Present value of normal year pass: $392.99
Present value of monthly pass with MARR of 1%:
A = Monthly Payment, n = 11, i = .01
Present Value = Initial payment + A[(1+i)^n -1]/i(1+i)^n
$84.14 + $266.86 = $351
Internal Rate of Return:
1.42% (Borrowing opportunity)

So if you can get 1% interest on your money somewhere, you save $40 by going monthly. With my bank, I can get roughly that on a CD. So take the same money you would have spent on an AP now and put it somewhere interest bearing and you will come out ahead.

What has Georgia Tech done to me…

Jaws was dry for the first few weeks of May, so all the Skippers were homed to new attractions for a while. My roommate ended up at Simpsons. One night, she comes home absolutely FUMING, stomps into the living room and yells, “GORDON! Have I got a story for you!!!”
She was working grouper on level 2 when family approached with a child who was clearly too short to ride. My roommate informed the woman that the child would need to be measured because the height requirement was…
SG: Fifty Inches! I KNOW. She’s tall enough!
TM: Well, maam’ our height requirement is 40″ and I still have to measure her.

The woman protested loudly; but in the end that child was measured and found to be several inches too short to ride the ride. The TM informed the SG of Universal’s child swap policies and directs the family (minus the child and mother) into the correct line. She turns around a little later and sees the family still in line; but this time the mother is with them and there is no sign of the child. She thinks its a little weird but decides to let the loader deal with them.

Well….turns out she was the loader since she got bumped to the next position just as the family was entering the car. The TM puts on her “happy face” and loads the guests in the car but notices that the mother now was a large duffel bag with her that she is trying to shove under the seat.

TM: I’m sorry ma’am that bag is too large to ride. It will have to go against the wall.
SG: THIS BAG STAYS WITH ME
TM: The bag will not be leaving the room, it’s just not safe for it to ride with you…”
SG: THIS IS RIDICULOUS! I’M RIDING WITH MY BAG

The SG stands up to make her point and as she lifts the bag it wiggles.

TM: Ma’am…Did you put your CHILD in that bag?!
SG: HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY PARENTING SKILLS!! WHAT KIND OF PERSON WOULD…”

the bag coughs.

TM: Ma’am. I’m only going to say this once and then I’m going to call security. You need to leave. Right. Now.
SG: BUT…BUT…BUT…
TM: BUT, BUT, BUT…GET OUT!!!

and all I got to do for the Dry was wave a stuffed cow at Twister.

Pricing:

(Florida Resident assumed when beneficial)

• Sea World Platinum Passport: 2 years, $429.95, monthly breakdown: $17.91, per park per month $1.99 (National) $4.47 (Florida)
• Sea World 1 park 1 year Passport: $99.95, monthly breakdown: $8.32
• Sea World 2 park, 1 year Passport: $149.95, monthly breakdown: $12.49, per park per month $6.25
• Universal Premier Pass: $289.99, monthly breakdown: $24.17, per park per month $12.08
• Universal Preferred Pass: $219.99, monthly breakdown: $18.33, per park per month $9.16
• Universal Power Pass (11.15 months): $139.99, monthly breakdown: $12.56, per park per month $6.28. +$14 parking per visit
• WDW Seasonal (8.78 month): $249, monthly breakdown: $28.37, per park per month $7.09. +$14 parking per visit.
• WDW Annual: $369, monthly breakdown: $30.75, per park per month $7.69
• WDW Premium: $489, monthly breakdown: $40.75, per park per month $5.82

Observations:

• Throwing out the crippled Universal Power Pass and assuming you don’t make it out to Busch Gardens and Adventure Island, the best value annual passes are surprisingly the Disney ones at $5.82-$7.69 per park per month.
• The average valuation of access to a park per month is $7.46
• To get year round access to all 12 local parks, you would have to pay at minimum $6.48 per park per month, or $77.80 a month.
• Out of all of these passes, only the Preferred pass is available for renewal on a month to month basis. IE, if you purchase your first year at the flexpay monthly rate, your contract is for one year, after that it can be cancelled any time.
• If you plan on more than 5 visits per year to Universal, the Universal Preferred pass is a better deal than the power because of parking. You can however, only purchase one preferred per party and use that pass for parking and discounts.
• If you plan on more than 8 visits per year to Disney, the WDW Annual pass is a better deal than the seasonal because of parking. You can however, only purchase one regular annual per party and use that pass for parking and discounts.
• Sea World’s Platinum Passport is the strange one of the group. It offers access to all Worlds of Adventure/Busch/Whoever owns them at this time parks across the country, bringing the value to $1.99 per park per month, under half of the next closest competitor. But, 5 of the 9 parks included are strewn about the country. If you travel all over, this pass could be useful. It also has some of the best benefits of all the APs. Free parking everywhere, free PREFERRED parking in Orlando and Tampa, reserved seating at all Sea World Orlando shows plus the biggest Busch Gardens one, and ride again privileges on the 3 major Sea World Orlando rides and the 4 biggest Tampa Bay coasters are the benefits everyone can use. It also includes a one time 50% discount on a single day ticket (~$40), $10 off up to 6 tickets at a time anytime, and 10% off ALL food, beverage and merchandise locations. Personally, this is the model of what resident APs should be like.

Originally, I saw Disney’s APs as a large premium over the other APs available. But after doing the per park breakdown, I realize Disney is ahead of both Sea World and Universal. Universal has been hurting for attendance the last few years and had been offering steep AP discounts, but I believe they started trimming back on those roughly spring of last year, or when Harry Potter land became one year out and Rip Ride/Rockit opened. Between Legoland and Harry Potter land, Disney is going to start seeing more visitors and locals switching over to what are perceived as better value APs. The Fantasyland expansion is still 2+ years out and is not visible from I-4 like Harry Potter land is.

I think Disney needs to take a page from Universal’s book and offer a way of purchasing APs by the month. Require APs to still be initially purchased with a year commitment, but allow renewing on a month to month basis afterwards for $30 a month. Note, the current renewal price breaks down to $27.80 a month. As part of this $15 a year increase, offer more AP benefits such as discounts at the in-park counter service restaurants or 2-for-1 fastpasses. Do the same with the premium, but at $40 a month and toss in Tables in Wonderland for free. Scope down the availability of the resident annual passes to Orange and neighboring counties only, similar to what Disneyland has done with their SoCal deals. Tweak the seasonal AP so that instead of always blocking out all 4 parks only block out the Magic Kingdom. Or allow access on blackout days after 5PM similar to what Universal does. These tweaks would encourage APs to spend more time per visit, therefore becoming more likely to buy food and generate revenue. Remember, unless the park is already at capacity, APs don’t really cost Disney any money to allow in as everything is already staffed.

Encourage the really local APs to hang out at the resorts, maybe include pool access for the premium APs off-season. Give them full access to the amenities at the Magic Kingdom resorts, if most locals are like me, they have never stayed at a Disney resort during the course of their residency. Offer boat rentals on an at-cost basis. The resorts have many great restaurants that have unused capacity for lunch. Give premium APs access to select extra magic hours. As is, the premium AP is pretty crippled, it is an extra $100 for access to two water parks and DisneyQuest. 4 parks is enough for most people already. Make it an extra $150 and make it truly a premium AP. Revamp the AAA Diamond lots to give premium APs access after 4PM. (Although the AAA Diamond lots are already open to the general public, you just have to know to drive to it)

My legs ache, I am hungry for frozen pizza and parades are still running. These tourists are without a break in their day. And I am beat halfway through. Supposedly at my physical prime. While being beaten by infants. At least I’m not mental.

Even on rails you can have a serious traffic jam.

These Alice in Wonderland cutouts appear on the back path between Tomorrowland and Toontown fair as part of the Halloween Party decorations.

Watch Music at the Grand Floridian

Here is a video I took in the Grand Floridian lobby of a band playing Part of Your World. And I leave you with this one final picture from the top of the Swiss Family Tree House.

Having a large selection of booths is a nice thing but it comes with a caveat: For each one I visit, I have to wait in yet another line. And these are not short lines, generally taking about 20 minutes. If I get 3 dishes, this is an hour waiting in line, to pay for something. The bottleneck is not the food but the purchase. I think Disney should move to a token system where the guest purchases all of his tokens at once up front and just turns in 1 or 2 for each item he gets. Along with this should come (generally) uniform pricing. Make all food 1 token, drinks 3. Adjust the portion to match this new price. Stick some token vending machines around world showcase. I do see why Disney currently charges the way they do though: It leads to more spending. If you are paying as you go, you are much less likely to prebudget or realize how much you have spent. If the system was prepurchase, guests could easily buy a specific amount of tokens and stop after they have used them. Still Disney should fix this problem because it kept me from purchasing things today.

I (mostly) understand paying $2.29 for a cup of coke. I can understand paying $24.99 for a buffet. I don’t understand paying $4.50 for part of a slice of pizza. Just plain sausage pizza too, not with caviar or veal or something. After eating your $5 dollar bill, you are still quite hungry. So you go get in yet another line and get a thimble of cheddar cheese soup for $3. By the time you are actually full, you probably have had 4 or 5 things adding up to about $20. For this $20 you have to eat with a plastic fork, while standing up, with no drink, and have to wait in line for an hour. Or you could go drop in to a counter service restaurant and for half the price be full, have a drink, and sit down in air conditioning albeit still with a plastic fork. I like the idea of sampling many foods. I like the idea of the whole festival. But I don’t like the idea of spending $20 on Costco-reminiscent samples. Disney should deflate their prices a bit. Or increase the portions. I think this would increase revenue because people would feel like they are getting a better deal each time they stand in line for 20 minutes. Even if they lowered the price and the portion, it would allow me to sample more things. There are tons of things on the menu I would like to try, but I can only sample 3 or 4 of them (minus the mandatory cheddar cheese soup).

My third gripe is the environment the festival creates. It clogs the pathways, it takes over sitting areas. But it generates more people walking around with food. So Disney, please add some tables or benches or something. I like to sit down to eat my food and not have to worry about my ankles being taken out by a stroller while eating.

When music is switched out, you are unable to experience the old memories in the same way. With the new Spaceship Earth music, the ride feels entirely different. It feels like it is missing something- I feel the lack of the communication tunnel and the decent. Splash Mountain is another highly auditoryly linked attraction. If I say “How do you do?” it probably brings with it a picture from a specific scene. The park is not just filled with the same style music throughout. What tune could I sing to bring back a memory of a different park?

Music adds the final touch to the experience linking everything together. Background makes the foreground memorable.

I called (407)560-PASS to attempt to figure out why I have never received the Mickey Monitor and the corresponding lithograph coupons. First off, there is no menu option for existing passholders to contact guest relations, so I punched 0. After at least 5 transfers, I finally got to the right person. They checked my information and for some reason I had not been marked to receive Mickey Monitor. They said they fixed it and I should receive the appropriate issue in a couple of weeks. That’s great and all except that the coupons expire next week. I ask what he can do to get me the coupons by Saturday or if I can pick them up. Nothing. I ask to speak to a supervisor with more power, and he says he is out. Now I called again, punched 0, and am currently on hold waiting for them to fix it. Ok, now they said the best thing I could do was fill out the contact form on the website. I asked for a supervisor, and he is being much more helpful. Mr. Supervisor said he is putting one in the mail for me today, and I should receive it before Saturday.

For anyone else’s future reference, call and ask for guest services. If needed, request a supervisor.