V.I.PASSHOLDER Days Return to Disney World in Summer 2024!
Walt Disney World has announced the return of Annual Passholder appreciation days in Summer 2024. This post shares the V.I.PASSHOLDER details that were teased in the latest AP Buzz newsletter kinda thing in the My Disney Experience app, plus our commentary about why this is happening.
For those who missed out on the fun last year, V.I.PASSHOLDER Days offer limited-time offerings just for Passholders coming to Walt Disney World Resort. It’s the company’s way of saying ‘thank you’ to the most valued guests for being a Walt Disney World Annual Passholder!
V.I.PASSHOLDER Days will run from May 1 through June 26, 2024 and feature special perks just for APs who visit the parks during this shoulder season and summer dates. More details are to come soon, but here’s a first look at what’s coming…
Extra Discounts – Specifics on the discounts for 2024 have NOT yet been revealed. Last year during V.I.PASSHOLDER Days, the discount at select Disney-owned and operated merchandise locations across Walt Disney World Resort temporarily increased from 20% to 30%.
As always, discounts are for personal use only and may not be used to purchase merchandise with the intent to resell the merchandise. (Word to the wise, eBay pirates!) Discounts are not valid on certain items and may not be combined with any other discount, offer, or promotion. Yada yada yada.
Also last year, Annual Passholders could enjoy an increase from 10% to 20% on discounts for food and nonalcoholic beverages at select locations throughout Walt Disney World Resort. This 20% discount applied to the regular price of food and nonalcoholic beverages, excluding applicable tax and gratuity.
Annual Passholders also received 20% off at select Outdoor Kitchens when using a cashless form of payment during last year’s V.I.PASSHOLDER Days. It remains to be seen which discounts are offered in 2024, but our guess is a repeat of all three, with the last only being offered during the tail end of Flower & Garden, and not during the summer festival…if there’s a summer festival.
Exclusive Lounge – While the location has not yet been revealed, it’s safe to expect that this is a reprise of the Sunshine Seasons V.I.PASSHOLDER Days Lounge. This was open from park open to close in the Land pavilion last year, offering up light refreshments plus an exclusive shake and tart for APs to purchase at Sunshine Seasons.
For whatever reason, people loved this. I assume it’s just the aura of exclusivity, because it was literally just the side seating area of Sunshine Seasons, roped off for APs. This area normally sits empty outside of peak dates, but was jam-packed during last year’s V.I.PASSHOLDER Days. To each their own, I guess. I’m happy about anything that gets more people to Sunshine Seasons!
Free Magnet – The ‘main event’ during V.I.PASSHOLDER Days is the free magnet! Disney hasn’t revealed the character for the 2024 offering, but last year it was Figment. I could see it being Figment again, especially if the magnet is available at EPCOT (like usual). Other possibilities are characters from the summer marketing blitz–Mirabel, Bruno, Tiana, Louis, Simba, Timon/Pumba, etc. My hope is that they go with Pawpaw the Bobcat, a legend already.
My guess would be that it’ll once again be available at the Creations Shop in EPCOT, as that’s the go-to location. But I could also see Animal Kingdom being the pickup spot as attendance has improved at EPCOT and DAK is now the park most in need of an attendance reallocation.
…And More – This is probably PhotoPass photo ops, which was the case last year. Maybe a few other, largely inconsequential, offerings that could fall under this umbrella. What we do not expect to see is a reprise of the Free V.I.Passholder Nights that were held at Walt Disney World “way back in the day.”
Even though that was actually only in 2019, it feels like an eternity ago. It notably did occur during the Star Wars Slump, when crowds were lower leading up to the opening of that late as people postponed trips. So perhaps if history repeats itself there…maybe as counterprogramming to Epic Universe in Summer 2025?
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure previews is another possibility during V.I.PASSHOLDER Days. I’m skeptical of this one. Not that it’ll happen–I think that it will. But rather, that it’ll be tied into V.I.PASSHOLDER Days. Affiliation previews for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure are likely to be more limited in dates than past previews, meaning fewer APs will likely be able to attend. Probably not so savvy to market something for all APs, but then only <5% can participate due to capacity constraints. Guess we shall see!
Ultimately, V.I.Passholder Days is an interesting initiative for boosting attendance at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom during shoulder season and summer, trying to win back alienated ex-Annual Passholders, and more. After a few years of Walt Disney World being able to ‘get away’ with pretty much anything and still see record guest spending and insatiable demand, consumers now appear to once again have more leverage.
This should be an interesting saga to follow, and it’s almost certain that we haven’t seen the end of Walt Disney World’s efforts to woo back former fans and pull “levers” to incentivize more demand and guest spending, especially if May and June 2024 prove to be as slow as the same months last year. Even if the lounge is laughable, V.I.PASSHOLDER Days should be great for Annual Passholders. More broadly speaking, this normalization is obviously good thing for fans–but it’s also healthier for Walt Disney World in the long-term!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Will you be taking advantage of V.I.PASSHOLDER Days from May 1 through June 26, 2024? Are you an Annual Passholder? Thoughts on the V.I.PASSHOLDER Days, or the latest merchandise and resort discounts? Will you be taking advantage of any of this? If you cancelled your Walt Disney World AP, have any of the recent changes made you revisit that decision? Hopeful that more perks, discounts, etc. are on the horizon as pent-up demand exhausts itself and there’s a slowdown 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!
I’d rather get a late night party for APs!
I plan on going sometime during the dates.
We took advantage of the AP lounge last year – on a day that we couldn’t get into the DVC lounge which is a regular challenge (we were able to get in once out of five EPCOT days last year). I wouldn’t say the lounge location was anything special other than to keep an eye on the wait for Living with the Land, but it was a welcome opportunity to sit down out of the heat (we’re from the NC mountains!) for a complimentary refreshing beverage. Interesting thought about having it Animal Kingdom; would you think the available AP holders traveling to WDW during that two month window would substantially move the needle on attendance at Animal Kingdom? Much as we love Animal Kingdom and do spend all day there, I imagine a lot of AP holders would do a park hopper fly-by, get the magnet, grab a complimentary beverage, maybe check out a marquee attraction, and then get on back over to another park. What are your thoughts?
I have a short trip scheduled the week before my Annual Pass expires and my last full day is May 1. I really hope the magnet will be at EPCOT because I’m staying at Beach Club and I’m not crazy about the idea of having to go out of my way to go to Animal Kingdom just to get it.
Tom, do you think this lever will have a bigger impact on May crowds when the weather tends to be a little cooler? And does it usually have more of an impact on weekends?
Do you mean will it make cool days even busier, as locals will have two reasons to visit EPCOT (weather + perks)? If so, yes slightly.
Or do you mean will it make May busier across the board because the month is already (on average) cooler than June/July/August? No. People won’t plan trips for this in large numbers–it’ll be a way to get locals to the parks.