HELP AP and Dining plan?? How does that work

[lshanks07]

Ok,

The more I try and research the more confused I get. Will someone please spell out the dining plan that you can get with the annual pass (seasonal Pass).

I know I have heard that you can get a dining plan with the annual pass.

I have a pin for free dining..... If I use this, then I can not use my AP as tickets?

Please help.....

Thanks so much in advance....

 

[Mariep26]

I am also just researching APs so I may not have this 100% correct. Here goes..'

My understanding is that if you chose the AP -- that is the discount type you have chosen and since you can only have one discount, you cannot use an FD PIN or other PIN unless you choose to buy a MYW package (which wouldn't make sense if you own APs)
I think you can purchase the same dining plans as you could with MYW package. You just pay list price for them.
I am crunching the numbers to see if AP rates are a better value than the potential promise of FD and GP rates. Given we are in for at least two trips in 2013 and maybe three.. I think AP is probably a better bet for my family.

 

[mickeynut1]

The pp is correct in that you can only use 1 discount. If you use your FD pin, you can still use your APs to get into the parks, but you would still be required to purchase the minimum tickets required to get free dining as having an AP doesn't take the place of the ticket requirement. For GP free dining a 2 day base is required, but I would check your pin details as that might be different. As long as those tickets are not activated, they can be saved for a future trip or used to renew your APs. You can purchase any dining plan with the AP without having to buy tickets, but you would have to pay for it.

 

[Sandisw]

The only way to do an AP "ticketless" package is to book using an AP discount or paying full rate.

If you use any other discount--pin code or general public discount--you have to follow the rules for those discounts and most often, those package discounts include tickets.

As mentioned, to use your Free Dining pin, you will be required to buy tickets but you don't have to activate them. Just by the minimum length required and save for another time.

Good luck!

 

[lshanks07]

Thanks guys!!

I did call and finally got an in depth answer... I will pay rack rate for the room.....and I will upgrade to disney dining (from QS dining) for a minimal amount. We will purchase 1 day tickets and use them to pay for our AP upgrade.


My new question is.... my parents are coming down for a part of the trip and staying in the suite with us... CM said no problem just pay extra adult fee....

My question is.... can they be included on the free dining plan? Would we have to pay for them the entire week or just for their stay?

Thanks again... you guys are awesome!!

 

[purple figment]

My new question is.... my parents are coming down for a part of the trip and staying in the suite with us... CM said no problem just pay extra adult fee....

My question is.... can they be included on the free dining plan? Would we have to pay for them the entire week or just for their stay?

If you want your parents included on the FD pin (you'll have to pay the upgrade to DDP amount for them), they will have to be added to your reservation no later than 3 days before you arrive. You will have to pay the additional adult fees for all nights for both of them and the ticket requirement for your FD pin.

If you add them to your reservation after you arrive, you'll only have to pay the additional adult fee for the nights they will be there, but they'll have to pay for all their food and tickets OOP because they won't qualify for the dining plan.

Are you and your parents flying or driving? Using ME or not? That is another consideration.

 

[party of 3]

Can I ask a ? on his thread as I too am confused. We bought AP's and booked our rooms with the dining plan. Now there is a deal to get 30% off our room. We are staying at the BC. I called and they said I can't use the 30% off because I have to buy tickets. Can someone explain it to me. Should I cancel our reservations and re-book it and just buy a one day ticket? And am I right that our passes are good from the day we activate not buy right?

Thanks for any info.

 

[Nicole786]

Can I ask a ? on his thread as I too am confused. We bought AP's and booked our rooms with the dining plan. Now there is a deal to get 30% off our room. We are staying at the BC. I called and they said I can't use the 30% off because I have to buy tickets. Can someone explain it to me. Should I cancel our reservations and re-book it and just buy a one day ticket? And am I right that our passes are good from the day we activate not buy right?

Thanks for any info.

If you book the 30% general public discount, then you are no longer considered a passholder by the reservation system, and to add the DDP, you need tickets.
HOWEVER, a bunch of us are waiting for the fall AP rates which is generally a greater discount than the general public, and we are hoping those rates are released sometime this week! You can add the DDP to those rates without adding tickets. Hope that helps!

 

[party of 3]

If you book the 30% general public discount, then you are no longer considered a passholder by the reservation system, and to add the DDP, you need tickets.
HOWEVER, a bunch of us are waiting for the fall AP rates which is generally a greater discount than the general public, and we are hoping those rates are released sometime this week! You can add the DDP to those rates without adding tickets. Hope that helps!

Thank you so much. Where do I look to see if the fall AP rate is out?

 

[Nicole786]

Thank you so much. Where do I look to see if the fall AP rate is out?

In the passholder section of disneyworld.com under "special offers". Or if you don't have access to that site yet, keep your eyes open on this board for the announcement and code, as well as mousemisers.com

 

[party of 3]

In the passholder section of disneyworld.com under "special offers". Or if you don't have access to that site yet, keep your eyes open on this board for the announcement and code, as well as mousemisers.com

I don't have access to that. So I will watch here! Thank yo sooooo much again!!

 

[Nermel9]

If you book the 30% general public discount, then you are no longer considered a passholder by the reservation system, and to add the DDP, you need tickets.
HOWEVER, a bunch of us are waiting for the fall AP rates which is generally a greater discount than the general public, and we are hoping those rates are released sometime this week! You can add the DDP to those rates without adding tickets. Hope that helps!

So wait, I'm confused...if you have an AP, you can't use a GP room discount and get the dining plan, you can only use an AP room discount? Ugh, this is so confusing! I have an AP, which I was planning to renew, but I was just going to buy a regular ticket for my DH. We already have our trip booked with a bounceback discount, and I thought if I just dropped the tickets and dining plan from that, I could just add the dining plan back because I have an AP...now I have to wait for the AP discounts to come out? I'm going in November, I don't know how much longer I can wait!!!!

 

[Nicole786]

So wait, I'm confused...if you have an AP, you can't use a GP room discount and get the dining plan, you can only use an AP room discount? Ugh, this is so confusing! I have an AP, which I was planning to renew, but I was just going to buy a regular ticket for my DH. We already have our trip booked with a bounceback discount, and I thought if I just dropped the tickets and dining plan from that, I could just add the dining plan back because I have an AP...now I have to wait for the AP discounts to come out? I'm going in November, I don't know how much longer I can wait!!!!

If you have the AP and you want the DDP you have to book the room under certain codes so the systems establish you as an AP. If you book under GP in order to get the DDP you need to add tickets for every member of your party. There's a code that is always running for AP who want to book room/DDP but there is no room discount with that code....

I know it stinks to wait (trust me, I'm in the same boat right now with August lol!) but if you want the DDP without having to buy tickets its the best option

 

[aubriee]

So wait, I'm confused...if you have an AP, you can't use a GP room discount and get the dining plan, you can only use an AP room discount? Ugh, this is so confusing! I have an AP, which I was planning to renew, but I was just going to buy a regular ticket for my DH. We already have our trip booked with a bounceback discount, and I thought if I just dropped the tickets and dining plan from that, I could just add the dining plan back because I have an AP...now I have to wait for the AP discounts to come out? I'm going in November, I don't know how much longer I can wait!!!!

AP holders can only get a ticketless pkg (pay to add the DDP, without also having to pay for park tickets) if they are paying rack rate for the room or using an AP discount. However, if we want to add the DDP to any GP discount, then we must buy the minimum park tickets, just like anyone else in order to add the DDP. To use free dining, we must pay rack rate for the room and add at least two day park tickets for everyone in the room. To use a general public discount or a PIN Code (like a % off the room or 'pay for four nights/ get three free', or 'kids eat free deal') then to add the DDP, we must buy at least a one day ticket for everyone in the room. Having an AP doesn't matter if you are trying to use a discount other than an AP discount. You still have to buy those park tickets, just like the general public does. We don't have to use those one day tickets for the trip and can save them for a future trip, but we must buy whatever the particular deal's components are. The only way an AP holder can add the DDP and not have to order tickets too is to either pay rack rate for the room or use an AP room discount.

For example I currently have room discount bounceback deals booked for both Sept and Oct/Nov that I booked when I was there last Dec. If I wanted to add the DDP to either, I'd have to buy one day park tickets, because I used the bounce back deal. Neither trip is booked at rack rate nor an AP discount, so don't qualify for adding the DDP without paying for park tickets too. If an AP discount comes out that beats the bounce back rate, I could rebook those trips using the AP discount and then I'd be eligible to add the DDP making them into ticketless AP pkgs. For my trip this past May, I also used a bounceback deal, so was not eligible to add the DDP without also adding one day park tickets. When the AP discounts came out for those dates, they did not beat the bounceback deal, but were exactly the same, so I had to choose whether to stay with bounceback and pay OOP for my meals or switch to the AP discount just so I could add the DDP without adding park tickets. I have the TiW card, so chose to stay with the bounceback deal I had and pay OOP for meals.

What you could do in your case is let your AP expire, keep your current pkg (room discount, DDP, and at least one day park tickets for everyone in the room). Once you get down there go to guest services and upgrade those park tickets to what each person actually needs--in your case a new AP, then multi day tickets for everyone else.