AP w/ May reservations in need of rebooking-free dining

[dawgfan]

I am an AP holder and have a reservation for May 11 to May 16th. When all this Covid hit they cancelled many reservations and some were told to hang on with their reservations for now. I was told by a CM to hang on to mine as the free dining offer did not apply to my dates at that time (also they were not sure if they were going to be able to reopen by my dates at that time and hoped they could). She said that if I hung in there and called to cancel later she was sure that more offers would become available and I would be able to get one. My question is do I have to buy tickets and room as a package deal to get the free dining or can I just move my existing reservation to September as planned and get a free dining offer with room only and AP. My current reservation is with an AP discount. Also I thought they were shifting the AP discounted price to your new reservation if you postponed but if I cancelled online and got rates for the new dates on my own they are much higher....obviously no AP discount at that time period yet.

 

[zemmer]

From what I understand, discounts are not being transferred. Yes, you have to buy tickets as part of a package to get free dining. People have recommended buying the 2 day base ticket and applying them to your AP renewal.

 

[SarahC97]

You do have to buy tickets. I have an AP and had my April trip canceled. I booked in August with the free dining and simply bought the minimum ticket to qualify, which is a two-day base ticket. I know we're going back next year after our APs expire and I plan to use the tickets toward the purchase of tickets for the trip next year. You could also use them toward the renewal of your AP. Or, you could just wait until they release AP discounts past July 9th, which I would guess would be at the end of this month.

 

[vinotinto]

Anyone with a WDW resort reservation from March 16 to May 31 can call and get their reservation changed to free dining June 1 - September 30.

To get the free dining:

• You must purchase a 2-day ticket for each person over the age of 2 on the reservation.
• You must pay rack rate for the room - no AP discount or any other discount (such as Sun and Fun) will apply. The discount is the free dining.

Value and Mods get free QS for each person on the reservation. Deluxe and Deluxe Villas get free regular DDP.

You can "save" the value of the purchased 2-day ticket for later. AT the beginning of your trip, you would need to prioritize your AP at Guest Relations so that you don't accidentally use the 2-day ticket. Once the trip is completed, the 2-day trip will expire and will disappear from MDE. You will need to save the reservation number and when you are ready to use the "value" of the ticket, you can call Guest Services and apply the "value" to a new ticket.

It's sometimes difficult to get value out of the Free dining promos if you already have an AP. It's particularly tricky because AP discounts for September typically come out during the summer. You could switch your May reservation to Free Dining and if an AP discount comes out over the summer for September, you can cancel your free dining booking and book the AP room discounts instead.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I am an AP holder and have a reservation for May 11 to May 16th. When all this Covid hit they cancelled many reservations and some were told to hang on with their reservations for now. I was told by a CM to hang on to mine as the free dining offer did not apply to my dates at that time (also they were not sure if they were going to be able to reopen by my dates at that time and hoped they could). She said that if I hung in there and called to cancel later she was sure that more offers would become available and I would be able to get one. My question is do I have to buy tickets and room as a package deal to get the free dining or can I just move my existing reservation to September as planned and get a free dining offer with room only and AP. My current reservation is with an AP discount. Also I thought they were shifting the AP discounted price to your new reservation if you postponed but if I cancelled online and got rates for the new dates on my own they are much higher....obviously no AP discount at that time period yet.

I don't know who you talked to, but your dates qualified for the FD offer as soon as it was released. Others have outlined the offer quite eloquently. I'm also an AP holder and found FD promos never offer us any value. They aren't shifting discounts to any dates that don't already have discounts released. You could take advantage of the FD offer if you are willing to purchase 2-day tickets and, perhaps, use their value towards your next AP renewal. Personally, I'm just booking and waiting for AP discounts and then I'll re-shop my reservation and modify if need be. I would rather take the AP discount and use my AP for dining discounts than have to purchase a room at rack rate and have tickets sitting in my MDE. It seems like a wasted expense at this point in time.

 

[savemycamera]

Personally, I'm just booking and waiting for AP discounts and then I'll re-shop my reservation and modify if need be. I would rather take the AP discount and use my AP for dining discounts than have to purchase a room at rack rate and have tickets sitting in my MDE. It seems like a wasted expense at this point in time.

I agree with this, and I think that's what we're going to do as well. We are pretty frugal when it comes to planning Disney trips, since we like to go often and don't live close. But we had reservations at Old Key West and the Polynesian for our trip in May. So to me, free dining versus the AP room discount at a deluxe resort seems like a no-brainer.

I do think it's great that they're offering things like this though. I'm sure it will make having to shift everything just a little bit easier.