Can I pick your brains please RE AP's and booking for 2017?

Started by seraphelle, April 21, 2016, 02:34:41 PM

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seraphelle

Hi peeps,

I am debating what time of year to go during 2017 and whether or not we can afford to go more than once (amongst other things). I'd really appreciate any pearls of wisdom. I've been a few times now and consider myself quite savvy with all this but I'm having a crisis on confidence  ;D ;)

At the moment, we have Dream annual passports that we got from Supertrips for a really good price (2 adults and 2 children), but these are due to expire in November. My first questions are:

1. Is there a way to renew elsewhere that won't cost ridiculous amounts of cash?
2. My eldest will be 12 in October, am I correct in thinking she will need an Adult one at renewal?
3. If we can only renew via Disneyland Paris directly (either in person / online / via telephone) then is there a different price for renewals compared with new passports?
4. If we sponsor people for their own passports during our May trip, does this equate to any renewal discounts? (I should mention here that I've scoured the information I was given when we got our AP's, but it's all in French and I can just about manage 'Bonjour'.....)

With regard to going next year, I have read on here a few times that people have booked a Disney hotel room for 1 person (with the usual package of hopper tickets) and then added on the extra guests with annual passports upon check-in. Next questions:

5. Is this more cost effective?
6. Is it cheaper to do it this way rather than booking a hotel room with the 35% annual passport discount?
7. If it works out better to book with the AP discount, do you book with all details or just 1 persons and then add the others on at check-in?

And finally:

8. If it turns out that the AP discount isn't as good as a crossover offer (for example, the disneylandparis.nl site is currently buckets cheaper than the others for the dates I'm looking at) then again should I just book for 1 person and add on additional guests when we get there (that's assuming we renew our AP's)?

Thanks for reading, sorry it's so long!!!

My eldest starts senior school in September so I'm going to be limited as to what dates we can go from now on (many UK schools charge parents for taking children out during term time) so any savings I can shave off will be helpful!

xx
Disneyland Hotel ~ 3rd - 6th October 2013
Sequoia Lodge ~ 28th October - 1st November 2014
Adagio Val d'Europe ~ 12th - 20th November 2015
Sequoia Lodge ~ 15th - 18th May 2016
Day trip ~ 1st August 2016
HiPark ~ 4th - 6th November 2016
Rive Gauche ~ 17th - 21st February 2017
Adagio Val d'Europe ~ 29th May - 3rd June 2017
Adagio Val d'Europe ~ 23rd - 27th October 2017
Rive Gauche ~ 27th - 30th October 2017
Adagio Val d'Europe ~ 14th - 19th March 2019

seraphelle

Disneyland Hotel ~ 3rd - 6th October 2013
Sequoia Lodge ~ 28th October - 1st November 2014
Adagio Val d'Europe ~ 12th - 20th November 2015
Sequoia Lodge ~ 15th - 18th May 2016
Day trip ~ 1st August 2016
HiPark ~ 4th - 6th November 2016
Rive Gauche ~ 17th - 21st February 2017
Adagio Val d'Europe ~ 29th May - 3rd June 2017
Adagio Val d'Europe ~ 23rd - 27th October 2017
Rive Gauche ~ 27th - 30th October 2017
Adagio Val d'Europe ~ 14th - 19th March 2019

A&S&O

Quote from: seraphelle on April 21, 2016, 02:34:41 PM

4. If we sponsor people for their own passports during our May trip, does this equate to any renewal discounts? (I should mention here that I've scoured the information I was given when we got our AP's, but it's all in French and I can just about manage 'Bonjour'.....)

With regard to going next year, I have read on here a few times that people have booked a Disney hotel room for 1 person (with the usual package of hopper tickets) and then added on the extra guests with annual passports upon check-in. Next questions:
3. If we can only renew via Disneyland Paris directly (either in person / online / via telephone) then is there a different price for renewals compared with new passports?
5. Is this more cost effective?
6. Is it cheaper to do it this way rather than booking a hotel room with the 35% annual passport discount?
7. If it works out better to book with the AP discount, do you book with all details or just 1 persons and then add the others on at check-in?

3. I don't think its cheaper to renew than buy a new pass, but I think they give you additional 6 months - so if you renew, you get 18 months rather than 12. **Please correct this if its wrong**
We usually buy our passes in the middle of August - we go for the last weeks of August the first year, then the first weeks of August the following year (two summer holidays from one AP). We don't renew, but buy a new annual pass the following August (in the third year) which we use again in year 4. So, 4 years of summer holidays for 2 APs.

Optimize when you buy by looking at when you want to go and when you might return.

4. If you sponsor 3 people in one period, you will be entitled to a 12 month extension on your AP. Each of you will have to sponsor 3 people.

5 & 6. Depends on how many of you there are. If there are 4 of you paying full price, it will be around 75% cheaper (1 person paying full price, the others paying 1 Euro per night). If you had an offer where children stay free, it would be around 50% cheaper. Don't forget to take into account that the additional guests would only get B&B, even if the paying guest had the free meals offer.

Planning WDW 2019
1997 DLP x2, 1998 DLP x2, 1999 DLP, 2000 DLP Millenium, 2002 DLP, 2003 DLR, 2004 WDW + DLP, 2005 DLP + DLR, 2006 WDW, 2007 DLP x2, 2008 WDW + DLP x3, 2009 DLP x7, 2010 WDW (+ extra week due to ash cloud!), 2011 DLR, 2012 WDW + DLP, 2013 WDW + DLP, 2014 WDW + DLPx3 (inc. daytrip for Ratatouille preview), 2015 DLR + DLPx3, 2016 WDW + DLP, 2017 WDW x2 + DLP, 2018 WDW + DLP x2. Coming up - ?

stifle

Usually, but not always, if you renew at the park they will give you 18 months for the price of 12.

seraphelle

Disneyland Hotel ~ 3rd - 6th October 2013
Sequoia Lodge ~ 28th October - 1st November 2014
Adagio Val d'Europe ~ 12th - 20th November 2015
Sequoia Lodge ~ 15th - 18th May 2016
Day trip ~ 1st August 2016
HiPark ~ 4th - 6th November 2016
Rive Gauche ~ 17th - 21st February 2017
Adagio Val d'Europe ~ 29th May - 3rd June 2017
Adagio Val d'Europe ~ 23rd - 27th October 2017
Rive Gauche ~ 27th - 30th October 2017
Adagio Val d'Europe ~ 14th - 19th March 2019

never2old

Sorry, not much I can help you with....

We usually stay off site with our APs (it's my main argument with my DH when it comes to renewing the APs....) really comes out cheaper than staying onsite. Even now with the 60% discount (we've finally going back onsite and have booked 3 nights in SLGF) it's still quite a bit more than staying elsewhere... Even if you go to the partner hotels you can get really great deals!

We've renewed our APs twice now (I think), and we got 18 months for the price of 12 (really great value) Note however that if you buy them directly with DLP there are no child prices (same price for children and adults)

A&S&O

Quote from: never2old on April 26, 2016, 02:02:24 PM

We've renewed our APs twice now (I think), and we got 18 months for the price of 12 (really great value) Note however that if you buy them directly with DLP there are no child prices (same price for children and adults)

Anyone buying passes for 11 and unders shoul check out supertrips and discount-ticket-store . They sell child passes which you can't buy in the park.
Planning WDW 2019
1997 DLP x2, 1998 DLP x2, 1999 DLP, 2000 DLP Millenium, 2002 DLP, 2003 DLR, 2004 WDW + DLP, 2005 DLP + DLR, 2006 WDW, 2007 DLP x2, 2008 WDW + DLP x3, 2009 DLP x7, 2010 WDW (+ extra week due to ash cloud!), 2011 DLR, 2012 WDW + DLP, 2013 WDW + DLP, 2014 WDW + DLPx3 (inc. daytrip for Ratatouille preview), 2015 DLR + DLPx3, 2016 WDW + DLP, 2017 WDW x2 + DLP, 2018 WDW + DLP x2. Coming up - ?

seraphelle

Quote from: never2old on April 26, 2016, 02:02:24 PM
Sorry, not much I can help you with....

We usually stay off site with our APs (it's my main argument with my DH when it comes to renewing the APs....) really comes out cheaper than staying onsite. Even now with the 60% discount (we've finally going back onsite and have booked 3 nights in SLGF) it's still quite a bit more than staying elsewhere... Even if you go to the partner hotels you can get really great deals!

We've renewed our APs twice now (I think), and we got 18 months for the price of 12 (really great value) Note however that if you buy them directly with DLP there are no child prices (same price for children and adults)

Thanks mate. I think when it comes to it I'm just going to have to see what the best deals are. It's all 'if' and 'maybe' at the minute. Got an amazing deal last time and thought it would be easy to renew for same kind of price (more fool me!). I do like the idea of 18 months for the price of 12 though.

I think we might be in the parks at the same time in May, so give me a nudge if you see us  :D
Disneyland Hotel ~ 3rd - 6th October 2013
Sequoia Lodge ~ 28th October - 1st November 2014
Adagio Val d'Europe ~ 12th - 20th November 2015
Sequoia Lodge ~ 15th - 18th May 2016
Day trip ~ 1st August 2016
HiPark ~ 4th - 6th November 2016
Rive Gauche ~ 17th - 21st February 2017
Adagio Val d'Europe ~ 29th May - 3rd June 2017
Adagio Val d'Europe ~ 23rd - 27th October 2017
Rive Gauche ~ 27th - 30th October 2017
Adagio Val d'Europe ~ 14th - 19th March 2019

seraphelle

Quote from: A&S&O on April 26, 2016, 02:22:17 PM
Quote from: never2old on April 26, 2016, 02:02:24 PM

We've renewed our APs twice now (I think), and we got 18 months for the price of 12 (really great value) Note however that if you buy them directly with DLP there are no child prices (same price for children and adults)

Anyone buying passes for 11 and unders shoul check out supertrips and discount-ticket-store . They sell child passes which you can't buy in the park.

Yep that's where we got ours from previously. Will probably end up buying youngest daughters from there again when the time comes.
Disneyland Hotel ~ 3rd - 6th October 2013
Sequoia Lodge ~ 28th October - 1st November 2014
Adagio Val d'Europe ~ 12th - 20th November 2015
Sequoia Lodge ~ 15th - 18th May 2016
Day trip ~ 1st August 2016
HiPark ~ 4th - 6th November 2016
Rive Gauche ~ 17th - 21st February 2017
Adagio Val d'Europe ~ 29th May - 3rd June 2017
Adagio Val d'Europe ~ 23rd - 27th October 2017
Rive Gauche ~ 27th - 30th October 2017
Adagio Val d'Europe ~ 14th - 19th March 2019

never2old

Quote from: seraphelle on April 26, 2016, 02:23:44 PM
I think we might be in the parks at the same time in May, so give me a nudge if you see us  :D

Oh, same to you!!  :D