Upgrading to an AP when booked with a free dining discount

[Amy M]

I am in the early stages of doing research to figure out if annual passes would be a good investment for my family of 4. We have been going to Disney yearly for the last 5 years, and twice two of those years, but the second trips in those years were just resort-only trips. We have been lucky enough to book a free dining BB offer for 3 of our big trips. If I am able to book a free dining BB (or public discount) for 2020, would I be able to upgrade my tickets to annual passes at check-in and still keep my free dining offer?

We are just doing a resort-only stay this summer, but plan to do another big trip in 2020. If I decide on annual passes, we would be going again in 2021 for sure, and probably around Thanksgiving 2020 for a quick trip.

Thanks in advance or any input anyone on the Dis may have. I use these boards to get all of my Disney information! Annual passes are something I don't know much about, but I know many people on these boards are experts in this area!

 

[Disneylover99]

Yes, you can upgrade your tickets at any guest service locations once you get there.
Your free dining will not be affected.

 

[Amy M]

Yes, you can upgrade your tickets at any guest service locations once you get there.
Your free dining will not be affected.

That is great news! Thank you for your reply!

 

[disneydreamer1980]

To agree with Disneylover, this is fine. We had free dining in nov/dec 2017 and upgraded our tix to AP when we arrived.

 

[kaybird]

This is our typical way of doing our APs. We will do a free dining stay, then upgrade when we get there. Then the next couple of years we stay with the ap discount.

 

[Amy M]

Do you find the benefits of the annual pass worth it? From what I can tell, it seems like it will save us money over all, but since I have never had one I am just going off of discounts that people have discussed on the Dis.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

I got the AP because we’d be doing two trips in under one year, so it saved us money. All the discounts are great though.

 

[Amy M]

I got the AP because we’d be doing two trips in under one year, so it saved us money. All the discounts are great though.

We would be doing the same thing. Possibly 3 trips if we went into the parks on one of our short resort only trips. I don’t see how we could resist if we already had the annual passes!

 

[momma2ethan]

Yes, this is possible and actually fairly common.

I had a free dining stay Aug 2017. Upgraded my park ticket to an AP at the beginning of my trip so I would benefit from memory maker and merch discounts. At the time, I knew I would be using my AP for that 8 day trip and for an 8 day trip the following August. I was able to squeeze in another 4 days on a girls trip in May for my birthday. I got an AP room discount on my two 2018 trips, in addition to using the memory maker, merch and dining discounts. Had I not had the AP there would've been no way that May trip would have been possible. Flights for me are pricey (from Seattle) but having no cost for park admission, finding $200 rt airfare and splitting the discounted room 3 ways I had a 35th birthday that I will never forget. I have zero regrets about upgrading.