Annual passes and Free Dining

draybook

Well-Known Member
I can't seem to find the info I'm looking for so I'll ask here. If we were to buy AP's, how would we apply those to our current package that we have booked for September? We're going back in March so we were trying to see if it would be worth just getting AP's. Thanks!
 

timeman

Active Member
You wouldn't be able to get free dining with an Annual Pass. Since you have already booked a package with free dining, which means you must have had to buy tickets also for that package, you could upgrade those tickets to an Annual Pass after you get there and still get the free dining. They would have to take the tickets off of your KTTW card and would give you a separate ticket for your Annual Pass.
 
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draybook

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I don't have enough time to crunch the numbers since I'm at work, but it seems that would be the best option perhaps? I'm trying to figure out how much the September vacation would be if we did it that way.
 
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sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
We booked free dining in November 2010. When we got to the first park before we entered we went to Guest Services and "upgraded" from the 10-day base ticket on our package to our passes. It was our understanding as long as you didn't enter a park with the tickets (which I've also read doesn't matter but I could be wrong) they were intact on your room key until you used or upgraded them. On that same trip my husband never used his tickets on his room key. He didn't upgrade it on that trip either because his old AP was still valid. No problems using the "free" dining credits in the package. He just never swiped the room key when going into a park. Fast forward to September 2011. He took that same room key from back in 2010 that had never had the ticket touched. Went to Guest Services on day 1 and upgraded the unusued 10-day base ticket to an AP without any issue whatsoever. The tickets don't expire until you first use them. :animwink:

The only homework you'd need to do is figure out what the cost difference would be between whatever the ticket is on your free dining package and the AP you want to upgrade to. That amount will be paid by you per pass when you do the upgrade. :wave:
 
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sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
I don't have enough time to crunch the numbers since I'm at work, but it seems that would be the best option perhaps? I'm trying to figure out how much the September vacation would be if we did it that way.

I'd figure the price difference for you but I don't know what length/type of ticket is in your free dining package. How many days? Parkhopper? WPF&M? Plus, there's about to be a price increase so it's likely any numbers you come up with for the upgrade today will be off by September.
 
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draybook

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We have 6 day base tickets, no water parks. 4 "adult" tickets. The total package right now is a smidge over $2500. The AP's would be $2216.
 
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sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
I'm coming up with roughly $1100 to upgrade to APs. I know that seems silly considering the 6-day base tickets run about $1100 but you'll get parkhopping with the AP plus ability to book passholder discounts (not as wonderful as they used to be) and get discounts on merchandise, etc. when available.

Also, if you like the dining plan and want to be able to have that in the future when using your APs the only way to be able to add/pay for it is if you book a AP rate on your room.

Hey! You can get TiW, tho. :wave:
 
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Carebee21

Member
I'm extremely confused. So it would be $1100 for the AP upgrade but what about the rest of the package?

You pay your whole package price of $2500. That's for your 6 day park tickets, room and free dining.

Then, one of the days you are at the parks, you go to guest services and tell them you want to upgrade your tickets to AP's. They charge you the difference in price between AP's and the ticket price, which the previous poster said comes out to be about $1100. You have to upgrade your tickets at the park in order to get free dining. Once you upgrade, you still get to keep any dining credits you have and your room and all of that.

So basically, your total out of pocket expenses would be $3600.
 
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sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
I'm extremely confused. So it would be $1100 for the AP upgrade but what about the rest of the package?

The rest of the package stays the same. It doesn't change. You still have the free dining for September. When you get to the gate at your first park instead of going thru you go to Guest Services. There you ask to have your 4 adult 6 day MYW base tickets upgraded to APs. They will strip the tickets from your KttW cards, charge you an additional $1100, and issue you 4 adult APs. You will now use your APs to enter parks instead of your KttW cards. When you go eat and need to pay using your free dining credits you pay with the KttW cards. The dining credits are still there. Your room key can also be used for charging and opening your door at your resort. The difference in it's function is that you aren't using it as your park ticket anymore since you now have an AP which is a separate card. Does that help? :wave:
 
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sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
You pay your whole package price of $2500. That's for your 6 day park tickets, room and free dining.

Then, one of the days you are at the parks, you go to guest services and tell them you want to upgrade your tickets to AP's. They charge you the difference in price between AP's and the ticket price, which the previous poster said comes out to be about $1100. You have to upgrade your tickets at the park in order to get free dining. Once you upgrade, you still get to keep any dining credits you have and your room and all of that.

So basically, your total out of pocket expenses would be $3600.

Yes. This exactly. The free dining package stays the same. Just like you aren't going to do anything with those tickets. You pay the $2500 at the 45-day prior date. The additional charge and other changes come once you get there an upgrade the tickets to the AP.
 
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sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
The other additional info I gave was for future reference if you're an AP. Not this trip. If you take another trip and really enjoy the DDP you'll have to book under an AP rate in order to add the DDP which is something you'll have to pay the going rate to add. You can't book other discounts or even rack rate (I don't think) and add a DDP as an AP. You have to book the AP rates to add the DDP without creating a MYW package which will include park tickets that you don't need.
 
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sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
Well, forget that then. That's not nearly worth it.

Where it could become worthwhile is if you were doing more than 1 trip not during free dining or maybe another trip for a longer length of time. Or if you preferred parkhopping. It's not for everyone, tho. I like that you can hold onto those unused/untouched tickets even from a free dining package for future use. That's always nice.
 
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luv

Well-Known Member
You would have to do the math yourself, but I have yet to find a "free" dining package that beat using AP rates and TIW.

You only need one AP to get the AP benefits, so it is possible that even if you all won't go enough to make the APs pay for themselves ticket-wise, one might still save you money.
 
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draybook

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Ok, my head is jello right now. So, you're telling me that if we upgrade when we get there, the original tickets will remain intact if not used? We can just use the AP's and then save the unused 6 day base tickets at a later date? If so then maybe it might be worth it. I need to do some research, because our tickets in March only cost $480 for 3 5 day hoppers and 1 2 day hopper, thanks to the UCA.
 
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sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
If you "upgrade" a ticket, essentially you are paying the difference between the price of the ticket you hold and the ticket or pass that you want in the end. So if you upgrade a 6-day base ticket then it isn't something you can save. It's being used towards the cost of the AP. Think of it as a gift card that holds the dollar amount that the original ticket costs. If you upgrade it, you cash in your value of the ticket then pay whatever the additional amount is to get to the price of the AP.

The part about tickets being saveable is if you are in a situation in the future where you have a valid AP and book a free dining package that includes park tickets. Obviously you don't need the tickets if you have an AP to use, right? Well, you can hold onto that never-touched ticket in your package even after you use up your dining credits and go home. As long as you don't touch the ticket it's not going to expire. MYW tickets that don't have the no-expiration option won't expire until 14 days after first use. If you don't use them, they won't expire. That's how my hubby held onto a 10-day base ticket for 8 months before upgrading it to an AP.

How would the saved ticket apply to you? Well, let's say you are on your upcoming free dining trip that has 6-day base tickets for each person in your family of 4. You'd like to get an annual pass for a future trip to be able to book AP discounts, get TiW, and/or utilize other discounts. Maybe upgrading all 4 is a chunk of money you don't want to absorb right now. Well, you are only required to have 1 valid AP to book the AP rates & be eligible for the perks in the future. So, you take just 1 or 2 of your 6-day MYW tickets & upgrade them to APs. The others in your family just use their MYW tickets same as always. Buuuuut, a great free dining offer comes up within your year of your AP. If you book free dining you have to get each person in the room a MYW ticket to be able to get the DDP. The person or persons who have AP's don't need them this trip. THOSE tickets you will not touch. Leave them alone. As long as you don't use them, the expiration clock doesn't start. Now you can either let the non-AP people utilize the MYW tickets on the package or take this opportunity to upgrade them to APs as well. ((The perk to not having your whole family with APs that expire all at the same time is, depending on how you time your trips, you can go without having to buy passes for everyone every time. It makes that ticket portion of the budget a bit more manageable.))

I know it's like mental gymnastics figuring this stuff out. I'll help all I can. As straight-forward as the MYW ticket structure is, there's also a loooot of twists & turns to be explored. :wave:
 
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cabihler

Member
sept trip

hey we are arriving at the world on friday aug 31 and staying for 10 days on the free dining plan offer (quick service). since i am going back for december what i am doing is taking my MYW ticket to guess relations and upgrading it to the annual pass. if you want to upgrade you must do it before your last day's ticket is used however if you are like me and park hop then it makes sense to just do it on the 1st day...

BTW i am also getting the Tables Of Wonderland card even though we are using the quick service DP simply because we are having at least 2 sit down dinners (canada and japan) during our stay with 6 people so the savings will pay for itself this trip alone:sohappy:
 
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draybook

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
What part of Memphis are you in? We're not park hopping though. I'm thinking we're probably just going to go about our usual routine.
 
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Zummi Gummi

Pioneering the Universe Within!
It might be worth it depending on when your nextr trip is going to be. If you planned on going back during the time your AP's would be valid, it changes the whole equation.
 
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