrong but besides buying a AP do I need to buy a Park Hopper to go from one park to another?
I’d be happy to get 25% on a moderate resort. We used to buy the DDP but found it was just not worth the money.
We purchased APs for the first time in May of this year with the primary goal of having it in case they did anything for SWGE (and we had 2 trips planned for the year).
I don’t regret it because we were able to get the SWGE AP Preview event so that is a win in my book.
However, I do regret it (actually my bank account regrets it) because I have now found an excuse to do more trips. A total of 5 this year. And we live in Ohio so flying is our only option. We did get the Companion Pass on SW but once that is gone at the end of this year, I doubt we will renew the AP. Too much money and I have no self control when it comes to booking trips 
(plus, with the price hike, it will take more to breakeven). But, I’m enjoying the heck out of it while I can!
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I can so relate to all of this. I keep saying I won’t renew my AP but year after year I still do.
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Once you have an AP, you can hop as much as you like! I’m not sure why the OP said they needed “Hoppers” and DDP.
ETA: I wonder if the OP is the only one in the party with an AP, and everyone else would need the park hoppers?
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I think the OP had to buy Park Hopper tickets to get Free Dining.
You must buy Park Hopper tickets to get a FD package.
FD is only given for packages including hopper tickets and a hotel.
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i don’t regret it because i base the decision on the ticket price savings for multiple trips a year. I do not understand why buying a package that requires buying park tickets makes any sense if one has an AP, but maybe i’m missing something.
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I did a spreadsheet (with Costco $912 price) and decided to buy one for me (not whole family) for a 2020 nine park day trip. With the memory maker benefit ($170) and park hopper (which we unfortunately will have to get to work around all the Halloween parties), and 10% TS discount, conservatively I am already within $150 of break even on my first trip (not factoring in merchandise discount) and using UT discounted ticket prices as the benchmark). And that’s assuming only six eligible TS discounts. We will be making one additional smaller trip to Orlando (to UOR) before it expires in 2021 (and plan to jet over to WDW for a 1.5 day side trip). When you add 2 day passes (even convention price) plus parking since we will be off site for that trip, it will easily pay for itself. That will be a wrap on Orlando for us though. California is generally cheaper / closer and I am also looking ahead to my youngest (now 4.5 yrs) being 7 and able to roam around country more!
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that makes a lot of sense. i hope that it ends up balancing positive for you this time, but its a lot of close margins and stuff to think about to make it worth it again for you!
My comment wasn’t related to the AP, sorry. I’m the only one in my family with an AP. I meant that Free Dining is a better deal for us than purchasing separately. I couldn’t be added to the room reservation ahead of time unless I purchased the same package as them. If we didn’t want Hoppers or the DDP then free dining might not be as good of a deal, but my family wanted them anyway so it was actually a great deal for us.