She's right to a point. I have an AP, but have gotten
free dining every year since WDW first started it. However, to do so, I must give up any room discount and must also purchase at least one day tickets for everyone in the room. Sometimes it's worth it and sometimes it's not. For my upcoming Sept/Oct trip I gave up free dining because I'm traveling solo and the 40% AP room discount I got at CSR easily beat the
free dining offer. In fact, with the money I saved I was able to upgrade to the DxDDP and it was still cheaper than what the basic free dining pkg would have been. However, for my upcoming Dec trip, I am traveling with two adult family members. I am again staying at CSR, but with three adults in the room the free dining beat the 40% AP room discount (plus the other two adults need park tickets anyway).
Anyway, to get free dining you must pay rack rate for the room and buy at least a one day ticket for everyone in the room. You can then use your AP to get into the parks and save your one day ticket to upgrade to another AP at a later date. As long as you don't put that one day ticket into a turnstyle it is not activated, so is good forever. If you are traveling with family and staying in a Value, free dining will usually beat your AP room discount (even with having to buy everyone one day tickets). The AP room discounts will normally beat free dining if you stay in a Deluxe. If staying in a Moderate, it will depend on how many people are in the room, as to which discount is better. You can not combine an AP room discount with free dining though, which is probably what your
AAA TA meant. You have to choose one or the other. No way is Disney giving us a 40% AP room discount and free dining. lol
