When Will Disney World Resume Annual Pass Sales?
“When will Walt Disney World Annual Pass sales resume?” is a common reader question. Many WDW fans are itching to purchase passes, especially new Floridians or those who planned on waiting to buy. We’ll share the company’s official position and speculate as to when APs might return. (Updated April 2, 2023.)
As a quick recap, Walt Disney World suspended sales of all Annual Passes during its closure. However, the Annual Pass program at Walt Disney World did not end when the parks reopened nor were outstanding APs terminated. Many APs proactively cancelled their passes and requested refunds. Upon reopening, sales of new Annual Passes were “paused” while renewals were allowed.
Walt Disney World then resumed Annual Pass sales in September 2021 with new names, higher prices, restrictions, and other details. In so doing, the company dropped the straightforward precious-metal tier names in favor of a nonsensical hierarchy of fictional characters and concepts. APs were available for about 3 months before sales started being suspended in late November 2021.
Back when the new Annual Passes were announced, Walt Disney World stated: “Please note as we continue to manage attendance to provide a great experience for everyone, at any time, Annual Passes may be unavailable for purchase.” It’s now been almost 18 months, and APs are still “temporarily unavailable,” at least for the most part.
Sales of Walt Disney World’s three most expensive Annual Passes are all currently paused. This means that the Disney Pirate Pass, Sorcerer Pass, and Incredi-Pass are all unavailable for purchase and have been for well over a year. Only the lowest-level Disney Pixie Dust Pass, which is available exclusively to Florida residents and valid only on weekdays, remains available for new sales as of right now.
Per Walt Disney World: “We are pausing new sales of select Annual Passes. All current Passholders can renew into any of our four pass types – at their renewal rate – and continue to visit using their pass. We will continue to evaluate the return of new sales for these passes. Please check back for the latest updates.”
By Disney’s own admission, the decision to suspend new AP sales occurred due to anticipated crowds at Walt Disney World during busier times of the year. For its part, Walt Disney World was correct in projecting heavy crowds and suspending AP sales to avoid running out of reservations on more dates. If organic demand were allowed to play out, attendance would’ve been even higher.
Crowds were incredibly heavy during the heart of last year’s holiday season, but have been more mixed since. The first three months of 2023 had highs and lows, with Spring Break arriving in full force a few weeks ago. To that point, the peak dates of Spring Break 2023 Crowds at Walt Disney World are right around the corner this month.
With that in mind, most dates have been green thus far in 2023 on the Disney Park Pass calendar as of right now. The only dates that are partially booked are the weeks bookending Easter. The only other two times that has happened this year were during Presidents’ Day/Mardi Gras week and Orange County’s Spring Break. Most dates are not booking up, which is significant.
As we’ve noted before, Annual Passholders are advantageous to Walt Disney World, but not in a constrained capacity environment at the expense of tourists. Statistically speaking, per visit spending is significantly higher among resort guests and day ticket holders than APs. It thus makes sense that Walt Disney World would want to prioritize those demographics and not fill the parks with Annual Passholders at the expense of more lucrative vacationers during busier seasons.
For Walt Disney World, the downside of delaying the resumption of Annual Pass sales would be reduced revenue if or when the parks have surplus capacity. The potential upside would be not having to suspend regular ticket sales again when travel heats up again. With per visit spending being significantly higher among tourists, there’s a tremendous opportunity cost in allocating reservations to APs in a fully booked environment.
However, Walt Disney World continues to restore capacity by bringing back entertainment, dining options, and also filling positions in the parks that were previously short-staffed. All of this helps increase park capacity, which puts less stress on the reservation system by increasing the supply of Disney Park Passes. All of this plus normalizing demand and less ‘revenge travel’ means there is less of an opportunity cost in Annual Passholders taking up space in the parks.
Allocating capacity and balancing tourists versus locals or frequent visitors is really the whole ballgame. It’s not about lawsuits over the reservations system (Disneyland has resumed AP sales despite that and Walt Disney World still has one Annual Pass available) and it’s not about the perception of scarcity or artificial demand.
On a tangentially related note, the resumption of Magic Key Annual Pass sales at Disneyland could be a potential sneak peek of what Walt Disney World fans will have to endure when AP sales for the Florida parks resume. Back in November when Magic Keys were briefly sold, virtual queue wait times were 10-12 hours.
This January, wait times were shorter–but still measured in the hours on the first day they resumed. Within about a week, some tiers of Magic Keys had already sold out again. The resumption of APs at Disneyland occurred right on the timeline that we previously expected both coasts to resume Annual Pass sales. Frankly, we’re a bit surprised that Walt Disney World didn’t follow suit–but that suggests AP sales aren’t too far away for Walt Disney World.
As intimated above, the straightforward explanation remains that AP sales are suspended due to internal concerns about Disney’s ability to meet demand for regular tickets once Annual Passes are available again. As long as the parks aren’t operating at full capacity and there’s the potential for unsatisfied demand among higher-spending tourists, this is the simplest and clearest explanation for the lack of Annual Passes.
With all of that said, we think there are two possible timeframes for the return of Annual Passes at Walt Disney World. The first is that Annual Pass sales resume on or after April 17, 2023. This is not necessarily the precise date that APs will return to Walt Disney World, it’s simply the earliest date we expect them at this point.
Previously, Walt Disney World resumed AP sales during the off-season, which gave the company a window to test and adjust the program and reservation availability during a window when crowds were low. When AP sales resume again in 2023, it will almost certainly occur during another such off-season window.
As for the significance of April 17, that’s after the height of spring break season and Easter 2023. And…just in time for Tax Day!
This is the next window of lower crowds, which will last following the conclusion of spring break until the start of summer season in mid-June 2023. Not every day or week within that timeframe will be slow–it’s more like ‘shoulder’ season–but it won’t be as bad as Presidents’ Day/Mardi Gras, Easter, Summer, etc.
This is also after the opening of TRON Lightcycle Run and start of EPCOT’s Flower & Garden Festival. In short, the end of April or beginning of May 2023 is the perfect window of opportunity for Walt Disney World to resume AP sales.
Additionally, Walt Disney World has discounted Florida resident tickets that are currently on sale, and are valid through April 27, 2023. This is a pretty common special offer that’s typically available right around this time of year.
Walt Disney World crowds do not increase after April 27. To the contrary, the entire month of May 2023 will be shoulder season; it’s a slower time between the peaks of spring break and summer at Walt Disney World. Selling Annual Passes at the tail end of this discounted ticket deal, or shortly after it concludes would be a smart move–and a way to spike demand during what would otherwise be a relatively laid back month in the parks.
With that said, there are so many other variables at play that could cause Walt Disney World to continue waiting to bring back Annual Passes. Ongoing attendance, guest spending, forward-looking projections, and even the Florida Resident tickets selling well could impact the return date of APs.
If business continues booming even without Annual Passes, the company may decide that it’s advantageous to continue waiting to resume sales. In such a scenario, we view it as unlikely that APs would return in June or July 2023. Instead, Walt Disney World is more likely to wait for the busy summer tourist season to end, restarting sales in mid-August or September 2023. This is simply to say that anyone anxiously awaiting the return of Annual Passes might want to temper their expectations.
One unfortunate reality reinforced in the last 2 years is that demand for Walt Disney World is fairly insatiable right now. Attendance, hotel occupancy, and guest spending have not been impeded in the slightest by the range of unpopular decisions, cutbacks, or price increases.
Many fans–us included–keep waiting for some of Walt Disney World’s decisions to come around and “bite them” with consumers. At least in the short term, there are no signs of that happening. Long term is a potentially different story, but with all of this success and strong sales in spite of everything, we may be waiting a while. Then again, things can change in a hurry, and last year was a time of unprecedented consumer spending across the board that seems unsustainable.
In any case, it’s safe to say that Annual Passes will return at some point, and will not be retired entirely. Walt Disney World APs have never presented the same issues as at Disneyland, for relatively straightforward reasons. Beyond double the parks, there are significantly fewer Annual Passholders at Walt Disney World.
And many of them aren’t local, anyway. Disney Vacation Club members and New Yorkers who come down three times per year and book hotels every time are much more valuable to the company than Disneyland locals who drop-in for a few hours and don’t even eat dinner in the park.
With that said, I’d stop short of saying that Walt Disney World “needs” Annual Passholders. They’re an asset at times, helpful in guaranteeing attendance (and revenue) during slow stretches. However, that’s not always the case.
There are times when Annual Passholders can compound tourist-driven crowd problems, like during the popular Christmas season. In the past several years, we’ve seen Walt Disney World introduce more blockouts and raise prices on most Annual Passes–sometimes by hundreds of dollars at a time. There’s a reason for that.
There have been a lot of headlines recently about homebuyers “fleeing to Florida,” but this phenomenon is nothing new. Back when Annual Pass prices increased two years ago in February and the June before that, we mentioned the ongoing population explosion in Central Florida. Even then, several cities in the Orlando metro area were among the fastest growing in the United States. Many of these new Florida residents are (and were) people leaving the Northeast and Midwest.
Our commentary at the time was this: “If new home prices and construction around Walt Disney World are any indication, these transplants are also on the more affluent end of the spectrum. (Behind Magic Kingdom, there’s been a proliferation of subdivisions with no end in sight—most of these have homes starting at over $300,000 and ranging up to $800,000.)”
Those price points now seem quaint (add another couple hundred thousand dollars on), but the sentiment still rings true. And this was long before “Zoom Towns” had entered our collective vernacular. If you’ve seen any of those ‘fleeing to Florida’ stories in the news, you’re undoubtedly aware that this trend has only accelerated in the last two years. In fact, many of you who have been asking when Walt Disney World will resume AP sales are fresh transplants from the Midwest or Northeast.
Ultimately, our prediction is that Walt Disney World resumes Annual Pass sales at higher price points around late April or early May 2023. Failing that, the next most logical time for resuming AP sales is not until mid-August 2023, but we do not think Walt Disney World will wait that long. These are two prime windows of opportunity in the off-season that are the most likely, as it’s improbable that Walt Disney World will begin Annual Pass sales right before any prime tourist season.
At some point, things will normalize. Staffing shortages will be fully resolved, pent-up demand will fizzle out, and consumer spending will fall back to normal levels. All of that could happen abruptly in the coming months or it could last until mid-2023. For the better part of a year, we’ve been wondering when demand would slow…and it’s only grown stronger during that time.
Of course, that’s just our guess from the outside looking in. I never would have predicted this happening back when Annual Pass sales resumed, as it seemed the worst of the reservation availability problems were already in the rearview mirror at that point. Then again, it would seem that Walt Disney World also did not predict those problems, as if they did, they wouldn’t have resumed AP sales in the first place!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
When do you expect Walt Disney World to resume new Annual Pass sales? Think sometime in late April or early May 2023 is a safe bet, or will Walt Disney World be more cautious this time, waiting all the way until Fall 2023 to ensure there’s ample capacity for more lucrative tourists? Would you purchase a Walt Disney World AP right now? 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’m one of those midwesterners that is looking into buying some APs. We just went last week for 3 days at roughly $2300 for tickets alone. We also just acquired a part of my in-laws’ timeshare that would give us a free few weeks in Orlando every year (not DVC but we can use the points at WDW Resorts if we so choose, otherwise it’s BlueGreen). I’m not even sure what passes cost because you can’t look that up right now, but I’m looking at purchasing some to hopefully go this Christmas and at least a couple times next year. As long as I can convince my wife that this is a good investment!
We moved to Davenport last May and I didn’t buy passes because of Covid. I kicked myself now every day since they stopped selling them. We don’t want to go in every week but we would like more access to the parks and frequent them much much more than we did in Nj. Except, we buy the dinners, stay in the hotels..etc. we would actually do it more if we had our APs! So far we’ve purchased the flex ticket twice now and that alone was over $1400 by the time you add parking. I personally can not wait till they sell again and I am hoping they will also do the monthly plan for Floridians.
The annual pass is a key part of PLANNING your visit at WDW. I understand they may have some modifications built in, may be not. What ever the AP changes will or will not be we are handcuffed in our planning. I would like to see the sale of the AP come now and they can put their own restriction on it’s use. BIGGEST EXAMPLE: Purchases now but you can not activate it until July 5th. The AP in the past has given the passholder the ability to use pass for discounts on lodging reservations but not activate it until check-in. It also helps in planning events that allow the use of the AP. Sell the pass now and give an activation date.
Maria, we had the exact scenario as you! Got a wonderful CM who understood that we’d have to cancel 2021 trips in January, June, and December without the AP’s. And our January trip was great at Fort Wilderness! Hopefully we’ll be able to renew January 2022!
As one of those New Yorkers who comes down three times a year and always books a hotel, I had to laugh at how hilariously specific and apt that description was. There really are an awful lot of us out there, probably the biggest demographic of Platinum and up APs, and I’m absolutely convinced that the low crowd levels last summer were in large part due to the fact that we were all essentially shut out of FL due to dueling quarantine requirements. Mine was set to expire last August and I took the extension, since I had already gotten my value out of the pass to at least break even back in 2019, and we pushed our doomed May 2020 trip up to May 2021. I was able to renew back in February, after it expired 1/1/21, and hope to get at least a couple of revenge trips in (the big one will be 2 weeks over the 50th), and I’m glad I went this route, because I think you’re absolutely right with your analysis.
“I’m absolutely convinced that the low crowd levels last summer were in large part due to the fact that we were all essentially shut out of FL due to dueling quarantine requirements.”
You’re right. It’s obviously not the only cause, but it’s a big one.
People underestimate how much of Walt Disney World’s attendance is driven by residents of the Tri-State Area and Chicagoland. There’s a reason DVC built its standalone stores in those spots.
For sure a major contributor. AP holders in Canada, likely missed three trips since we haven’t been able to travel to the US.
I get Disney needs to make difficult decisions right now. But this is our reality: My kids and husband go to Disney way less now, we’ve foregone a large DVC contract add-on (because who needs extra DVC points when you can’t go multiple times per year anymore?), and we’ve become very impressed with Universal Studios and 15-month annual passholders with them as of last week.
The reason for this? I have platinum AP – my husband and kids do not. (We live in Texas) We were planning to purchase them for the family during a trip scheduled for last June. Although I personally have been to Disney multiple times since reopening, it’s been adult-only with friends outside my household. I refuse to purchase multi-day tickets for our whole family multiple times per year. So far, we’ve cancelled 3 family trips waiting on APs. And this past week for spring break, we did the unthinkable and opted for Universal Studios. Surprisingly, we had the best time. AND, they offered us all annual passes with 3 months free, which pretty much seals some future visits back to their parks. We stayed onsite with Universal and were genuinely impressed with their bus system, courtesy, and even some “magic” they sprinkled on our family.
If things stay the same with APs, our family will turn into one-time per year visitors at Disney. We own 100 DVC points and were ready to buy 250 more the past 6 months as soon as APs were made available, but we don’t NEED that many points anymore if we can’t visit as frequently as we used to – and quite frankly, it now makes me nervous to think they can pull the AP rug out from us so easily. And we are not the type of people Disney loses money on with APs. We always stay on property, and eat every meal on property, and we also purchase a lot of merchandise each visit. I know my comments sound like a rant, they really aren’t. I still love the Mouse. I will still visit the Mouse. I just may venture elsewhere a little more now, too.
If I were you, I’d contact Guest Services and/or Member Services. Obviously no guarantees, but your husband and kids sound like prime candidates for one of the case by case exceptions.
They let us have ours back. You have to get the right person on the phone and be NICE. I do think they are culling the entitled APs and that’s a plus.
We didn’t renew in January 2020 then couldn’t get new passes. I wanted them for January 2021. We got them at the old price with the renewal discount â€â™€ï¸ I explained what our plans were and our specifics. Got some excellent pixie dust there. Oh and Disney got my money
Maria, we had the exact scenario as you! Got a wonderful CM who understood that we’d have to cancel 2021 trips in January, June, and December without the AP’s. And our January trip was great at Fort Wilderness! Hopefully we’ll be able to renew January 2022!
What is your opinion on park reservations for local AP holders? It’s challenging when you have family members coming into town for a week later in the year so either you take the risk of not being able to go with them or you don’t use your AP until then, which is a waste of 8 months of AP time for us. I understand the reservation system, but I think AP holders need to be allowed to make more than 3 at a time.
I don’t expect any major changes to the AP program, especially as they are allowing renewals..
But I do think Disney is taking this time period as an opportunity for soft-resets across the board, anything they wanted to change, they will change. So if it’s a choice of resuming the old AP program in July, or a revised program in October.. they will wait till October.
We’ve seen them already “officially” use this time period to announce a reset of EMH, to transition away from DME. Persistent rumors that the old FP+ system will not be returning. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an overhaul of the dining plan. (Yes, a dining plan is certain to return but it may be significantly revised). Rumors that the park reservation system is here to stay.
It makes sense to use this time period for any resets they want to make happen. It avoids any abrupt and sudden changes, making it easier logistically and also easier for guests to accept the changes.
Every change at WDW is always controversial to diehard Disney fans. But for example with EMH.. after having no EMH for 1 year+, the transition to Early Entry may be less controversial.
Disney let us purchase platinum APs a few weeks ago, we canceled our APs during shut down. We are out of state DVC members, the main reason we purchased APs is the additional park reservations we could book with the AP. Without the AP no way we could have gotten into the various park’s during our trip. Also, anticipating
A more “normal” Disney sometime close to fall.
Obviously there are a lot of people waiting for AP sales to come back to return, but Disney also has that overconfidence in thinking their guests will take whatever. I’m embarrassed to say I’m one of those proving them right. We currently have four 2021 Disney trips planned (FL panhandle residents), and I wouldn’t be surprised if we book more considering it’s still difficult to travel anywhere else right now and a couple of these trips have been a spur of the moment idea that resulted in a booking confirmation. Especially taking the FL resident discount into account, I think we’re definitely at the point where we would’ve broke even or saved money with an AP. We plan on purchasing them as soon as they’re available, and I’ve definitely been frustrated every time I book and see the price jump between the hotel quote and the add your tickets page. And yet I just keep booking…
Given the fact that WDW temporarily made the Epcot After 4 AP come online at 2PM, that must be a license to print licenses to print money! Anyone know anyone who has or had that one?
This is not specifically AP related but does have to do with park passes. It would have been a great year for our family to have an AP but that was not an option. In our situation we had a 1-day pass that was extended to 9/2021 due to the park closures last spring/summer. We decided to use that one pass for a overnight stay this summer 2021 which is great. However, true to all Disney fans we booked a short trip in the Spring so a 2-day pass was bought specific to 2-days in that week. After some thought, we added another day in the parks and purchased another 1-day pass. While on the trip on what was supposed to be “resort day” we decided we wanted to visit Epcot that evening so we needed yet another 1-day pass. Too make matters worse, we also previously bought 5-day passes for next December too. Before adding that “one” extra day again, we stopped by guest relations thinking that the oldest pass would be used first if we went through the gate and scanned our magic band so we wanted all of the various passes we had prioritized correctly. To sum it up, the cast member sorted everything out for us and knowing that we could have saved money by purchasing a 4-day pass in stead of a 2-day and two 1-day passes, gave us complimentary entry into the park that evening. This was not expected or even asked for by us. But he made our day and helped us a lot. Lesson, if you have lots of passes, make sure the right ones are being used on the right days as it is typically first in first out. Lesson two: if your on property for 5 days, 2 days in the parks is never enough, just get the 4-5 day pass when you book the trip.
So we renewed our APs just prior to the shut down in March 2020. Since they were set to expire in April, with the extension they now will expire Sept 2021 and we have made several trips since the reopening. Also, we became DVC members in July (crazy, I know, but that was probably our version of pent-up revenge travel). On our trip in August , we went to guest services and were able to get a price adjustment on the renewal to the DVC renewal price, since technically the original passes hadn’t expired yet. Just last week I called into DVC and was able to get pre-renewal passes so we could make park reservations for a DVC trip this November. We probably didn’t need to do that as I would expect Park passes to be available, but it did hedge against a potential price increase.
I know all that has nothing to do with when new APs will go on sale again, but that is my AP saga.
Appreciate you sharing it!
People are far more likely to share negative experiences than they are positive or relatively mundane ones. (That’s just human nature.) It’s always nice to have stuff like this to balance out the chorus of complaints.
We are retired Florida residents who live 2 1/2 hours from Orlando. We bought annual passes for the first time at the end of last February…obviously didn’t see the pandemic coming. Once the parks reopened we enjoyed monthly visits. We’ve mostly taken the opportunity to stay at Disney properties…next up, Kindani village. With the passes we can take a relaxed approach to the parks and not feel any need to do everything every time.we’ve dropped a lot of cash on Disney between hotels and food and beverages. No European trip…well at least we had the world showcase. I wasn’t planning on renewing it but if there is a risk of not getting them later I will. I think it will have netted out to $30 a day in the parks this year. We have the weekday only pass…the joys of retirement! And I have time to read this fantastic blog!
“We have the weekday only pass…the joys of retirement!”
That’s the way to do it!
We have the highest tier passes for obvious reasons, but I look forward to having a weekday only pass someday.
We also have the weekday pass (and live in SW Florida), but they expire May 6 (our last full day of our May trip). They were supposed to expire last Dec, but we got two more trips on these passes. We could renew them, but they aren’t good for the summer and I’d just like to buy new in October for our next trip after the May trip. Keeping my fingers crossed.
The main reason an out of stater buys an AP is because they plan on long multiple trips. Which means ultimately more money is spent in Florida and most likely the majority of that at WDW. I think that’s an aspect that Disney can not neglect.
Our Platinum+ AP’s ended in mid January. We didn’t renew because we weren’t sure when we’d go back due to the “temporary abnormal”. As it turns out if I had renewed we wouldn’t be using them till August. That’s a loss of 7 months. Now it’s possible that we won’t return till AP’s are back! So now maybe August is out? Maybe no trip till 2022? I believe if they resume selling AP’s they will have more non-Floridians returning sooner and making more trips. That’s a win win for Disney.
My fear is that with Park limitations and revenge travel they won’t need us for awhile.
“My fear is that with Park limitations and revenge travel they won’t need us for awhile.”
That’s ultimately what it comes down to at this point. If this summer is still at 35%, no way on APs–pent up demand will clearly exceed capacity. If physical distancing is relaxed and allows that to jump to 70%, it’s a very different story.
I wanted to get one of those coast-to-coast Premier passes one year, or at least that was the plan before the panera. I figured even one lengthy annual trip to WDW would’ve paid for itself. Ah, well.
I’m wondering if Disney is underestimating how much APs spent on food and drink though. I know for a fact I’ve outeaten and outdrank every tourist in a single day, either in the parks or at Downtown Disney. The guy in the stall next to me knew this for a fact too. Tourists are more likely to buy some souvenirs, but APs do go crazy for any new ear design, Disney-exclusive Funko Pops, pins for trading, and seasonal merch. I have to think food and drink sales are bigger with APs, though. Most of the people at the Lamplight bar, laughing, eating, drinking, and looking like they were having a good time according to my covetous observations, I know for a fact were mostly APs. Carthay Circle Lounge? A lot of APs. Trader Sam’s? Like 99.99% APs (apologies to the dismembered tourists). Sure, we stayed away from the touristy places (Blue Bayou, Oga’s (after one brief visit), Disney Junior Dance Party presented by Huggies), but we broke the bank at a lot of hot spots and if they had taken away discounts, we probably wouldn’t even have noticed.
I think the primary thing is we’re not staying on site, but do the two hotels (there are two, not three) not fill up enough? They seem pretty busy every time I’m hanging out at the pool illegally.
All I’m saying is, you need us, Disney. And we need you. And that there is a recipe for total heartbreak, with some love, but also heartbreak.
There are always going to be outliers, but statistically, tourist per-cap numbers are higher than locals. That’s especially true at Walt Disney World due to hotel rooms.
Disneyland probably figures they can have their cake and eat it too (for a little bit) as some locals are such diehard fans that they’ll buy regular tickets, load up on merchandise, and exhaust a lot of their pent-up demand and spending that way. Then, they’ll buy new “memberships” when those are introduced down the road.
I’m curious how things will look at Disneyland after pent-up demand is exhausted but before new APs or memberships roll out. Wouldn’t surprise me if it looks like the summer of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge by June.
I suspect Disneyland will roll out whatever their new AP program is as soon as they can go back to full capacity. Galaxy’s Edge summer made it clear how much Disney needs APs overall.
Ah I miss Summer 2019. On June 22nd I did my first ever EveryRide run, all 50 (at the time) open rides between DL and DCA. That was the day before the reservation period ended for Galaxy’s Edge, but I could have easily done it after that (and did, I completed my next official run in September, and that included Smugglers Run for the 51st ride). GE was jam-packed during the reservations, nearly a ghost town after it opened to the public. Good times.
My husband & I purchased annual passes back in June 2019 from Sam’s Club. We have the exchange certificates & they have never been activated. They are linked to My Disney Experience account though as we had a trip planned a year ago which we canceled. They have expiration date of 2030. My main question is could I sell these passes to someone since they have never been activated?
Sure, you can sell them if they haven’t been used. You can transfer them to another person on your MDE or just sell the certificate to someone else.
Debra – I assume they’re for WDW? Depending on the price, I might be interested in purchasing them.
I’m a local AP holder but occasionally stay onsite for a “ cheap” break when deals are offered (no travel expense involved) also stay on site when overseas relatives/friends visit.
I get my monies worth from my pass but Disney does well out of me as we eat drink and shop there too!
I think they won’t sell them till they have to. If they could get away with phasing them out except for Florida or California residents I bet they would.
Why sell passes when you can fill the park with everyone paying 130-150 bucks each. Until they can’t fill the parks they won’t return.
I actually think it makes more sense to sell to out of state first. They’re much more likely to also purchase room bookings with each visit…rather than locals who won’t stay at their resorts.
It might make more sense, but they are going to have a lot of awfully mad local people on their hands if they do that. I understand rich NYers are valuable to Disney, but out of good will to locals who also spend money on food and even hotels year round, spend more money at Disney Springs year round, and put up with the noise of nightly fireworks and inconvience of traffic created by of rude, crazy driving, tourists, this seems fair to me.
There’s no way Disney will sell Annual Passes specifically to non-locals first. They’re not going to check driver’s licenses to make sure you don’t have one. It just isn’t going to happen.
However, there’s nothing to say they won’t bring back Annual Passes for Disney Vacation Club members or restore higher tier passes first. That could accomplish some of those same goals without being as transparent about it.
CT: I think the Florida Legislature might say something if Florida residents couldn’t buy APs, but out of staters could.
@Susan you don’t have to be rich to be an out of state AP in NY. Many of us are the dreaded Childless Millennial demographic and just have more disposable income than families with kids. While I don’t doubt there’s a lot of rich families with kids, a lot of us take trips with just our SOs, friends who share resort rooms, or go solo. Travel costs are quite minimal, given the abundance of cheap & direct daily flights from the NYC area airports to MCO. Especially if you have a good airline credit card. I fly down on JetBlue points more often than not and know quite a few who go on Southwest companion passes. With park tickets paid for, the biggest expense is really the room, and AP discounts help a lot with that. I tend to stay at Deluxes for park proximity but many stay at Pop and Movies especially since the refurbs and Skyliner. Anecdotally, on my last trip to WDW back in November 2019, I stayed at Beach Club and just about everyone I ran into who was there for the long Veterans Day weekend like me were fellow New Yorkers and Northeastern AP holders escaping the cold, all folks without kids.