Confused about AP for half of party?

[maddiesdaddy]

My DF and I are getting married at Disney in September!!! Hooray. This is our 2nd marriage so we each have a kid! The family is amazing together and we are truly blessed..

My question is about AP...we each get one for using Disney Fairytale Weddings. And my DF and I are going this weekend for our planning session. 3 days of Disney...

We are taking our family trip/wedding trip in September in accordance with our annual Fall trip.

So...we were trying to use the AP to essentially be our park tickets for both trips...our one this weekend and our trip in the Fall. That's the best use of our AP since I can't fathom a time that we would visit the great DIS more than once a year.

We understand dining plans require a ticket purchase and here's where things get complicated. The dining plan routinely (we have tracked this for the past 4 years) saves us 20-30% off the 'rack rate' of restaurants based on our analysis..so it is a saver for us. But we cannot get a dining plan without tickets and so I thought that I could just get the minium ticket for my DF and I to get the dining plan, then buy the kids tickets...but I read that everyone has to be on the same ticket/dining option...

So, then I thought about the code they offer every once inawhile that allows AP holders to buy a dining plan with no tickets....so if that comes up for our stay, I was thinking maybe we did that for us, then buy the kids tickets and dining...but per the previous rules, to have a dining plan, everyone in the room has to be on the same dining/ticket plan.

It doesn't make any sense for us to buy the kids APs...we just don't go more than once a year for a week at a time.

So, since only half of us have APs...what are my options?

I am very confused at this point..so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[veraletta]

If you have AP you can get AP rate on room which is around 20% off rack rate and then add dining, without everyone else having ap tickets.
They can have their own tickets.

You only need one person to have AP to get AP rate on room and then you can add dining, which if you add dining everyone will have to have dining in the room. Not AP tickets.
They can all have any ticket.

The only time you have to buy tickets to get dining when you have AP is when you want free dining.

I hope you can understand me.

 

[maddiesdaddy]

I can understand what you mean...thanks for the explanation.

That helps a great deal!

 

[SnackyStacky]

As a Passholder, you can ALWAYS book room and dining without tickets. The discount on the room, however, is not guaranteed. Right now, the discounts are only available throu August 28th (I think that's the date)

 

[aubriee]

The only time you have to buy tickets to get dining when you have AP is when you want free dining.

Actually if you use any code other than an AP code, even AP holders must buy park tickets. For free dining it requires a two day park ticket for everyone in the room. For deals like the GP room code, kids play and stay free, PIN codes, bouncebacks, etc only a one day ticket for everyone in the room is required. The only way AP holders can add the DDP without having to buy park tickets is if we book with an AP code or pay rack rate. You're right though that only one adult in the room must have an AP.

Adding the DDP changes it from a room only to a ticketless AP pkg which means the ressie will be subject to all the rules any other pkg is: requires $200.00 deposit, must be paid within 45 days or arrival, and may be charged for any changes after the 45 day mark.

 

[snykymom]

Even if you do book with a package that requires tickets, you can still just get everyone in the room, including the kids, the minimum required ticket (for free dining, it's now generally a 2 day base ticket requirement). Then you two use your APs and save the other ticket for another trip. Once you've checked in, you can upgrade the kids' tickets any way you want.

So you don't have to buy the kids a 7 day ticket as part of the package.

And congrats on your upcoming nuptuals!