2024 Annual Pass Price Increases at Disney World

Walt Disney World has raised prices for Annual Passes by as much as $100, the biggest increases since the AP program relaunched a few years ago. This post offers details and our commentary about all of these changes, the amount of cost jumps for each tier, motivations, and more.

This is the first notable price increase of the year on admission at Walt Disney World. They normally happen in early February or mid-October, so it’s not particularly surprising that one happened. In fact, that’s why we’ve been advising readers to purchase tickets and Annual Passes in advance to lock-in current prices in Price Increases Likely Soon for Late 2024 & 2025 at Walt Disney World & Disneyland.

It’s also unsurprising because Disneyland raised its ticket and Annual Pass prices a couple of weeks ago, and presumably, the only thing stopping Walt Disney World from following suit was Milton. Probably would’ve been a bad look for Disney to raise prices right as a hurricane was making landfall in Florida.

In any case, this is the first price increase since October 11 of last year, and will almost assuredly be the last since there are basically two months left. But it’s not always the case that prices “only” go up once per year. During the height of inflation and the Chapek era, Walt Disney World actually did two major price increases in 2022.

The first increase price increase last year occurred in mid-February and the second happened on December 8. That was actually a bit of a weird one, as Walt Disney World made structural changes and removed reservations for single-day tickets and gave three weeks’ notice before implementing the changes. But it was also effectively a price increase for most dates.

That was the last huge across-the-board price increase at Walt Disney World. Although it may not seem that way, everything since has been much more pedestrian. Certain prices have gone up more, but not to the degree that everything did in 2022. Nevertheless, we’ve been advising readers to purchase tickets in advance to lock-in current prices in our 2024-2025 Discount Walt Disney World Ticket Buying Guide.

Here’s a look at before and after prices on Walt Disney World Annual Passes…

Against that backdrop, here are the new prices for each tier of Walt Disney World Annual Pass:

• Incredi-Pass: $1,549 – previously $1,449
• Sorcerer Pass: $1,079 – previously $999
• Pirate Pass: $829 – previously $799
• Pixie Pass: $469 – previously $439

Just “for fun” here’s how new Walt Disney World AP prices compare to when they were re-introduced with the new tiers back in 2021:

• Incredi-Pass: $1,299
• Sorcerer Pass: $899
• Pirate Pass: $699
• Pixie Pass: $399

For further amusement, here are prices for the old Annual Passes, pre-closure:

• Disney Platinum Plus Annual Pass: $1295 / $999
• Disney Platinum Annual Pass: $1195 / $899
• Disney Gold Annual Pass: $719
• Disney Silver Annual Pass: $539
• Disney Weekday Select Annual Pass: $369
• EPCOT After 4 Annual Pass: $319

The two prices for the first two tiers are for the general public versus Florida residents. Additionally, PhotoPass downloads and water parks became $99 add-ons with the change, so the before/after prices on the top tiers are really more extreme than they appear, especially for Floridians.

Depending upon the tier, it’s really not so much “fun and amusement” as “horrify and shock the conscience,” but hey, it is still spook season!

What’s most interesting to me is that the Pixie Dust Pass increased by “only” $30. Unlike the other tiers, this option for Floridians didn’t have sales paused, so there are a ton of them in circulation. That’s resulted in some ‘interesting’ and unprecedented crowd dynamics, such as the weekends when that AP is blocked out being among the slowest days of the week at Walt Disney World last year (a trend that is finally being undone).

Trying to ‘nudge’ Pixie Dust Passholders to higher tiers via higher pricing might’ve made sense. On the other hand, the gap between the Pixie and Pirate tiers is so significant that perhaps Walt Disney World (correctly) realizes that no such nudging is possible. That for a good portion of Pixie Annual Passholders, breaking the $500 barrier would cause them to cancel.

Walt Disney World may not want to lose ‘borderline’ APs, especially since that tier helps fill the parks during the off-season. So not overdoing the increases on the lower tier APs–even if they offer disproportionately better value for money than the higher tiers–makes sense, too.

For all our other grousing about prices, the Pixie Pass still offers exceptional bang for buck to Florida residents. Sure, it’s blocked out weekends, peak holidays, and holidays, but it’s still valid the vast majority of weekdays–including all of the best times to visit. Retiring to Florida and picking up this pass is pretty much the dream! (Sarah’s mom had it, and it was basically her “walking around World Showcase” pass.)

Speaking of which, what I really wonder is whether it might be time to bring back some of the other options. Advance Dining Reservations have fallen off a cliff this year–perhaps bringing back the EPCOT After 4 AP would give a boost to the World Showcase restaurants? Festival booths also aren’t nearly as busy as they once were, event merchandise is frequently discounted, and whatever boost the park got from the new attractions is over.

Bringing this back seems like all upside to me. More options at the lower end of the spectrum on passes that are most attractive would be a good thing. Especially given what we’ve seen in terms of colossal crowds immediately before or after lengthy blockouts of the lowest tier (around this year’s Spring Break, pre-Christmas, and post-New Year’s).

It’s also somewhat surprising that the biggest increase is, yet again, for the Annual Passes that were already the most expensive. I’m familiar with the concept of “percentages” and understand that bigger numbers get even bigger as a result of equivalent increases. And maybe that’s all this is. Personally, I don’t think so.

My theory since the relaunch in 2021 has been that Walt Disney World doesn’t really want out of state Annual Passholders. I know this is going to be painful for many to read, as we receive comments all the time about how Walt Disney World should appreciate non-Floridian APs even more. 

In fairness, the logic is somewhat sound. These readers reason that they are “better” for Walt Disney World because they book hotel rooms, do all of their meals on-site, buy souvenirs, and so forth. Basically, they do all of the right things to keep those coveted (in Disney’s eyes) guest spending metrics high. In theory, these aren’t just Walt Disney World’s whales–they’re the sustainable whales. Even better than one and done first-timers!

From what I understand, Disney’s perspective is that these whales would spend even more if they instead purchased multi-day tickets when they visited. Alternatively, this type of big spending guest would pay more per trip if they decreased their frequency of visits. In theory (a different theory than the last one), there’s no downside to this for Disney–even higher per capita numbers from the guest profile I’ve described and someone else takes their place!

Have you ever heard the saying, pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered? That’s how I’d describe Walt Disney World’s POV, which is also to say I do not agree with it. Yes, in theory this works. Assuming the whales don’t get just fed up, travel elsewhere, and realize maybe they’d prefer doing that all the time. This would be the equivalent of Philip Morris jacking up the prices of cigarettes to the point that people stopped smoking. Addicts are great for business…until they stop being addicts.

The other gaping hole in this logic is that it assumes Walt Disney World is operating without any surplus capacity. Perhaps true in 2021-2022, but very much not the case anymore. There’s plenty of extra bandwidth to accommodate APs in addition to that fictional family from Denver. Except for like 4 weeks of the entire year. But the bottom line is that it’s better to have two families of whales than one family of super-whales.

Another possibility is that Walt Disney World thinks they still have plenty of pricing power over these guests. That they’ve increased prices with impunity on the top tiers of Annual Passes, and yet, the number of these APs in circulation continues to hold steady.

I’m skeptical that demand is strong for the top tiers of Annual Passes. Back when AP sales resumed, Disney put up a warning message that some tiers of APs were likely to sell out on that day. Annual Pass sales have never paused for any tiers–that was back on April 20, and it’s now mid-October…one year later (meaning this was 18 months ago).

It’s more than just that, though. Even though “good to go” days have been a bit of a joke (Walt Disney World has been way too conservative with them), park reservations are mostly a formality. Sure, there are some peak dates when they’ve been tough to book–and there will probably be more such dates in November and December–but the calendar has mostly been wide open. Every single date for the rest of the year is currently green.

Speaking of which, I’m on the record previously saying that I didn’t expect Walt Disney World to entirely eliminate reservations for Annual Passholders or Cast Members anytime son. Our rationale has been that Josh D’Amaro was at Disneyland when the Flex Pass debuted there, and was reportedly an advocate for the reservation system for Cast Members.

Given the Flex Pass at Disneyland, overall increases in attendance in early 2020, and population explosion in Central Florida, I suspect park reservations were an inevitability for Walt Disney World APs and CMs. Even if the closure and everything else never happened, it’s highly likely that Cast Members and at least some tiers of Annual Passes would be required to make park reservations in 2023. It probably wouldn’t look like the current system–or be as restrictive–but it wouldn’t be like 2019, either.

Retaining reservations for APs and CMs gives Disney control over the attendance mix on busier days, and allows the company to prioritize tourists who spend more per visit on average. Although Disney wants Annual Passholders and Cast Members to visit–and spend money–when there’s excess capacity, the circumstances are different when the parks are busier.

Got all of that? The above is mostly past tense–and I haven’t said anything like that in about a year–because things have changed. Going forward, it should soon be time for Walt Disney World to pull another of its famous (infamous?) “levers” and roll back park reservations for Annual Passholders.

I’m not quite sure what this could look like–if you asked me a year ago, I would’ve pointed at the “good to go” days. But for whatever reason, those have been incredibly underwhelming, to the point that I don’t think anyone–including Disney–actually cares. If that is a lever they pulled, it went over like a lead balloon.

Retiring reservations for Annual Passholders is an option of last resort, as it’s one of those ‘bells that cannot be unrung’ (absent another closure that offers a ‘reset opportunity’ to Disney). But at the same time, when are park reservations truly going to be needed between now and 2028? The parks are already experiencing a slowdown, Epic Universe is right around the corner (Universal’s new theme park that, notably, will not require reservations), and Walt Disney World has nothing new up its sleeves until 2027 (and that’s at Animal Kingdom, the lowest-demand park of the four).

What I’m suggesting is that, even in the medium term, requiring reservations for Annual Passes is now doing more harm than good. They’ve mostly become a formality, and yet, I’d be willing to bet that there are former APs (or even prospective ones) who are holding out due to the reservation rule. Either on principle or because they don’t realize reservations are now a non-factor at Walt Disney World.

Pulling that lever would generate positive goodwill and could give AP sales a nice little boost, with little to no actual downside. It’s not going to offset these increases for everyone, but it would certainly help. During the busiest weeks of the year, blockouts do the heavy lifting, anyway.

Fair warning: since this ‘evolving landscape’ is something I’m seeing now, it’s probably unlikely Walt Disney World will act on it this year or in 2025. More likely, it’s a change they’ll reluctantly make in 2026. They’ve been comically late to the punch and reactionary in pulling so many “levers” over the last couple years–expect this to be no different.

Honestly, given all of this, it’s kind of a bold bet for Walt Disney World to raise prices on Annual Passes. It’s not 2022 anymore. Attendance has been down this year, and the company is forecasting it to continue decreasing into 2025. That’s a pretty safe assumption to continue even beyond that into 2026 for all of the above reasons. It’s as if the “answer” to the downturn from Disney’s perspective is to charge more to a smaller pool of guests.

The bold assumption there is that higher prices won’t make the pool even smaller, creating a vicious cycle of price increases resulting in lower demand resulting in more price increases. That wouldn’t be my play, but then again, I’m not the big brain being paid the big bucks to come up with these brilliant strategies. “It’s a bold move Cotton, let’s see if it pays off!”

Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!

YOUR THOUGHTS

Thoughts on the price increases to Annual Passes at Walt Disney World? Do you think Disney is going too far with increases in a way that’ll leave lasting reputational damage, or will the company be able to quickly pivot along with economic circumstances? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Any other considerations we failed to take into account or details we missed? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!