AP and Free Dining

[MinnieVanMom]

We have AP's and also need to renew our AP's when we arrive in March. We are considering the Free Dining package but it says you must buy 2 days of base tickets.

Do they have a Free Dining package for AP holders that doesn't require the 2 day base tickets? Or would it be worth it do the package and apply the cost to our renewal?

 

[TDC Nala]

Nope. In order to get free dining you must buy at least 2 day base tickets, whether you have an annual pass or not.

It's up to you whether or not you want to buy the tickets and save them to apply to your renewal.

 

[mickeynut1]

You would have to purchase at least the 2 day base ticket in order to get free dining, even with being an AP holder. But as you mentioned, you could use that 2 day ticket to renew your AP .

 

[MinnieVanMom]

Thanks, you always answer so fast! I think we need to sit down and crunch the numbers to see if the FD is better than OOP. We do love to eat at Disney but cost does become a factor.

 

[Gingerg11]

So, if I understand correctly, to purchase the DDP, you must also purchase a 2 day base ticket, however, you can apply the cost of the 2 day ticket to the renewal cost of your AP? So if the 2 day is $160.00, that gets subtracted from the total cost of the AP renewal say, $400 leaving you a balance of $240 on the AP.

If so, that's not so bad...

Jennie

 

[Cafeen]

So, if I understand correctly, to purchase the DDP, you must also purchase a 2 day base ticket, however, you can apply the cost of the 2 day ticket to the renewal cost of your AP? So if the 2 day is $160.00, that gets subtracted from the total cost of the AP renewal say, $400 leaving you a balance of $240 on the AP.

If so, that's not so bad...

Jennie

To purchase DDP, you have a couple options being an AP holder.

#1 - Book rack or AP rate and have reservation converted into an AP Ticketless package. This is available only to AP holders staying on either Rack or AP rate. You do not need to buy separate tickets for this.

#2 - Book any (room only) rate and purchase 1 day base tickets for everyone in the party. This is available to everyone. If the AP rate is higher than a discounted rate, this may end up saving money based on length of stay and traveling party. These tickets can then be used to renew the APs.

You are correct on the other side of it though about the ticket cost being used toward the AP (renewal and purchase).

 

[willowsnn3]

So, if I understand correctly, to purchase the DDP, you must also purchase a 2 day base ticket, however, you can apply the cost of the 2 day ticket to the renewal cost of your AP? So if the 2 day is $160.00, that gets subtracted from the total cost of the AP renewal say, $400 leaving you a balance of $240 on the AP.

If so, that's not so bad...

Jennie

More like a balance of $331 & change, lol. Just did this a couple weeks ago.

 

[TDC Nala]

So, if I understand correctly, to purchase the DDP, you must also purchase a 2 day base ticket, however, you can apply the cost of the 2 day ticket to the renewal cost of your AP? So if the 2 day is $160.00, that gets subtracted from the total cost of the AP renewal say, $400 leaving you a balance of $240 on the AP.

If so, that's not so bad...

Jennie

If you want FREE dining you have to buy two-day base park tickets.

If you're paying for dining it's a 1-day park ticket on a regular package. Or you can book an annual passholder room/dining package with no tickets. The AP ticketless packages may not be eligible for certain package discounts or PIN codes, but AP room discounts can be applied.

 

[skylilly]

I have a question we are going Nov 27 thru Dec 3 and have free dining. If we decide before the end of the stay to purchase Annual passes can we do this and get credit for the tickets we already purchased?

 

[Cafeen]

I have a question we are going Nov 27 thru Dec 3 and have free dining. If we decide before the end of the stay to purchase Annual passes can we do this and get credit for the tickets we already purchased?

You have until 14 days after the tickets' first use or until the end of the last ticket day* to upgrade. Whichever comes first.

You CAN upgrade from base ticket (or any variation) to AP, thus applying the cost of the original ticket to the AP purchase. Note that if the original ticket is valued higher than the AP (10 day hopping NE WPF&M for example), the difference will not be refunded!

The "last ticket day" means that if you have a 6 day ticket, your 6th day in a park would be that last day. I think CF more clearly explains that in his ticket sticky, but that's the basic idea. However, there has been suggestion that this only applies to media not on a KTTW card. If it's on a KTTW card, it may be able to be upgraded after the last use, but before 14 days. See the ticket sticky in the Theme Parks and Attractions Strategies forum for that.

 

[Gingerg11]

Hmm. What defines a ticketless package?

Okay, here's the scenario... Hubby is the only one with an AP. We purchased it to get the discounted room for our trip last month. We are 4 adults traveling. The other 3 of us need park passes anyway. So, we can book an AP room, then book the free dining plan and keep the AP discount? I didn't realize they would let us book multiple discounts...

Then the passes we are obligated to purchase:

Hubby's gets applied to his AP renewal
We upgrade to the # of days and options we want that we would've purchased anyway.

Can we get our AAA discount on our passes?

This is turning out awesome!

Jennie

 

[Cafeen]

Hmm. What defines a ticketless package?

Okay, here's the scenario... Hubby is the only one with an AP. We purchased it to get the discounted room for our trip last month. We are 4 adults traveling. The other 3 of us need park passes anyway. So, we can book an AP room, then book the free dining plan and keep the AP discount? I didn't realize they would let us book multiple discounts...

Then the passes we are obligated to purchase:

Hubby's gets applied to his AP renewal
We upgrade to the # of days and options we want that we would've purchased anyway.

Can we get our AAA discount on our passes?

This is turning out awesome!

Jennie

You can buy the dining plan with your scenario, but you cannot get the free dining plan. If you do go that route, you can use whatever discount you want on the passes, as they are not part of your package.

For free dining, you must book at least 2 day base tickets for each person in the party, as well as forgo any room discounts.

For the ticketless package, you must book either the AP rate, or rack rate and the lead guest must have AP in hand at check-in. This type of package allows you to purchase a dining plan for the entire room without the ticket requirement.

If you choose to do a general public room discount (or just rack rate, but who does that? ), you can purchase the dining plan for the whole room, but each person over 3 must purchase at least a 1 day base ticket as part of the package.

 

[TDC Nala]

Okay, here's the scenario... Hubby is the only one with an AP. We purchased it to get the discounted room for our trip last month. We are 4 adults traveling. The other 3 of us need park passes anyway. So, we can book an AP room, then book the free dining plan and keep the AP discount? I didn't realize they would let us book multiple discounts...

AP holders cannot book FREE dining without buying at least 2 day park tickets.

You can PURCHASE a dining plan as part of a ticketless package...but you can't get it free without buying tickets.

 

[mousefan1972]

AP holders cannot book FREE dining without buying at least 2 day park tickets.

You can PURCHASE a dining plan as part of a ticketless package...but you can't get it free without buying tickets.

And you also can't use the AP room discount in addition to free dining. It is one or the other.

 

[Gingerg11]

Ok. So we cannot have an AP discounted room rate and a free dining plan. That leaves us 2 choices:

Book the discounted room and purchase the dining plan. We are then released from the obligation to purchase any tickets as part of the package.

<Or>

Book the rack rate room and get free dining plans for all but be required to purchase 2 day base tickets for everyone in the room. But the cost of the 2 day can be applied to the AP renewal cost and we would be purchasing tix anyway.

So then this now becomes a multi step process...figuring out if we eat enough to make the DDP worth purchasing at all and if it is, then seeing whether its cheaper for us to get the discounted room or save the money with free dining.

I don't know why this seems so confusing to me.

Jennie

 

[TDC Nala]

Ok. So we cannot have an AP discounted room rate and a free dining plan. That leaves us 2 choices:

Book the discounted room and purchase the dining plan. We are then released from the obligation to purchase any tickets as part of the package.

<Or>

Book the rack rate room and get free dining plans for all but be required to purchase 2 day base tickets for everyone in the room. But the cost of the 2 day can be applied to the AP renewal cost and we would be purchasing tix anyway.

So then this now becomes a multi step process...figuring out if we eat enough to make the DDP worth purchasing at all and if it is, then seeing whether its cheaper for us to get the discounted room or save the money with free dining.

I don't know why this seems so confusing to me.

Jennie

Yes, it's correct. Your choices are, get the room discount and no tickets with a ticketless package and buy the dining plan (if you want it); OR rack rate room, plus at least two day base tickets, and free dining plan.

 

[Cafeen]

Ok. So we cannot have an AP discounted room rate and a free dining plan. That leaves us 2 choices:

Book the discounted room and purchase the dining plan. We are then released from the obligation to purchase any tickets as part of the package.

<Or>

Book the rack rate room and get free dining plans for all but be required to purchase 2 day base tickets for everyone in the room. But the cost of the 2 day can be applied to the AP renewal cost and we would be purchasing tix anyway.

So then this now becomes a multi step process...figuring out if we eat enough to make the DDP worth purchasing at all and if it is, then seeing whether its cheaper for us to get the discounted room or save the money with free dining.

I don't know why this seems so confusing to me.

Jennie

Exactly.

A couple questions to get the juices flowing...

Where are you planning to stay, and what's the "Disney" make up of your party (so count 10 year olds as adults )?

If you're staying deluxe, then it may make it easier as typically room discounts are better for deluxe than FD. So that would at least help that side of the equation.

My general guidelines for FD vs Room Discount (25 value, 30 mod, 40 deluxe, since I believe the AP is 35% at deluxe, the break even points may be a little lower). Note that this is comparing getting free dining vs getting a room discount and then purchasing the plan.

• Value: FD over RD with < 1 adult. Since the value base prices are cheaper, and the discount is lower, you'll save more money with free dining, even if you don't use the entire thing.
• Moderate: FD and RD break even at about 1 adult. It's slightly in favor of FD for lower cost rooms and slightly in favor of RD for the higher cost (think CSR Preferred)
• Deluxe level 1 (say ~$350 rack): Breaks even at around 3 Adults.
• Deluxe level 2 (~$500 rack): Breaks even around 4 Adults 1 Child

While these aren't exact, and they are based on 2011 DDP pricing, it's a good starting point.

A real world example of this is my past 2 trips at CSR, where I opted to choose the room discount over the free dining plan. 2010 I think I would have been better with FD by about $2 per night. This year, since I chose a preferred room, the rack rate would be ~$1741 total, cutting this down 30% would be ~$1219 or a savings of $522. DDP over the same 9 nights would cost me $432, so a difference of $90, or $10 per night. So it's very close at this level (and the room discount may or may not be applied to the last 2 nights, since they swing into the next season, I have no idea there.

 

[Gingerg11]

4 adults, regular dining plan (not deluxe or CS), probably deluxe 2, BC or CR, Oct 2012 around Columbus Day, garden view at BC or Bay View at CR.

With 4 adults in the room, our room cost is usually a bit higher than listed but even if we can only book with a AAA discount, we will not pay full price (that's insane).

Jennie

 

[Cafeen]

DDP in 2012 costs ~$52 per night per adult. So if your room discount gives you more than $208 off per night, then the room discount will be better. If it gives you less, then FD will be better.

Again, in doing these comparisons, it's always assumed that you're interested in the dining plan in the first place and it compares purchasing the DDP if you go the room discount route.

In 2011, around that week BC looks to be about $385 per night base (standard view). So that would give $154 discount @ 40% (I'm sure the extra adult fee is figured in after). Comparing to 2011 DDP pricing, FD would be $184 discount per night.

I would expect a similar comparison for 2012, maybe slightly more on the FD side, since I don't think room rates are rising as much as DDP rates have been (was about 10% between 2011 and 2012)

 

[Gingerg11]

Thanks for your help with all of this. In Aug I think they gave us the discount (35%) after the extra adult charges but before taxes and fees.

Anyway, you explained it very clearly and patiently. Obviously, posters are very knowledgable here! What a great resource!

Thanks again everyone!

Jennie