Originally Posted By Dalia3001 Hi again everyone, hope you are all doing well. If you read my latest blast of posts and trip reports back in September, you'll know that I had an awesome trip with the inlaws and my parents and brother, and new husband after my wedding to celebrate our wedding and my "recovery" from Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Unfortunately, after getting back, I learned my Lymphoma had returned, and I am in the midst of undergoing a Bone Marrow Transplant which should hopefuly cure me. My husband and I had to cancel our "real" honeymoon to Italy because of my treatment, and instead of planning another big trip like that, we have decided just to take a lot of short trips over the next year. I should be done with my treatment and ready to travel by mid-February. So the good news is, we want to get annual passes for the first time, and take a lot of quick jaunts down to DL. I'm looking at them, and it really seems like the best way for us would be to get Preium AP's because we would maybe want to go on weekends, which I have never really done before trying to avoid crowds. But if we're going more often, and in February, maybe weekends won't be so bad? I was also wondering about the types of hotel discounts you can get with an AP. Do they vary from one type of AP to another? Any other real benifits from getting the PAP? We won't use the parking, and love to stay onsite, preferable at the GCH. Just wanted to know what you guys thought, is it really worth the splurge for the PAP. I think it is, but I would love to hear lots of reasons, lol. Thanks in advance, Dalia
Originally Posted By Darkbeer First off, go look at the actual Blockout dates. You can find them at <a href="http://www.disneyland.com/ap" target="_blank">http://www.disneyland.com/ap</a> You will see that only about half the Saturdays are blocked out with the Deluxe. Of course, Disney thinks (no guarantees) that the Saturdays not blocked out should be slower than average. How many Blockout days do you think you will show up for, at $30 a day to buy a Blockout Pass, if you only think you will need to buy one or two passes, then stay with the Deluxe. As for Hotel Discounts, ALL 4 AP's get the exact same discount, 10% off the rack rate, and then the opportunity to get lower rates on selected dates. MouseSavers.com does a great job in keep track of all the different specials. <a href="http://www.mousesavers.com" target="_blank">http://www.mousesavers.com</a> As for the other discounts, in park, Premium AP's get an extra 5% off most food purchases (Deluxe AP's get 10% off, Premium 15% off). The Premium AP is the only AP to get merchandise discounts in the parks. The Downtown Disney discounts (with the exception fo the Disney owned World of Disney and Marcelline's) are the same for all 4 types of AP's.
Originally Posted By MickeyMommy Hi Dalia, I'm so sorry to hear that you have had a relapse. I will be thinking positve thoughts for you for a full recovery. Our family has had annual passes for the last 4 years. The first 3 years we had PAP's and this is the first year switched to DAP's because of the price increases. Since my kids are in school, we take alot of weekend trips, so it takes more planning now to avoid the blackout dates with the Deluxe passes, but so far we have only had to pay for one block out day, which is $30 a person for both parks. As far as the hotel discounts, it doesn't matter which type of pass you have, annual pass rates are good for all types. This is a really good perk, as I have gotten rates as low as $89 at the Disneyland Hotel. As far as weekend crowds go, we have been on many holiday weekends. Our strategy is to go early in the morning, take a break around noon when the parks start filling up, and go swimming, have lunch, take a snooze, whatever. Then we usually go to California Adventure in the evenings which is always alot less crowded than Disneyland at night. You miss alot of crowds this way.
Originally Posted By Dalia3001 Thanks for all the good wishes, and great advice! I think it sounds like the DAP will make the most sense for us; we would have to make a lot of trips to make up the difference in price for to PAPs when just the Saturday is blocked off. I'll keep thinking about it for a bit, but I'm excited about being an annual passholder for the first time, something I've always wanted! : )
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 I Dalia3001, I hope you are having a good day In the past I would get a PAP and DH and kids would get the DAP. That way one of us would be able to get the shopping discounts, extra dining discounts, etc. that came with the PAP.. Only twice did DH have to get a blockout pass. Now it's just DH and I and we both have a PAP. Last year with Darkbeer's AP breakdown help, DH and I figured out the math and it was about a break even for him to also have the PAP and it just became more convenient.
Originally Posted By Dalia3001 My husband is the math wiz, and it seems like we would have to come on a lot of Saturdays to make it worth getting the PAP. And if we come to Disneyland enough times that we end up spending the extra money, oh well, think of how many times we would have come to Disneyland! : ) Now I'm just wondering if any of you know why the weekend of Feb 17th and 18th is blacked out. That was a weekend we were thinking might work out well, but could easily postpone to the next weekend. I couldn't find any national holidays on those days where kids might be out of school the Friday before or Monday after....
Originally Posted By Darkbeer ^The 17th and 18th of February is President's Day weekend, a three day holiday for most students, and many government employees. (Monday the 19th)
Originally Posted By 4Disnee Hello Dalia3001, I am so sorry to hear that you had a relaps. I will be thinking good thoughts for your and sending lots of hugs and love. We have 3 DAP's and I have a PAP so that we can get the discounts at the stores and the 15% at the resturants. So I just make sure that I buy everything and it works out great for us that way. Most of the time that we are down in DL the Saturdays are not blocked and we usually go home Sat mornings anyways but we still like to have breakfast in the park.
Originally Posted By Dalia3001 Thanks for all the advice and good wishes, guys. I'm finding it a bit hard to plan, as I don't have a concrete day when I will be able to travel, but I think that the first weekend of March is a reasonable possibility, and the DL hotels have a good cancellation policy. I was wondering if anyone offers a package deal for AP's and a hotel stay. I guess I just have to call DL and find out. The only reason I haven't done that yet is that if I call them, I book a room, lol. I have no willpower once I'm on the phone. The price on the webpage for a room at the GCH for four nights went up $300 overnight, and Expedia is showing no availability for that weekend. If I buy the AP, and a better AP discount becomes available, will I be able to apply that to reservations I've already made? Is it best to wait? Or is the regular 10% discount the best I can hope for seeing as we're coming on a weekend? My brain is a bit addled by chemo at the momment, so I might not be thinking at my best, sorry if some of these questions seem dumb. But planning for a Disney trip does make me feel optimistic about the future, no matter how sloppy my planning may be this time. : )
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 If you book a room at a DLR hotel and a better rate comes up, I believe they cancel your first reservation and give you a new one. So, if you have booked a DTD view room you may not be offered that at the new rate. I'm sure there are some exceptions though. We have booked package deals through WDTC when a "buy 3 get 4th night free" deal comes up. With the AP I don't believe we got a better deal, they just subtracted the passport price from the total. It was kind of fun to get some of the stuff you get with the packages, like special seating or whatever is offered with the package. We tend to book a room with the normal AP rate and then see what comes up. That way at least you have a room for the dates you want and aren't kicking yourself for not booking them. I love the DLR cancellation policy Your questions are not dumb by any means
Originally Posted By Dalia3001 Thanks! I think we will start out just booking a room with the AP rate, which means, we need to get our APs!! I was talking about this with my mom today, and was saying that I didn't want to have to cancel another trip, seeing as my medical future is still a bit uncertain, and we had to cancel two honeymoons already. : ( But she said I should just go ahead and book, and maybe book two different vacations on the assumption that I might cancel one, because that's what real travelers do, and then I won't feel badly about it, lol. I thought that was very good advice, and the DLR cancelation policy does rule! So yay, time to buy AP's!!
Originally Posted By mamamonkey sending happy thoughts your way and hope everything goes well for you. Planning will keep your hopes up so go for it.
