Annual Passes

[ailie]

Guys, has anyone ever bought annual passes if they intend to visit disney twice in the one year?

Wondering what the benefits other than free parking would make it worth our while.

Worked out that this years tickets will cost us £1200 that's without parking at $22 a day 🤦🏼

Opinions welcome 😜 we would only manage two trips in a year defo not 3.

[disneypars]

Discounts on merchandise (20%),dining (usually 10%) and parties and tours.

At EPCOT events get passholder magnets or something else.

Passholder rates seasonally.

[captain-codeye]

For me I can’t see Disney annual passes giving a huge saving on 2 14 day visits.

I looked briefly and maybe upgrading 1 for the parking and discounts? I worked out for us 3 trips was needed for any real benefit to us all having one.

Universal is a different matter though, good value on 2 visits.

[Tee]

We upgraded our 14 day UK passes to APs (without the water parks) in November but we are doing 3 trips. The current cost to buy this pass is $1194.74 so around £911 at today's exchange rate of 1.31. If you want water parks included it would be around £990. This year's 14 day passes seem to be around £395. So for 2 trips would be around £790. If you think you would benefit from the discounts on dining (mostly only table service restaurants) and shopping then it might be worth it. We don't tend to eat at many Disney table service places as we prefer eating off site, so we didn't really benefit from this. It was good not having to pay the parking though, which is now $25 per day. Take a look at all the benefits to an annual pass and see if you would use it all as you also get discounts on tours and other activities, which might make it worthwhile.

[gismo1554]

Previously (2017/18) the price of an AP made it worth it for one trip if you were going for over 10 days of parks and were planning on spending money on food and drink. There was however a large price rise last year that made it a lot more expensive and I really don't see how you could justify the price. Its now over double the price of a 14 day ticket at $1200 approx.

Price wise you then have:
- $525 for the ticket
- $350 for parking if you do 14 days
- $325 left for discounts on items
Now most discounts are 10% so that would mean you would need to be spending $3250 on meals and souvenirs to justify the full cost of the pass. Personally our family don't spend this amount but I know a lot do so some may still find this reasonable.

As I went in September and I will be going in May I upgraded my 14 day ticket to an AP as it was approx the same price as buying another 14 day ticket (I got $100 discount for renewing a previous AP) but the rest of our May party haven't bothered as it just didn't add up.

[Guest]

I had planned to upgrade to annual when we went in September as going again in April. However with the steep increase in price just beforehand, it did not make any financial sense, especially as we don’t even have a car. We would have to spend an awful lot on food and merchandise to break even. I think for many it would only be worth it for three trips now.

[bighal]

You only need 1 person in your car to get free parking and all the discounts. So it may be worth only getting 1 AP between you. Bare in mind that you can only book 7 days worth of Fastpasses at a time with an AP unless you are staying on site but then you get free parking anyway.

[ailie]

Thanks for all the replies I think if we were planning on doing 3 trips it would be a no brainer but 2 trips prob doesnt cut it.

Might consider buying one though? But would this have effects of booking fast passes as a group?

[Guest]

Originally Posted by ailie

Thanks for all the replies I think if we were planning on doing 3 trips it would be a no brainer but 2 trips prob doesnt cut it.

Might consider buying one though? But would this have effects of booking fast passes as a group?

See more...

If you are staying offsite then yes this is going to adversely impact the person with the AP. The rest of the party will be able to book fourteen days of fast passes (assuming you are going for two weeks). The AP holder would only be able to book seven days of fast passes in advance and would then have to try and get slots that fit in with everyone else on a day by day basis.

[YorkshireT]

I just got an annual pass but with DVC discount. Cost me around £627 for Platinum (needed that for Xmas trip) with DVC discount, so worth it for me for 2 trips (having 3 in a 12 month period). However without the DVC discount it’s close.
It was actually cheaper for me to buy a 14 day ticket and get it bridged to a pass at Disney Springs, think they gave me over $550 value for it, but I’d only paid about $460 for it (bought it Jan 2018). So you could buy the 14 day ticket (get it direct from Disney if you intend to try this as reports I’d if you get it elsewhere they’ll only sometimes give you the wholesale price) and go ask about upgrading it when there, it’s then a purely mathematical exercise to go ahead or not. There’s some threads over in the DVC section about this, you won’t be eligible for the discount or Gold, but the rest of it is relevant to you.