Cast Member Discount vs. BounceBack Questions (Help needed)

[Laura's Dad]

I have a couple of questions that I hope someone can answer:

We have close friend that works at WDW that has offered to let us use his "Friends and Family" discount on an upcoming 2019 trip. We will be taking 9 of us (6 adults and 3 children). We have done the math between his discount and a Free Dining bounceback that is available right now. My wife and daughter are going next weekend and staying on property and were going to try to book the Bounceback for us. We are also considering getting APs for the first time as we go at least a weekend every Halloween for MNSSHP.

We have done most of our planning with intentions of buying the Dining Plan in order to simplify our meals. We have crunched the numbers in between both scenarios and were leaning to using the Cast Member discount instead of the Bounceback due to the restrictive nature of having to buy the same ticket (we would use 7 day Hopper Passes) for everyone in our party. Some want to go more often during our stay and some less. We had planned on buying 3 APs for our immediate family and then buying the park hoppers from a recommended third party vendor for the other 6 guests.

Getting to my question: If we book the Cast Member discount will we be able to get the Dining Plan added to this discount? Or would we have to buy the same Park Hopper tickets for everyone in our party due to the fact that adding the Dining Plan is considered to be part of a package? Since Cast Members usually have their own park tickets, do they need to have tickets to get the Dining Plan added to their reservation.

We are very close to the date to make a decision on which method would be the best option for our situation. Any help in this matter would be appreciated.

 

[KerryCM]

You can add a dinning plan to a cast reservation. Once your reservation deposit is made, you then own the reservation and are able to call and make changes. It does become a package, but you do not have to add tickets, they can be bought individually.

 

[Laura's Dad]

Thanks. Our cast member friend helped us figure it out. We got it done with the Cast Member discount.

 

[queenbee99]

Is the dining plan the same price when added to a cast member discounted room?

 

[Laura's Dad]

Is the dining plan the same price when added to a cast member discounted room?

Yes. There have been times where they also discounted the Dining Plan, but that seems to now be a thing of the past or very rare.