4/12/23

Walt Disney World Annual Passes

April 12, 2023

At the time of this writing, we are a week away from being able to purchase Walt Disney World Annual Passes once again. They haven’t been available for new purchases since November of 2021, so the anticipation has been stewing. The prices have gone up (again). The perks have remained minimal. Yet the demand, at least according to the Disney online community, is as high as ever. Is it worth it? Like every other “value” question, the answer to this is: it depends.

To demonstrate I will replay the Vizzini / Man in Black dialogue from the Princess Bride. I will be playing the role of Wallace Shawn as Vizzini (I do a mean Wallace Shawn impersonation) with the Man in Black’s role being filled by a curious questioning WDW fan.

WDW Fan: All right. Should I get the WDW AP or skip it? The battle of wits has begun. It ends when I decide to purchase a pass or save the money. Then we find out which one was right and which one makes me bankrupt.

Me: But it’s so simple. All I have to do is divine from what I know of your vacation habits: are you the sort of traveler that will go to WDW for five days during the year, or will you take several trips? Now a clever Disnerd would leverage an AP and use as many park days as possible for value’s sake, because only a great fool would spend $1500 for an AP and only use it for a handful of days. You are not a great fool, so you can clearly purchase an AP.

WDW Fan: So my decision is made then?

Me: Not remotely! Because even if you go to the parks for eight to ten days during the year, if you do it all on one or two trips, then you’re still not getting your money’s worth because the more consecutive days you purchase, the cheaper the multi-day tickets get.

WDW Fan: Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.

Me: WAIT ‘TILL I GET GOING! Where was I?

WDW Fan: Multi-day tickets

Me: YES, multi-day tickets. Now you can make your money back from purchasing the AP with only seven or eight park days if you’re buying them in two or three day tickets at a time. If you do holiday weekends three or four times a year and routinely get two day tickets, especially with park-hoppers.

WDW Fan: You’re just stalling in giving me a definitive answer

Me: You’d like to think that wouldn’t you. You have only have nine park days planned on just one or two trips, so you’d think that it’s a no-brainer: skip the pass. But you like signature dining and bougie souvenirs. And the AP can save you money on both of those. So obviously you get the AP.

WDW Fan: You’re trying to confuse me, it won’t work

Me: IT HAS WORKED. YOU’RE SO TURNED AROUND YOU JUST ROPE-DROPPED TOM SAWYER ISLAND

WDW Fan: Ugh. What should I choose?!

Me: If you’re staying onsite every time, there are usually AP discounts on rooms. Also if there are new attractions opening, you can get preview windows to experience it. Of course, in trying to maximize your value, you may schedule more trips than normal and spend a truckload of cash on airfare and food, and then your value is *poof* gone.

WDW Fan: AAARRRGH! I CAN’T DECIDE! THAT’S IT! I’M NOT GETTING ONE!

Me: YOU FELL VICTIM TO ONE OF THE CLASSIC BLUNDERS! The first of course is “never eat the caramel popcorn from Karamell-Küche the next day unless you put it in an airtight bag” but second, and only slightly less well-known is this: NEVER WAIT ON PULLING THE TRIGGER. 14 HOURS AFTER GOING ON SALE, THEY’RE GONE AGAIN FOR TWO YEARS!

So as we can see, there is no right or wrong answer. My best advice is to look at the way you currently vacation, and if you would have to alter that to get the value out of an AP, then skip it.