New Disney World AP Pay and get less?

[Nick6300]

We’ve been out of state AP holders for close to 10 years. We’re not DVC. We have only ever been able to buy the most expensive ticket. All the other options have been only for Florida residents, except that DVC members could buy the reduced rate gold (I think) pass.

I totally understand the frustration with the price increase. But am I the only one who doesn’t think the platinum increase is that bad?? Platinum passes had huge increases a few years ago. While Florida resident passes increased just a little bit, the out of state platinum went up at least $300 over 2 years if I remember right. I renewed our passes in May, cost was $1080 + tax. I think 2018 it was $600+ for renewal. The renewal rate for the new pass will be $1105. So only a $25 increase from this year. I know, no photopass, but I didn’t really use that anyway.

So personally, it seems like disney is trying to limit Florida discounted passes more than the full price, open to anyone AP option. Or maybe they think the platinum, top tier pass has hit the appropriate price & the Florida tickets haven’t?

The out of state AP increase may be more for a new pass. We were aiming to upgrade our 7 day PH and noted that it was $1,195 for the platinum + tax = $1,272.68 before COVID. It's now $1,299+$99 for photopass + tax = $1,488.87 or $216.19 increase each for comparable, or 16.99% increase.

And I currently can't convince wife to not get photopass with the 50th celebration. Yes we'd get 1 now instead of both of us. We do have the AP certificates and it does seem like a good idea to use those or get 1 new one without photopass, but it seems like we should upgrade the 7 days instead of holding them after expiration for their value. We have a trip booked for Nov. and we were tentatively thinking next Sept too. Now with the increase, even with a long Sept trip of 8 days, the upgrade to AP from 7 day hoppers is still $205.19 more expensive for 2 of us. Use to make sense for 2 trips in a 12 mo. period to go for AP. We'd now have to have a long weekend trip added or some sort of 3rd trip to make that worthwhile.

 

[CP3uhoh]

I think they actually are. But people equate 100% capacity with a very crowded day. People don't know what true 100% capacity is like. It's a two hour wait for a hot dog and a 1/4 mile long line for the restroom.

That’s a fair point, 100% capacity is basically two days a year at MK normally so they could be “limiting” it to 90% and there’s no discernible difference or even 80%

 

[Madmother]

Well, this just bites! I am retiring to Florida within the next 6-9 months. I HAD planned/looked forward to getting an AP til I could establish residency and qualify for the FL residents passes in perpetuity.

But with Disney going bat-s*** crazy charging for everything, looks like I can spend less money buying Universal AND SeaWorld passes. It's really a shame & a decision I hope hits Disney where it hurts! In the pocketbook.

 

[conniehar90]

Glad we just retired to FL. Looking forward to getting the Pixie Dust pass (although my husband wants the Pirate pass just for the name - lol)

 

[Airb330]

I wish they'd let DVC in on the 'pirate pass' too. We're locked into trips with DVC and a lot of the recent changes keep making trips more expensive.

The gold pass equivalent got quite a price hike, from $765 to $899 (plus $99 for Memory Maker). We bought gold APs a few weeks ago for $1531 and today the closest equivalent (Sorcerer) is $2020.31 (except without FP+ and DME). A 32% increase for us. That's before any G+ too.

 

[OnlyDisney]

I was wondering about this as well. We are going this November and I’d like to get the AP when they go on sale so I can finally make our park reservations. Don’t really want to lose two months of AP if it activates upon sale and reservation.

We bought our Annual Passes July 2 this year but didn't go to the park until July 24th. I was able to make park reservations right away. Our passes don't expire until July 23, 2022.

 

[helenm29]

I don't know why, but I was floored we only had one option, should have seen it coming, but honestly, just shocked.

EDIT: My shock was based on pure assumption that the availability of DLR passes for out of state guests was a potential sign that WDW would follow suit. Given the Genie+ making it way to both coasts I was hopeful the pass programs would be as well. My own fault for putting ideas into my head of wishful thinking.



As a former DLR CM and a local, I always had the top tier pass, even as a CM. Because I wanted the ability and flexibility. Now living in MO I visit WDW more than DLR. But I am willing to take a more restricted pass because my visits are planned, and can be flexible. Not any more, its all or nothing with this new structure. UGH.




I am still working out math on my upcoming trips to see what I am able to do with this new information. But I agree, the out of staters are the ones paying lodging and food, and we are the ones with the highest $$ pass! Just so upsetting there is no option. We get 1 ... spend or don't come. I guess I finally have to look at the make or break it for us and decide if Disney is an option for us anymore. Everyone has their own threshold, and I feel ours has reached the top.

We used to be Premier pass holders so we could go both to California and Florida then they got rid of that (BIG BUCKS) Now we only have 1 choice but after this pass is done I'm also going to have to think a while on doing another one....I live in California so I can do the Disneyland pass for a better deal all around and not lose my Disney fix. Good luck with your decision.

 

[notatallmagic]

what happened with the DAS this summer?
We need DAS for one of the people in our group, but we haven't been since 2019.
Have there been changes?

We are somewhat new to DAS; the line to check back in to ride Splash Mountain wasn't staffed, was packed, in direct sun, and took over 30 minutes just to check in. My kid ended up having a medical "situation" mid-ride that would have been totally avoidable, had the DAS been working the way it's supposed to.

I would make sure you're prepared for snafus...

 

[FortWildernessLoopy]

We currently have Weekday Select Passes, so I'm relieved about these things:
- a pass at a similar price point still exists (I was really worried that this category would go away altogether)
- parking is still included (this would have been awful to lose)
- summer is no longer blocked out (this is an amazing upgrade for us)

We never had photopass so we aren't experiencing a loss there, and our renewal price, IIRC, is just about $25 higher than last year. Not nearly as bad as the increase in other categories.

This is us. I was pleasantly surprised to see that we actually get more dates. I'm guessing, since we were the ones willing/able to go when it was slower that they are perfectly happy to keep us as is.

 

[brightlined]

Glad we just retired to FL. Looking forward to getting the Pixie Dust pass (although my husband wants the Pirate pass just for the name - lol)

THE PIRATE PASS IS ONLY VALID IN MONTHS THAT HAVE AN ARRRRRRRRR IN THEM.

I'll see myself out.

 

[jeff_h]

The names of these APs really suck.

That's why I had to rename mine -- I have 2 unused vouchers (current ones expire this Nov) which we planned to activate in Summer 2022 but it won't have photo downloads and looks like it may give me blackout dates when I bought vouchers that didn't have them -- so because I'm not a FL resident I'm only eligible to get the "Incredi-Shaft."

 

[Chrissy-Mickey]

Did anyone else look into the Water Park and Sports add on? Am I reading this right? $99 with give you access to all (water parks, midget golf, etc.), but only one day each?!? I'm only interested in adding the water parks... Guessing there is no longer a water park annual pass option

 

[focusondisney]

The out of state AP increase may be more for a new pass. We were aiming to upgrade our 7 day PH and noted that it was $1,195 for the platinum + tax = $1,272.68 before COVID. It's now $1,299+$99 for photopass + tax = $1,488.87 or $216.19 increase each for comparable, or 16.99% increase.

You’re right, the $1080 was after tax, not before. My mistake. I choose not to include the $99 photopass charge in comparing. It isn’t included in the new pass, I know. But we never used it, so it was valueless too me anyway. So for me, it’s a little over $100 increase. But I do see Florida residents had previously gotten a discount on the platinum pass. Looks like that isn’t the case for the new Incredi pass?

Hmm, I guess I figured it out. The sorcerer pass is $400 less than the Incredi pass & only blacks out the 2 weeks at Christmas & New Years. Not a bad trade off for $400, IMO. As a non DVC out of state passholder, I wish I could get that deal.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

They tried this with Genie too. I've never gotten a survey about APs or FastPasses in the last year. No where would I say that I wanted to pay more money for less.

Disney has absolutely priced me out. I've been DVC since 2006 and I'm just done. I was there over Spring Break and told my wife I didn't want to come back until the magic was back and things were back to normal. I never expected that the new normal would be to charge extra for everything and raise the prices anywhere from 20-80% of what they were pre-Covid. I get that some things still aren't back to normal due to Covid protocols, but at the same time we're seeing incessant money grabs from Disney in the past couple of months. The Galactic Starcruiser experience is insanity. $200+ pp for the holiday after hours experiences. Genie+. No more Magical Express and now this ridiculousness of the AP increase and removing the photopass benefit in the process. Disney is alienating their core fan base. I'm going to have to figure out a plan for my DVC membership, which is depressing because we have loved using that and visiting the parks 4-5 times a year. Now between dues and APs (even just tickets for a family of 5 for one week is nuts) I'm looking at $7K in costs and that doesn't count travel expense or food.

I fear the dining plan is the next thing to get Chapek-ed. I shudder to think what they are going to do to that.

I feel the same way as you. I'm bummed about the direction Disney is headed and for us there isn't a lot of magic these days. It's a combo of things. Our main park is DL, but we expanded to WDW a few years ago due to RunDisney races. We bought at BLT (we already own at VGC) and enjoyed 3ish trips a year usually for 5 days w/Deluxe Dining. For us, we love eating at Signature and character restaurants, so we got a lot of "value" out of it. It was fun and something very different from our Disney experiences at Disneyland.

We've been back to WDW after the shutdown once, and we have a two trips scheduled around the races (Marathon weekend and Princess) and then after that I suspect we will sell our BLT and cut back or eliminate our WDW visits. The post-pandemic changes have really altered out perception of the product. There are too many changes that are impacting how we enjoy the park that it becomes just not worth it. And they have cut back on so much in the name of COVID that I think most will be permanent cost cutting measures.

Things impacted for me:
--Housekeeping
--Magic Express (we didn't use it all the time, but it was a nice backup)
--Park Reservations (I hate this)
--Only able to park hop after 2
--Genie + for a cost
--Our favorite rides will now cost extra
--Lack of Dining plan (I'm sure there will be changes when it comes back and the price will go way up)
--Big price increase for "gold" equivalent pass
--Not including photos which we used for the Races
--no late park hours (this has always bugged me about WDW--why don't they stay open late like DL?)
--Having to get up at 7 am every morning to deal with Genie +/paid rides. I am not a morning person
--the inability to do anything spontaneously (it feels like they are really trying to control guest behavior at every step

I'm sure there are a ton of things I've forgotten, but too many changes too fast and it makes me not want to deal with it.

 

[focusondisney]

Things impacted for me:
--Housekeeping
--Magic Express (we didn't use it all the time, but it was a nice backup)
--Park Reservations (I hate this)
--Only able to park hop after 2
--Genie + for a cost
--Our favorite rides will now cost extra
--Lack of Dining plan (I'm sure there will be changes when it comes back and the price will go way up)
--Big price increase for "gold" equivalent pass
--Not including photos which we used for the Races
--no late park hours (this has always bugged me about WDW--why don't they stay open late like DL?)
--Having to get up at 7 am every morning to deal with Genie +/paid rides. I am not a morning person
--the inability to do anything spontaneously (it feels like they are really trying to control guest behavior at every step

I'm sure there are a ton of things I've forgotten, but too many changes too fast and it makes me not want to deal with it.

Don’t many of these things apply to DL too?? Housekeeping, Park Reservations, genie, paying for some rides, restricted park hopping, no dining plan, getting up at 7 & being spontaneous seem like they’d be the same at both DL & WDW. I know pictures are included at DL, but the unlimited pass is $100 more there, so that seems like a wash. I admit I haven’t kept up with DL news, so I may be totally off. Just wondering why these things are so upsetting at WDW but not at DL?

 

[Airb330]

Don’t many of these things apply to DL too?? Housekeeping, Park Reservations, genie, paying for some rides, restricted park hopping, no dining plan, getting up at 7 & being spontaneous seem like they’d be the same at both DL & WDW. I know pictures are included at DL, but the unlimited pass is $100 more there, so that seems like a wash. I admit I haven’t kept up with DL news, so I may be totally off. Just wondering why these things are so upsetting at WDW but not at DL?

Probably the time and cost of the flight whereas they’re much closer to DL.

 

[katyjeka]

I feel the same way as you. I'm bummed about the direction Disney is headed and for us there isn't a lot of magic these days. It's a combo of things. Our main park is DL, but we expanded to WDW a few years ago due to RunDisney races. We bought at BLT (we already own at VGC) and enjoyed 3ish trips a year usually for 5 days w/Deluxe Dining. For us, we love eating at Signature and character restaurants, so we got a lot of "value" out of it. It was fun and something very different from our Disney experiences at Disneyland.

We've been back to WDW after the shutdown once, and we have a two trips scheduled around the races (Marathon weekend and Princess) and then after that I suspect we will sell our BLT and cut back or eliminate our WDW visits. The post-pandemic changes have really altered out perception of the product. There are too many changes that are impacting how we enjoy the park that it becomes just not worth it. And they have cut back on so much in the name of COVID that I think most will be permanent cost cutting measures.

Things impacted for me:
--Housekeeping
--Magic Express (we didn't use it all the time, but it was a nice backup)
--Park Reservations (I hate this)
--Only able to park hop after 2
--Genie + for a cost
--Our favorite rides will now cost extra
--Lack of Dining plan (I'm sure there will be changes when it comes back and the price will go way up)
--Big price increase for "gold" equivalent pass
--Not including photos which we used for the Races
--no late park hours (this has always bugged me about WDW--why don't they stay open late like DL?)
--Having to get up at 7 am every morning to deal with Genie +/paid rides. I am not a morning person
--the inability to do anything spontaneously (it feels like they are really trying to control guest behavior at every step

I'm sure there are a ton of things I've forgotten, but too many changes too fast and it makes me not want to deal with it.

We have been waiting for them to release the annual passes and are not surprised by the changes that have been made in the last few months. We are going this December and when we get home I will probably start planning our next trip. I have a bad Disney addiction that I can't shake!!! As crazy as this sounds I will not pay for Genie and will plan this years trip the "old fashioned way". We plan longer trips so we usually have more than enough time to see everything that is important to us. Fortunately we've never had a need for memory maker although many people seem to love it. Disney seems to be following the rest of the world and raising the price of everything and of course we are the ones who suffer however I just have to go(like I said I'm hooked).

 

[reliev]

so what's the out-of-state price? I think my question got buried did anyone see it?

 

[PetePanMan]

25% increase for DVC members!!!

I think it may actually be about a 39% increase if you factor in additional cost of photo pass to make them comparable. This is what it listed on DVCNews.

 

[FortWildernessLoopy]

so what's the out-of-state price? I think my question got buried did anyone see it?

Disney Pixie Dust Pass ($399 +tax or $19 per month for FL residents with $205 down):
The Pixie Dust Pass is the most cost-efficient of the four. It allows you to hold up to three park reservations at a time (similar to currently). The biggest thing to note for this pass is the block-out dates. You can see the block-out calendar here. Basically, every Saturday and Sunday is blocked out as well as all holiday weekends, the 50th Anniversary main dates (10/1-10/3), and the typical longer periods around major holidays.

Disney Pirate Pass ($699 +tax or $45 per month for FL residents with $205 down)
The Pirate Pass is the next one up. This is similar in price to the former resident and DVC member-only Gold Pass, with noticeable differences in the block-out dates. First, with this pass, you’re able to hold up to four park reservations at a time. Next, the block-out dates are more than Gold Passes had. With the Pirate Pass, all holiday weekends are blocked out along with the longer periods around major holidays. Also for 2021, October 1-3 are also blocked out for the 50th Anniversary. Check out the Pirate Pass block-out dates here.

Disney Sorcerer’s Pass ($899 +tax or $63 per month for FL residents with $205 down)
The Sorcerer’s Pass is the first pass that is available to more than just Florida residents as Disney Vacation Club direct members can also purchase this pass. This is more similar to what the Gold Pass looked like before. The block-out dates as you can see here are only surrounding Christmas and Thanksgiving. Previously, Gold Passholders were not blocked out around Thanksgiving but instead were for Easter. Easter is now fair game for Sorcer’s Passholders. Also, this pass allows you to hold up to five park reservations at a time.

Disney Incredi-Pass ($1299 +tax or $99 a month for FL residents with $205 down)
The final and top-tier pass is available to everyone. It has no block-out dates and allows guests to make up to five park reservations at a time. The only benefit of being a Florida resident here is the ability to pay for it monthly.

Other Important Facts

• Photo Pass is an additional add on of $99 per pass per year (less if you are renewing)
• Water Parks and Sports is another add on of $99 per pass per year (also less if you are renewing)
• Theme Park parking is included in all Annual Passes
• All Passes include food and shopping discounts up to 20%
• Annual Passholders staying at on property at a Disney resort or other select resorts may make park passes for each day of their stay in addition to their Annual Pass allotment.
• Current Passholders as of 9/8/2021 will have their allotment of park passes raised to 5 for Platinum Plus, Platinum, and Gold and 4 for Silver.
• Current Passholders will keep their current passes until they expire. At renewal, they can renew to the updated passes.