Is a Walt Disney World Annual Pass Worth It?

Disney recently announced an increase in prices for annual passes, which are available in four different varieties. Many Disney World aficionados haven't even considered buying annual passes, believing that you'd have to visit the theme parks a lot to make them worthwhile. But as you'll see, even if you take a couple of trips in any given year, it could make good financial sense.

Walt Disney World annual passes just got more expensive

Disney recently announced a price increase for all of its annual passes, ranging from $30 to $50 over previous levels, depending on the type of pass. There are currently four levels of annual passes available for the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida:

Disney Incredi-Pass ($1,449)

The least restrictive pass, the Incredi-Pass is available to everyone, and has no blockout dates.

Disney Sorcerer Pass ($999)

The Sorcerer Pass is available to Florida residents and many Disney Vacation Club members. It has a few blockout dates around major holidays, when the parks tend to be busiest.

Disney Pirate Pass ($799)

The Pirate Pass is available to Florida residents only, and has blackout dates around holidays and certain peak periods. For example, the Pirate Pass is blocked out for a three-week period in March and April while many schools are on Spring Break.

Disney Pixie Dust Pass ($439)

Only available to Florida residents, the Pixie Dust Pass is the most restrictive. In addition to the Pirate Pass' blockout dates, the Pixie Dust Pass also excludes weekends. In short, it is good for weekdays during non-peak times.

All passholders enjoy certain benefits, such as a 20% discount on most dining and merchandise options at the resort, as well as free standard parking at all four Disney World theme parks. And it's worth noting that all four passes can be renewed at lower rates (about 15% less) than the initial costs listed here, so beyond the first year your cost could decline.

How much does a Disney World ticket cost?

In addition to the cost of annual passes, the other important piece of the puzzle is how much it costs to visit Disney parks if you don't have an annual pass. We'll get to the math comparing the two options in the next section, but here's what you need to know about Disney ticket prices.

Unfortunately, it's not as easy as stating a daily rate. A one-day Disney ticket costs anywhere from $109 to $189, depending on the day you choose to go. Slower times of the year are likely to fall toward the lower end of that range, while peak periods are at the higher end.

Plus, Disney World tickets purchased for multiple days of admission are cheaper on a per-day basis. As an example, a quick search on Disney's website shows that today's standard one-day ticket price is $149. But if I were to purchase a three-day ticket, the daily cost would be $144. For a four-day ticket, the cost would be $137 per day.

Ticket prices can be significantly higher if you want to add park-hopping privileges (which allow you to visit more than one Disney World theme park in a single day), or if you want to add water park visits.

It's also important to mention that Disney typically has lower-priced tickets for Florida residents. For example, as of this writing, you can buy a three-day park hopper ticket that is good on weekdays for $255 if you are a resident, compared with a cost of $511 (more than double) for a standard three-day park hopper ticket.

Doing the math: Is a Walt Disney World annual pass worth the cost?

In a nutshell, a Disney World annual pass could be worth it for you if the cost of the pass is less than you would otherwise spend on tickets during the year.

I'll use a personal example to illustrate this. We meet Disney's Florida residency requirements and currently have the Pixie Dust Passes for myself, my wife, and our two children. The total cost (assuming you're a first-time passholder and not a renewal) would be $1,756. Plus, we use our Disney® Premier Visa® Card and get 2% back as rewards dollars to use in the parks.

We have two trips planned for the coming year and anticipate spending three days at the parks during each trip. So, we would otherwise spend $255 per person on Florida resident weekday park-hopper passes per trip, which would total $2,040 for the two trips. Plus, we'd save $30 per day on parking, which is included with annual passes, which would bring our total spending to $2,220 if we weren't passholders.

So, even if we just make our two anticipated trips, buying our annual passes would save us money. And if we decide to take an additional trip or two throughout the year, it makes the passes even more valuable to us.

The bottom line

One key takeaway is that you don't have to go to Walt Disney World all the time for annual passes to make sense. Many Florida residents, and even non-residents who take frequent trips to the parks could find that the cost of annual passes is significantly less than they would otherwise spend. And that doesn't even take into account the shopping and dining discounts or any other passholder perks.

Becoming a Disney World passholder isn't right for everyone. But if you take multiple trips to the Central Florida resort each year, it might make more sense than you think.