Which deals typically are better for APs?

[discorsner]

I am wondering which deals tend to be better for APs? 4/3, Free Dining, or just a discounted AP rate?

This is my first year with APs. I want to know which rumor to hope for!

So if 4/3 comes out and my whole family has APs then I need to purchase the 1 day tickets in the package right? So that makes it higher. Its seems like if this is the case then the 4/3 would only be beneficial for us at the mod or deluxe resorts. I'm just thinking that 3 nights off of the values doesn't really equate to too much!

As for the FD, if AP holders get that we also have to put it in a package with 1 day tickets right? I know that you can get the dining plan with an AP room rate without buying tickets but I am guessing that with the FD promo they make you put it in a package with the one day tickets again. Is this correct?

So in essence probably the best deal for APs is a really good room rate deal?

Just thinking/ wondering out loud. Any feedback would be awesome!

 

[CAJUNWDWFAN]

We did the 4/3 deal for our honeymoon at the Poly back in April. It saved us a lot of money.

I believe this is the better deal. Even though you have to buy a one day base ticket mimimum, it can be applied to another ticket purchase or renewal of the AP at a later time. You are also correct in saying that the 4/3 deal is better for the deluxe or moderate.

The AP discount would be second. It all depends on when you are going and how much the discount rate is to say if you are getting a really good deal.

And the free dining for deluxe accomodations is a terrible deal and should be avoided. The guys from the WDW Today podcast talked about this the other day. Free dining is the best for value rooms, less of a deal for moderate, and for deluxe it's actually more expensive to get the free dining compared to getting a regular AP discout and paying out of pocket for food. check out their website for more information reguarding this.

 

[Fenchurch]

And the free dining for deluxe accomodations is a terrible deal and should be avoided. The guys from the WDW Today podcast talked about this the other day. Free dining is the best for value rooms, less of a deal for moderate, and for deluxe it's actually more expensive to get the free dining compared to getting a regular AP discout and paying out of pocket for food. check out their website for more information reguarding this.

This is true unless you are fixed on a certain deluxe resort and all the AP rate rooms are gone, and you plan to buy the dining plan anyway. In this case the free dining is better than nothing. Usually there are other resorts with AP rooms and you can switch(which is what we did), but if your heart is set on the Poly and you have, for example, 2 adults and 2 kids age 10 or over, it can save some $$.

It pays to take some time and crunch the numbers regarding the dining plan. We went on spring break this year and paid out of pocket for dining. We planned to eat a few TS restaurants and mostly CS, but ended up eating a TS every day. When I got home and compared, it would have saved us a little to have had the DDP. Not a huge amount, true, but had I planned ahead and gotten ADR's it would have saved us more. Of course this isn't true for every family or every trip!

 

[MinnieFlute]

For this trip, the AP rate was best, and we are paying for DDP out of pocket. It was cheaper than rack rate + 2 1 day passes. We are staying at POP, so since we want the regular DDP, we would have also had to add $20 total per day to upgrade from the QSDP which is what comes with free dining at the values. It was not a *huge* difference.

We did 4/3 this summer and that was a better deal than AP. I just didn't want to buy more 1 day passes, because we already have 2 sets. I guess we could renew our APs with them, but we will probably just save them for a couple of years until our next trip. But don't tempt us, LOL.