Annual Pass Upgrade?

[sistershandy]

Hi!
We are heading to Disney again this summer using the free dining promotion and 21 day ultimate pass. However we’ve just booked flights to return at the end of December. I was going to book the hotel through Disney Holidays and add tickets and dining plan (I’m pretty sure it won’t ever be free for the dates we go which are 27th Dec to 6th Jan) but now wondering whether I’d be better upgrading our tickets to annual passes in August and either:
a. Just booking a room and using the AP discount to pay for meals individually
b. Booking a room through the US site then cancelling and rebooking with Annual pass to add a dining plan on once we upgrade.
There is a possibility that we would return in 2019 but not guaranteed to be before the annual pass expires.
Any advice would be appreciated as my brain is melting!

[sky13]

You might need to do some maths as whether you get more value with free DDP versus meals with AP discount is highly dependent on the makeup of your travelling party and what sort of restaurants that you want to eat in. Keep in mind that only some restaurants now offer the AP discount (and it's mostly 10% now as opposed to 20% last year).

However with the AP, you get a nice 20% discount on Disney merchandise at the moment.

If you book a room-only through the US site, you can change it at any time to a room-only with an AP discount (provided that the AP discount is offered for your dates/hotel) - sometimes this might involve calling the US number. You won't be able to see the AP discount on the website unless you have an AP, but you can call to ask for rates.