Walt Disney World Increases Annual Passes, Parking, and More

51 thoughts on “Walt Disney World Increases Annual Passes, Parking, and More”

• Here’s some Mickey Math to put the price increase in perspective. We bought two annual passes last year (expire Nov. this year) for $1350 total. We used those passes for 28 days in the parks. So our cost/day for the passes was $48.21. Parking for each of those days would have been $17/day (we NEVER stay onsite, so we would have to pay parking without the annual pass), so we can subtract that, to get $31.21/day, and divide by 2 to get $15.61/day/person for park entry.

  Two new Platinum passes (the closest equivalent to the passes we had this year) would cost us $1595 total. If we were to use the passes for the same number of days, it would come out to $56.96/day with parking. Subtracting parking (now $20/day) and dividing by 2 gives $18.48/day/person, or an increase of a whopping $2.88/day/person, or $5.75/day total for both of us.

  However, it looks worse when you look at the percentage increase. That’s about an 18.5% increase/person/day over last year. Pretty big.

  Of course, if you use your passes fewer days, your increase will be more, and if you use them more days, your daily increase will be less.

• Trying to decide whether or not to renew our FL resident (formerly premium annual passes). Why, for the love of God, is there no option for no PhotoPass or whatever they call it? What possible use does a family of four need with 4 photopasses??? And what possible use would children get from it?? As a resident who visits the parks 20 times a year, I have ZERO need for photos!!!

  • You are so right Jane. We are foreigners and visit the parks once every two or three years. In such a case we LOVE PhotoPass! But we would only buy ONE annual pass for our family of 2 adults and 2 kids for a summer vacation of 10 days. That would be the only case it would probably make sense buying an Annual Pass (and just for one member of the family). It seems that locals are the least interested in a product intended for locals!!!

• I just purchased (non-Florida resident) Annual Passes online through AAA South (October 7, 2015 @ 12:57 AM) for $628.99 each. The total for 4 adult APs including tax came to $2679.48. The WDW website cost is $511.28 more ($3190.76)! The WDW website also stated that any passes purchased after 10/3 would get the additional perks. My tickets are will-call and won’t be used until December, so I can’t verify this, but it appears that I may be getting the new Platinum Ticket for $127 less through AAA South. I’m sure these prices won’t last, but if you can purchase now though AAA South then I suggest doing it ASAP. And even if it does not include the PhotoPass option, that is not important to me, and given the option I would not have purchased it. Either way I’m happy to save the $511. I wasn’t planning to purchase the passes for another few weeks, but this this a no-brainer. AAA South covers FL, GA and TN only. The regular savings per ticket is/was about $20 each.

• Everyone complains about the rising AP prices but no one takes into consideration the costs for Park refurbishment; and change with the times. Who wants a dinosaur park? No one wants job loss or reduction in benefits which is what’s done by other companies when they are forced to change as well. These increases are carefully calculated in the everyone’s best interests before being considered, then finalized. I understand everyone budgets, and if you truly do, then you know they must change with the cost of living / entertainment to adapt. It’s a reality that must be faced then overcome. All in all, one day admission plus parking to each of these parks, on seperate days, pays for the Platinum Plus pass…then you still have the rest of the year to enjoy…along with gracious discounts…and monthly installments! Its a no-brainer!

  • AP cost has gone up 50% in 5 years.. Cost of living? ROFL

    As for upgrades YES… I wish they had been doing that! Unfortunately their rate of improvement is far below that of their competitors. And they increased prices are far above those same competitors.

    Everyone will have their own individual take, but for now they have surpassed my threshold. Maybe in 2018 (3 years) when all the promised attractions open I will rethink it. But until then I will be exploring those competitors 4 parks and pocketing the extra $1250 I save.

    • Also- Please list the many “upgrades” over the past 5 years which would justify the 50% price increase experienced in that timeframe.

  • What they don’t take into consideration is capitalism. If the market wouldn’t bear these prices, then Disney would not charge them. Simple as that. Stop whining and go make more money.

    • No. How about we just move down the road to Universal. That’s called Free Market.

• Disney APs have gone up 50% in 5 years. In that time the only major adds have been the new Fantasyland. Tons of closed attractions. It’s sad but they have reached my limit. When my passes expire in August we will be moving on to the other parks for a few years. At LEAST until Star Wars Land fully opens in 2018. I can buy annual passes to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Sea World and Aquatica and STILL have $1250 left over for what APs to Disney will cost me. They also have a much faster pace of adding attractions. I also will no longer have to plan my dining 6 months in advance and pick the 3 rides I’d like to have FastPasses for 60 days out. Although I am going to go out on a limb and say that Disney starts to shift to a tiered hotel benefit system where the Deluxe will get more FastPasses and the off-sites the least. +1 for Value, +2 for Moderates and +3 for Deluxe.
  The Universal hotels are really no more expensive than the Disney ones and they give unlimited front of the line… day of check in AND check out…

• My one request would be for Disney to extend the Water Park After 2 annual pass for Florida residents to DVC members as well.

• Will you still be able to upgrade anytime after your purchase? I once upgraded to a premium pass because I needed to go to the water parks and Disney Quest frequently, and simply had to pay the difference. If they still do that, then I could just get the gold one, and if I suddenly felt the urge to go during the Christmas crowd season, I could just pay to upgrade.

  When the price goes up, I feel compelled to go for more days, thus keeping my price per day the same (at least for the ticket). I paid for it, I might as well use it! Don’t expect crowds to get smaller unless people decide not to buy annual passes.

• I was thinking just the other day that maybe I should fret less over the crowds, because ridiculous crowds show that the tickets are under-priced. One way to reduce crowds is to charge more for tickets. From now on, I’m going to try to be happier about crowds. :/

  We will probably renew our APs but I’m not sure at which level. AAA usually has some kind of discount, so no decisions until those prices are available.

  Some of those blackout dates might be a blessing in disguise. The parks can be miserably hot in July.

  • Beth, AAA may still have inventory at the old price. I bought two APs at the old price on the morning of the 4th (online).

• I’d pay 31% more for an Annual Pass than I paid 2 years ago.

  As hefty as these price increases are (50% more for Tables in Wonderland–yikes!), I think it’ll be even worse next year. Let’s step into Wayback Machine….

  I remember when the Dining Plan included appetizer and tip. (Yes, those were heady days, indeed.) The cost was $39.99/day. They then took out the app & tip and lowered the price by…$1.00. But they gave you the illusion you were paying less, so as to make this huge decrease in value easier to swallow. Then they really hit you with the price increases in the ensuing years. So now you’re paying significantly more for significantly less.

  IMHO that’s what the PhotoPass add-on is here: the spoonful of sugar to make the price increase go down. Look out next year (and by “next year,” I mean “sometime in early 2016”) when there’s no additional inducement and they *really* jack up rates.

  Disney…boiling your frog one degree at a time.

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog#As_metaphor

• When I spoke to Disney ticket agent this morning, I was told $676.28 to renew my 10-31-2015 AP with a Platinum Pass for PA resident versus $635 in table above. Difference must be taxes and fees? Also, agent said it was too late to get old lower-cost renewal without PhotoPass that would have been available yesterday. Bob

• Might just want to spellcheck the table…

• Thanks Rikki for the updates and information. With our trips coming up next year, this helps us plan a ticket package that will fit our family.

• Are regular ticket prices going up too? I would need to price out a trip without the pass to see if the AP is worth it.

  • Rumor is that’s coming in November, so I would buy now if you’re not getting APs.

    • Lauren, do you have the rumored date as to when in November price increases will happen for regular park tickets? I have a trip in February and need to purchase park tickets before Dec 20th (for FP+ selections), so trying to figure out when we should buy

• So, basically, it’s $100 extra for those photopass photos… can someone tell me how the “Photopass media” downloads differs from purchasing Memory Maker?? I just want to be able to factor that into the brand new Mickey Math that I’ll need to be doing today to see if the new pricing affects whether or not the AP is still a better deal.

  • Hey Nickie!

    Purchasing Memory Maker would only last for a period of time (30 days from the first download or redemption). I believe there is an option to purchase more time… Whereas, now that it is added to the AP, you get photos throughout the time of your AP (a year!). I think this is a great perk for APs that go to the parks often, but didn’t feel like they were getting a bang for their buck to purchase Memory Maker each time and make sure that they stopped for as many photos as possible.

    Now with Memory Maker you could link multiple people on one purchase, so I’m not sure how it would work with the AP (like can all your friends be linked and you get free downloads of those photos – I do not know). To be on the safe side, I would make sure that the person with the AP scans their magic band any time a photo is taken or after a ride (just a thought).

    • so, basically, you’re getting MM with your AP… well, if you’re planning on purchasing MM already, I guess one AP is a better deal… if all the other Mickey Math works in your favor. Thanks for clarifying!

    • Memory Maker and Photo Pass are different. You get Photo Pass with your ap

• Mariana- the typical room discount is 37% off. However, these deals are typically released only a couple of months before hand and are limited to what is left in the resort inventories. Often the room selection is limited.

  • Thanks Michelle, how about merchandise discounts? Do you know how much and where the discounts apply?

• If we already had a pass do we get the photo pass?

  • We just renewed out Florida AP last month, but it was $110 less than the new announcement. I don’t know for sure, but my guess is that they’ll give you photopass if you pay the extra.

    • If you purchased/renewed by October 3, 2015, you do NOT have blackout dates but you also do not have photo pass downloads. If you purchased after that date, you have blackout dates but you have photo pass downloads. The Walt Disney world site explains it pretty clearly. They have two different charts of benefits listed.

• Wow, what an increase to Tables in Wonderland!

  • And less than a week before I was about to buy it too, ugh! At least we bought the APs months ahead of time.

• What would be a common discount for AP holders in Resort stays?

  • If available, the AP resort discounts are about 5% better than the general public room only offers.

    • I feel like I’m robbing them when I take that additional 5%. Sometimes I leave an envelope in the room to ease my guilt.

      Face it, there are no AP discounts. 10% on some merchandise and overpriced dining, takes a lot of spending to pay for your pass. And that’s the same discount your Disney Visa gets, plus at lease you can accumulate reward points.

  • I actually got better rates using a coupon code on Orbitz than the AP discounted rates for my trip next week. And MUCH more availability, resorts that showed nothing available on disneyworld.com (with or without discounted rates) had plenty available on the 3rd party sites.
    I would not count room discounts as a factor when deciding to buy an AP or not.

  • We stay on the avg of 4 or 5 times a yr, always with the ap discount which usually runs from 20% off for value to 35% for deluxe). We have never had a problem getting the resorts we want. There almost always is an ap discount available.

• We’re not annual passholders but I have to say the price increases and the parking increases are quite breathtaking. And I also can’t believe all the different options there are for an AP. not sure how people even begin to choose which one to get.

• Unless something else is coming, it’s the lack of a FL resident AP w/o blackouts that really hurts.

  • Bill, I believe there is still a Florida rate for the Platinum Pass and Deluxe Platinum Pass, aka “No Blackout AP”.

  • No blackout dates AP is $100 less for FL resident and DVC owner.

    I know because I’ve already budgeted for an old price, I’d like to know how much the actual increas from the old FL resident season pass.

    • My last FL Annual Pass renewal via AAA (earlier this year) was $425 (that’s currently the full Annual Pass with parking).

      It looks like the new levels would make that a “Platinum Pass” level pass, effectively increasing the price of my “no block-out ticket” about $83 ($6.92/month increase).

      On the other hand *all* the pass-levels now include parking eliminating a huge enticement (for me, anyway) to get the full Annual Pass. I don’t usually have time to go during the middle of the summer anyway, so my big decision is whether the other block-out dates warrant the $83-$219 extra cash for the days I may not visit anyway.

      Bottom line? Apples-for-Apples the price went up $83, but the lower-level passes have a huge value when you consider parking is included now.

  • It’s $649 or $549 for a renewal for a FL resident no-blackout pass according to the above table.

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