Back in Business

July 20, 2023

I am an Annual Passholder at the Walt Disney World Resort for a second time.

This time I got one for my wife as well. Was it a wise financial move? If you look at just the trips we have on the books, no. Does it give us the freedom to look at a few extra trips next year? Yes. Was there any buyer’s remorse? Surprisingly, no. Why is this surprising? Because I really wrestled with the decision. If you read my article a few months ago about purchasing an AP purchase, you know where my headspace was during this back-and-forth. I found myself REALLY putting forth tremendous effort in rationalizing this expenditure.

I wheedled.

I cajoled.

I bargained.

I made a pros and cons list and somehow twisted the cons into pros.

In the end, I convinced myself that if I didn’t pull the trigger, AP sales would inexplicably be paused or stopped indefinitely the next day, and my chance would have evaporated before my very eyes. However, even after all of the consternation that went into the decision, upon making the purchase I had zero regrets. In reality, I felt a huge weight come off my shoulders. After some self-reflection and soul-searching I realized why I was so reconciled to my choice: freedom.

Park tickets are one of the main concerns when booking a WDW package. Transportation down there, accommodations, food, and tickets are the Big 4. We mitigate the food costs with Disney gift cards. A LOT of Disney gift cards. We’re also always on the lookout for cheap airfare. But the accommodations and tickets never seem to decrease in cost. They only go up. Walt Disney World has a variety of discounts to help with lodging, but the best of those are- yep, annual passholder discounts. But those tickets… oof! So in getting APs, we now have a degree of freedom for how we would prefer to Disney.

For example, our upcoming trip in December is a 4-night stay. We’re doing Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party on our arrival day and Jollywood Nights After Hours party the evening before our departure. However, we are arriving at MCO at 9:00 AM and we aren’t leaving on our departure day until 4:00 PM. Our original plan was to get two 2-day Park Hopper tickets for the Saturday and Sunday between the two parties. I’m sure that we could fill the two party days and our departure day with activities that don’t involve the parks (especially during the holiday season!). We could tour the resorts and look at decorations. We could visit the Springs. We could enjoy our resort. But having that freedom to hop into EPCOT for lunch or hitting up the Emporium for some last minute souvenirs before heading to the airport is an outstanding perk!

We also have a podcast meet-up trip in September and that package had 4-day Hopper tickets with it. Now we can swing into a park on our arrival day if we choose. We will also be on property in January for the Children’s Pastor Conference in January. I’m sure that the Conference will offer some sort of discounted park tickets for the down-time at the Conference, but now we don’t have to worry about it. We’re even flying in a day early and we can go where we please.

In some ways, these APs will probably cost us more money. We’re already scoping out long weekends during the Spring and Summer to “maximize our value.” Of course the concept of this being a “value” is laughable because of the other three heads of the WDW vacation expense monster: Airfare, rooms, and food. But once again, we can use those AP discounts on merch, food, and occasionally score some great room discounts as well. Is it going to save us money? Well, not as opposed to omitting trips altogether, but if we were going anyway…

I can come up with a few hundred excuses to rationalize this purchase, but honestly, in this matter I will prescribe to the Marie Kondo philosophy.

Does it spark joy?

So. Much. Joy.