Our current AP’s expire tomorrow. We can’t decide whether or not to renew. Getting two trips per year in is getting harder now that the kids want to have other vacation experiences. I’m sure I know the answer to this, but if you renew during the 30-day grace period, does your AP expire one year from the original expiration date or one year from the date that you actually renew?
We are holding AP’s (not yet linked to MDE) that we purchased before the pandemic at a substantial discount from Sam’s Club. I am torn as to whether we should link those or renew the ones which expire tomorrow. I get some kind of weird comfort from holding the Sam’s Club AP’s in reserve just in case they ever completely discontinue selling AP’s in the future. What would you do?
You could also just purchase net new and have 1 year to activate if you think you will use it in the next year if you still want to hold onto the non-expiry one.
Never heard or seen a Sam’s club AP discount. We bought regular AP’s before the pandemic and activated them three years later. Got the Photo package when we activated because it was part of the deal when we bought them. On renewal they go from date of first activation.
I’m holding an old AP voucher too and unless I somehow plan a year where I know I’m hitting the parks hard, I’m probably keeping that one in reserve right up until it hits the 2030 voucher expiration.
I think of the voucher this way - every year I don’t use it, I gain about 6% in savings, often more based on Disney’s historical price increases.
I think if I were in your position, I’d just guesstimate if you are going to hit the threshold of the AP being worth it to you this year (sounds like you already found it is), and just keep going with new renewals rather than use the voucher.
In the future if you have a year where you don’t plan on going that voucher will be worth using as a fresh AP after the break.
Playing around with my “Worth It?” spreadsheet with current prices, you’d probably be ahead with a renewal with as little as a 3 day and a 4 day trip if you include some conservative discounts on food/merch spending and including the Photopass add on.
There was one magical time where there was a hefty price increase, but Sam’s (really Tickets at Work) still had “old” AP stock at the previous price - so buying in that week or two time frame ended up being a really nice “discount.”
Which is funny, because Tickets at Work normally is terrible and likes to people about how good their discounts are.
Thanks all for the information and analysis, and yes, the June 2019 Sam’s Club discount was a sweet deal. 4 Adult Platinum Passes for $865.99 / pass + tax, including Memory Maker!
