AVOID This BIG Annual Pass Problem in Disney World

UPDATE: We’ve received several messages from readers that this Park Pass Reservation problem has been resolved. You should be able to upgrade tickets without losing Park Pass Reservations you’ve already booked.

Yesterday (September 8th) Disney World Annual Passes became available for purchase once again, under Disney’s new Annual Pass program.

Disney World Annual Pass

One of the things you’re now able to do (if you want to) is upgrade your regular park tickets to an Annual Pass. By upgrading, you can apply the entire price you paid for your tickets into a select Annual Pass. But, before you do so, there’s a BIG thing you need to know about when it comes to Park Passes.

If you’ve got tickets for your upcoming Disney World trip, you’ve likely also already booked the Park Passes you want for the days you’ll be in the parks.

If you’re considering upgrading your park tickets to an Annual Pass though, your Park Passes will be affected. Early today, we spoke with a Cast Member at Guest Relations who confirmed that a guest that upgrades their tickets to an Annual Pass will lose their Park Pass reservations.

Pirate Pass Park Pass Availability as of September 8th ©Disney

So, if you upgrade your tickets to an Annual Pass, you’ll lose any existing Park Pass reservations and you’ll need to make new ones for your trip. If you’re planning to visit during a time when there’s a lot of Park Pass availability, then that might not be a problem at all.

But, if you’ve got some of those hard-to-get Park Passes for the 50th Anniversary (especially for parks that are now full), upgrading to an Annual Pass would mean that you’d LOSE the Park Passes you had booked and you’ll be stuck booking whatever is currently available (or checking back to see if any more Park Passes get added).

Park Pass Reservation availability for Incredi Pass for September as of September 8th © Disney

If you want to keep your existing Park Pass reservations but still upgrade to an Annual Pass, the Cast Member told us you’d need to wait until you’ve used all of the reservations you want to keep before upgrading.

Annual Pass

But, you’ll want to be careful and make sure you’re still within the appropriate period to upgrade your tickets to an Annual Pass depending on your ticket type.

©Disney

If you’ve got a particular situation you’d like to address regarding your Park Passes, we would recommend that you speak with a Disney Cast Member ahead of your trip. We also would recommend speaking with a Cast Member in person, as they may be able to assist you better than over the phone.

We’ll continue to keep an eye out for more updates about this situation and we’ll let you know what we find. Be sure to check back with us for more information.

Click here to see more about using and understanding Disney World’s new Annual Passholder calendar.

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Are you thinking about upgrading your tickets to an Annual Pass? Tell us in the comments.