New Annual Passholder -Advice?

Wow! Congratulations on the move and the annual passes! And welcome to our happy family of Disney fanatics.

I can't offer much advice; we have annual passes but don't live in Florida, so we're taking three week-long trips, giving up the passes for a year or two, and then doing it all over again. But if I lived in Florida, I would go as often as possible.

We're in our first year as Florida AP holders too (after 20 years). It took us 3 trips of 14-hour days in the parks to realize that we didn't have to do every single thing each trip. Whatever you miss this trip, you can catch the next time. We've explored the resorts, found some great restaurants, and had more fun once we stopped going commando.

Hello and on your new AP. My DH and I live in Florida and we've thoroughly enjoyed our AP for almost 7 years in a row We go one or two weekends a month all year round expect July and August. This is the first year we also went in July and August and it will probably be the last. We fit in a few 3 day weekends throughout the year, and we take one long 5 day vacation a year too. We would love to stay on property when we visit WDW but it's just not in our budget. If we did stay on site, we could only go about 20 days a year and I will choose 40+days a year off site over 20 days on site every time! If we win the lottery it will be on property all the time, until then I get all our hotels off of Discount hotel sites.

My best tip for saving money on hotels would be to really research the hotels. I am a hotel snob, so I won't stay anywhere except 4 star and up. There aren't that many hotels in the Orlando area that are 4+star, so I've memorized everything I can about each of the hotels and I buy the "hidden hotels" on discount hotel websites. I know the amenities, resort and parking fees, pet policy, etc.... of all the 4+hotels and because of that I'm able to figure out which "hidden hotel" I'm buying. Through the years, this has saved us thousands of dollars. If you don't have OCD like me and you don't want to go through the process of a "hidden hotel" you can still save quite a bit of money on the hotel sites buying the room the normal way. Many of them often have coupons for 5%-15% or more off of certain hotels. I also go through Ebates when I buy my hotel room and I earn anywhere from 4%-15% cash back on the hotel depending on what promotions they have going on at the time.

I joined all the major hotel chains member clubs. They've all been free to join so far and you can get a nice discount, perks and even free room upgrades from some of them just for being a member of their free club. I've also found that calling the hotel directly that you want to stay at will almost always guarantee a better price or they will at least match the lowest price you've found online.

Good morning Rockhold and to WDWForGrownups! You can go here for instructions about a countdown banner

http://www.wdwforgrownups.com/forum/how-add-countdownbanner-your-signature-wdwforgrownups

And you can look here http://www.wdwforgrownups.com/forums/general/technical-questions-and-issues for other things if you need too. Don't forget to look over our forum rules also. Have fun and congrats on the move and the annual pass!

Hi! Rockhold and to our happy website, glad you joined us.

Welcome, Rockhold! We're using our first ever AP this year and the think I have the most difficulty with is remembering to ask for my discount!! I have an AP slider on my magic band, but I've only ever been reminded by a CM once because they're still getting used to things, too. Figure out some way to remind yourself to never touch that Mickey head to a payment machine without whipping out that AP discount card!!

Hi and I'm not an AP so I have no advice but can say I'm awfully jealous!

There are benefits to being an AP, check the WDW section for pass holders and read your Mickey monitor, there are usually room and dine packages available. I've also found that if you call you can get great rates too. I'd rather stay on property and as Alicemouse said always ask if there is an AP discount. Every little bit helps. Welcome to the world of APs. We don't live in FL but I've been a passholder for years.