Free dining, need to upgrade tickets to AP while there

[pednurse]

I wasn't sure where to post this---under dining or tickets, but here's the question. My daughter & I will be going during October's free dining period for 8 days (we've already booked it). I will be taking a trip myself with a friend in Feb for 3-4 days, then our family (me, daughter, plus hubby & son) will be there again for 3-4 days next summer as we pass through during our summer vacation. Thus, my daughter & I need to upgrade our tickets to Annual Passes. The thing I'm worried about is if it will mess up our dining plan credits during the October trip if I upgrade after we first enter the parks, rather than waiting until the end. I'd rather do it at the beginning---one, so I don't forget to do it, and, two, so we reap some of the benefits of the AP during our first trip. If I do this, do I need to separate the dining plan from the tickets somehow? How easy is it to do? I'd just hate to do the upgrade at the beginning, then have problems when we try to do our first meal. FYI, we are staying at Pop in October, doing the quick service dining. The only time I've done a dining plan was 2 years ago when my friend & I left our hubbies & kids at home to go to WDW to celebrate our 40th birthdays and we scored free dining then too. But as I wasn't going to be going again for a while, I didn't have to worry about any upgrading. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Dizneydaz]

It shouldn't matter when you do the upgrade. I would do it the first day you use the tickets.

 

[purple figment]

I haven't read about problems with the dining plan when upgrading to an AP for quite a while. It was happening back when LILO was being implemented at the resorts a couple of years ago. With all the current changes, however, who knows what will happen.

I would go ahead and upgrade just your ticket after entering the park once because of the AP perks. Use your KTTW card for the dining credits at least once after you do the upgrade. If there's no problem using the credits, you can then upgrade your daughter's ticket. If your KTTW card doesn't work, use your daughter's and after you've used up all the credits, upgrade hers before the end of your vacation.