For a couple years now we’ve heard that being a Walt Disney World Annual Passholder would save us money. So, this past year, we finally took the leap. Mind you, we hear this sentiment about the Disney Vacation Club (DVC) as well and have yet to figure out that math. An annual pass though is a little easier to break down and understand, but one of the most surprising things from having this extra tool in our arsenal of Disney tricks was how much it changed our vacations. And not in a way we would have guessed.
The Truth About Having a Disney Annual Pass
When thinking about a Disney season pass realize that you are just paying to get into a theme park for one year. Since it may be out of state for most of you, you would have to factor in things like transportation and number of family members. All of these variables go into if financially a Disney annual pass would work for you. Is a Disney Annual Pass worth it for you and your family? Even if the money makes sense, check out all the things that changed as a result of being a Disney Passholder.
What we learned most from this year of being an annual passholder was that it ended up not really being about the money. Or making it “worth it” at all! And we are speaking from a place of strict budgeting here. Instead, it became about how different our Disney Vacations are when we have this pass. Mind you we won’t have and Disney season pass every year so it was great to see the differences between the Disney annual passholder life and the regular Disney Vacationer life.
Walt Disney World Annual Passholder Cost
Being a Disney Annual Passholder is all about choosing the right pass for you. The first year we had the Disney Platinum Pass, it cost about 780 dollars for one year. This same pass NOW is closer to 1200/ year. This was pretty hard to stomach. Being non-Florida residents this meant we had no blackout dates, could get a 10-20% discount at most shops and restaurants, discounts on resort rooms and “free” admission into all four parks all year.
This doesn’t include admission into the water parks or the ESPN events. Both of which have their own passes. We love the water parks so this was sad news. But as the water parks annual pass would have been another 150 dollars, we had to draw the line somewhere. And again we would have had to factor in things like flights and transportation every time we’d decide to visit Walt Disney World.
The Mindset of a Walt Disney World Annual Passholder
The mindset of a Walt Disney World annual pass holder goes like this. “Don’t worry about it, we’ll do it next time”, “Gosh, I hope I remember to ask if they take the AP discount( cause not all places do)”, “lets sleep in”, “why don’t we do a resort day?”, “geez it’s crowded”, “why don’t these people know how to use the magic band reader?”
You Still Plan, but do you really need to?
One of the biggest changes was that as avid planners we like knowing what we’re doing when. But with an annual pass there is soooo much flexibility, you don’t love sleep over it.
1. Since you can now go to any park you like, whenever you like throughout the year the urgency, importance and frantic feelings go away.
2. Not everywhere takes the AP discount, so if you’re factoring that savings into your plan, be sure to check for the list of places it’s accepted. Saving that 20% on dinner or at the gift shop however is always amazing to see in print though, so its always worth asking.
3. Your days may start later than normal because everything will still be there whenever you decide to wake up. This is not necessarily a great part of the mindset to have. Mainly because right around 10-11am is when everyone else is trying to get to the parks. So the busses will be crowded, the lines longer and you will have missed that lovely time of the morning in the parks between 8-10am when fewer people are there.
You May Get Too Familiar with the Parks
4. Resort days are an attempt to vary up the routine of just going to the four parks for the length of your vacation. That said, they’re also free to go to regardless. So you don’t actually need an annual pass to hang out at a resort.The pass however gives you the freedom to “waste” a day if you want.
5. Evenings and weekends are always crowded. And the holidays are crowded always. As an annual passholder you’ve seen the parks throughout the entire year, so you’re hyper aware of the crowds. And which level of crowds you like best.
6. And yes, there will be times when you can’t figure out whats holding up the line. You’ll stand there wondering why you have to wait, and people may annoy you. But again, this is primarily because your level of Disney expertise has skyrocketed since becoming a pass holder. Be patient.
Our Disney Vacation Planning Changed
One of the completely unexpected parts of handing over 780 dollars to the House of Mouse was that our Vacation planning also changed. Why? Well, because if we were gearing up to visit Disney several times a year we no longer needed to wake up at 4 am when the fast pass for Flight of Passage went live for our vacation dates. ( Yes, we do this.) And no longer needed to take off a day of work to sit home and make Advanced Dining Reservations for our top choice restaurants on the first day we were allowed to do so. (We do this also.)
Essentially we had just figured if we miss something this time around, we’ll get it next time around. We still made fastpass reservations and dining reservations but now it was just about picking the things we already we knew we liked. The stuff not on our bucket lists wouldn’t really have lines anyway or need a reservation so if we missed a key dinner, we could find an alternative.
Our Daily Disney Experience Changed
This annual pass also allowed us a little more freedom to try things we may not try. As in things we weren’t sure we’d actually like. We’ve been trying to talk ourselves into seeing Country Bears and The American Adventure for years! But even as iconic Disney attractions, we have never taken the time to do either. While this sounds strange, we are great proponents of research and bucket lists with only the must do, must see and must eat things. We want it practically perfect every time. But this often leaves us only doing the best things and not really wanting to “waste” time on the potentially sub-par( but also enjoyable) things. It also leaves us fairly harried. Adamant on making our Disney vacation perfect.
With an annual pass in tow, we were able to waste as much time as we wanted exploring and trying out new things. And we spend time on the Plaza Garden lawn every time we visit now, definitely something we would have not done if we only had one annual trip a year.
We Park Hopped More than We Thought
Prior to this year we had made an annual trip every year to Disney for the last couple years. We looked forward to this sabbatical and would think about it all year long; which restaurants we wanted to try, which rides to book, which resorts to visit. One thing, however, never changed from year to year; we’d only visit one park each day. Even as a Walt Disney World Annual Passholder we still always recommend the one day-one park model. The park hopper option was always an extra cost and one we didn’t feel necessary. Truthfully we thought, why bother? If we’re at Magic Kingdom we don’t want to leave and get on a bus and go to another park.
The Ability to Park Hop Freely changed our Disney Planning
This impacted our planning immensely. Everyone knows NOT go to Magic Kingdom or Epcot on the weekends. So, instead, we’d shove those parks into the weekdays. And then of course we’d have to factor in when the fireworks were, the parades, the extra magic hours, etc. Multiple excel sheets were needed during the planning process and while we do love the planning, we sell planners after all, the Disney season pass completely took away this need. With the park hopper built in to the pass we could go to Magic Kingdom on a Saturday and then if it got to crowded, go to Hollywood Studios instead.
We often had days split between two parks with a small break in between at a resort for lunch. This too felt weird. For what previously felt like a big waste of time suddenly felt a little like freedom. When Magic Kingdom closed early we could go to Hollywood Studios or Epcot to finish out the evening and vice versa. While I don’t think we’d purchase the park hopper on a regular vacation, in years where we have the Annual Pass, we will surely take advantage of this perk.
We Built in More Down Time at Disney
We are huge fans of the hub grass in the Plaza Garden at Magic Kingdom. It’s close proximity to the castle, bathrooms, Starbucks and the gift shops. This makes it the perfect place to sit and relax for a minute. As a bonus you get to see the castle show, glimpse the parades, trolley shows and even hear the dapper dans. Apart from totally looking like an insider when you’re just sitting hanging out while everyone else is rushing around trying to do all the things, the hub grass also offers the best spots for cute castle photos
Not being tied to a very tight schedule and o.k. about missing a fast pass here and there we chose to sit and make crafts at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We took the boat to Wilderness Lodge to browse the gift shop there. And we often hang out on the beach with a dole whip at The Polynesian. We love to watch the street show at Hollywood Studios too. It was suddenly ok to just be hanging out. This was a completely new feeling for us this year. Being on a very tight budget, we are sometimes preoccupied with getting our money’s worth and less preoccupied with just having a nice time, aka…being on a vacation where you actually relax.
Everything Was Less Stressful
Surely you know what i’m talking about here. You’re at Disney. You paid god knows how much for this super magical vacation for your family. And you’ve been waiting 40 minutes for the bus to bring you to the parks. No one likes waiting in lines. It’s even harder to handle when you’re secretly calculating how much money was wasted to stand around at the bus stop for an hour. And while we didn’t love waiting for the bus or standing in long lines at security we also knew that it really didn’t matter. We didn’t need to be upset about it. No one can control the buses or the crowds. And there would be other days or trips where there would be shorter lines, less people and buses arriving on time.
We were no longer buying the Magic Your Way package
The Magic Your Way Package is required for certain promotions, like resort offers, and free dining. Since we like taking advantage of the free dining when it comes around this meant that in order to get the offer we needed a magic your way package. So we’d technically have to buy a few nights at the resort. And then the rest of the nights were AP discounted nights. Definitely call if you ‘re an AP and hoping to get the special promotions. Our workaround for this has been to just buy the make your way package. An annual pass always trumps package tickets. Which means that at the end of your vacation you would technically still have however many tickets on your account from your MYW package, that could later be used or traded in as credit on your next pass.
We Got to Experience Disney Annual Pass Perks and Special Previews
A favorite perk of the AP lifestyle was that you get your own special line to swipe in magic bands at the front gates. These lines were most of the time shorter than the regular lines. But not on weekends. We also got Passholder Previews, which meant we were invited to see anything new that opened in the parks. BEFORE the public was allowed. Of course these previews may not be open to all passholders. And being out of state, sometimes hard to take advantage of. This is by far the biggest perk especially with all the new things Disney is doing over the next couple years in preparation for the 50th Anniversary in 2021.
Being able to roam Pandora before it opened with only 100 other people at a time was fairly magical. Especially seeing that now wait times are almost 3 hours for Fight of Passage and there are still shoulder to shoulder crowds.
Should you Be A Walt Disney World Annual Passholder?
For us, we visited Walt Disney World seven times this past year. So, it was totally worth it. But we also knew that was the plan going into the investment. Whatever your reasons for considering an Annual Pass at Walt Disney World just remember that its less about the money and more about how you plan to use it during the year. Read all about the Perks of being a Walt Disney World Annual Passholder and our guide on if this is right for your family.
