New Florida Resident Disney World Ticket Deal
The latest in a line of Walt Disney World discounts is the Florida Resident Disney Magic Flex ticket, which offers deeply-discounted 2-day, 3-day, and 4-day park tickets for locals. In this post, we’ll cover the details, recap other recently-released discounts, and the likelihood of more being released for the general public in the near future.
As a quick recap, there are already several discounts for Florida Residents and Annual Passholders. A couple of weeks ago, Walt Disney World released the “Rediscover the Magic” Deal for Up to 40% on Walt Disney World Hotels Now Through September 30, 2020. This includes Contemporary Resort for $272 per night, Beach Club for $265 per night, Saratoga Springs for $225 per night, Pop Century for $110 per night, Fort Wilderness Cabins for $239 per night, and more.
Although some of those prices are still very high, those are among the best percentage discounts we’ve seen since around 2012. (Obviously, hotel prices have increased a lot since then.) Still not the ~$50-$70 per night we remember paying for the Value Resorts during the Great Recession, but the All Stars are not even open right now, so there’s that!
Subsequently, Walt Disney World quietly released a 30% off discount on merchandise purchases at most Walt Disney World stores for Annual Passholders with only limited exclusions. Normally, Walt Disney World Annual Passholders receive a 20% off merchandise discount as part of AP perks, so this amounts to an extra 10% off.
This 30% off is currently valid through August 14, 2020, but we would be more surprised if it’s not extended than if it is extended. If anything, we expect more attempts to entice Annual Passholders to spend money while in the parks. Offering 20% off the 2020 Taste of EPCOT Food & Wine Festival booths seems logical given the high menu prices (and the fact that the first wave of bloggers/vloggers/etc. is now over).
Now, we have new discounts on park tickets for Florida Residents…
With the Florida Resident Disney Magic Flex Ticket, locals can enjoy 2, 3 or 4 days at one Walt Disney World theme park per day. These flexible tickets can be used at any one of the 4 theme parks on consecutive or non-consecutive days throughout the offer period (subject to Disney Park Pass availability).
The 2-Day Florida Resident Disney Magic Flex Ticket costs $130 per ticket (or $65 per day) and is valid for use July 22, 2020 through September 30, 2020. The 3-day Florida Resident Disney Magic Flex Ticket costs $174 per ticket ($58 per day) and is valid July 22 to November 20, 2020 plus November 29 to December 18, 2020. Finally, the 4-day Florida Resident Disney Magic Flex Ticket costs $195 per ticket ($49 per day) and is also valid July 22 to November 20, 2020 and November 29 to December 18, 2020.
Proof of Florida residency required. All adults will need to show proof of Florida residency at park entrance. Both a theme park reservation via the Disney Park Pass system and valid theme park admission for the same park on the same date are required.
It’s worth noting that these are the exact same prices as last year’s Florida Resident Discover Disney Ticket. However, that too was an aggressive deal, offered during the lead-up to the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. That was a window we dubbed the “Pre-Star Wars Slump” and low attendance and hotel occupancy during that timeframe is why Disney moved forward the land’s debut.
Offering the same discount one year after the debut of that blockbuster land plus Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway is undoubtedly not what Disney had in mind at the time. With that said, this is likely only a precursor of even better discounts to come…
As far back as March, “will Walt Disney World offer deals when the parks & resorts reopen?” and “will WDW raise prices to make up for lost revenue during the closure?” were two incredibly common reader questions. In response to those, we published Will Disney World Offer Huge Discounts After Reopening? That post was essentially an emphatic YES!
Still, many readers disagreed, pointing out the lost revenue and how Disney would jack up prices to compensate. As we’ve discussed countless times in the past, Walt Disney World charges what the market will bear. They don’t hold off on price increases as a nice gesture to guests nor are Disney’s prices based upon costs. At this point, Walt Disney World’s pricing is based almost exclusively on demand. And right now, demand is low.
We mention all of this not to take a victory lap, but as a foundation for the present landscape that Walt Disney World is trying to navigate. (If this were simply about patting ourselves on the backs, it’d be about as lame as claiming success in predicting in afternoon thunderstorm in Florida during the summer.)
Our predictions about Walt Disney World offering aggressive discounts were not exactly prescient or even bold. This was easily foreseeable to anyone with a vague understanding of economics and historical knowledge of how Walt Disney World has operated during past recessions.
However, one thing we did not foresee was the current status of the health crisis in Florida. Our expectation back in March was that America, as a whole, would flatten the curve and maybe there’d be a smaller second wave later in the fall that we’d all deal with more swiftly and dynamically, having the knowledge and preparations from the first wave. Quite naive, in retrospect.
We did not expect Florida to peak later during the first wave and be the epicenter of America’s outbreak right as Walt Disney World reopened, drawing a firestorm of bad PR in the process. Whether proceeding with reopening as planned was a poor decision or a matter of unlucky timing is debatable, but either way, not germane to this post.
What’s relevant now is that Walt Disney World has sort of been backed into a corner. A lot of potential guests don’t want to visit Florida in the near-term future, and even if they did, Walt Disney World would be reticent to market the parks and resorts to them.
The result is that Walt Disney World is in something of a holding pattern, waiting for the real world situation in Florida to improve or at least the headlines to subside. Thankfully, there are signs of both. (In particular, Orange County’s numbers are starting to look better than Florida’s as a whole.)
Ultimately, that’s our take on why Walt Disney World has yet to release great deals to the general public despite the resorts operating at incredibly low occupancy rates at the resorts and the parks being veritable ghost towns with plenty of surplus Disney Park Pass inventory.
It’s likely a matter of public perception, fear, and also wanting to err on the side of caution with a slow and methodical phased reopening. Consequently, we’re still probably looking at late summer or early fall (at the earliest) before Walt Disney World offers aggressive discounts to the general public. But they will be come, and they will be exceptional.
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’s recent discounts for Florida Residents and Annual Passholders? Are you anticipating colossal savings on hotels, tickets, or dining for the general public? Will you be ready to pounce on deals—or will you wait for a full economic bounceback–or until operations are normal at Walt Disney World? Do you agree or disagree with our commentary? 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!
My husband and I are huge Disney fans ( went to all 6 parks in US last year) and want to celebrate turning 40 in Disney. We only have 2 available times as of right now to visit. Would you go the last week of October or the 2nd week in Feb.?
I wish that they would offer deals to non pass holders and neighboring states to get more people interested in going. We live in Georgia and would probably go but due to everything and mask wearing we don’t want to take the chance of spending such a high amount if we can’t make it the entire day. If we had a discount like Florida residents it would entice us more to go.
I’d love to know when annual passes will be sold again! Now that I’m a Floridian, I’d like to get them sooner than later.
I have reservations at Pop Century in early October. I’ve put down the deposit and have reserved my park tickets. I’m just curious to know if I can still take advantage of any discounts that might be offered for the fall. I mean, could I cancel and then reserve again? Would that be a risk or even worth it? What do people do when discounts are offered after they already made all their plans?
You can always call Disney and have new discounts applied to your existing reservation, as long as your reservation meets all the criteria for those discounts.
Am having a hard time wAITING TO SEE HOW THINGS PLAY OIUT AFTER END OF sEPT. sEEMS LIKE THAT IS A MAJOR POINT.
I’m from the U.K. and it’s rare to get any discounts over here, the FLA residents are very lucky and there is an invective to visit.
I want to bring my grandson next year, I keep checking the prices and Covid situation. Miss WDW and Universal very much and I hope we can all get back to normal soon.
I was really disappointed with Disney recently. I had a trip planned this summer and had to rearrange twice due to the pandemic. Disney ultimately cancelled my trip since the parks would not be open when we had the rescheduled trip planned (1st week of July). I was told I could get a 35% hotel discount for rebooking in 2020 but a person in my party is a teacher so I needed to wait to rebook until we knew what school looked like. Once knowing the school plan, I called Disney to rebook and they said they could not honor the 35% discount since my trip was cancelled and this wasn’t a true “rebooking”. I was quoted $2800 for the 4 day trip we wanted. Universal is offering 40% off at their hotels so I ended up booking with them and the trip is only costing me $1900 now. This will be the first time ever that I do not stay on Disney property. I am not a FL resident but was truly shocked that they would rather lose the hotel profit all together than allow me to book at a discount since they could clearly see in my account that I had booked a trip and rearranged several times. I completely understand we are in uncharted times right now but was really disappointed that nothing was done to accommodate us (we also lost the free dining we originally had). I’m still looking forward to the trip and hoping they release some discounts for non-Florida residents/passholders! And yes, I am always extremely nice on the phone because I know the cast members are only doing what they are told but still bummed. But at least I still get to go so there’s that! 🙂
The same thing happened to me. I had to reschedule my trip from Sep, 2020 to Feb, 2021 (frontiers from Brazil to US are closed) and Disney did not offered me the same discount and, once the hotel that I booked previosly is not available on February (yet), they offered me a even more expensive stay! More expensive than the previous one, that had free dining plan…
I am still thinking where I am going to stay… Hopefully new discounts will show up in a near future 🙂
Any thoughts as to whether a military discount will be released for 2021? I purchased 2020 military salute tickets and Disney did extend the expiration date to September 2021. I have a trip planned for end of September 2020, but currently we are under military travel restrictions (no end date, yet) so our command may block us from going to Disney World then. I have hotel only reservations for April and May of 2021 as back up dates, but no military discount yet for those bookings.
Have you checked with Shades of Green? That is the military resort on WDW, next to the Contemporary. They are temporarily closed but have staff available to answer questions and make future reservations. Do a search for WDW Shades of Green to find their website.
What do you mean by non-consecutive days? Could we go to MK Monday, HS Tuesday, Epcot Wednesday, and AK Thursday or we would have to leave a day between each one?
Non-consecutive means not consecutive. Visiting a park on a Monday means that your ticket can’t be used again until that Wednesday.
Never mind my above comment, I’m not so sure any more. See Will’s comment below that you CAN go on consecutive days, and the point of the “non-consecutive” text is to say that you can use the ticket over the course of multiple months, and don’t have to use up the whole ticket within X days of first use. Either way, it’s a weird choice of phrasing.
It’s consecutive or non-consecutive. I’ve updated the body text accordingly.
What do you think about 2021? No discounts and it seems demand is high for next year currently. We booked a large family trip to celebrate my parents 50th anniversary and we were concerned about getting in because of pent up demand from this year. (And WDW 50th anniversary) We had booked the Disney cruise portion of the trip back in February and booked the WDW portion last week at full price. Hoping we can take advantage of discounts if offered for our dates.
“it seems demand is high for next year currently”
What makes you say that? Just because discounts aren’t being offered doesn’t mean demand is high. Right now, Disney is prioritizing discounts that will get people into the parks by the end of September (i.e. in this quarter and before the end of their fiscal year). The 2021 discounts will come, but not until Disney does everything it can to improve the end of their fiscal 2020.
There is certainly pent-up demand among DVC owners and the die-hard fans here in the comments, but the *general public* is what determines the true level of demand, and the general public is far more preoccupied with being unemployed/sick/scared/etc to be planning a 2021 Disney trip.
I just wrote a novel about my concerns over ANOTHER inequitable situation in replacing lost vacations due to covid (luckily I lost the lengthy diatribe! So this is cut short) I have been coming to Disney since my 48 yr old son was 5! Sometimes we came twice a year! My daughter was even married in the wedding pavilion 9 years ago and since then , I’ve brought my family of ten (My kids and their kids) three times. Additionally four of us have had three annual passes in the last few years! Ok. Here’s what I would like you to explain, please. I am 74 years of age, one of my granddaughters is immune compromised, snd my daughter is a teacher who is on vacation during the summer so …… why would we want to have our passes activated from now to early Novem ber (the days we had left on AP). Since we lost our 2020 spring break trip because of covid AND we lost two weeks end of May because of Covid, I simply wanted to replace the dates we lost from May20,2020 to June 5, 2020 with the same time frame in 2021. . Please explain what was Disney’s reasoning? Instead – the only other alternative APreplacement is a measley cash refund. I cannot express the disappointment in this Disney decision. If somebody can pacify my disgust with these AP replacement choices please explain . As I see it Universal Studios and SeaWorkd may earn our new loyalty.
I think the demand is from all the people that had 2020 trips planned that aren’t happening. I would say vast majority rescheduled for sometime in 2021 on top of anyone who just wanted to go next year. With closing in March it was basically the entire year so all of those people would inflate “normal” 2021 demand. Again I guess not representative of general public but it would seem like a lot of reservations just from all the people who pushed to next year.
I really appreciate your blogs and information! I’m on hold with Disney right now because as a FL resident, annual pass holder whose passes expired in June, I can’t figure out where I stand. I was paying monthly and although I read your posts and the official Disney emails and info, I still can’t understand what’s going on with ours. We had three months to go on the payments, I think, and got the charge then refund quickly a few weeks ago.
P.S. Unrelated but figured somebody here will know. Since it’s going to be a good bit of time until we get to WDW again, where can I get really, really good park posters please? I would love a great big Magic Kingdom poster and a full Disney World poster to hang on my wall so I can dream big again : ). Thanks!
“ Offering 20% off the 2020 Taste of EPCOT Food & Wine Festival booths seems logical given the high menu prices (and the fact that the first wave of bloggers/vloggers/etc. is now over).”
Sorry that’s a speculative idea or an active program? Thanks
Speculative.
Do you think there is any chance they reopen sales for annual passes? We have been waiting and the CM’s just keep saying check back regularly on the blog! We are hopeful but with this promotion not too optimistic!
My guess is they’re waiting until after August 11, 2020 for that if only because there are so many issues with APs right now, and adding new sales to the mix would only further complicate and confuse things.
Just a guess, though. There’s really no other reason not to sell them.
Hmmm good to know. I notice they’re cutting the 3 and 4 day tickets right before Christmas week, which makes sense since either they want to get full price/at least less discounted than this Christmas week or they’re still going to try and release some semblance of a Christmas package.
I’m still eagerly awaiting whatever Christmas predictions you’ll be making.
Why not lift Passholders blocks for the summer. We have weekday select and would happily come now if we could
I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens sooner rather than later, at least for Epcot (if not MK and DAK, too).
Another kick in the teerh fir DVC memners
How so?
I think they’re saying because there is currently no option for DVC members to get discounted tickets because AP sales are halted.
I wish there were some similar deals for nonresidents!
P.S. – Tom – I would buy a coffee table book of your Wilderness Lodge images. Just saying.
I’ll give you the same answer I give Sarah when she asks if we can make prints for our house: once I have something I’m satisfied with ‘making permanent.’
It’s one thing to post stuff on the internet. Everything here is fleeting and can be replaced. It’s another entirely to create a physical book. That’s permanent and ever-lasting. Maybe when I’m 70.
I may be senile by the time you turn 70, but I suspect I’ll still enjoy those beautiful shots!
Oh Tom please publish a book before you are 70!! Your photos are the best!
+1 to this. I would absolutely buy a coffee table book of your Disney photos, Tom.
“once I have something I’m satisfied with ‘making permanent.”
Oh Tommy Boy, you sound about as bad as me!
Ditto on the coffee table book. I love the information you provide but it was the photos that grabbed me first!
As a fellow photographer and another who struggles with “do I print this?” I say make the book. I would buy it in a heartbeat. (I love Wilderness Lodge, but would prefer it to at least be more broadly Disney and better yet also including your other travel photos)
I’ve seen so many people posting that they have decided to move their 2020 trips to 2021. My family has done the same thing and postponed to August 2021, but, honestly, I doubt we’ll go if there isn’t a vaccine that has been widely distributed by then. I have wondered whether there will be a surge of guests in 2021, based on all these postponed trips, but then I suppose that comments on a few Disney blogs are not indicative of general demand. My favorite trips, with the lowest crowds and most affordable rates were during winter of 2002, and again during the Great Recession. Our group of 7 planned to stretch out in a Windsor Hills rental, but significant resort discounts could change that plan.
“I suppose that comments on a few Disney blogs are not indicative of general demand.”
Bingo. If you looked at comments in these same places last year, you would’ve believed September would’ve been bonkers because so many fans had planned it as their “last hurrah” before Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge was (originally) to open and things got busy. There are a lot of Disney fans, but they’re still a small percentage of all guests at any given time. The vast majority of visitors (90%+) are not reading blogs like this one, watching Disney vlogs, etc.
With that said, Disney is going to be much more reliant on locals and diehard fans than normal for the next few years. Still, there will be significantly reduced overall general public demand due to the recession. That’s not even taking into account the near-total lack of international guests and conventions & events.
I noticed the Florida resident ticket says can be used on non-consecutive days? Is that right?
Seems crazy. So you can’t go two, three, four days in a row? So many ridiculous loop holes.
You CAN go on consecutive days, but you don’t HAVE to. Some previous multi-day ticket promotions have only been for 2-4 days in a row, so once you go for the first day, you’re locked in to going for the next 2-3 days, after which the ticket expires. This current promotion is much more flexible and customer friendly.