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!
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
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!
Do you think the surging gas prices will affect summer travel? If and when it does, Disney will wish they had more AP holders around to fill the parks, just like they did when the parks reopened after the COVID shut down.
Just a thought!
I’ve never been clear why Passholders from out of state are lumped in with Florida Passholders and both are considered less lucrative guests than the Disney neophyte. In a year that we have passes, we stay on site, eat all our meals within parks and hotels, buy stuff and if we visit three times a year we sort of break even on the ticket price. But our contribution to the Disney coffers visiting 3 times a year certainly would at a minimum be comparable to a family visiting once. What am I missing?
Same here! We are DVC from KS and this was exactly what we did. They definitely made just as much on our trips as non AP holding tourists – maybe more because getting an AP discount meant we went more often and did more upgrades and such. I guess maybe there’s just no way to say out of state DVCs can purchase AP and in-state can’t.
Interested to hear your thoughts on Disney CFO McCarthy’s statements about park capacity never going back to what it was pre-Covid and what that could mean for APs. According to WDNT she said this today at Morgan Stanley’s 2022 Technology, Media & Telecom Conference.
“When asked about park capacity, McCarthy said the parks are not yet back to their “normal” capacity. She said attendance levels will not be returning to what they were pre-pandemic.
According to McCarthy, Disney is “managing things differently now.” With Disney’s new reservation system, the company is able to track how many guests are going to the parks each day, which allows for better crowd management.
McCarthy stated that Disney does “not want to have the parks bursting at the seams.” When the parks aren’t overwhelmingly crowded, guests have a more enjoyable time and are more likely to spend more money.“
The people that will go to Universal instead I HOPE will lessen the insane crowds
in the park. Way too many people.
Well thought out article, enjoyed your thoughts on this situation very much. Keep us updated and thank you.
DVC members need to raise their voices on this issue. Does anyone have a good email address to flood?
As dvc members we do pay taxes on there properties that should be counted for something
I’m a out of state passholder & I never let my passes lapse due to Covid. Boy I see so many people that did let them lapse & now they are paying the price. Heck if they have a few trips they must now pay individual ticket prices. Letting that pass lapse sure wasn’t a money saver too much was it? Glad I’m blessed to still have my pass & enjoy my happy place.
I have been a DVC member since 1993 and have relied on AP for my visits for myself and the wife. I let our AP’s expire due to the restrictions at WDW thinking we could buy again when things started picking up. We have two trips planned, one for May and one for October and I was hoping AP’s would resume by now for our trips. Based upon the report by Tom, it does not seem likely. While I get WDW makes more money per person from those that are infrequent guests, we DVC members and other AP’s are there hardcore loyal base guests that returns often. To ignore us is a slap in the face despite all the other issues aside (staffing, capacity, etc). It is really disappointing that Disney’s upper management will not be more transparent about this so those of us with plans to visit can actually make plans.
We are new DVC members (as of April ’21) and in the fall decided to “hold off” on buying our APs for May/August 2022 trips until Jan ’22 due to holiday spending. Well that bit us in the butt…
I’m sad that it seems unlikely for them to return in time but going to hold onto a glimmer of hope they will resume before May 21st…the last day we could upgrade!!
I’ve been done several times since the pause of AP’s and paid film ticket price. I wonder if they resume, will Disney let me roll my tickets purchased, into an AP? I know they did this for my wife (we’re DVC).
I’ve been down several times since the pause of AP’s and paid film ticket price. I wonder if they resume, will Disney let me roll my tickets purchased, into an AP? I know they did this for my wife (we’re DVC).
The breakdowns of rides and evacuation of them and of the castle the other day shows that they care about the bottom line of their pay checks than they are of the safety of the people going……..a lack of help, a lack of space for people to move around…….and the lack of places for people to sit when they need too ( so many benchs have been taken away) the lack of merchandise, same ole for the last 6 months, partly by the ships not being able to deliver) BUT they get merchandise in when they want it , it seems, certain things are brought in……..But the bottom line is the dollar they make by adding 50 cents or more per food purchase and the Genie and LL make the lines longer at the rides and lack of snack and quick serve restraunts are making it tough. do we still go , yes, we are locals……….we do spend quite a bit of money there but its not like we wont be there in a year or two……The cost of the annual passes does have to go up but not the huge increase they have made it, the lack of not being able to go when we want too is not so great either, no decisions on the spur of the moment doesnt help………Universal is much better for annual passholders
Walt Disney as we all are aware would be furious about the excessive reach for the dollar and lost of sight of his mission. Current executives at WDW are killing the “goose that lays the golden egg”. It is reaching a point where the excessive reach for more money will have the company choking on the $ and can well cause a collapse. Without the support of locals to do the dirty work of running such an immense business as more opportunities arise elsewhere for employment with the explosion of growth, WDW will be hard pressed to draw in qualified workers. And the growth of other entertainment options is drawing the locals to a better “bang for your buck”. Balance is the key to any successful operation and the scales at Disney are weighing down on one side heavily. If WDW continues to ignore the basic common sense of good business, that scale will topple over when least expected.
As I have said before Ron it’s all about disneys magical bottom line I believe they are trying to recoup for for Covid-19 by cutting jobs and services to the hard working people who work there and the families that pay these high prices to be in the so called the happiest place on earth
We are DVC members for a long time, and really look forward to using annual passes to maximize multiple trips for my family. The bonus of staying at the resort, having meals at one park and then visiting another park to catch fireworks is an AP necessity. Hopefully AP start soon so that the whole DVC community is able to enjoy themselves from the moment they arrive at their home resort to grabbing a Brioche au Chocolat on my last day at World Showcase in France!
To add insult to the situation not only can we not get annual passes as DVC owners that are going for over a month to stay onsite….now we purchased a 10 day pass and since I am having trouble linking it to my disney experience I am on HOLD WITH DISNEY FOR 4 hours and 22 minutes and still waiting. I am so upset right now I could just scream but I know the poor people working there are not at fault.
This is so disappointing; I have several trips planned to Disney World and wanted to buy an AP. Can’t believe no date for sale, just told to continue to check the website. So wrong. Disney is losing the magical touch. Maybe time to look at other resorts.
It’s all about disneys magical bottom line
We too are DVC owners and have plans to be there for a month starting in March and we cannot get an annual pass which is very upsetting. We had planned to book our dining for each evening and have everything planned since we do not have a car during our stay. I have sent a letter to disney explaining our circumstances and received nothing more than a canned letter in response. So disappointing!!
We are DVC members, living in South Carolina. I let my AP lapse to reset the date, as renewing right after the holidays was a financial burden. We hoped sales would open back up for our Spring Break trip, but if they don’t, I refuse to buy regular tickets and we will go somewhere else. We visit WDW around four times a year, and buying tickets for each of those trips doesn’t make sense. If they completely do away with annual passes, we will likely sell our DVC Membership and move on. We also have a Marriott timeshare, so it may be time to explore an annual pass for “the other theme park.”
I agree this is the first time in 2 years we plan to go the day I went to buy annual passes was nov 21 the date they stop selling them . now we have a use the points or loose them situation tickets cost 2500 plus we are planning to go in June and Dec. but at that cost it nearly doubles out annual pass price and is well over the incredapass price. I wrote disney I think its unfair to make DVC members buy regular tickets and not offer the 899 to florida and dvc residence we pay florida real estate taxes as well as maintence fees. if this continues we will sell our last 200 points. we already sold 370
oh our first trip is march april
I feel the exact same! They sell you the time share stating you get a break on the Disney Annual Pass! We are paying Florida taxes with our annual dues. We should be allowed to purchase the Florida Annual pass! I go about 3 times a year from Chicago,Ill. Love to run the Run Disney races! Won’t run unless annual passes are back!!!
I agree. We are dvc owners from eastern Canada so when we go there it is for an extended period of time and we fly there. An annual pass is so important to us. We will be there for a month starting mid March and then plan to be back in fall and then again next January. I refuse to purchase ten day passes each time for my husband and I. Makes us second guess keeping SSR and BWV.
I am a DVC owner and I live in NJ. If I purchased An Annual Pass when it becomes available, how long before I would actually have to use it , for example, enter a park for the first time on that ticket. I know the year does not start until ticket is used for the first time, but is there a limit on the time between purchase and first use?
Tom,
What do ya got? It’s Groundhog Day and AP’s are still unavailable. Curious if you’re hearing anything new. Thanks for your reporting!
I’ve heard absolutely nothing.
For reference, I heard a lot in the 2 weeks before APs went on sale again last fall, but didn’t hear a peep about the suspension of sales until an hour before it happened. The second time, it was a quick decision with far fewer people involved internally. I’d expect the same for the resumption of sales–all you’ll probably get is speculation until it actually happens.
I received a email response from the annual pass email line. they said they will resume the sale some time in 2022 . no other information except that.
Esther you are 100% right. The price to join plus annual dues it must mean something not a percentage of food the only perk we are getting regularly is dues going up seems like everything is about the magical money in disneys bottom line
I’m a DVC member. I come to Fla Jan thru March and I use my AP several times. I also stay on site at least five nights. I think DVC members should be allowed to purchase AP as in the past I also stay on site at least two other trips of three or four nights each using my DVC points. I feel it’s not worth being a member of DVC if I can’t buy an AP. I’ve always renewed my AP but missed it this time.
As a DVC member who lives in Australia and visits every three years, usually for an extended stay (2-3 weeks) and who often brings 2-4 additional non-DVC guests, not being able to buy an annual pass REALLY hurts.
We are DVC members, headed to Disney in February and again in April. Maybe also this fall. We were really hoping to purchase annual passes but missed our chance before they stopped selling them. Now we’re trying to decide if we should go ahead and purchase tickets for both trips before the probable price increase in February or hold out with hope that annual passes will come back but risk having to pay higher prices on tickets if they don’t… any suggestions?
We are in the same exact boat. I ended up buying tix, bc I do not think it will happen before my Feb trip, but holding out hope for April.