(photo by Bayley Clark/magicalguides.com)
A question we frequently get asked in our Walt Disney World Secrets and Tips facebook group, is when will annual Disney passes come back? Until today, no one in the Disney Blogsphere could answer with absolute certainty.
Let’s discuss the new Annual Pass Announcement with all of the details you want to know!
Are Disney Passes Coming Back 2023?
Yes! We received some exciting news in the My Disney Experience App today. As of April 6th, 2023 Disney has finally announced that annual passes will be available to upgrade outside the renewal window as well as new pass-holders will be able to purchase annual passes.
We are so excited for everyone who has been waiting to purchase their annual pass!
When Can You Buy Disney Passes For 2023?
April 20th, 2023 new sales and upgrades of annual passes for Disney’s Incredi-Pass, Disney’s Sorcerer Pass, and the Disney Pirate Pass will be available.
Disney Vacation Club members will be able to purchase the DVC Disney Sorcerer Pass on April 13th, 2023.
Mark your calendars for these exciting dates!
How Much Is An Annual Disney Pass?
They start at $399 plus tax for Florida residents, and out of state guests passes start at $1399 plus tax. Keep reading for details on each pass offered and how much they will cost.
If you want access to the water parks, or photopass options that have been offered in years past, you will have to shell out another $99 each for add-ons to your pass.
If you have multiple people in your family, only one of you needs to get the $99 Memory Maker option for attraction photos and photographer photos. Make sure you all have a Disney account on the MDE app and are all connected and that one person. They will be able to see all Disney Photo-pass downloads and share them with you.
What Kind of Annual Passes Does Disney Have?
Disney Pixie Dust Pass – $399 Plus Tax
This pass is for Florida Residents only and has the most restrictions for use. The Pixie Dust Pass is only for weekdays and has many blockout dates during peak and holiday windows. This pass is not available in the new annual passholder sales coming April 20th.
Disney Pirate Pass – $749 Plus Tax
This pass is for Florida Residents only. This pass is subject to applicable pass blockout dates during peak and holiday windows. This pass will be available on April 20th.
Disney Sorcerer Pass – $969 Plus Tax
This pass is for Florida residents or DVC Members. It also has blockout dates during peak and select holiday periods. This pass will be available to DVC members on April 13th and Florida residents on April 20th.
Disney Incredi-Pass – $1399 Plus Tax
All guests can purchase this annual pass with no blockout dates. This pass will be available on April 20th.
All of these passes offer a Florida Resident monthly payment program. You can make a $205 down payment and then pay for your pass every month.
Passholders no longer need to make park pass reservations after 2pm except for Saturdays and Sundays at Magic Kingdom. EPCOT, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios do not need reservations for Annual Passholders after 2pm.
If you want to visit Disney’s Magic Kingdom in the morning or on the weekends, you will still need an advance park reservation. You will also need to reserve a park for the mornings at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, or EPCOT.
Why did Disney Suspend Annual Pass Sales?
Disney accidentally resumed selling annual passes to DVC owners, and Florida residents on June 28th, 2022 for about 30 minutes. The Sorcerer Pass was available for $899 and the Pirate Pass was for $699. All other passes including the Incredi-Pass were not available.
As of November 16th, 2022, Walt Disney World would not sell annual passes for the remainder of the year. Although the CEO said during an investor call that they aren’t ruling it out in the future.
Disney stopped selling all 4 of their annual passes on November 21st, 2021. That was after they stopped selling back when the Disney World parks closed down in March of 2020.
Since then the parks have roared back to life, with crowded parks, some reaching capacity after requiring all guests to have a theme park reservations before entry and park hopping at 2pm.
Is Disney Annual Pass Worth It?
A four day hopper option ticket for theme park admission at Walt Disney World will cost about $640. If you take two four day trips a year, you will break even buying a Walt Disney World Annual Pass.
If you go to the parks more than 8 days a year, you will save money by purchasing a pass. In addition there are some money saving benefits for annual passholders that definitely add up!
All four annual passes previously include the following benefits:
- Standard theme park parking
- Hopper option
- Select dining discounts
- Discounts on dessert parties, or after hours events.
- Walt Disney World Resort discounts
- Up to 20% off select merchandise
- 50th Anniversary special surprises
- Access to special Passholder merchandise
- Disney will also be offering “bonus reservations” when availability allows for those who aren’t blocked out.
Read Also: What To Know About Parking At Walt Disney World
Are Passholders Less Valuable to Disney?
Disney is still attempting to recover losses they experienced during the pandemic. During the last stockholders meeting Disney is showing major profits, mostly coming from the purchase of Lightning Lanes and Genie+ with high attendance records.
As out of state passholders, I know we tend to eat at Disney restaurants for almost every meal, as well as indulge in a number of sweet treats. We also stay in Disney Resort Hotels.
We make it a habit of not buying the Individual Lightning Lanes or Genie+ as we are avid Rope Droppers. So maybe the previous Disney CEO had a point with Passholders not spending as much in the parks.
Read Also: Guide to Rope Dropping Magic Kingdom in Disney World
We know this news will make a lot of Disney fans very happy. Hopefully you learned a lot about the different types of annual passes that you can purchase and are ready to mark your calendar for April 20th.
Are you an annual passholder now? Are you thinking about renewing or purchasing? Let us know below!
We just renewed our annual passes, and you can read about why I renewed my Annual Pass here.
6 comments
Heather Amador-Delaporte
The most magical place on earth has completely changed. No lionger do you encounter genuinely happy employees that enjoy working there. No matter what the problem was, the attitude and Smile from somebody that worked at Disney pre covid could put your mind at ease almost immediately. Their kindness was contagious.
But that is not what you are likely to encounter at any one of Disney’s parks nowadays. Unfortunately it seems to be the exception to meet a cast member who cares about their job or your experience. I have never encountered as many people at Disney, that are rude, inconsiderate and lazy as I have in this past year.
And most certainly do not go to any of the Disney parks if you or a family member are disabled and require a wheelchair or an ECV.
People with disabilities end up becoming a burden to their family, they feel like a burden to themselves everything takes longer! Be prepared to wait in several lines for up to an hour just to find out what accommodations are truly offered and do not expect to be able to get any of these services online or with a cast member on the phone! It is a hassle to get any type of accommodations with either your pass, your family joining you on rides, and God for bid if you’re not one of the first people there or using an outside agency for a wheel chair or ECV! You are not likely to get any type of wheelchair or ECV unless you are there when the park opens. It appears that every park has a very limited number of these and in my experience several of them do not work to full capacity anyway.
Let’s talk about reservations for a moment. We’ve been a passholder for eight years. However during Covid we elected to cancel our pass. Last year when they reopened sales we purchased the pixie pass. We have been unable to use the pass other than 3 times because of the circumstances with available reservations and our work schedules not allowing us to fully plan that far in advance. You’re certainly not going to get into the most popular parks until after 2 PM so be prepared to waste several hours of your day between transportation to and from parking lot entrance gates and the parks themselves.
Let’s talk about 20% off on food, there are very few restaurants that accept the 20% off and even some stores that do not honor it as well. So unless you plan on sitting down at a restaurant do not plan on getting a discount on your food just because you are a passholder.
However if you are disabled and you pay for an ECV at the first park you do visit, once you get to the next park after 2 PM do not be surprised when they tell you there are no longer any wheelchairs are ECV’s available.
If you are disabled and or are a family member trying to navigate the park with you, be aware that VERY FEW park guests or cast members will have any consideration for you trying to get through a line, in a ride, through a crowd or simply down the street.
Be prepared to have to navigate through very small lines and roped off areas as most of these parks were never built with the intention of accommodating the disabled.
For those of you that have read this far down and feel like I might be cynical at this point, you may be right. I always considered myself one of the biggest Walt Disney World fans but my experience this past year has left me feeling empty and undecided as to whether or not we would want to support Walt Disney World in the future. Thank you for reading And just an FYI I was injured in a car accident almost 2 years ago so I had plenty of really amazing experiences at Disney prior to this injury however I cannot express enough that these parts could care less about the American disabilities act or any hardship it causes you or your family when you are in their parks.
Anon
OK.
Lori
I miss not being able to just go to Disney parks whenever we want without having to make a reservation.
Many times we cannot get a reservation and we are annual pass holders.
I feel Disney caters with people coming from other states to come to the parks instead of the annual pass holders.
Do away with reservations for us annual pass holders. We support Disney year round not for only a week
Anon
I don’t follow this.
There are out of state AP holders too.
Not sure what you mean by “catering to out of state”
You are clearly a FL resident.
I’m assuming you mean out of state non-AP holders.
Margaret Anderson
Totally agree.
Bayley Clark
We do as well. Sadly, Disney doesn’t need AP holders right now to fill in the lull of traffic as they are struggling to keep up with the attendance they have. I think we will see some cooling off soon, as I’m sure they will love an influx of money from new annual passholders.