All the Reasons You SHOULDN’T Become a Disney World Annual Passholder

Being a Disney World Annual Passholder is a goal for a lot of Disney fans.

The Passholder program can feel like a secret club of sorts, filled with other folks who love Disney World as much as you do. Oh, and there are also perks and discounts! While the perks, discounts, and removed need to buy park tickets each time you visit make having an Annual Pass worth it in a lot of cases, there are a few critiques Passholders have about the program. These things could make or break your decision to make that big purchase. This post is going to highlight all of the reasons that you SHOULDN’T become an Annual Passholder.

We’re totally not trying to sway you one way or another. We’re just here to highlight some things about having an Annual Pass that could impact your decision. Most of us here at All Ears have a pass, and these are things that either acted as roadblocks for us or made us wish that the program was slightly different.

There are no payment plans unless you live in Florida.

There are four different types of Annual Passes, but only one of those is available to out-of-state residents: the Incredi-Pass. (Unless you live out-of-state and are a Disney Vacation Club member — then you can also buy the Sorcerer Pass.) The Incredi-Pass is the most EXPENSIVE pass at $1,449 plus tax. It has no blockout dates, and you can hold five park passes at a time.

Florida Residents are able to make payments on all types of passes. However, out-of-state residents have to pay this in one lump sum. It’s not as easy to budget.

Here’s what I personally recommend doing, because it’s how I budgeted my own annual pass: Buy park tickets for your next Disney World vacation. I bought tickets for the end of December in October. While I was at Disney World on that December vacation, I went to Guest Relations and UPGRADED my park tickets to an Annual Pass. I just had to pay the difference! My annual pass will expire a year from the first day that I had park tickets in December. I was able to split that payment in half because of this.

Here’s a breakdown of the Annual Pass types

You might not break even.

Getting an Annual Pass takes away the hassle and financial burden of having to buy a ticket every single time you want to visit the parks. However, you’re only saving money if you go about 14 days or more throughout the year.

For many, that’s an easy task! However, a lot of folks find that they never broke even on their purchase and ended up wasting money. Before you decide to make the purchase, ensure that you’ll have the time and availability to visit the parks as much as you need to in order to break even.

Sure, life and the unexpected happen. This is just something to think about!

You’ll still have to make park reservations.

On January 9th, 2024, park pass reservation requirements went away for visitors with date-based tickets. A lot of Annual Passholders found this change to be highly frustrating, because they pay so much money to not get the upper hand.

Everyone still needs to make reservations for Saturdays and Sundays in Magic Kingdom, and Annual Passholders must make reservations every single day if they plan on entering a park before 2PM. There’s one other exception, which leads us to our next point.

The “Good to Go” Days system can be confusing.

To combat the fact that Annual Passholders still need reservations, Disney added “Good to Go” days. These are days when Passholders can do as they please without making Park Pass reservations.

You’ll be able to see your Good to Go days on the calendar once you’re logged in to the Disney World website. There’s also a new shortcut that’ll take you directly to your Good to Go days on the My Disney Experience app’s homepage.

If you click “learn more,” it’ll take you directly to the calendar. This whole system is rather confusing, and a lot of folks are just wishing that the park pass requirements would be removed completely.

If you live out of state, it’s hard to take advantage of perks.

Perks like previews of upcoming rides and attractions, Passholder magnet distribution, and the occasional special snack obviously take place in the park. Usually, we won’t know about these things until a couple months in advance — and that’s the generous end of things.

It’s hard to quickly plan a trip to be able to grab special souvenirs, snacks, and experience rides before anyone else when you don’t live in Florida. These perks are often deemed useless for many Passholders.

A lot of us out-of-state folks just wish they’d mail us the magnets and souvenirs and allow for a larger window of some of the other fun things that happen in the parks.

If you’re debating an Annual Pass, we hope that this allows some insight as to what you can expect. Some of these things might not even be negatives for you! We’re in Disney World every day, so we’ll continue to keep you updated with news and tips. Make sure to follow along for more!

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Are you an Annual Passholder? Let us know in the comments! 

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