Annual Pass Questions

MrsAuthorLady · 19 Aug 19, 12:07 PM

Hi!

I'm based in the UK, we're doing an offsite 21-day stay in January 2020 and we booked the UK only 21-Day tickets through a vendor back in May when we booked this.

We've now decided we're also going to do a week onsite in September 2020. We booked through WDW direct and added the 7-day ticket.

Looking at it now, if we refund the 21-day ticket and ask Disney to remove the 7-day ticket from our upcoming booking in September, then we would be better off with an annual pass.

My questions are this:

Firstly, is there an annual pass hike due soon as far as we know?

Secondly, if I cancel my tickets and then get the annual pass, I understand I have to pick this up from WDW in person. Would I have to pay parking when I go to pick up the annual passes on that first day? Because one of the reasons I would want the annual passes is for the free parking.

Lastly, if I have to pick the annual passes up at the gate, will I be able to book any FastPasses in advance? I'm offsite and currently have the 21-day tickets on my MyDisneyExperience account, if I remove them and I'm effectively ticket-less, can I book FastPasses 30 days out of my stay?

Any help would be appreciated, this is the first time we're travelling from the UK twice in a year and might be able to save some money by being annual pass holders.

Thank you!

lizzie145 · 19 Aug 19, 12:23 PM

there are different rules for FP bookings for annual passes i think.
Annual Passholders can make FastPass+ selections up to 30 days in advance. Secure up to 3 FastPass+ selections for one park per day, for up to 7 days. If plans change, it�s easy to update or cancel your selections, subject to availability.

Passholders with reservations at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel can start making FastPass+ selections as early as 60 days prior to the check-in date―and can secure FastPass+ selections for the length of stay or up to 7 days. Please note that if your length of stay is longer than two weeks, FastPass+ selections can be made for up to 14 days.

perhaps you can upgrade at the end of your holiday though this would mean you have to pay for parking

MrsAuthorLady · 19 Aug 19, 01:03 PM

Originally Posted by lizzie145

perhaps you can upgrade at the end of your holiday though this would mean you have to pay for parking

Paying for parking is the difference between making the switch from tickets to annual pass profitable so I'd really need to make the choice prior to both of the trips. So many factors to consider! Thanks for your reply

gismo1554 · 19 Aug 19, 01:32 PM

Firstly, is there an annual pass hike due soon as far as we know?

They've just done a huge hike so its unlikely it would happen in the next month or so but might happen at any time as Disney is a law unto itself.

Secondly, if I cancel my tickets and then get the annual pass, I understand I have to pick this up from WDW in person. Would I have to pay parking when I go to pick up the annual passes on that first day? Because one of the reasons I would want the annual passes is for the free parking.

So if you preorder your AP for Disney then you get a $25 credit on a gift card when you pick up your Annual pass so you don't actually pay in the long run for this first parking.

The other thing to note is only one of you needs the AP to get free parking (and discounts).

Lastly, if I have to pick the annual passes up at the gate, will I be able to book any FastPasses in advance? I'm offsite and currently have the 21-day tickets on my MyDisneyExperience account, if I remove them and I'm effectively ticket-less, can I book FastPasses 30 days out of my stay?

Fastpasses you can still book in advance if you purchase a AP in advance - it still links to your MDE etc its just you have to go get the Card portion before you can use it to get into the park. The other thing to note is that with the AP you can actually only book 7 days fast pass at a time (still 30 days in advance but u can't hold more than 7 days). With a 21 day ticket you can hold 21 day FPs with no problem.

With this in mind I think I'd be a bit more inclined to keep the 21 day tickets and then look to upgrade one to an AP while over there.
The advantages to this are:
- you can prebook 21 days fastpasses as can all party
- you have already purchased the tickets so no faf trying to cancel

The disadvantages to this are:
- no free parking for day one
- possibility of a price rise in the meantime

In all honesty its a hard one to judge and I think you need to think of this in terms of what you want out of the pass. Also as said only 1 of you need the AP so you need to crunch the numbers. This is what we did for two 14 day trips last year and it worked out OK.

Annual Pass = $1193
14 Day ticket x 2 = �385 each so approx $934 total
Parking for 7 days x 2 = $350 at $25 per day
Total = $1284

Obvs if staying on site then parking wont be a saving as I believe this is only at the parks and as of next year you have to also pay to park at the hotels.

The cost to upgrade from recent pricing (haven't done so not 100% sure until my next trip) is the difficernce between ur ticket and the AP. So for a 21 day ticket it works out about �20 more currently so around $50 more approx so there isn't much difference in these calcs and the 7 day is prob a similar price cheaper so a 12 and 7 day would probably be very similar pricing.

Shooby doo · 20 Aug 19, 09:35 AM

Which AP ? If the Plat then the above calculation is correct but no water parks, if the + then that's $1298 & it would be all down to parking & discounts
SD

MrsAuthorLady · 20 Aug 19, 09:36 AM

Originally Posted by Shooby doo

Which AP ? If the Plat then the above calculation is correct but no water parks, if the + then that's $1298 & it would be all down to parking & discounts
SD

We don't need the water parks so the lower tier one is fine for us

gismo1554 · 21 Aug 19, 07:26 AM

Originally Posted by Shooby doo

Which AP ? If the Plat then the above calculation is correct but no water parks, if the + then that's $1298 & it would be all down to parking & discounts
SD

Oh yes forgot about the other one as I don't tend to do water parks (a hot tub would do me just fine

)