Help Me Crunch the Numbers - Premier Pass

I will be in WDW this summer for 8 days/7 nights and have purchased a package that includes Park Hopper+, Memory Maker, and the summer deal for 1 QS per night. The summer trip will be w/ both of my kids (12yo and 17yo). During this trip we will probably doing about 8 or so TS meals.

In late December the 17yo will be marching in the Rose Bowl parade so we (dh, ds, & myself) are planning on probably 3 days at Disneyland and will be staying within walking distance. The 17yo will not be traveling with us but her group will be performing at DL.

So I’m thinking of upgrading just me to a Premier Annual Pass upon arrival at WDW this summer for the discounts. Here is the cost breakdown:

WDW Ticket (8 days, PH+, Memory Maker) - $701.50
DL Ticket (3 days, PH, MaxPass) - $360
Total $1061.50

A Premier AP would cost $1579, with a cost difference of $517.50. I am figuring with the dining discount (10% WDW/15% DL) and the 20% merchandise discount that I should hit that $500 mark.

Do you think this makes sense, or do I just suck it up and do them separately?

I might even be able to talk dh into letting me do a quick solo trip to DL in September when I’m in San Diego for a work conference…that would definitely put me over the top! :slight_smile:

If the numbers are close we always default to annual passes. Sounds like that may be the case in your situation.

I don’t have DL tickets in it, but you might want to fool around with my Worth It to Upgrade to AP? spreadsheet.

Enter your trip info int he tables and choose AP type. To try to match the DL ticket prices, on your second trip in the table you could try to choose a WDW park days ticket type that is near the $360 DL tix price.

Back in the day, when @len was on WDW Today with the old cast, they used to talk about being able to pro-rate the upgrade.

Basically, what you would do is that, during your WDW trip, you’d upgrade your current 8-day PH+ tickets to a Platinum Plus WDW annual pass (or buy that from the get-go and activate then, if you’ve not already purchased). That sets your “use year” and gets you into your attractions at WDW - for the cost of a WDW pass.

Then, in December, when you head to DLR, you would stop by Guest Services and upgrade your existing WDW pass to the Premier level, getting you access to all of the Disneyland parks and amenities. Because you’re upgrading in the middle of your use year, you would then pay only a portion of the difference in cost between the WDW pass and the Premier. For example, assuming that the cost difference between the WDW pass is $600, you activate the WDW pass in July and upgrade to premier in December, you would then pay only $400 to upgrade (based upon the months left) rather than the full $600.

Hoping that @len will chime in as to whether that strategy still works.

$500 seems like an awful lot to make up in discounts. For just food, you would need to spend (before tax/tip) between $4,000 and $5,000 (closer to 5 since more of your days are in WDW). And I believe you can get the 10% discount for free with the Disney Visa. (I am not sure if all the restaurants overlap though.) Are you planning to spend a lot on merchandise as well?

The prorated upgrade to the Premier pass sounds intriguing…and a great deal if it will still work!!

I played w/ some numbers and based upon a very low estimate of TS meals at WDW along with purchasing at least $400 worth of souvenirs (we haven’t been to WDW since 2011 and I can easily drop $200 in just the Christmas store), that would be a savings of about $160. We are also doing a fireworks cruise that has already been paid for, but I expect I can apply the discount to it that week (I’ve applied other discounts to tours before). That would be another $40.

So that would be $200.

My dining estimates don’t include my dd for a good portion of the week (she will be there w/ a youth group) but I expect that there will be some meals with her so that number will go up.

I might start out planning to upgrade to the Platinum Plus pass (which is $247 more) and work out the DL part later.

This definitely does not work anymore, they will not pro rate. I tried in 2016 when I upgraded my DL pass to a Premier at WDW.

I had the Premier from May 2016-May 2017, and during that time had 6 total trips between the 2 coasts, 3 to each. It was definitely worth the cost then. I currently have AP’s for both coasts, but they are separate not the premier. I am not sure it is worth it for only one trip to each coast, but if you can squeeze a few more in you will get your monies worth.

Thanks for the update! Too bad to hear they’ve stopped doing that.

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