Free Gift Card for Disney World AP Purchase!
Walt Disney World is offering a free ‘bonus’ gift card with the purchase of a new Annual Pass, which is the most aggressive & attractive we’ve seen for buying an AP in roughly a decade. This covers the promo along with our commentary about why this is actually a huge deal in the bigger picture and one of many more “levers” we expect WDW to pull to revive declining attendance. (Updated July 25, 2025.)
As you might recall, Walt Disney World recently reduced the Florida Resident Monthly Payment Program down payment from $205 to $99. To offset this the reduced down payment, Disney increased monthly prices, with the result being exactly the same–guests paid the same amount at the end of the 12 months, the allocation of costs just changed.
Although that was not advertised as a temporary promotion, it quietly ended a few weeks ago. The down payment returned to $205, and monthly payments have likewise are back at their previous numbers. It’s unclear what prompted this reversion to the prior numbers, but we speculated that Walt Disney World realized it wasn’t moving the needle at all and that more was needed.
When previously discussing the deposit reduction, we indicated that it was likely Walt Disney World would pull “levers” that involve Annual Pass promotions. In the past, we’ve seen special offers with bonus months or deeper discounts for DVC members. That’s one option. Another would be making the Sorcerer Pass available to the general public.
With Epic Universe now open and low summer crowds at Walt Disney World, the most logical move would be more promos and initiatives to attract guests–not fewer. Well, now Walt Disney World has done exactly that. Here are full official details:
Get a Free Gift Card with Walt Disney World AP Purchase
For a limited time, get up to a $100 Disney Gift Card eGift when you purchase a new Walt Disney World Annual Pass.
Gift card values vary based on Annual Pass type:
- $100 Disney Gift Card eGift – included with a Disney Incredi-Pass
- $75 Disney Gift Card eGift – included with a Disney Sorcerer Pass (for Florida residents and eligible Disney Vacation Club Members only*)
- $50 Disney Gift Card eGift – included with a Disney Pirate Pass (for Florida residents only)
- $25 Disney Gift Card eGift – included with a Disney Pixie Pass (for Florida residents only)
This offer is only valid for new Annual Passes. This special offer cannot be combined with any other discount or promotion, including any renewal discounts. After purchasing a new Annual Pass, the Disney Gift Card eGift will be delivered within a few days to the email address provided at purchase.
Terms & Conditions for Disney Gift Card
- Disney Gift Card eGift value is based on the original Annual Pass purchased.
- The Disney Gift Card is redeemable for goods and services at participating Disney locations.
- Not redeemable for cash unless required by law.
- Not for resale.
- Issued by, and represents a legal obligation solely of, Disney Gift Card Services, Inc.
- Lost, damaged or stolen cards may be replaced only if verification of receipt and complete card number is provided.
- For card balance inquiries, call (877) 650-4327 or visit Disney Gift Card.
- View complete Disney Gift Card terms and conditions (including arbitration agreement).
July 25, 2025 Update: We’ve heard from several readers who purchased new Annual Passes before this discount was released that there’s a two week grace period. A Disney eGift Card will automatically be issued if you call (407-939-7277) and ask for the Annual Passholder Help Desk.
By calling that phone number and speaking with a representative, you should be able to get the relevant gift card for an AP purchase that occurred on or after July 8, 2025. Note that this is not published policy, so it’s subject to change or Cast Member discretion, etc.
While we’ve heard about this grace period from multiple sources, we even heard from one reader who indicated that they spoke with a manager who indicated that the gift card would be issued on a “case by case basis” for AP purchases anytime in July 2025. So you might have luck for purchases earlier this month (but not June or earlier).
This is highly YMMV, so don’t be surprised if it doesn’t work. For the best chances of success, always choose kindness. Cast Members and managers will be more receptive to your case if you’re polite and understanding. Even then, you may not have any luck.
Note that Walt Disney World has not announced when this special offer ends. This has become increasingly common with recent promos, and the end date is just whenever who manages the spreadsheets decides that they’re satisfied with the numbers. I’d expect this to stick around through at least the August and September 2025 off-season, but would not necessarily bank on it being available in October 2025 or beyond.
It’s also worth noting that price increases typically occur around the start of the new fiscal year. For the last couple of years, that has been mid-October, but that could happen by mid-to-late September. We mention that here because there’s nothing precluding a price increase during this special offer.
Even though this “free” gift card deal is a very clear sign of soft demand and Walt Disney World overshooting its pricing with Annual Passes, that does not mean they won’t increase prices anyway. As we’ve discussed repeatedly, Walt Disney World management went to the Kohl’s Business School. Their very strong preference is year-over-year price growth, with discounts as dictated by demand (or lack thereof).
Eventually, this strategy is going to backfire, but there’s no reason to believe they’ve changed course. If anything, this promo only reinforces that approach. We’ve seen the same happen with menu prices at restaurants, character dining experiences and more–even as demand has dropped dramatically.
For reference, here are 2025 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 even more entertainment, below are prices for the old Annual Passes as of early 2020. Hopefully this last round of fun doesn’t make your stomach too unsettled!
- 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 Pixie Dust and Pirate Passes are available to only Floridians. The Sorcerer Pass expands eligibility to include Disney Vacation Club members. The top tier Incredi-Pass is the only AP available to the general public. Benefits for all tiers include up to 20% off select dining and merchandise, as well as free standard theme park parking and other perks. Blockout dates and reservation limits apply, and vary by tier.
It’s probably fair to say that the Incredi-Pass offers the worst value for money. I’d imagine that only a single-digit percentage of Floridian Annual Passholders hold that tier. Of Disney Vacation Club members, that number is probably a tad higher, but I’d bet on the Sorcerer Pass being significantly more popular. Judging by crowd patterns, the Pixie Dust Pass is probably far and away the most popular option, overall.
Turning to commentary, this free gift card offer only applies to the purchase of new Annual Passes during the promo period. It probably doesn’t apply to most of you reading this, which may lead you to believe it doesn’t really matter. However, it’s interesting for a few reasons–and I suspect many tourists are overlooking significance of this move since it doesn’t apply to you and won’t cross many of your minds as something that makes a difference. But it does!
The big reason is that this is Walt Disney World pulling a “lever” and trying to lure people to the parks. Offering a gift card makes purchasing an AP more attractive, and should stimulate demand. This is especially important right now, because attendance is very clearly down year-over-year.
What’s interesting, though, is that unlike the lowered down payment–which did not materially improve the value proposition–this does not reduce the barrier of entry for a Walt Disney World Annual Pass. Unlike that promo, the upfront cost here is unchanged. It’s the value proposition that has been altered. Just an interesting wrinkle between the two approaches.
This may not seem important to out of state tourists used to swallowing $5,000+ vacation costs, but it’s a big deal in what it symbolizes.
Walt Disney World pulling this lever suggests there’s more to come. One of our recent focuses has been decreased attendance, and we covered some of the reasons for this dynamic in Why Summer is the New Low Crowds Season at Disney World. I’m not going to rehash all of that, but here’s a list of quick hits for those who want the rundown:
- Epic Universe (negligible impact)
- International Travel Pullback (1% to 1.5% impact)
- Economic Uncertainty (no impact)
- Starlight Delays (no impact)
- Shifting Schedules (major impact)
- High Heat & Humidity (moderate to major impact)
- Shorter Park Hours (some impact)
- No Special Events (some impact)
- Minimal Mitigation (some impact)
In the more recent crowd report, Walt Disney World’s Slow Summer Continues in July, we added a couple more explanations.
Regardless of the reasons, Walt Disney World has already pulled from the 2019 playbook for discounts starting last year. As we’ve reported at length elsewhere, you could get the cheapest Walt Disney World trip in July 2025 since at least 2019. That’s kind of crazy if you realize how much base prices have exploded post-COVID.
There have been some incredibly aggressive discounts this summer, and despite that, attendance is still low. A big part of this is shifting seasonal travel preferences that have hollowed out the summer in favor of other more favorable times to visit, but it’s still the case that crowds are down much of the year as compared to the days of ‘revenge travel.’
Suffice to say, the 2019 playbook isn’t cutting it. Those deals haven’t been sufficient to entice enough people to visit, so now Walt Disney World needs to go a step beyond that into more inventive territory. It’s safe to say this is the beginning of that, and this gift card isn’t going to the be the solution in whole.
One of the above factors would pretty much necessitate as much. A confluence of them, coupled with the lack of new attractions around which to build a marketing campaign, all but guarantees better discounts and special offers. This is precisely what we’ve seen
I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more “levers” that involve Annual Pass promotions.
In the past, we’ve seen special offers with bonus months or deeper discounts for DVC members. About a decade ago, we purchased a promotional Disney Vacation Club Annual Pass for $595. Around the same time (+/- one year), there was also a 15 months for the price of 12 months promo.
At some point in the not-too-distant future, we also wouldn’t be surprised to see Walt Disney World remove the reservation requirement. Yes, we’re aware that this was just heightened for the launch of Starlight night parade. And maintaining that might be necessary until mid-January 2026. But reservations weren’t really necessary for over a year prior to then, and removing that friction point might spur sales of new Annual Passes–and without any discounting being necessary.
I would argue that theme park reservations have outlived their usefulness at Walt Disney World on 98% of dates (if not more). It’s a totally different story at Disneyland, but not Walt Disney World. At this point, it probably makes sense to drop reservations entirely and use a mix of blockouts and the occasional (very, very rare) phased closure on the 1-2 days per year when necessary.
As mentioned above, another would be making the Sorcerer Pass available to the general public. Walt Disney World probably doesn’t want to do this, as “forcing” out of state fans to either buy the more expensive multi-day tickets or the top-tier AP is the desired outcome for the company. (We often hear from tourists who are annoyed about Disney’s AP policies, feeling they should be catered to since they spend more–but that’s precisely why they aren’t.)
Of course, this overlooks another possibility: those fans visiting not buying any APs and visiting less. At one point, Disney determined the calculus favored “forcing” more spending or fewer visits. I honestly have no clue whether that’s still an accurate assessment, or if Disney has even thought to revisit the decision.
We might find out soon, though. Annual Pass promos with limited time dollars-off savings or longer durations probably makes the most sense if Walt Disney World wants to do more to bolster their AP base. If I were in charge, I’d make a new ‘Animal Kingdom After 4’ Annual Pass and sell it to anyone.
Along similar lines, Walt Disney World might be doing this because they’ve spotted an opportunity to attract more locals before Universal Orlando opens the floodgates and starts selling Annual Passes that include Epic Universe. I’m skeptical that’s going to happen anytime soon–it really shouldn’t. But it will eventually.
Walt Disney World getting out ahead of that inevitability and capturing AP dollars would be savvy. It presents an opportunity for Disney to flip the script and attract locals who previously felt alienated by local-unfriendly policies. Right now could be a golden window of opportunity that many Floridians are “sitting out” Universal Orlando Annual Passes.
But that won’t last. Whenever Universal does start selling Epic Universe Annual Passes (whether that be in August 2025 or September 2026), there’s going to be a mad rush of locals buying them. And theme park budgets only go so far, meaning many of those same people may then “sit out” Walt Disney World APs.
Finally, one of the most common arguments among fans is about how Annual Passholders causing overcrowding. Because we are, in the infamous words of the former CFO, an unfavorable attendance mix. Meaning that, on average, APs spend less per visit. No matter how you might feel, that is statistically accurate.
In doing our part to help support the struggling business, we contributed tens of thousands of dollars to the company’s coffers last year. But we did so over the course of ~100 days in the parks, making our per visit cost lower than that of the average tourist.
Regardless, Walt Disney World and Disneyland doesn’t necessarily want to reduce the number of Annual Passholders. What they want is more granular control. This is why Magic Key sales use a Disney Vault strategy and reservations are required.
It’s the same idea with crowds, period. Disney doesn’t want lower attendance. If they could maximize guest spending & satisfaction, and crowds, they absolutely would. Hence the wait times we see between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, which is both the busiest week of the entire year and the most expensive.
That approach isn’t replicable most weeks, but that example should be proof positive that Disney wants to have its cake and eat it, too. Since that isn’t realistic most of the year, they instead optimize for spending, satisfaction, and crowds. Controlling the flow of Annual Passholders is one such way, opening that valve a little more–like right now–when tourist numbers are down (or projected to be down).
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
What do you think of Walt Disney World offering a free gift card of up to $100 for new Annual Pass purchases? Think this freebie will move the needle on AP sales? Wish WDW would do more to incentivize Annual Pass purchases among out of state fans? Any expectations about special offers going forward? Think more “levers” are going to be pulled before this year is over? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? 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!
How long do you think this promo will be offered? A couple days, a couple weeks, a couple months? I realize no one has a crystal ball, but I’d appreciate some reasoned responses.
My guess would be at least through the end of August. I’d buy before then to be safe, but I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if it continues until late September–increase sales before the new fiscal year starts on October 1.
So we upgraded park hopper tickets on June 26 that had been dated July 20th to an annual pass. We went to MK Guest Relations and asked if we could get the gift card deal since we activated the pass this week (and we upgraded the pass early due to the Starlight passholder changes). They gave us the gift card deal. Definitely worth the ask!
I bought my annual pass at the end of June, so I figured I would not get the giftcard. I of course tried it anyway. It definitely is a case by case basis and not an automatic two week grace period because the cast member I was speaking with told me they could honor the deal if you purchased the annual passes within the last couple of days, not weeks.
I didn’t understand a lot of the financial/mathematical talk in this article. I’m thinking of getting a new AP soon. I used to be Gold then Sorcerer level, but now since I started going less, think the Pixie Pass would be a better option. At least you still get free parking with it, unlike Universal’s lower tier annual passes. So Universal isn’t the better alternative in every way, though a lot of disgruntled Disney fans like to say they’re switching their loyalties to Universal. Besides that, Universal is mostly all thrill rides that younger children & aging adults might not be able to ride. I feel my body is aging out of a lot of Universal rides, which would make it not worth going if I can only see streetmosphere shows. I did that one visit last year & it was such a dull outing.
There’s another factor that contributes to Disney Parks’ crowds being thinner & their movies failing at the box office. That is, Christian & Catholic activist groups are calling for boycotts of all things Disney–parks, movies, and Disney+. They are offended at Disney straying from Judeo-Christian values into woke “values”. If Disney CEOs find salvation, maybe crowds of religious people & conservatives will come back. I know unbelievers who do believe in woke values don’t want to acknowledge this factor, but I know it is indeed a factor because I’m on these activist groups’ mailing lists. I haven’t pledged to boycott Disney myself because I disagree that boycotting is a “peaceful” form of protest & see it more as a might is right thing, & saying, “If you don’t do what we want, we’ll make sure you can’t make a living!” Besides, they don’t say how long these boycotts will have to be for, & I don’t like the thought of giving up my beloved theme parks the rest of my life.
I’m 100% in favor of triggered snowflake boycotts. Less crowded for the rest of us! I also love the irony of people who literally believe in magic boycotting “The Most Magical Place On Earth”. 🙂
Do you have any theories as to why the US annual passes involve locals’ discounts as their bread and butter, whereas the other parks (like Paris, Shanghai and Hong Kong) generally do not price discriminate in this way for annual passes? It’s something I’ve often wondered about. I know that Paris is prevented by EU law from discriminating on price by location, which is why they try and use other proxies (like the special blockout dates on day 2 and 3 of the cheapest pass), but that doesn’t explain the other parks. (And of course Tokyo – the elephant in the room which actively rejects locals).
In terms of the WDW pricing model, I understand why the Incredi-Pass is so much more expensive but I’m surprised they don’t add some more (illusory) benefits to sweeten the pill (and promote sales to locals!) a bit more. As a hypothetical, I’d say maybe allowing 10 reservations, and throwing in memory maker (which only one passholder needs anyway).
I’ve said it before but it’s the magic that has been lost and not necessarily the cost. Cost does factor of course, but mostly for me Disney doesn’t feel like a premium thing any more. Giving gift cards actually makes it feel even less like a premium. It feels like when you are shopping for internet and AT&T offers you a $100 gift card so you sign up with them instead of Comcast internet.
My husband and I might be the unicorns that take advantage of this offer. We are going down with our family in a few weeks, and have been seriously considering bridging our six day park hoppers (in our free dining package—we are a family of 5–3 Disney “adult” kids) into annual passes so Mom and Dad can do a few weekend. getaways over the course of the next year. (Southwest companion pass!) we are out of state, so it’s only the incredi pass for us, but do you think the ticket bridging would somehow disqualify us from taking advantage of the gift card? We have been on the fence, never been passholders before, and this would definitely move the needle in favor!!
Be aware that tickets purchased as part of a resort stay package will NOT be bridged at their full gate price value. In fact, they will be greatly de-valued to much less than what you paid for them. We were caught by this recently – we added tickets to our stay so we could get park reservations (this was back when everyone had to get them) with the intention of renewing our APs while there. We were only given 80% of the gate price of our 10 day park hoppers towards the AP purchase. I fought with guest relations over this for months, and the upshot is that all the discounts given to the package (free dining, resort stay, etc.) are applied to the tickets when they are upgraded to APs.
Thanks for the heads up, guess we’re back on the fence, lol, until we figure out how much they’ll value our tickets!!
Did this just happen? Of course I just bought our passes on the 18th…
I bought mine on the 16th, I just called the AP line and they were able to apply it for me. Might be worth a try!
Bought ours on the 10th July (not activated yet, our first trip on new passes will be Nov). Called and they honored the gift card promo. Make sure you call passholder ticket and not regular tickets.
Yes! I chatted with someone right after I posted this, and they directed me where I needed to go! They said there was a 2-week grace period, so if anyone falls within that time, just call and they will get you set up. 🙂
They could easily leave the reservation machinery in place and just stop being so stingy with the good-to-go days. More of them, announced farther in advance; good-to-go days as the default – it’s not like they don’t have the data to do this. They could put up a full calendar of reservation-needed vs. good-to-go days 60 days in advance like park hours, and it would have the effect of making reservations a non-thing except on the peak days when they might be needed.
And speaking of the data to do this – I understand, nominally, the argument for keeping the reservation system for non-date-based tickets. (I think there are other ways to do it and their argument is not great, but I understand it.) But that argument really flies out the window when applied to guests with a hotel stay. Military Salute, AP, whatever – the need to make park reservations for every day of your vacation, even as you are staying in an on-site hotel, is a completely unnecessary point of friction, especially if you have a mixed party with some APs or special tickets and some not. It’s one of those things that really does make you feel like they don’t care about the guest experience.
You’re 100% on the money with all of this.
The G2G days have been a massive disappointment, and it’s truly puzzling that they haven’t expanded those at all to simplify things and reduce friction.
Disney does NOT know how much APs spend in the park per visit. They have no way to accurately get that information across the board. The only thing that remotely comes close to being able to capture that data is wristband taps when staying at a resort and paying for merch and then do a correlation database with APs or how many receipts get a 20% discount. But even the per receipt isn’t accurate either because many stores and food places don’t honor the discount. Also the discount per receipt isn’t accurate because everytime I flash my BLUE DVC card they ring it up as an AP discount everytime. I have never received a receipt that says DVC 20% discount even though I never show them my AP. Disney has zero idea how much money we spend in their parks with any certainty….just look at their IT. And it is completely incorrect to try and say that as soon as Epic opened that Disney’s attendance dropped off dramatically but had negligence impact. It did! My 8yo could figure that one out. Some people just don’t want to accept that Disney is done, it is all Iger’s fault, and the Disney magic is gone.
I respectfully disagree.
My family still loves Disney and does NOT enjoy simulator-land (aka Universal).
I think it’s a bit overdramatic to say Disney is done.
Too many people forget there are a lot of ppl who only go every few years who perhaps because of this distancing keep our fondness for the mouse parks.
I agree with Liz. Universal’s virtual rides make me extremely motion sick (and a lot of people that I know), so I feel that possibly some people may go for a day to just check it out, but spend most of their vacation at WDW. I think there may be a push at first for Universal because it’s new, but that people will make their way back to WDW. I’m not interested in Universal at all and surely there are hoards of others!
I think of significant impact has been the realignment of the DAS system. The completely disgruntled DAS community is finding other options that will work for them. In my instance, my daughter was turned down when she had had DAS for many years. I won’t get into specifics, but she definitely qualified prior to their ridiculous system. IBCCES card has been obtained. Universal welcomed her with open arms and is extremely accommodating. Five Disney APs have now lapsed and won’t be bought until Disney becomes more accommodating to the disabled community. There are many other families doing the same thing that my family has done. I still have my pass, but I’m the only one in the family that has one as the other five passes are now expired.. So there’s no need for a photo pass option, nor dining option and I don’t even care to buy any merchandise anymore. I dropped down to the pixie pass and since I’m local, I will go by myself.
I will not go into a long discussion of DAS but I have had both as well and denied. Universal may accept IBCCES card, but their express lines shared with AAP guests are much longer than most LLs. This will come to a crossroads where people buying Express Passes at Universal, especially Epic, will start to complain. They may also have to revamp their disability policy to address paid customers. Also of note is that the merge point in many Universal queues tend to be further from the loading area than at Disney. Since the DAS shift, LLs are significantly shorter, fifteen mins or less. As a previous DAS user and annual passholder I was given very specific instructions in the video call that I will not disclose to say or write down at an entrance and was always given a LL return time or was let on immediately. I’ve spent 40min in Universal AAP queues (shared with their express pass guests). So Universal has created the perception that it treats all disabled guests better, when they are not providing a comparable accommodation (being able to pre schedule and access a shorter line). This is about public perception, Universal doesn’t actually care more.
I know I’m a broken record in these comments when it comes to APs, but I look at those early 2020 prices and I weep for what could have been. What’s funny about this “promo” is it continues to highlight Disney’s mentality of “charge more and get less.” Aw, shucks, gee thanks there Disney, with that gift card, my family of 4 can enjoy one day of…*checks notes*…what we got EVERY day when we were Silver/Gold APs in the late 2010s. Way to remind us of everything ripped away in greed.
I’ll know they’re somewhat interested in trying to increase AP sales when they roll PhotoPass back in as a default (this seems like such a no brainer as it costs them basically nothing to do). I’ll know they’re genuinely interested when Sorcerers and Incredi- get a baked in number of visits with LLMP included (10/20 would be my guess).
From a business perspective I cannot understand for the life of me why they would at least not allow monthly payments for all guests on the Incredi-Pass that alone would more than likely lead to increased sales. You can add in language that if someone cancels there are penalties to pay etc or you must pay the remainder of the balance to address those concerns. Much like how the cellphone companies do it when you upgrade your phone.
I was just thinking along these lines. How many more out of state DVC members would buy APs for their whole family if they could just pay for it monthly? I bet people would even stomach a fee for doing so since they won’t have to buy on credit. APs for a whole family all in one pop is a killer expense. DVC members are already bought in and planning to come to the parks. Give them more reason to visit more frequently (addonitis is real!) and they will run to buy APs if you just make it easier to manage. ♀️
Lori
Just curious for other’s opinions. Mine and my husband’s APs need to be renewed for September. We also need to purchase a new AP for my 3 year old for our September trip. Would you just go and buy that new AP now or wait and see if another lever is pulled before September?
I would expect whatever lever is pulled between now and then to be distinct from this. (Maybe the return of Tables in Wonderland, as an example—not a prediction.)
I’d be shocked if it’s another discount or AP promo.
thanks for the input!
After nearly a decade of being out of state WDW annual passholders, we let our APs expire last week. We loved being passholders, but the value just isn’t there for us. I would love to see them open up Sorcerer Pass to everyone. That lever would definitely entice us to come back.
I’ve taken a couple of years off a WDW AP, and want to pick one up before RetroMagic, so this is nice timing.
“This is why Magic Key sales use a Disney Vault strategy and reservations are required.”
In the last few weeks, I feel that the strategy is starting to change at Disneyland too. From a wide-open reservation calendar (basically open all day, even on the 70th until about 8:00pm), to plastering “Annual Pass” over literally everything now – including the homepage a couple of days ago. Hell, the AP page on Instagram was quick to point out that reservations are still available for the next couple of weeks. We’ll see what happens when the lower passes are unblocked again, but it feels like the overall Disneyland feeling is going a little sour with the locals. They’ll be a bump for Halloween, but even sluggish OBB sales mean that it feels that the Resort is losing the cachet with the constant multi-day tickets and sales.
For me personally, we’ll probably pickup a WDW AP and make a few trips out there this year, and maybe pause from Disneyland – especially if the AP product doesn’t change. It’s in my backyard, but as the world’s most expensive theme park annual pass (that isn’t even valid all year), there’s nothing really exciting coming in the next few years, and dropping in feels like you get less and less (shows, entertainment, low-friction things).
I feel like we’ve been having versions of this conversation for a few years now, Hastin! And each past time, the tides have turned after a month or so.
This time does seem different, as crowds have been noticeably lower despite a lot of entertainment additions and the 70th.
My best guess is that it comes down to the ticket deals. The winter/spring one was really aggressive, whereas the current one is not. That seems to be what most moves the needle.
At this point I believe Disney will be throwing all kinds of “deals” (I use the word loosely) out there to get people to come to a park where an entire “Land” is being closed down and repurposed. Not good timing with Universal opening their new parks. Adding a park would be good, but not closing one. I guess they will have to retire the name “Frontierland” as there will be nothing left outside of the roller coaster.
….I just bought an AP last week. *headdesk*
Same!!! Ugh
YEP!
Good news! I was able to call the AP line and they were able to apply the promo for me.
I literally bought an annual pass 10 days ago! Just my luck that a promotion would come out after purchasing!
Disney giving a 2 week grace period if it’s a brand new annual pass. Need to call Passholder desk
Wow, Disney must be feeling the lack of renewals. MAYBE because Disney keeps offering less and less (food, attractions, live performers) but keeps charging more and more. Even though we’ve been passholders for almost a decade, we’re switching to Universal. I have heard this story over and over (and over and over….) People are done being fleeced. Especially when there are lots of great attractions out there in which you won’t have to sell all your blood for. (Can you tell I’m ticked?)
This is the dumbest argument people have. It’s like when children say they are going to bite themselves if they don’t get want they want. Universal has only 2 parks with 28 rides under their passes and no free parking for the two lower tiers. The value of Universal passes are terrible with those two factors alone. You’ll pay more in parking to use those passes and the price difference from Disney passes is negligible. Compared to Disney with 54 rides in 4 parks, free parking for all passes and endless entertainment, shows, concerts, festivals at Epcot, indoor short movies/attractions, character interactions and a lot more to do and see, it is no contest. Not to mention, Disney food is a million times better. Universal food is embarrassing. It’s a ridiculous thing to even compare. As soon as Universal adds Epic to the annual pass and the prices skyrocket with only 3 parks and a grand total of 37 rides, what are you all gonna do then? Even with Disney price increases, it’s still a million times better value and experience than Universal. Please.
What food, attractions and live performances has Disney offered less of? Fleeced by Disney for paying a small fraction of the ticket price to visit whenever you want? Are you ok?