free dining vs. annual pass for Dec

[amyy]

I just spoke to someone at Disney who was not helpful. I figured you guys will know the answer.

We are booked for 4 nights this December with free dining at POR. By then we will have annual passes. I was thinking if we have annual passes can we take off our tickets to save money. I guess that is not an option. Can someone help me reprice this to see if there is another option. Maybe a room with the annual pass rate and discount card for our dining? Or are there no cheaper options then what we have?

I appreciate your time.

 

[Mickey country]

If you are buying AP's when you are there, just have the cost deducted from the price you already paid for your current tickets (just upgrade them). Then you didn't have to purchase even one day tickets in order to qualify for free dining. We are also going in Dec. with free dining, and have AP's. It was actually going to cost us about $40 more to go the discounted AP rate and buy the dining plan, that did not include the one day tickets that we had to purchase to get free dining (so really it is a $340 price difference in our favor). I also contimplated getting a tables in wonderland card..... Hopefully someone who has one can fill us in.

 

[amyy]

We won't be buying them. We are getting married in Disney next June and they come with our package. Our wedding "person" said we would have them in time to use for our December trip.

Trying to save money is so complicated.....

 

[eliza61]

If you are buying AP's when you are there, just have the cost deducted from the price you already paid for your current tickets (just upgrade them). Then you didn't have to purchase even one day tickets in order to qualify for free dining. We are also going in Dec. with free dining, and have AP's. It was actually going to cost us about $40 more to go the discounted AP rate and buy the dining plan, that did not include the one day tickets that we had to purchase to get free dining (so really it is a $340 price difference in our favor). I also contimplated getting a tables in wonderland card..... Hopefully someone who has one can fill us in.

We perfer the TIW card but we don't like the ddp so not sure if I can be of much help. It gives you 20% of your TS meals including adult beverages and can be used for a party of up to 8 (or it may be 10).

 

[mousefan1972]

If you give me your exact dates, I can plug them into the passholder site and see what comes up. You will very likely save money by switching to an AP discounted room + dining plan package. Buying tickets you don't need adds unnecessary costs to your package, as you know. Or your other option is to just get a one day base ticket w/your free dining package, and save it for a later date. LMK if you want me to check the AP rates.

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Do you know if your APs that you are getting are vouchers? If so, you can save them and use them on later trips. If that doesn't work out best for you, you can use your APs this trip and save the tix that come with your package for another trip. That's what we did on our last trip. We wanted to take advantage of the Buy 4, Get 3 deal so we just saved our tickets that we got with this package to use for a future trip, once our APs expire.

I would look and see what the AP rate is, too, so you know which deal will save you the most. Personally, my DH and I tried the dining plan and it didn't benefit us so something like "free dining" is not a better deal than other discounts that may be available.

Good luck!

 

[DISNEYNY]

We are going Dec 10 - 15 with the AP room rate. We are staying at POP for $54. I believe the offer for Mods was $92. We couldn't use this rate with FDP so we are paying OOP for food this time. DH can't get off work and DD & DS don't eat that much so we will be fine paying as we go.

 

[lovesdumbo]

Looks like AP discount would be about $50/night or about $200. Not sure it there would be availability for December.

Free DDP would be about $80/night or $320 BUT you have to buy $160 worth of tickets you don't need. Those tickets won't expire if you don't use them so you could save them for a future trip-even to renew your AP's when that time comes.

With an AP you can purchase Tables in Wonderland for $75. It gives you 1 year of discounts-20% on table service restuarants including alcohol. You need to spend $375 before you break even. Also when you use the TiW card they automatically add an 18% gratuity.

 

[amyy]

Thanks everyone.

To save our tickets (not the AP) for another trip do we have to pay for them to not expire or just not use them?

 

[shoes99]

Thanks everyone.

To save our tickets (not the AP) for another trip do we have to pay for them to not expire or just not use them?

Just not use them..

 

[amyy]

Just not use them..

WOW-after numerous trips we never knew this. This could save us some serious money. thanks

 

[DISNEYNY]

WOW-after numerous trips we never knew this. This could save us some serious money. thanks

You can save the one day ticket required to get the free dining and it will never expire. If you have days left over on previous MYW tickets those will expire unless you paid for non expiring tickets.