Disney World Annual Passholders are some of the most dedicated theme park fans out there!
Magic Kingdom
These fans (which also includes some of us here at DFB!) are willing to shell out hundreds or thousands each year to visit the magic, and they’re often the ones who show up for big restaurant and ride openings, merchandise drops, and special events. But recently, former Annual Passholders and wannabe Passholders have been facing a big issue — most passes aren’t on sale currently!
A little background — Disney World introduced a revamped annual pass program in 2021 after sales had been paused for many months due to the pandemic. However, just a few months later, Disney paused the sale of annual passes (except the cheapest, Florida resident-exclusive Pixie Dust Pass) during the holiday season. Now, we’re well out of the holiday season and things still haven’t gone back to normal.
Annual Passholder entrance at EPCOT
We were very curious to see how this pause of sales has affected guests hoping to visit the parks, so we reached out to our readers on Facebook and posed the following question: “Has the pause on the sale of Disney World Annual Passes kept you from visiting the parks?” And let’s just say — they had some interesting things to say!
Yes, It Has Affected Us
Oddly enough, the answers were pretty evenly split among our readers. Those who DID want to purchase annual passes named a number of reasons why the loss of them was affecting their travels. Most commonly, people said that having a pass was cheaper than buying tickets for every visit, and that being Annual Passholders motivated them to come to the parks more frequently.
©Disney
DFB reader Michelle said, “Yes! Has nothing to do with the perks, just makes it more affordable to go more than once.” For those who like to visit multiple times a year for special occasions or different seasons, purchasing tickets over and over gets very expensive. Follower Edana shared that “The year we had the AP, went 6 times. This year, only once.”
We had other readers mention that having annual passes made them feel less pressured during their visits. Reader Daisey commented “Having the pass you don’t worry about having to get all your money’s worth out of a single day.” If you know you’ll be returning to the parks soon, it definitely alleviates some of the need to “do everything” during your trip.
Annual Passholder cards in Disney World!
But it’s not just affecting those who can’t buy passes right now — one reader mentioned that they were able to get an annual pass when they were for sale, but their family members waited too late. Since their family can’t visit as well, they don’t plan to renew when their expiration date comes.
So, it looks like the pausing of sales has had a major impact on many people…but what about those who answered “no?”
No, It Has NOT Affected Us
Most of our readers who answered “no” were sharing the same argument — annual passes are too expensive anyway. Commenter Philip simply answered “No. An annual pass was never worth the cost for us.” And reader Joslyn shared “No because at this point it isn’t worth it to buy an AP there. We will stick with our UOAP instead.”
Is it worth it to have an annual pass?
It’s not a secret that these pass prices are expensive. Last year, there was an outcry when Disney raised annual pass prices significantly with the new program. At the same time, some perks disappeared, like the ability to have PhotoPass included in some passes without paying an extra fee. Many of our readers were upset by this loss.
Disney PhotoPass photographers are the BEST!
However, there were others that were in the “no” category for a completely different reason — they haven’t stopped going to Disney at all! Some commenters shared that even though passes aren’t available, they’ve still been taking their regularly scheduled Disney trips since the reopening. A few of them shared that they had plans to buy passes when they’re up for sale again, but for now, they’re still happily visiting the parks with regular tickets.
Some guests aren’t changing their plans!
So there you go — we’ve got quite the variety of thoughts and opinions here about this issue, and we’re sure that you’ve got some thoughts as well, so make sure to share them in the comments. When passes go on sale again, it is expected that the four different tiered options will return (some that are Florida Resident exclusive). If you’d like to visit the water parks or use PhotoPass, there are add-ons available. And remember, Magic Key sales for Disneyland are also paused at this time.
And for those planning a Disney World trip in 2023, you may want to start putting your budget together now. There were some sneaky price increases on tickets and resorts for next year, and your travel dates may cost more than they did in the past.
Breaking Down Hidden Price Increases on 2023 Disney World Vacations — Click Here!
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First, I’m not sure it’s “When” passes go on sale again, but “If” passes go on sales again. It seems like Chapek and Co. are doing their best to discourage use of passes. And here, I’m specifically talking about what they do with Park Reservations.
The two-tier system of Park Reservations has made it obvious that they don’t want Passholders to use their passes. In practical terms, it’s become impossible to use my Magic Key to visit Disneyland unless I make a Park Reservation at least a month in advance.
And given the very limited number of advance Park Reservations I’m allowed, that means I no longer can visit using my Magic Key with only a day or two’s planning. With an individual ticket rather than my Magic Key, I could do so.
Bottom line, I won’t bother to renew my Magic Key when it expires, and I’ve effectively stopped visiting Disneyland at all.
I can see where if you lived in Orlando (or within a couple of hours drive), the APs would be money well spent. But for the rest of us (especially those of us who have to fly there), I don’t see the point.
I have a Universal Preferred Pass and Cedar Fair(through Carowinds) Platinum Pass for less than a Disney Pass(for out of state) would cost if available. At the same price, I could add a Busch Gardens/SeaWorld Platinum Pass. That’s something like 24 parks for the same cost. I don’t see why Disney can’t offer payments to out of state guests like Universal does. I would likely buy a Disney Pass if they did, but I think they banked on out of state guests going once and losing money on the pass. I live a two hour flight away so I could easily have went every month.
AP’s were available when ours expired but we didn’t renew. The prices were beyond outrageous and with that ridiculous and annoying reservation system still in place, we couldn’t just go when we wanted to as we could previously as annual passholders so why bother. Disney has made so much too difficult and too expensive. I’m with your reader who said we will stick to our UOAP. They truly do let us go whenever we want, parking is covered and closer and its just a more relaxed and enjoyable experience.
Meanwhile, Sea World and Universal keep selling annual passes and also have a high visitor capacity. It seems like Disney doesn’t care about the Florida residents.
I’m so used to having an Annual Pass, I’m not sure I want to go without one.
Disney doesn’t want to sell me one? Then maybe they shouldn’t have let me get in the habit…
We have gone to Disney land and Disney World many, many times. Not an AP holder. But what we had to do to go to Disney World the end of May with our group of 7.
Make reservations for each day(parks were still too crowded).
Had to pay $15 per day per person so we could go on more then one ride.
7:00am to log on to get a lightning lane ride at 6:20pm.
Bob getting a ridiculous yearly salary.
Sorry but we will probably never go back and I am a stockholder.
We’re local and used to go all the time, so the AP was worth it. Since the reservation system and no more Fast passes, we hardly ever go anymore. We have taken up golf instead and found other activities. We need to relax and we used to just run over after work spur of the moment but they’ve made it stressful now, and the parks are so packed, and you can’t get on any rides, so we will probably let our passes go when they expire. Can’t believe things would ever get like this. We’ve been Disneyphiles for sooo many years. But just too many negatives (all of the above plus lower quality food, higher prices, removing so many things like the luau, and the list goes on and on).
Why would anyone who visit the parks often especially for short visit be just as happy to buy daily park tickets as they would to buy an annual pass? I don’t know anyone who wants to pay more to get less. We bought DVC. Now we have resort rooms but can’t go to the parks. Disney is a horrible rotten mess right now. No more annual passes and soon selling DVC. Switching to Universal. They have better rides anyway. We have done several Disney cruises but our next is Holland America.
My fellow DFB readers, we all know the facts: Disney is headed in a completely new direction, we have to move on from the past, we know everything, and I mean everything is outrageously more expensive at Disney and more so than any other park, Disney is moving toward the “upper class resort clientele “, annual passes are much more expensive, Genie + is a flop and frustrating, park reservations are a nightmare at times, and so on and so on. However, Disney can still be enjoyed. We are AP holders and will always be as long as Chapek permits it. We have learned to navigate, and quite well I may add, our visits to the parks. We don’t find it as difficult as many allude to. We hit the rides we want and the meals we want basically every time we go. Which is often. There’s a learning curve and once you figure it out, it’s all good. Even though Chapek has done all he can and continues to make horrible decisions we, my family and I, still visit Disney through Walt’s lenses. We make OUR memories. We don’t let Chapek or anyone else come in the way of that. So the next time your at Disney and you see that family laughing and having a ball, that’s probably us!
DVC member from New England. Not having the AP available has 100% impacted visits.
We would go twice a year usually for a week when points allowed or visiting family nearby. AP was more cost effective and made visiting easier because there was “less planning”. Not being able to get them has changed a lot of vacation and other travel plans.
I’ll happily get AP again, it without a doubt took away some vacation stress when planning. With park reservations and the death of FastPass, the hold of AP takes out some of the fun and ease of vacation planning.