Disney Dining Experience Discount Card with AP

[DawnCt1]

There are ten of us going on our WDW vacation this summer. I am responsible for feeding five of us. but if I were to get a discount on a sit down meal for up to 10 people, its a nice "gift" for my SIL. The only way to get the discount card is to buy an AP. This will be almost $300 more than the Stars and Stripes LOS pass that I usually get. It seems to me that the least this will be is "a wash", which will be fine. The upside of this, is, if we return to WDW in the next year, its "one less pass" to buy. It seems that the only black out dates occur during holiday time, according to the person I spoke with this morning. Any thoughts on this "investment".

 

[Tinkerbelll]

I say go for the AP. BF and I decided to purchase them in January and were pleasantly surprised at how many other discounts are available, aside from the ability to get the DDE. There were two of us that used the DDE on our 10 day trip and we got our money back + saved $50.00. If you have 5 people, and are planning on eating at restaurants as opposed to counter service for most of your meals, it will definatly be worth it. Plus, there are many other discounts, such as at the World of Disney store in DTD, for example. This was very nice because we saved at least an extra $30.00 on souvenirs. There is an AP discount for Mini-golf (I think it is half price) and we had a blast our last night there at the Fantasia Gardens course. There are plenty of other discounts that the AP offers... We love our AP's and would recommend them to anyone! Careful though... If there are any thoughts lingering in the back of your mind about going again within a year, it's hard not to give in to them when you have an AP! You want to get the most of your money, after all... we've been twice since purchasing them in January and have at least 1 more short trip and 1 long one planned before they expire (not to mention plans to renew them at the discounted price next January!!). Good luck with your decision!

 

[DawnCt1]

I say go for the AP. BF and I decided to purchase them in January and were pleasantly surprised at how many other discounts are available, aside from the ability to get the DDE. There were two of us that used the DDE on our 10 day trip and we got our money back + saved $50.00. If you have 5 people, and are planning on eating at restaurants as opposed to counter service for most of your meals, it will definatly be worth it. Plus, there are many other discounts, such as at the World of Disney store in DTD, for example. This was very nice because we saved at least an extra $30.00 on souvenirs. There is an AP discount for Mini-golf (I think it is half price) and we had a blast our last night there at the Fantasia Gardens course. There are plenty of other discounts that the AP offers... We love our AP's and would recommend them to anyone! Careful though... If there are any thoughts lingering in the back of your mind about going again within a year, it's hard not to give in to them when you have an AP! You want to get the most of your money, after all... we've been twice since purchasing them in January and have at least 1 more short trip and 1 long one planned before they expire (not to mention plans to renew them at the discounted price next January!!). Good luck with your decision!

If you saved $50 than I can at least double that! We used to buy AP's all of the time because an 8 day stay was the break even point. Since that time the price of the AP has gone up. I do have a lot of River Country tickets and a couple of Typhoon Lagoon tickets (paper) left that I wonder if I could get by with the regular AP and forego the premium. I would like access to Pleasure Island which would be about the same price as a River Country ticket and I can use my TL tickets for BB.

 

[Tinkerbelll]

If you saved $50 than I can at least double that! We used to buy AP's all of the time because an 8 day stay was the break even point. Since that time the price of the AP has gone up. I do have a lot of River Country tickets and a couple of Typhoon Lagoon tickets (paper) left that I wonder if I could get by with the regular AP and forego the premium. I would like access to Pleasure Island which would be about the same price as a River Country ticket and I can use my TL tickets for BB.

River Country is closed indefinitely. I would call and ask if Disney would honor the tickets for BB and TL though. Also, as a side note, we do have PAP's and coming and going from all the clubs at Pleasure Island was a very nice perk as well. Every night we were at DTD, for eating or shopping, we walked into the clubs for a little while and got a few drinks before heading back to the resort. It was so nice. The PAP's were amazing. Completely hassle free. We never had to worry about admission to anything. We loved it!!! And yes, I believe that with the DDE you will save a ton of money. But also this depends on where you are eating. (And again, once we had the DDE, I made even MORE PS's than we already had, just because I knew we were getting a discount. ) So, even though we saved more money, we SPENT more too! Hehehe. But it was SO worth it. I ate at more restaurants this past trip then EVER, and they were all amazing!!!

 

[DawnCt1]

I know definately that I can present my paper TL ticket at the gate and get into BB. I have done it many times before. It is fun to see the cast members' expression of awe when they see a gate price of $17.94. The RC tickets, I can't get a complete answer to. I know they are worth something. I was told to take them to guest services in DTD and see if they will swap a RC ticket for a PI ticket. But, now that I am thinking of this, I wonder if I could give them a bunch of tickets and upgrade the AP to a premium when I get there. That almost makes more sense. I definately have face value on those tickets to exceed what I would need and current value would exceed that. That's my answer then. A straight AP and worry about the add on's if I need to after I get there. It is always upgradable.