One of the more perplexing situations this year throughout Disney World’s closure and phased reopening has been what your best course of action is if you’re an Annual Passholder. Already this year, Disney has offered Passholders the option to extend or cancel their Passes altogether.
While the purchase of a new Annual Pass is not available at this time, it appears as though Disney World may be starting to handle individual Passholder options on a case-by-case basis when it comes to renewing.
As of now, Disney World’s official policy is that the sale of Annual Passes is temporarily unavailable. Additionally, we’ve spoken with several Cast Members over what the current Passholder options are, who have confirmed that Disney has not resumed the sale of Annual Passes.
If you had an Annual Pass that either expired recently or you chose to cancel this year, though, you might be able to reach out to Disney World Guest Services directly and have some luck acquiring a renewed Annual Pass. Note that the keyword here is might.
If your Annual Pass expired a while ago (especially if it expired before the closures began on March 16th), you might be out of luck and you will have to wait until Disney World decides to resume the sale of new Annual Passes. From the conversations we’ve had with Cast Members, this definitely seems to be one of those situations where not everyone will be able to renew their Passes when they call and ask, and instead they are dealing with this on a case-by-case basis.
But depending on your unique scenario, you may fall into a category where a renewed Annual Pass could be an option. The only way to know for sure at this time is to call Disney Guest Services!
Keep in mind again that acquiring a renewed Annual Pass at this time definitely seems to be the exception to the rule and not Disney’s current standard policy amongst all Passholders. We will continue to closely monitor what your options are as an Annual Passholder, and we will let you know of any policy changes or updates as we learn more!
Click here to read about Premiere Passports being extended during Disneyland’s closure
Are you a Disney World Annual Passholder who either had a pass that expired during the closures or chose to cancel your pass? Let us know in the comments!
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Mine expired last March right after the parks shut down. I was never able to renew and didn’t get the extension added to my pass or the email to renew. Each time I called the wait was over an hour. Each time I emailed I was told to call. I eventually decided to give up and would just renew but now I’m so sad that I can’t renew. I’m
Going to try in person and see if that will work.
I called this morning and was on hold for over an hour! When I finally spoke with someone she told me that I was eligible for a renewal since I opted to cancel my pass back in August before my pass was set to expire in September. She transferred me to a different lady who told me she couldn’t do it over the phone since it has been more than 60 days and she advised that I need to go in person to guest relations at Disney Springs. I’m planning to go tonight.
Did it work? Were you able to renew your passes?
Did you hear anything yet? We called last Friday and still haven’t received a call back yet. We are in the exact same situation as you, so I’m curious to see what you hear!
I just called Disney this morning. I’m a Florida Annual Passholder who decided to cancel AFTER March. The woman told me I qualified for a review of my pass renewal option. So I’m waiting for a callback (7-10 days) and hope that we will be able to reinstate. We have been passholders for nearly 7 years. Updates to follow.
Did you hear anything yet? We called last Friday and still haven’t received a call back yet. We are in the exact same situation as you, so I’m curious to see what you hear!
It really makes no sense. Why not only sell new annual passes? I understand the purpose of reducing the number of visitors, but why is that target new customers? Why can existing customers be renewed? Are there a lot more existing customers than new ones?
There is one exception that I know of to buying a new AP during COVID shutdown. If you have an AP and you have a child who just turned 3 years old, if you call the ticket office (not the AP line) they will allow you to purchase a new AP for your 3 year old. It is still case by case, and if you are told no by a cast member, be polite, but hang up and call until you get the right cast member who knows this one exception and can help you.
My AP expired in early March 2020 (right before closure) and the ONLY reason I did not renew was due to the uncertainty around the pandemic. Seeing that my Silver pass was going to be blocked out as of late May anyways, I did not feel comfortable with the looming threat of COVID. But now, I am in AP Purgatory – WDW will not renew my pass, after many times trying – even after explaining why I was scared to renew, after being a passholder for 5+ years. I think it is a shame they are in such a deficit, but denying AP renewals in certain circumstances is a bit ridiculous and in poor business. I am very comfortable with the mask mandates and understand the reservation system and accept the fact that the AP advantages are not what they used to be – but yet, Disney still does not want my AP money. All they can say is, “But you can still buy tickets!” – umm, no thanks Disney, I realize you need revenue, but it is not economical for a FL resident that lives within 50 miles, that is used to going to Disney multiple times a year, to just “buy a ticket” when I would like to go. Sigh.
My husband and I are in the same situation. Our passes were up for renewal right before the closure and I was unsure of the pandemic situation and battled the decision not to renew because of this. I attempted to renew or even purchase at full price during the pandemic but that was not even considered when I asked and was told “Annual passes cannot be obtained even for those with past APs”. It is frustrating!! My husband and I decided if we go we will have to not go into the parks as day passes are NUTS. Keep us updated on your progress as I am in the same boat.
Same with me! My husband, kid and I all had passes. Mine got out of sync with my husband’s and we were trying to figure out what to do with the pandemic… we tried calling many times to ask but there were 2+ hours wait and never was able to get a call back. So his pass was extended 4 months and I apparently missed the cutoff… we found out by doing this:
– Staying at fort wilderness (DVC points about to expire), we asked the concierge what to do if we wanted to renew passes. He said go to guest relations because he couldn’t do it (Disney springs or magic kingdom entry)
– We go to magic kingdom. They said we were SOL and could buy a day pass (which were extra expensive apparently?? – higher than online at $144 per ticket for 4 hours remaining of the day). They suggest the chat in the app or calling the phone number to see if they could help with the pass situation
– Tried calling, never got through to anyone again
– Tried the chat, they called me a liar because the Magic Kingdom guest relations person “would not have told me that” (to contact chat or call to try to see if there was anything they can do). I couldn’t believe how rude they were — sort of defeats the point of guest relations?? All they said was they were not selling annual passes, calling wouldn’t help, I’m a liar for suggesting the possibility, and I should have bought the tickets before I came. And they “notated” my account because I put a few words in caps lock because I couldn’t believe they were saying I lied, over and over!
I’ve been a member for years, married into DVC, and live in Florida. I’ve never had such a poor experience here. I wasn’t even planning on going to the parks because we didn’t make a reservation… but it was raining and they were all open so we thought we’d try. A simple no would have been AMAZING by the first person or two we asked instead of the 4 hour runaround.
Anyway, we just won’t be going to Disney unless we need to use our DVC points for a while.
My AP was canceled, not at my request, and I have not been successful in my attempts to get it reinstated. I just bought it in January!