There are a few motivators for getting an Annual Pass.
We purchased APs last April. Easter will be our last trip as AP holders. After our Christmas trip in 2016, we decided to buy into the AP. We had a big family trip planned for Halloween and we go to Disney every Christmas, so our 8-day trip, plus a 5-day trip paid off. To further the value, we wound up going for Easter.
Don't purchase the AP just to get the room-only discount. There are many more discounts and perks, believe it or not. For starters, calculate the cost of park tickets vs. buying an AP. I think the 5-day park hopper, as well as our 8-day hopper would have costed right around $1k, whereas the Annual Pass costed about $800. Then we booked our Easter trip, as well, which furthered the park value.
Disney was running a promo last year that gave 20% off at most restaurants and stores. We skipped the dining plan for Easter and put the AP discount to good use. Between meals and souvenirs, I'd say we saved right around $100. Not A LOT, but in the grand scheme of things, that's a table service meal!
We skipped Tables In Wonderland because of the 20% promo and the fact that we mostly travel during the holidays (Easter, Halloween, and Christmas/NYE) when the TIW discounts are blacked out.
To answer your question, though...
We were able to get AP room-only discounts for last Easter and this Easter. Last Easter, the deal was so good that we simply couldn't pass it up. We paid $181 a night with the discount. Granted, this was after the construction started, but still! We're staying Yacht Club this time around and paying $499 a night—also NOT BAD for a Deluxe. Both prices were available in February ('17 and '18).
I think it'll depend on when and how you travel. In our case, yes, we saved money on things we would have spent money on (park tickets, souvenirs, etc.) YES, the AP also led to us booking more trips and traveling more frequently. Fortunately, we predominately use Visa and our Southwest card, so we used our points to fly and it didn't get overly expensive. All in all, this year was expensive, but not nearly as pricey as it would have been sans AP.