Are Disney Annual Passes Worth the Price?

Disney Annual Passes are back! After months of uncertainty, Disney World Annual Passes have returned. But if you're on the fence about whether or not to take the plunge and purchase one, don't worry we've got you covered.

We'll help you figure out which pass makes sense for you and your family, outline all of the costs associated with a Disney World Annual Pass, and share some of the perks that come with being an annual passholder. We'll even provide an honest assessment of the pros and cons to help you weigh your options as you decide.

Ready to find out if buying a Disney World Annual Pass is worth the cost? Let's dive in!

5 Things to Know About Disney World Annual Passes

There are four different Walt Disney World Annual Passes
Only one annual pass is available to the general public; the Incredi-Pass
Florida residents are allowed to pay for their passes with a monthly payment plan
Each pass allows a specific number of theme park pass reservations to be held at a time
All passes may occasionally be eligible for bonus theme park reservations

When do Walt Disney World annual passes go on sale?

You may be wondering when passes for Disney World go on sale. Well, good news, they recently went on sale on April 13th for Disney Vacation Club (DVC) members. But don’t worry if you aren’t a DVC member; anyone can buy a pass starting April 20th.

If you're interested, we suggest that you buy your pass as soon as possible because they are likely to be available for a limited time only!

The Disney World Annual Passes come in four different levels so you can choose which one fits your family's budget and lifestyle best.

What are the Disney World Annual Pass Options?

In actuality, only one of the four annual passes is available to the general public. Let's break them down.

April 2023 Disney Annual Pass Comparison Chart

The Pixie Dust Pass: This is the least expensive of the annual passes and with good reason. It is only available to Florida residents (with proof of residency) and not to the general public.
The Pixie Dust pass only allows admission to the park most weekdays, excluding major holidays and peak periods. This pass allows the passholder to hold up to 3 park reservations at a time. The pass does have access to all annual passholder benefits and is priced at $399 plus tax.
The Pirate Pass: The pass is only available to Florida residents (with proof of residency) and not to the general public. This annual pass has fewer restrictions than the Pixie Dust pass and allows the passholder admission to the park on most days, including weekends, with the exception of major holidays and peak periods.

This pass allows the pass holder to hold up to 4 park reservations at a time. The Pirate pass does have access to all annual passholder benefits and is priced at $749 plus tax.

The Sorcerer Pass: This pass is only available to eligible DVC members and Florida residents. DVC members must pay for the pass in full at the time of purchase. This pass allows the passholder admission to the park on most days with the exception of major holidays.

The Sorcerer Pass allows the passholder to hold up to 5 park reservations. The Sorcerer pass does have access to all annual passholder benefits and is priced at $969 plus tax.

The Incredi-Pass: The Incredi-Pass is the only pass that is available to the general public. It is also the most expensive pass in the bunch. However, paying for this top of the line pass gives the passholder the most flexibility.

The Incredi-Pass does not have any blackout dates and allows the passholder to hold up to 5 theme park reservations. The Incredi-pass has access to all annual pasholder benefits and is priced at $1399 plus tax.

Can Standard Tickets be upgraded to an Annual Pass?

Yes, you can apply the price of eligible theme park admission to the purchase of an annual pass. To do this, contact Disney at (407) 939-5277) and they will walk you through the process.

What are Bonus Reservations and how do I get One?

Bonus reservations are an added perk of buying an annual pass.

What's the benefit? When they are offered, you will be able to make additional park reservations over what's allowed for your pass. This allows you more flexibility in planning your theme park visits.

Disney World Annual Pass Add-ons

There are a handful of options that you can choose to add on to your annual pass. Simply put, the benefit of adding one or both of these options depends on how often you think that your family will use them.

Water Park and Sports Option

For an additional $99 plus tax, this feature can be added to your annual pass. The benefit here is admission to select experiences and there are no blackout dates. These include:

Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Water Park or Disney's Blizzard Beach Water Park
Disney's Oak Trail Golf Course
FootGolf at Disney's Oak Trail
Disney's Fantasia Gardens Miniature Golf Course (one round prior to 4:00 PM)
Disney's Winter Summerland Miniature Golf Course (one round prior to 4:00 PM)
ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex

Disney PhotoPass Downloads

For an additional $99 plus tax, you can add unlimited digital downloads to your annual pass. This one is slightly controversial because it was previously included in the cost of your annual pass.

Does Everyone in a Family Need to Purchase the PhotoPass Add-On?

Our hack for you here is that you don't need to add this feature to each family member’s annual pass. You only need one person in the family to add this option onto their annual pass to collect the digital photos that the group takes with the PhotoPass photographer.

What are the Benefits of being a Disney World Annual Passholder?

Here are just a few of the perks that each passholder is entitled to for the year:

Standard Parking

Show your pass and your ID to receive free standard parking at the theme parks. If you'd like, you can upgrade to preferred parking by paying the difference between standard and preferred parking

Discounts on Entertainment, Events, and Experiences

The variety of options that this area covers is too numerous to list here. However, you can receive discounts on hard-ticketed events, tours, spas, etc.

Merchandise and Dining Discounts

Your pass will entitle you to merchandise and dining discounts. The discounts will vary by location but generally range from 10% - 20%.

Resort Discounts

This is a discount that varies widely based on the resort. Most recently, we've seen discounts of up 35% offered on resort stays. Offers are made periodically throughout the year.

Special Events

We have to say that one of our favorite perks is invitations to special events like the openings of rides and attractions, think TRON and Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind.

Big Change to Park Reservations for Annual Passholders

As of April 18, 2023, the most welcome news for annual passholders is that you can now enter a park after 2 pm, without a theme park reservation!

This is a welcome change even with the exception in place for Magic Kingdom on Saturdays and Sundays.

The Downside to Purchasing a Disney World Annual Pass

The Cost

When it comes to annual passes, there's no denying the major disadvantage here is the cost. Depending on the pass you choose, you could be spending just over $500-$1400 per person, so in our opinion, you must be certain that you are going to visit the theme parks at least twice a year, Florida resident or not. Otherwise, the cost may not outweigh the benefit.

If you are a Florida resident, there's certainly more price flexibility with the Pirate and Pixie Dust passes. You'll need to consider blackout dates and yes, how often you'll visit the parks even as a resident.

The Add-ons

As we alluded to earlier, the other consideration that's really upset some Disney fans is the removal of the PhotoPass option as a standard part of your pass benefits. Personally, we love the PhotoPass photos and bristled a bit at having to pay the extra fee. We did pay the fee but only on one pass.

The Water Park and Sports add-on option is not really a consideration for us. While we do like to visit the miniature golf courses and occasionally the water parks, we don't use those options enough to pay an extra $99 per person. In our case, it's simply cheaper to pay for a round of golf.

Is a Disney World Annual Pass Worth It?

To make the best decision for you and your family, you'll need to weigh the costs against the benefits. How did we do that?

Running the Numbers

We ran the numbers based on our family of three needing 7 day park admission per person from August 5 - 12, 2023. The cost for two adults and one child with the Park Hopper option that we prefer would be $2,206.09 with the taxes included.

7 Day Disney World Theme Park Ticket Price

Instead, we choose to renew our annual passes for each adult at a combined cost of $1,842. We then grabbed a pass for our little guy for $1,031. That’s $2873 for our 3 Sorcerer Pass annual passes vs. $2,206 for standard 7 day admission.

Where does that leave us? For an additional $667 we have 12 month access to the theme parks vs. 7 days.

DVC Membership

The other major consideration for us is that we are DVC members and are more likely to make multiple trips per year; therefore, this is more cost-effective for our family.

The other cost saver for us is that we only added the PhotoPass option to one of the adult passes. This covers all of the photos that we could possibly want to take for the year.

All of that said, is it worth it? For us, the answer is, yes.

Do Your Homework

Please run your numbers and figure in all of your variables to make the best choice for your family.

At the end of the day, only you know if buying a Disney World Annual Pass makes sense for your family and budget. Consider how often you would use them and what kind of value they would add for your money before making this commitment.

How do I purchase my annual pass?

You've decided that you'd like to purchase. Good on you! Now, how do you do that? You can either call the nice folks at Disney (407) 939-5277) or visit their website to purchase your passes.

How Long Will Annual Pass Sales Last? Will They Be Suspended Again?

No one knows for sure how long Disney World Annual Passes will be for sale. The Disney website simply states that they are available for a limited time. If you’re thinking about purchasing an annual pass, we suggest that you move quickly to do your due diligence and then make your purchase if that's your decision.

It's been well over a year since the last time they offered the passes and most Disney fans think that passes will eventually be suspended again. But no-one can say for sure when this might happen, or when they will bring them back once they are suspended again.

Can I Renew My Annual Pass if Sales are Suspended?

If you already have a Walt Disney World annual pass, then you absolutely can renew your annual pass once you’re near your expiration date.

Disney will typically begin to remind you about 60 days prior to your pass expiring that you can renew. They also give you about a 30 day grace period after your expiration date to renew.

One thing that we consider as a benefit to renewing is that the renewal price is lower than the price of a new pass. For instance, we renewed our passes for less than the cost of a new Sorcerer pass.

Unfortunately, we let our son's pass lapse during the pandemic and had to wait until this year to get him a new pass and paid full price.

Annual Pass Price Increase

You might have noticed that the costs of the passes have increased since the last time they were offered.

As noted above, this is one of the strongest arguments for purchasing an annual pass and renewing annually versus letting your pass lapse and purchasing it again the next time it's available.

In our case, we renewed our Sorcerer Passes for $823 and $907 (with PhotoPass) respectively. In both cases less than the $1,031 (with tax) we spent on a new pass for our son.

Pixie Dust Pass

The price of this pass remained the same at $399 plus tax.

The Pirate Pass

The Pirate Pass increased from $649 plus tax to $749 plus tax. That's about a 15% increase or $100 more per pass.

The Sorcerer Pass

The Sorcerer Pass increased from $899 plus tax to $969 plus tax. That's about a 7% increase or $70 more per pass.

The Incredi-Pass

The Incredi-Pass increased from $,1299 plus to $1,399 plus tax. That's about a 7% increase or $100 more per pass.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to deciding whether or not to purchase a Disney World Annual Pass, you must do the math and figure out what makes sense for your budget and your family’s needs. If you’re a frequent Disney visitor, then it’s definitely worth considering investing in an annual pass.

Also remember, if the perks are what you're really after, you can purchase a single annual pass for one member of your family and still be eligible for the benefits.

In the end, if a Disney World Annual Pass doesn’t make sense for you, no worries. Even without it, you will still have fun creating memories with your family at the Happiest Place on Earth.

Until next time, Enjoy the journey!

Should You Buy a Disney World Annual Pass? Weigh the Costs