Last year I purchased an AP for around $225... It was WELL worth it for my family's one and only trip of 2004. The rest of my family members had 5 day Park Hoppers, but the one Premium AP sure went a long way for the entire family of three kids, my wife and myself...
In the end, I believe I spent about $100 more for the Premium AP than I spent on one of the 5 day Park Hopper tickets.
The benefits outweighed the cost - even with us visiting only once!
- The 10%-15% off at many of the shops and restaurants alone may have made up the difference in the cost for the AP in comparison to a 5 day Park Hopper.
- I was able to get room rates at the Grand Californian for about $130 a night, which made the purchase even better. Cha-ching!
- Add on other cool things like all of the pins we got for our dining at certain restaurants and some of our trading pin purchases and we came out far ahead (now my family love to trade pins at DL!).
- Having a Premium AP also just made feel pretty darn cool and special!
Even at the current rate of $325 or so for a Premium AP, I will still plan to purchase another one before my family's next DL trip. I think I have learned the ropes enough to make it well worth the expense, even though it will not be as huge of $$ a windfall as last year was.
If you are able to leverage the power of the AP then I say it is an EXCELLENT way to go...