Annual pass - don't you miss the 60 day fp?

[Procrastinator]

We are contemplating getting AP and doing 3 trips in 12 months.

But it seems you only get 7 days of fp at 30 days per month.

Does that mean you just never ride the likes of fop or SD? Or do uou still stay on site? Are ther AP onsite offers? Though then do you not get free dinning? Or do you just not really care about those headliner rides anymore?

Just trying to work out how we would plan a trip using the AP.

Thanks for any replies!

[Lizzim]

We upgraded to an AP on our Oct trip last year and have just been for a week.

We stayed offsite for our recent trip and didn't miss the 60 day FP window mostly because we booked with less than 60 days to go.

I did manage to get a Slinky Dog FP and FOP with less than 30 days to go but there are only 2 of us.

[f1girly]

I'm a little confused here, does having an annual pass work as a disadvantage when booking FP compared to staying on site?

[Alwaysdisley]

We upgraded to annual passes last year and you don’t get the free dining as you have to book a package to get that and you won’t need tickets on your second or third trip in the year so it won’t class as a package. We have stayed on site so still had the 60day window for FP as being onsite overrules the AP rules on FP. We got Tables in Wonderland as we are doing four trips on our APs so we get a discount on food and drink but you have to buy that. You can get a smaller discount on food at many restaurants just with the AP. Benefits also include free parking and 20% saving in most stores. That and having the AP card in my wallet all year round makes me happy 🤣

[Procrastinator]

Originally Posted by f1girly

I'm a little confused here, does having an annual pass work as a disadvantage when booking FP compared to staying on site?

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AP gets to book 7 days worth of FP at 30 days out every month.

Problem is if you usually go for on site and free dinning that wont work as you dont need the tickets that you have to buy as part of the package.

You can still book to stay on site but then you cant use the free dinning offer.

Or you stay offsite, but then you are booking fp at 30 days.

Just seems to take the shine off the AP a bit. Wondered what other AP holders did.

[Hipstalike]

Doesn't necessarily take the shine off an AP I would say, the disadvantages you mention aren't linked to having an AP but to not booking a package.

From what I've heard, an on-site stay overrules the 7-day FP+ limit for APHs so you would still be able to book FPs for your lenght of stay at 60 days out, allowing you to book FoP, SDMT and SDD. This makes sense, because the 7-day limit is supposed to prevent people just wildly booking FPs because they can without necessarily having the intention to go to the parks. If you have an on-site stay, you're going to the parks so no reason for Disney to set you up with any limits.

As you mentioned, staying off-site means a 30 day FP window, but that has nothing to do with having an AP.

So the main drawback is being excluded from Free Dining because you can't book a package, but you could just book Free Dining with Disney Ultimate Tickets and upgrade those to APs on your first visit.

[Procrastinator]

Yes, the first visit is fine as you upgrade when there, no problem. But subsequent visits, you can book to stay on site, but you are effectively excluded from the free dinning offer, so you struggle to get as decent value when you stay on site for any subsequent visit.

Shame there isn't some kind of discount or offer for AP holders almost as a replacement for that.

But, i think my question is answered, i know the options, juat need to decide.

Thanks all.

[Hipstalike]

You're right, but I guess the value on subsequent visits is in the fact that you don't pay for tickets and the 10% discount at most TS locations then

I've never done free dining myself, so can't really relate, but I'm more interested in hotel discounts anyway as I would never be able to put all DDP credits to good use.

[f1girly]

That has cleared it up for me, thanks so much for the explanations.