AP rates vs Free Dining

[DISNEY1975]

In 2021, my DD will be performing at Disney World twice for different groups she is in. Since I will need (want) to go twice, I am most likely going to buy an AP for my husband and myself and possibly take a 3rd quick trip in December to see the holiday decor.

My adult son will likely go on the Dec trip, as it will be on/very close to his birthday and he does want to see SWGE some day. My daughter will need to purchase her package through her programs, which will include tickets for the days she is there with the group. On one of her April trips, we will not send her back with the program, and will extend her stay, having to buy tickets for her, for the remainder of her stay.

My question is.... Since my husband and I will have APs, but DD and DS will have separate tickets, if Free Dining is out while we are there and its a better rate than the AP room discount, could we qualify by one person in our party having the ticket minimum? I now there is no double dipping..just asking in case the Free Dining promo is a better deal for us.

Thanks

 

[KayaWildfire]

You have to all be on the same package, meaning you have to buy tickets for everyone, even if you have an AP. You can "save" the value of an expired ticket for future use, but you're going to have to buy tickets for everyone.

 

[DISNEY1975]

You have to all be on the same package, meaning you have to buy tickets for everyone, even if you have an AP. You can "save" the value of an expired ticket for future use, but you're going to have to buy tickets for everyone.

How do we save the value of the ticket? Normally we get a 10 day and it clearly states the dates we can use them on the package..usually few days beyond our trip dates.

Also, I dont think my husband will agree to buy more tickets we wont be using any time soon. 3x next year and my youngest Disney fanatic graduating HS the following year. I wont get him to go back for quite a while....probably until granchildren are born! Now its 2 against 1! Im sure Ill lose a solo battle against him!

 

[KayaWildfire]

How do we save the value of the ticket? Normally we get a 10 day and it clearly states the dates we can use them on the package..usually few days beyond our trip dates.

Also, I dont think my husband will agree to buy more tickets we wont be using any time soon. 3x next year and my youngest Disney fanatic graduating HS the following year. I wont get him to go back for quite a while....probably until granchildren are born! Now its 2 against 1! Im sure Ill lose a solo battle against him!

You basically just let them expire, but keep the numbers handy. When you go to buy tickets again, you can use the value of what you paid(say $300) towards a future ticket. So if in the future you would like to buy a $500 ticket, you would only pay $200 since you have $300 already. It doesn't seem like the best deal for you to do this because of the long time frame between visits. And you will get AP discounts on food and you can buy at tables in wonderland card as well so they may work out better financially for you. Another thing to point out is your DD will end up with a half used ticket due to the requirements of everyone having the same thing(you all have 10 day tickets, but she only uses 5 after her competition), you can't save the value of that one.

 

[Disneylover99]

In 2021, my DD will be performing at Disney World twice for different groups she is in. Since I will need (want) to go twice, I am most likely going to buy an AP for my husband and myself and possibly take a 3rd quick trip in December to see the holiday decor.

My adult son will likely go on the Dec trip, as it will be on/very close to his birthday and he does want to see SWGE some day. My daughter will need to purchase her package through her programs, which will include tickets for the days she is there with the group. On one of her April trips, we will not send her back with the program, and will extend her stay, having to buy tickets for her, for the remainder of her stay.

My question is.... Since my husband and I will have APs, but DD and DS will have separate tickets, if Free Dining is out while we are there and its a better rate than the AP room discount, could we qualify by one person in our party having the ticket minimum? I now there is no double dipping..just asking in case the Free Dining promo is a better deal for us.

Thanks

You could get free dining for one person if you just want to put one person in the fd room and buy tickets for one. Then you could share your fd credits, but the credits will only be on the magic band of the person assigned to the room.

It’s only going to be worth it if you can’t get a discount of more then the price of the quick service dining for one at a value or moderate which is $55.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

You would need to do the math, but I think you will find it more cost effective to book rooms with an AP discount and use your AP for the dining discounts that come with it (and even consider purchasing the TIW card for further discounts) than it will be to book FD and shell out hundreds of dollars for tickets you will not use in the near future.

Edited to add: if you go the AP discount route, you may also want to consider purchasing the tickets you need for your children from a discount seller, like UT, to get some savings on the tickets they will need for their various trips.

 

[Lynne M]

Moving this to the Discount Codes and Rates board.

 

[Gehrig1B]

Take the AP discount, it will most likely be a wash and it sounds like Tables in Wonderland would be a better deal for you and your family anyway. We have never found free dining worth it for us with our AP discounts and the TiW card. Having said that we almost always stay deluxe.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

Because of the ticket complications, you almost certainly will find it *easier* and more thrifty to just work with AP discounts. The only exception I can see is IF this trip you mention with possible Free Dining is the first trip in your series of trips. Then, you could buy yourself tickets as required and upgrade them to the APs you need for the later trips. But if you will already have activated APs by the time the FD trip rolls around, it just won't make sense.
Two things to think about:
1) You don't mention where you might stay, which affects the AP discount you can get. Values get the smallest percentage off, Deluxe the biggest. A goodly number of people on the boards will poo-poo FD compared to an AP discount because they always stay deluxe. 30-40% off an $800/night room is a sum comparable to what small families or couples would spend on food.
But if you're, say, a Pop Century family, the math works out differently. The room costs less to begin with and then you get a smaller % as your discount, so for some families FD really is a bigger savings. You're unusual because your party will have a mix of people with APs and tickets, which is why I think the AP discount is less of a headache and probably a better deal.

2) Here's my math on Table in Wonderland: you can only buy TiW IF you have an AP already (or are DVC, etc, but not relevant to current case). The AP gets you 10%, so the promoted "20%" off with TiW is really just an additional 10% off what you get by having the AP that allows you to buy TiW in the first place.
So, while many people say TiW pays for itself after spending $750 because 20% off $750 = the $150 you paid for TiW, I disagree. I say it takes $1500 in spending for the extra 10% TiW affords you to pay for the $150 purchase price.
Now, you have multiple trips planned, and I can see a family of 4 going past $1500. But it takes that $1500 before you are seeing any savings at all. So just taking the AP discount you get already might bring more savings overall, esp since you're getting the AP for the savings on tickets, so the rest is gravy.
Enjoy your year of Disney!

 

[DISNEY1975]

You could get free dining for one person if you just want to put one person in the fd room and buy tickets for one. Then you could share your fd credits, but the credits will only be on the magic band of the person assigned to the room.

It’s only going to be worth it if you can’t get a discount of more then the price of the quick service dining for one at a value or moderate which is $55.

Hi! We will all be sharing a room (3 -4 people), so 2 will have APs and 1 or 2 with tickets needed for the particular trip.

Take the AP discount, it will most likely be a wash and it sounds like Tables in Wonderland would be a better deal for you and your family anyway. We have never found free dining worth it for us with our AP discounts and the TiW card. Having said that we almost always stay deluxe.

Yes, we too stay at Deluxe resorts. Lately its been Poly or YC, but due to the number of trips we will be taking next year, Im leaning towards BWI and YC to save some $$ where I can. WL is a must for our Dec. trip. Its on my bucket list to stay there during the holidays!

Because of the ticket complications, you almost certainly will find it *easier* and more thrifty to just work with AP discounts. The only exception I can see is IF this trip you mention with possible Free Dining is the first trip in your series of trips. Then, you could buy yourself tickets as required and upgrade them to the APs you need for the later trips. But if you will already have activated APs by the time the FD trip rolls around, it just won't make sense.

I never thought of that. Thank you so much!