April 20th is very quickly approaching, which means with the big news about annual pass sales, many of you have an important decision to make.
Deciding whether or not to purchase an Annual Pass to Disney World can be a tricky decision, especially if you don’t live close enough to make frequent day trips to the parks. As people who go to Disney World every day for work, we might be a little bit biased when helping you decide whether an Annual Pass is right for you. Let’s face it — we love Disney World and we LOVE our job! So, we asked our readers if they found their Annual Pass WORTH the extra cost.Â
Between Instagram and Facebook, over 1,000 All Ears readers told us that YES, they did find their Annual Pass to be worth the extra cost. Let’s face it, though. This “extra cost” is no joke — a family of four could rack up nearly $4,000 in Annual Pass fees. This extra cost is more like an INVESTMENT.
According to our readers, these are the things that make this investment worth it.
If You Visit Disney Multiple Times A Year
We know that many of our readers take Disney vacations during the summer AND winter. This is where they find the Annual Pass to be worth it! Traveling to Disney World for two 8-10 day trips a year, or three 6-day trips a year is an easy breakdown as to when you would break even with your Annual Pass, assuming you purchased the Incredi-Pass for $1,399. If you live in Florida and get any of the other passes, you could break even in around 7 visits.
If you live in Florida and love the parks, you could save a lot of money by purchasing an Annual Pass. However, if you live out of state, you’d have to already plan on visiting Disney World multiple times a year for it to make sense. Interested in seeing a cost breakdown? Click here.
If You’re Already A DVC Member
If you’re already a Disney Vacation Club member, you can get the Sorcerer Pass for $969. If you own a piece of Disney World resort property, we’ll assume that you’re already visiting quite a lot!
Becoming an Annual Passholder could actually save you money in the parks if you find yourself staying in your DVC unit frequently throughout the year. One of the most common answers from our readers was that the Annual Pass is SUPER convenient as a DVC member.
If You Live in Florida or Close to Florida
As we’ve already mentioned, it can be super worth it to get an Annual Pass if you already live in Florida, because you qualify for all four Passes! If you live in Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, or Mississippi, you could easily make a quick weekend trip to Disney World.
While you’d have to purchase the Incredi-Pass, you might find it easier to make multiple trips to Disney World throughout the year and break even. Several of our readers told us that they enjoy making smaller day trips or weekend trips with their Annual Passes!
So, what do you think? It really just takes some math to figure out how many times you’d have to visit in 12 months for the cost to break even, and if you and your Disney crew find it feasible to visit that often. Here at AllEars, we try our best to make these BIG decisions easier for you. Follow along for more posts like this — from Annual Pass news to our favorite restaurants and resorts. If you still can’t decide whether or not you should get an Annual Pass, click the link below.
Click here for the reasons why we WOULDN’T recommend getting an Annual Pass
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Do you have an Annual Pass? Let us know in the comments!Â
The estimates are kind of off. Starting this week if you want a three day ticket it is $425 (without tax). Three trips is $1,275 which is less than the AP first year cost, but only $24 less than the AP renewal cost. If you want a park hopper, which I believe an AP’er is likely to want you are at $1,512.
Looking at just three 3-day visits the various discounts on food and more importantly rooms will push you way over the finish line. The other thing to remember is arrival and departure times if you are flying. Landing mid-day or leaving late afternoon makes you really think about burning a single day on either of these partial days or can give you an extra day in the park. If you have an AP you do not care.
If coming twice a year two six-day park hoppers push you across the finish line.
When passes were a given I’d alternate years with my wife so we always had one and in some cases let the active one expire if there was going to be more than a one month lull between trips. Limited availability and park reservations took that option away unless one is willing to roll the dice and assume they can always get one. With that I recommend buying now and not waiting as the clock does not start on the pass until first entry and the option to buy might disappear if they decide to cap the number of AP’s again. When COVID looked like it was going to be more than a few months I asked for a partial refund of remaining time, but had no idea they would not be readily available for purchase once COVID passed. We still kept though not as frequently because the experience was not even remotely the same. As soon as they were made available again I was online the hour they went on sale to purchase one for my wife and one for me. No one could have guessed they were going to stop selling them and there were a lot of disappointed people who waited.