Disney World just announced their NEW Annual Pass Program!
©Disney
YEP! Annual passes are officially coming back for the first time since the shutdowns in March of 2020 — but there are some changes to the program! There are now only 4 passes being offered, and 3 of them are only for Florida residents. The passes go on sale on September 8th, and we have news about upgrading current theme park tickets into an Annual Pass!
If you have already bought your tickets to Disney World, don’t worry! Starting September 8th, you can upgrade them into an Annual Pass.
©Disney
Disney said eligible tickets can be upgraded to select pass types!
Annual Pass
You will be able to apply the entire price you paid for your tickets into a select Annual Pass.
We’re waiting for you!
Disney says eligibility rules apply and they have not yet clarified which tickets are eligible or which Annual Pass types they can be upgraded to.
Disney World Annual Passholder entrance sign
You will only be able to upgrade your current tickets in person or over the phone. Upgrades will not initially be available on the website or on My Disney Experience. Also, for eligible ticket upgrades, the monthly payment plans will only be available in person. For in person, you can upgrade your tickets at a theme park ticket window or at the Disney Ticket Center at Disney Springs. To upgrade over the phone you can call Disney at 407-W-Disney (407-934-7639).
Walt Disney World Annual Passholder
Stay tuned to DFB for more info on the new Disney World Annual Pass Program!
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Bought a 10 day pass for our 24 day resort stay and made park reservations. If we upgrade to an annual pass will our previous reservations still be there, particularly our October 1st reservation. Thanks a lot.
Do you happen to know if they are automatically switching over our annual passes to the new ones or do we let the old ones run out and the renew to the new ones? I just renewed my pass literally a week before this announcement came out! Thank you!
Melanie, if your renewed Pass is showing your 2022 expiration date, you’ll be staying in your current Annual Pass until then. When you renew in 2022, you’ll be renewed into an equivalent Pass level, and Disney is saying that you will retain benefits like PhotoPass and Water Parks if you have them in your current Pass.
Jim, Disney is saying that Disney Park Pass reservations will not be affected. But, to cover your bases, I would suggest you make that upgrade by phone and get plenty of confirmation that you’re going to keep them. And take a screenshot of your DPPs before the call, just in case. (I might be paranoid, but Disney technology… sometimes you just don’t know what will happen.)
I texted on Disney today and was told you could only upgrade the ticket you have to an annual pass in person. I will try and call.
What are they doing to us?
I have four 3-day tickets with park passes starting 10/18, FL residents. We paid I guess like double of this recent FL offer they have for mid-September visits for FL residents.
We have NO problem with their Pixie Dust plan…we LOVE it…weekdays only and peak weekday blackouts are just fine with us. We don’t need weekends and don’t want to go during busy holiday weeks. Retired folks here.
And I don’t even know yet if I convert my tickets to Pixie Dust annual? What’s the big secret?
My current park passes are not for days blacked out via the Pixie Dust calendar, so maybe I’m worrying about nothing. But if I can’t do this conversion to annual, I’m going to start really worrying about my future with Disney.
I understand they’re trying to pull rabbits out of a hat, please as many as people, and start making money. But how in the world can they announce annual passes are coming back, that you can convert existing tickets to annual, and not announce who is and isn’t eligible?
It’s Mickey Mouse type business, in the baddest of that meaning.
Ira, my understanding is that existing ticketholders can upgrade to an Annual Pass in person or by phone (407-w-disney). You may be able to do it on My Disney Experience (app or online) in the future, but Disney has said that at first, it’ll just be on the phone or in person. I suspect you can’t do that until September 8 (which we all know will likely be a long day of being on hold), but you could try calling sooner to see what they say. When you do talk to someone, get them to confirm you won’t lose any of your Disney Park Pass reservations; they’ve said this is the case, but I like to cover my bases in a situation like this. Might want to screenshot your current Park Pass reservations just to have them in case you need them. Hope this all helps!
Gwen, Disney has told us this could be done by phone or in person, starting 9/8. Hopefully phone will work as I think a lot of folks will need to do that.
If you bought your tickets through a Travel Agent will you be able to upgrade? I don’t want to take a chance and wait till I get there on Sept 27 to find out they are sold out.
Sheryl, I think you’ll want your TA to contact Disney to find out. I’m not sure if they’ll be able to get the answer until after the new Passes launch on September 8, but it’s definitely worth exploring.
Do we know what time APs will go on sale? Midnight? 5 am?
Nicole, they were live before 7AM online today.
I’ve been on the phone with WDW Tickets for 3 hours and 41 minutes so far. I have spoken to 2 Cast Members. They said you can apply your future tickets to an AP, but it will wipe out all reservations for that future ticket date, that you’ve made. So if you do choose to upgrade from your ticket to an AP, be prepared to make your reservations asap, all over again. They did state that you can wait until the date you arrive to upgrade to an AP, however again, your reservations would be wiped out. How does a billion dollar company not hire enough people to answer the phone, and also why didn’t they enable us to do this upgrade on the website? I have a feeling I’ll be on the phone for another 3 hours. Ugh.
When I called to upgrade our 4 day park hopper passes to Annual Passes yesterday, I was informed it would cancel our current reservations and that I would have to rebook under the Annual Pass system but that there was no availability left for October 1st and 2nd. I spent 3 hours on the phone and even spoke to the supervisor team that confirmed this to me. Needless to say, I was quite upset when I hung up.
I’ve been on hold and spoken to several Disney folks that couldn’t help me. The last person suggested we keep our reservations and on the last day of our tickets, upgrade to the annual pass and we still would be able to use the ticket cost against the cost of the pass. Has anyone been able to confirm this ???
Gwen, sometimes getting a clear answer when calling or chatting can be frustrating. Since you’re not getting the answers you need and want, I would suggest you go to Guest Relations (a Park ticket window or the Ticket Center in Disney Springs) on your FIRST day (or, if you do Disney Springs on your arrival day, try that day). Tell them you’d like to upgrade your tickets to an Annual Pass and be very clear that you have Park Pass reservations that you don’t want to lose. (Take a screenshot of your DPPs so you have them just in case.) Hopefully the system will have the bugs squashed before your trip, and they’ll be able to do that easily for you. If not, the in-person CM should be able and willing to reassign your reservations.
After calling at 7:00 am and being on hold for 2.5 hours I was able to change our tickets to annual passes and the cast member was able to rebook my tickets and we added a day!!!! SUCESS!! He told me they are now able to do that. Thought I’d share that info.
Fabulous, Gwen! Thanks for the information!