Free Dining or Annual Pass Discount?

[bluebeauty18]

Hi! I have a question and I knew this would be the place to get the answer! Me and my mom are currently booked under the free dining offer for November 29-December 7. We are stayinf at a Value resort but are payinig to upgrade to deluxe dining Now we have been annual pass holders before and were thining about buying them again. I know you can not recieve the free dining plan if you use your annual pass and don't buy park tickets. Now my question is which would be cheaper to recieve the free dining or buy the annual pass and recieve that discount on the resort? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[WDmommyof4]

For me, my mom and my four children, it was cheaper to purchase a room only discount with my annual pass and add on the deluxe dining plan as a ticketless package which you can do if you are an annual passholder. I am still buying my mom and two youngest sons 6 day FL resident park hoppers when we arrive, but it was still cheaper this way than with free dining.

You will need to add up the total cost of the package and the total cost with the room discount, purchasing the annual passes, and buying the dining plan or paying for your meals. Once you do this, you will be able to see what is best for you. I believe it is different for everyone's individual situation. However, if you plan to return within another year, the annual passes can save you from having to buy another round of tickets as well.

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

Just need to make the call and crunch the numbers. Call and ask them to price with an AP discount, then come up with a ballpark on what you would spend for food. You can also pay for the DP with the AP discount and not have to get the tickets.

 

[sebzmom]

Being a super cheapo number cruncher I have been through the same dilema. What I found out is if you are going for Free Dining, you can buy 1 day tickets and use the value of that ticket towards your Annual Pass!! You can do that with the Concierge or at the park.

 

[DisneyBride'03]

good advice here!! I have always gone with the room discount..whether it was a code or AP..just renewed my AP and the disounts are great...you can always cut corners with food....I always go with the best intentions of TS, etc...our trip in May, we cancelled some and were fine with CS meals and saved lots of $$$
good luck and happy planning!

Have a great trip!

 

[Disneyfied4]

I love to crunch numbers. It was less expensive for us to buy annual passes, use the AP discount with the dining package. Run your numbers again. I do think Disney is trying to keep us loyal folks happy too :>

 

[stitch34]

We're staying value with deluxe dining. Ran my numbers for free dining versus Ap rate on the room and adding deluxe dining - and for us that was much better. It would have cost us more if we did the free dining - can't recall right now, was a while since I did the math - but somewhere between $100 and $200 more.
The cost of buying one-day tickets for all of us, plus the cost of upgrading to deluxe from QS really made it too much. Now, if it were regular dining and upgrading to deluxe, I think when i did my math that it worked out okay.
But overall, doing the AP rate was the best savings for us.

 

[marie1981]

If this can help in your decision... The current promotion for AP does not cover your entire trip. It is available from 29/11 to 12/3. The standard rooms are $54 + tax and the prefered are $69 + tax.

Time to redo the math !

 

[bluebeauty18]

Thanks so much for all the info! I will definitely do some number crunching this week and try to figure it out!

 

[shoes99]

We chose the AP rate at All Star Sports instead of free dining for early December. DH has hopper days left on his 10 day pass, and I have an AP I purchased at a friends & family discount. We purchased the Tables In Wonderland discount dining card in Sept pre cruise and will use it again in December 2009. We must have gotten the last room at the values for 12/9 to 12/14 because when I check online there is nothing available. We have stayed at All Stars before during PW, so we know the drill. DME to All stars, rental car at CCC for getting around property, DME back to airport.