Recently, Disney announced its NEW Annual Passholder program for Disney World with 4 different options for guests to choose from (though some are only available for select guests).
Annual Pass
We’ve taken a look at the pros and cons of the new system, what you’ll have to pay extra for with the new passes, and each pass’ blockout dates. But, what if you’re an existing Disney World Annual Passholder who is within a renewal period? What are some of the benefits you could get if you renew sooner rather than later? We’re breaking it all down for you here.
As we mentioned, recently Disney announced its new Annual Passholder system with 4 available passes.
©Disney
The passes come with select perks and benefits, but some things are no longer included in these passes. For example, PhotoPass is no longer included in any of the Annual Pass offerings. Instead, if you get one of the new Annual Passes and want PhotoPass, you’ll need to pay an additional $99 to obtain those photo downloads for the year.
©Disney
If you’re looking to buy a brand NEW Annual Pass, you’re likely going through all of the pros and cons of these individual offerings to see what’s best for you.
But, what if you have an existing Annual Pass under Disney World’s previous programs? If your Annual Pass is up for renewal (you’re within the renewal window) and you have the ability to renew by September 7th, you can renew your pass exactly as-is, under whatever tier/level you have in the current system.
©Disney
If you renew your pass on or after September 8th, however, you’ll have to renew into one of the NEW Annual Pass offerings. Should you renew your pass by September 7th so you can renew under the current offerings rather than the new ones? You might want to and here’s why.
1 — PhotoPass
Select Disney World Annual Passes under the previous system included unlimited PhotoPass downloads in the cost of the pass. If you renew your pass by September 7th, you’ll be able to renew your exact same pass — that means you’ll get all of the same benefits and perks you get right now, including (if applicable to your pass) PhotoPass downloads.
Annual passes are coming back to Disney World!
If you wait until September 8th, you’ll have to renew into one of the new pass options. As we mentioned above, PhotoPass is NOT included in any of the new Annual Pass options. That means if you wait until September 8th (or later) to renew, you won’t be able to get unlimited PhotoPass downloads as part of your ticket.
©Disney
Instead, you’ll have to pay the $99 per year to get the unlimited downloads.
2 — Water Park and Sports Option
The same applies to the Water Park and Sports Option. Under the current pass system, Platinum Plus Annual Passholders could access the 4 Disney World theme parks in addition to the water parks and certain sports offerings.
Under the new Annual Pass system, however, none of the passes include this water parks and sports option. Instead (just like PhotoPass) if you want access to the water parks and certain sports offerings (like FootGolf, golfing, and more) you’ll have to pay an additional $99 for the year.
©Disney
Again, if you renew into your existing pass under the current system by September 7th, you’ll be able to keep all of your benefits, including the water parks and sports options if you have a Platinum Plus Annual Pass. If you renew on or after September 8th, you’ll have to renew into one of the new passes, none of which include these offerings in their cost.
Click here to learn more about the sports/water parks and PhotoPass add-ons.
3 — Save Money
Finally, if you renew your pass on or before September 7th, you could save some money. (Note: all of these prices are without tax)
Under the current system, these are the Annual Pass prices:
- Disney Platinum Plus Pass: $1,295 (renewal cost $1036.82)
- Disney Platinum Pass: $1,195 (renewal cost $951)
- Disney Gold Pass (Florida Residents or DVC Member only): $719 (renewal cost $594)
- Disney Silver Pass (Florida Residents only): $539 (renewal cost $441)
- Disney Theme Park Select Pass (Florida Residents only): $439 (renewal cost $373)
- Disney Weekday Select Pass (Florida Residents only): $369 (renewal $296)
- Disney EPCOT After 4 Pass (Florida Residents only): $309 ($renewal $245)
Annual Pass
In the new system, the Disney Incredi-Pass is the most expensive at $1,299 (renewal price of $1,104 for current passholders). The Disney Sorcerer Pass is the next expensive option at $899 (renewal price of $764 for current passholders).
The Disney Pirate Pass will set you back $699 ($594 renewal price for current passholders). Finally there’s the Disney Pixie Dust Pass which costs $399 (renewal price of $339 for current passholders).
The Disney Sorcerer Pass is available to Florida Residents and Disney Vacation Club Members only. The Disney Pirate and Pixie Dust Passes are available to Florida Residents only.
©Disney
Again, keep in mind that none of these tickets include PhotoPass or the Water Parks and Sports option. Those will be an additional $99 (plus tax) each.
The Disney Incredi-Pass is similar to the Platinum Plus Pass. Renewal into an Incredi-Pass will cost $1,104 while renewal for a Platinum Plus pass should be around $1,036 (without tax). It’s not a dramatic difference in cost but multiplied across several members of a family, it can add up. And you have to take into account that the Incredi-Pass will no longer come with the sports and water park option included, nor will it come with PhotoPass.
An Annual Passholder ticket
The Disney Sorcerer Pass is most similar to the Gold Pass, but again there is a difference in price there ($594 for renewal for Gold, $764 for a renewal into the Sorcerer Pass).
The Disney Pirate Pass is similar to the Silver Pass. The Pirate Pass has a $594 renewal price for current passholders, while the silver pass renewal is typically priced at $441.
Toy Story Land
Finally, the Disney Pixie Dust Pass is similar to the Weekday Select Pass. The renewal for the weekday select is typically around $296 while the renewal into the Pixie Dust pass is $339.
These are the current cost if you renew into an existing post! We have this info thanks to our friends at AllEars.net. Keep in mind that your price might vary. Be sure to check with Disney to see exactly what your renewal price will be.
EPCOT
Still, depending on the pass you’re renewing, you could save a pretty good amount, especially if you’ll be buying more than 1 pass.
Those are just some of the reasons why you might want to consider renewing your Annual Pass on or before September 7th if you are within your renewal window. We’ll continue to keep an eye out for more updates and we’ll let you know what we find.
Click here to learn more about the different types of Annual Passes Disney World will be offering.
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I am a DVC gold annual pass holder in my renewal window. The only option available to me to renew is the Platinum Pass at $1080.98. The $594 renewal shown above is not available.
We’re currently 1 Gold and 1 Weekday Select. It’s cheaper for us to switch to 2 Pixie Dust passes and add 1 photopass option than it is to renew our current passes. The only reason for my Gold was because of photopass, it was very rare that I’d go on a weekend. 🤷♀️
For the add on sports pass for $99, do I understand it correctly to mean that it allows you to go to Typhoon Lagoon ONCE during your pass year? And you can gold Oak Trail ONCE? The wording is so strange.
You haven’t even talked about being blocked out during the holidays!
Robin- call DVC if you are renewing they can do it. We did ours before the announcement and change but we’re also able to upgrade to platinum at the platinum renewal cost.
Im gold and expire Oct 16, recd only the platunim option .
tick tock tick tock almost the 7th, not sure what to do, I no longer live in Orlando, moved to North East Fl
Bellamouse, the language is strange, indeed. The fine print with regard to mini golf indicates that it’s one visit per guest per day — and we expect that language will apply to water parks and Oak Trail golf as well. We think the muddy language is meant to explain that folks need to buy a Water Parks and Sports Add-On for everyone in their party, so it only allows one person entry per day.
This option is great if you are in your renewal window. If you are not in your renewal window ( say your window is Oct-Dec of this year) and you want to buy and or renew what would equal a Platinum pass which would be an Incredipass plus the photopass option for DVC members it is $400 more per pass or $1600 more total for a family of four.
That is a lot more than last year for a similar product . A real blow to the wallet for DVC members. Not cool on Disney’s part in my opinion and I love Disney. So yes, if you can renew before Sept 8th DO IT! Don’t lose out like the rest of us!
We have tickets waiting to be activated in MDE. By going lateral are we grandfathered in under old price or do we pay what would be the balance due to increase? Also are they changed on line at time of making hotel reservations/ park pass reservations or at the gate ?
Thank you for everyone’s patience with all the questions coming in.
Linda😊
Ok, so I asked before about renewing my pass, which is a platinum pass. Our renewal is in May. We are DVC and live in Pennsylvania. You told me as long as we do a lateral pass, which would be the incredi-pass, the photopass would be included. That’s not what you just wrote. I’m very confused about that. I understand I need to get the incredi-pass to keep from getting blackout dates, but again, you said before that I would get the photopass. Did something change? I do appreciate the information you all get for us, but I am still not sure what to expect at renewal time. Thanks, and sorry for being confused. Jeff
I’m not sure about your figures….we paid $764 (without tax) for our Platinum Pass on Sunday and I was very happy to find out yesterday that we are grandfathered in and get to keep our same pass for the next year. It took that weight off my mind!!
I was told even if you pay to renew your passes you have to activate them before the 8th or you lose memory maker. And for us out of state they took away the water parks we used to have. If you pay ahead you get a certificate but they’ll auto convert over to the new pass system.
Laura, unfortunately there seem to be lots of mixed messages. Our information from Disney indicates that if you renew, you will keep your benefits, even if you renew into a new Pass. Hopefully this will be clarified in the coming days.
Dawn, I’m glad to hear it worked out for you.
Jeff, thank you for your patience. I revisited this topic with the team to be sure I’m up to date on all the details. Since you’re not currently in your renewal window, it looks like you will lose your Platinum benefits when you renew next year. Those who are in their renewal windows and renew by September 7 will be able to keep their benefits. So it all hinges on the renewal window in terms of what you get to keep and what you lose. So unfortunately it does sound like you’ll lose your PhotoPass benefit. Sorry for any confusion that came from my end.
Linda, if you’ve renewed but not yet activated the renewal (and will not do so by September 7), you’ll renew into a new Pass (lateral move, as you said) and retain your benefits — that’s our understanding. I think you’ll see your renewal activate in My Disney Experience, but you may need to activate it in person (that would be a Park ticket window or Ticket Center in Disney Springs). You might want to contact Disney on both points to confirm.
I tried renewing ours today and they told us that with our “voucher” we’d have to activate it today to lock in our old pass. And since we have a vacation home in FL but don’t live year round, we can’t be there to activate it by tonight. So now when we renew before our expiration on the 21st we have to pay an extra $400 per person to get the same as a platinum, and again without the photopass which we use all the time. I feel defeated, and I know it’s still a deal with how often we go, but it still feels like another punch in the pocket like everything else.