Which AP makes the most sense?

[Tinkerbell19672]

I’m so confused. We will be in the parks December 17-21. We want to upgrade our tix to APs while we’re there. Deluxe is blocked out the whole time, signature only valid for 17th. It would be nice to upgrade the first day we’re there to take advantage of discounts. Should we upgrade to the signature plus to be able to use it all the days we’re there? We plan on getting maxpass, so having it included in the passes is a big plus for us. But then I was thinking if we upgraded on the 17th they would expire on that date next year and it kind of defeats the purpose of being able to go around Christmas next year. We plan on going atleast twice more next year, probably June and October. Any advice?

 

[Lesley Wake]

Hmm, you do have some trouble that way!

My recommendation would be to do Sig plus, since you have 2 trips planned next year. And using your tickets to upgrade won’t matter which day you do it as the pass will be backdated to the first day you used the ticket. APs will probably go up in price sometime early next year (historically maybe Feb, though we don’t know for sure), so might as well get in at the “cheaper” price now.

 

[bumbershoot]

And using your tickets to upgrade won’t matter which day you do it as the pass will be backdated to the first day you used the ticket.

Yep.

OP, if you use the tickets to go in on the 17th, that’s your anniversary date for the AP. No matter when you upgrade the tickets.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Like Lesley Wake said, if you first enter the park on Dec. 17, that will be the expiration date of your annual pass regardless of which type of pass you get because the annual pass is backdated to first date of entry when doing an upgrade. If you want the most convenience, just get the signature plus and you are good to go. If you are looking to save money, you may find that the signature would be cheaper overall and the deluxe definitely would be, but then you have the hassle of purchasing Maxpass each day until you upgrade to an annual pass with Maxpass. Also, if you choose deluxe you need to plan your future park visits around those blockout dates for it to remain a cost effective choice. So I think it comes down to you whether the time and effort of figuring all that out is worth the cost savings for you.

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

Thanks everyone! I didn’t know about the backdated part. Looks like sig or sig plus would be the way to go for us. Losing Saturdays would be rough to be able to do 3 day weekend trips. And with having to pay for maxpass this trip if we didn’t get plus, seems like it may be better just to get that and not have to think about it. In hindsight, should have planned this trip during non-blockout days but oh well.

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

Oh one more thing....if we waited to upgrade on the 21st, would they reimburse for maxpass if we bought it for 18-20 if the ap would be effective starting the 17th?

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Oh one more thing....if we waited to upgrade on the 21st, would they reimburse for maxpass if we bought it for 18-20 if the ap would be effective starting the 17th?

That's one of those mileage may vary. Officially, the answer is no, they will not. I think it is unlikely but not impossible that you would get a CM who might pixie dust you. Most likely though I think is that they would only reimburse you for the Maxpass purchase for the day of the upgrade not previous days too.

 

[Lesley Wake]

That's one of those mileage may vary. Officially, the answer is no, they will not. I think it is unlikely but not impossible that you would get a CM who might pixie dust you. Most likely though I think is that they would only reimburse you for the Maxpass purchase for the day of the upgrade not previous days too.

Yeah, I’d agree they would probably only do Day-of. If you upgrade to a Signature (or purchase a new one), they will reimburse your parking for that day only. Probably similar to that for MaxPass

When I give friends advice about APs I usually recommend at least Signature, to get the free parking, larger discounts, and less blackout days. In the summer Sunday’s are significantly more crowded than Saturday due to Deluxes being unblocked. But if someone is ever going to go during that Christmas stretch, I say to do Sig plus, as a 1-day ticket plus the MP add-on would definitely cover the $ difference between Sig and Sig+.

You can also schedule your Xmas trip next year to be earlier in December, so you can use the pass for another trip. Also, lower crowds!

Good luck with the AP purchase and I hope you have some great trips!

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh one more thing....if we waited to upgrade on the 21st, would they reimburse for maxpass if we bought it for 18-20 if the ap would be effective starting the 17th?

I might not be thinking clearly, but o wonder why you would delay. You aren’t getting any more time on the ap by delaying the upgrade, so why even bother with that?

Ignoring xmastime next year, is the ap for December, June, and October worth the cost? Especially since it seems you get maxpass with that level of ap?

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

I might not be thinking clearly, but o wonder why you would delay. You aren’t getting any more time on the ap by delaying the upgrade, so why even bother with that?

Ignoring xmastime next year, is the ap for December, June, and October worth the cost? Especially since it seems you get maxpass with that level of ap?

Delaying in case we go with signature instead of sig plus. We can’t uograde on our first day unless it’s to a plus because the rest of the days would be blocked If the only advantage to plus is going closer to Xmas, that won’t matter if our APs expire on the 17th anyway. Doing the math, plus AP would be $600 more than sig so it’s probably not worth it to upgrade to that on our first day, we wouldn’t buy that much food and merch in 3 days. Unless I’m missing something?

 

[dina444444]

Delaying in case we go with signature instead of sig plus. We can’t uograde on our first day unless it’s to a plus because the rest of the days would be blocked If the only advantage to plus is going closer to Xmas, that won’t matter if our APs expire on the 17th anyway. Doing the math, plus AP would be $600 more than sig so it’s probably not worth it to upgrade to that on our first day, we wouldn’t buy that much food and merch in 3 days. Unless I’m missing something?

Maxpass is included with the signature plus. It’s $75 to add on to signature so keep that in mind when factoring.

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

Maxpass is included with the signature plus. It’s $75 to add on to signature so keep that in mind when factoring.

Thanks for the reminder, comes to $285 difference now. Still not sure worth it and it’s kinda driving me crazy now thinking about it Lesson learned, don’t plan to upgrade to AP during a blocked out time.

 

[wdwfan22]

Don't forget not only will you have to pay $75 to add mp to a signature pass, but also $10 per day per person while you are there this trip before you upgrade.

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

Don't forget not only will you have to pay $75 to add mp to a signature pass, but also $10 per day per person while you are there this trip before you upgrade.

Yep I know

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

Their site shows sig plus passes aren’t available for purchases. I’m so confused does that mean they won’t be available at ticket booth either?

 

[dina444444]

Their site shows sig plus passes aren’t available for purchases. I’m so confused does that mean they won’t be available at ticket booth either?

It’s available, it lets me click on it and add to cart. https://disneyland.disney.go.com/passes/

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

Thanks, weird it showed unavailable for me but I was in the calender section. Still confused about which to get when we go on Sunday. Very doubtful we will make it back next December and seems wasteful to buy the plus for more blockout days we can’t use. Upgrading to others won’t let us use the discount for this trip and will have to pay maxpass twice. Picked a bad time to uograde I guess . Sig pass would be perfect for us any other time.