News Disney raises price of Walt Disney World Annual Passes

[Disstevefan1]

This is also my first ever AP!

Welcome to the dark side..

 

[epcotWSC]

Of course, but it does mean those folks are paying the yearly maintenance fees which on anything other than the smallest contracts is going to be at least a thousand+ a year at this point. Even if they aren't using those points, someone is going to or they expire and then Disney will. No matter what, Disney is still getting money from or through that owner.

Maybe it is just me, but if I was so upset over something that I felt the need to complain about it for years, I would just be done with it. It is a CHOICE to spend money on anything Disney and one many of these people are continuing to make while trying to dump on others for doing the same thing.

Something like DVC is a huge investment that people aren't going to be so quick to sell; especially if you're a 20 or 30 year member. Some people also have family members that are partial holders of the timeshare (via parents). So it gets complicated.

To be a DVC member, you have to love Disney to begin with. Even if you see the problems, most will be in a position where they'll want to hold and hope that things will change for the better especially as leadership changes over time or maybe their hand is forced.

Then again, I've on this forum on and off for the past 15+ years and I feel like the general sentiment has been very steadily pointing out that the product has continually gotten worse over that time.

 

[Bocabear]

Agree with this. I won’t complaint about price increases, I have the option to not purchase. However, as an Incredipass holder from 1200 miles away that is always staying on property I should not have to book a park reservation!

I would have assumed an Incredipass would allow the user to avoid any park reservations...

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

question - why do they still offer the Florida Resident passes? What’s the benefit for them?

If times get tough they can throw out some last minute local ticket prices if they need some extra cash. Having such a cheap AP doesn’t make sense to me compared to other Disney business decisions.

 

[JoeCamel]

question - why do they still offer the Florida Resident passes? What’s the benefit for them?

If times get tough they can throw out some last minute local ticket prices if they need some extra cash. Having such a cheap AP doesn’t make sense to me compared to other Disney business decisions.

The thought is that people visit those who live in Florida and if they have a pass they bring the visitor for a day or two to the parks plus as a thank you to Florida for letting them make millions there and pay lots of taxes.

 

[HakunaMatata89]

Well, so much for me planning on getting another one when i come in DEC. I'll just keep my PH ticket and forget about the in park discounts

 

[Bocabear]

question - why do they still offer the Florida Resident passes? What’s the benefit for them?

If times get tough they can throw out some last minute local ticket prices if they need some extra cash. Having such a cheap AP doesn’t make sense to me compared to other Disney business decisions.

The Florida Resident passes are not exactly cheap...especially the AP... and yeah...how many people visiting Florida have we taken to the parks over the years......

 

[JD80]

In order to get "your money's worth" for an out of state AP you'd have to take two separate 5-7 day trips and then another weekend get away to match the cost of the AP.

The AP really doesn't make sense for out of staters unless you go often.

 

[Epcot82Guy]

I had thought about upgrading. Glad that decision has now been made (in the negative). At this rate, I'm getting very close to just letting even my Pixie Pass lapse. And I'm probably their perfect AP. Mostly using it to go to Epcot in the evenings just to buy overpriced food, riding a couple rides with short waits. The fact even we are getting price pressure is a bit ridiculous.

 

[Laketravis]

In order to get "your money's worth" for an out of state AP you'd have to take two separate 5-7 day trips and then another weekend get away to match the cost of the AP.

The AP really doesn't make sense for out of staters unless you go often.

True. We went for a week last December and upgraded our tickets to AP's. Then went back for another week in February, another week in April, and two more weeks next month before our AP's expire the first week of December. So let's say a total of 35 park days, and I would only book Value's when they were sub $130 a night and I could use points with Spirit.

So actual cost per day was reasonable but the actual value per day continues it's downward spiral. We won't be renewing our AP's.

 

[Ayla]

In order to get "your money's worth" for an out of state AP you'd have to take two separate 5-7 day trips and then another weekend get away to match the cost of the AP.

The AP really doesn't make sense for out of staters unless you go often.

I was an out-of-state AP holder wayyyyy back (ya know, 2019ish) where around 10 days was the break-even point.

 

[JD80]

I was an out-of-state AP holder wayyyyy back (ya know, 2019ish) where around 10 days was the break-even point.

I remember almost buying one for my 2019 trip because two trips in a year would get it for you. Gladly I didn't because you know.. 2020.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

The Florida Resident passes are not exactly cheap

$469 seems cheap to me - that’s cheaper than a 4 day ticket without park hopper.

 

[JD80]

$469 seems cheap to me - that’s cheaper than a 4 day ticket without park hopper.

If only my favorite NFL team sold me season tickets at a quarter of the actual cost just because I lived in-state.

 

[Bocabear]

$469 seems cheap to me - that’s cheaper than a 4 day ticket without park hopper.

That is for the cheapest level with all the blackouts

 

[HauntedPirate]

In order to get "your money's worth" for an out of state AP you'd have to take two separate 5-7 day trips and then another weekend get away to match the cost of the AP.

The AP really doesn't make sense for out of staters unless you go often.

Don't forget that DVC members have access to the Sorcerer Pass, so amending this to 'Incredipass' instead of 'out of state AP' may be helpful. Our Sorcerer Pass was a better value for two trips (6 days and 5 days) vs. regular park tickets within a 12-month span. I upgraded my 5-day PH with Water Parks (which was discounted to begin with, thanks to a friend) in February to a Sorcerer's Pass for a shade less than $300. Even with the discount, that was a $300 savings over another 5-day PH for our post-cruise September visit. Throw in the number of times we visited Typhoon Lagoon in September and it was a fantastic value.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

Those of us locked into DVC either need to go every year, have to pawn our points onto someone else (Disney still gets money), or sell the timeshare. Otherwise, you can just go and stay on site and never go to the parks and just treat it as any other vacation resort.

I originally had said that I'd like to go to the parks less days, yet somehow I get roped into going more because Disney forces you to use your tickets in such a short period of time. You have people coming to go to the park with you a week after you get there and suddenly you need a 5 day ticket in order to spread it over 8 days. It's so anti-consumer.

We treat it like a vacation destination - not a park destination. Having been DVC for over 17 years, we've done the parks. Now we are just looking for a relaxing vacation. We do have APs and visit the parks, but it isn't our main focus and hasn't been for many years. It's just DW and I so we admit that we are in a different demographic than those with multiple kids (ours are in their 30's and free to go whenever they want on their own).

We go on multiple trips every year and have no intention of ever selling or even renting our points.

 

[jpeden]

In order to get "your money's worth" for an out of state AP you'd have to take two separate 5-7 day trips and then another weekend get away to match the cost of the AP.

The AP really doesn't make sense for out of staters unless you go often.

Yep - when we first bought in 2017 I think the break-even was 8ish days (maybe 9). We absolutely got our money's worth in 2017/2018. We didn't renew in 2019 and then COVID happened and we all know what happened to the pricing structure. We paid $749 a piece for our AP's (we upgraded 4 day tickets when we got on site) the night before a price increase and then paid $662 for the renewal (back when they gave you a discount for renewing) in 2018.

Edit - it appears that in 2017 the breakeven (not including the discounts) was actually 14.54 days -

AP was $749. A 10 day PH was $515. So, assuming that the $51.50/day is the lowest daily cost Disney will offer, the breakeven on a AP back then was in fact 14 days. It appears that maybe it actually hasn't changed that much.

Now, let's talk about the fact that in 2017 they sold a Premier Passport (good in WDW and Disneyland for $1485.77 with tax) for LESS than a 2024 Annual Pass to just WDW that has reservation restrictions.....

 

[Basil of Baker Street]

They need to raise regular ticket prices to keep the filthy day guests out of the parks. They buy up all the merch and take it back to Denver thus leaving me unable to enjoy my 20% discount.

 

[wendysue]

You act like the pitiable APs are compelled to buy passes and visit. If they don’t like the prices and value, they’re more than welcome to walk, like some of us have.

Yep. We are done. There isn't any value in having an AP any longer if you live out of state.