Downside to Annual Pass?

[HeatherC]

We are thinking of getting the IncrediPass for myself and dh for the first time ever. (Kids are all grown)

Wondering if there are any downsides to purchasing that we aren’t aware of? All the ticket threads have me so overwhelmed that I figured it would be better to just ask here.

Thanks!

 

[kanerf]

Well there are the restrictions on the Sorcerers Pass that you need to consider, if that is the pass you are going to buy, otherwise the pass works great if you are going to visit WDW more than about 6-10 days in a year. That is variable, because the gate price varies on when you visit. If you are going to visit when a high gate price is in place, say $150 or more per day, than the pass pays for itself quickly. Also, remember that it covers parking, which I think is up to $25 a day now.

 

[HeatherC]

It would be the IncrediPass since we are out of state. Can I buy one now and then wait till February of 2024 to activate it when we go again? Any thoughts are appreciated! The 600 plus page ticket thread is overwhelming.

 

[PalmettoPath]

The only downside at the moment is for next year we will still have to make Park Pass reservations...but hopefully they address that (even if it's for when you have a Disney hotel booked).

 

[DeeBee3]

It would be the IncrediPass since we are out of state. Can I buy one now and then wait till February of 2024 to activate it when we go again? Any thoughts are appreciated! The 600 plus page ticket thread is overwhelming.

You can buy now and it only starts the clock when you activate at a park.

 

[Wood Nymph]

It would be the IncrediPass since we are out of state. Can I buy one now and then wait till February of 2024 to activate it when we go again? Any thoughts are appreciated! The 600 plus page ticket thread is overwhelming.

The only downside to the IncrediPass is that you end up going to WDW a lot.

My sister bought an IncrediPass and it expires 12/31/24. So you have a long time before you need to activate it.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I would highly recommend running the numbers for the IncrediPass. A lot depends on how often you are going to visit.

It is much more cost effective if you take numerous shorter trips rather than 1 or 2 longer trips.

Also, it's value depends if you normally purchase a package through Disney that you may not qualify for if you have an AP. We stay value so often get an offer when we purchase resort + tickets. This year we have a $500 food voucher with our booking which would need to come into play when considering purchasing an AP.

Basically, there is no 'one size fits all' answer to this question. Each person must run the numbers based on how they vacation.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Depending how you vacation, seems to us there are more upsides than downsides. The park reservation thing doesn't concern me - we've done it a few years now and it's no longer a big deal. Disney has said park reservations for APs will only be certain days during the year - which we're hoping are only the most crowded times. Hoping much of the year is without park reservations, especially since APs can already enter any park after 2PM without one. Bigger downside could be the cost of what is essentially a 1-year park hopper. But with the discounts on meals and merchandise, and perhaps one person in your group getting Photo Pass add-on, it can be a really nice ticket to have.....

 

[lanejudy]

I think the biggest "downside" is the price. You'd have to decide if that would be a savings over regular tickets or not, which really comes down to how many trips and how long for each. Anything less than about two (2) 6-day trips may not break-even ticket-wise -- though that can depend on dates as well. It used to be a fairly simple "more than 10 days and the AP is a better price" but that doesn't necessarily hold true anymore. So crunch your numbers.

Then consider if you'd end up making more trips and does that fit into your budget. Consider the AP discounts.

And I guess the unknown is about theme park reservations. If you stay onsite, it should be fine. If you stay offsite, APs are limited to how many park reservations you can hold (I think it's 5 for Incredi-pass). So whether or not that's a tolerable inconvenience or not is up to you.

And yes...you have 1 year from date of purchase to activate the AP voucher, then the AP will be valid for 1 year from first use.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Biggest cons are price and that compared to APs for other parks in Florida, you aren't really getting a ton of extra "perks". That isn't a deal breaker for most Disney people since they typically don't go to other parks but since I have both WDW and Universal APs it's noticeable for me to an extent. Like others have already said, you'd have to do the math to see if the Incredipass would save you money vs. buying regular tickets.

Food (except for alcohol) + merchandise discounts, free parking, no block out dates for your pass are nice perks with the Incredipass.

 

[HopperFan]

DO THE MATH!

- How often will you go and for how long? Do the math on if you are at least breakeven. IF you do then the other discounts are pluses. If you don't you rely heavily on using the other discounts to B/E.

- We will still need park reservations when others don't. I don't really care other than I anticipate we might get the short end of the stick. Make EVERYONE make reservations or NO one.

- Don't expect wonderous hotel discounts ongoing, they have been fewer and farther between than they were years ago. But if you get them, it's great. I'm using one this summer.

- Do you like to stay offsite? Then parking is free. If you don't it doesn't matter.

- Do you shop a lot? 20% is a nice perk. If you don't it doesn't matter.

- Dining discounts ... I mean 10% off a already overpriced bill is not much, unless you eat lots of TS each trip. For me it's a minimal perk, won't even cover tips. At least when we had TiW we covered tips and it was good on alcohol.

Disney offers very few AP extras. Don't plan on getting anything more than the basics. And even those are very date restricted so often folks can't take advantage. If that works for you, go for it.

 

[tigerlilly]

I concur with much of what has been said. I ended up getting the Incredipass in April even though we are on the west coast. We decided to only get one in our family and see how it goes. Cost is the biggest downside but if you plan on two long trips it is worth it. I added the memory maker portion and I feel with the addition of the discounts (food and merchandise) we will break "even".

The biggest issue I see is wanting to plan multiple trips lol

 

[gottalovepluto]

The only downside to the IncrediPass is that you end up going to WDW a lot.

But seriously I love my WDW AP but it has shifted my vacation budget to more WDW than I would normally do.

OP, in the long run I guess that can be good and bad. The good is I enjoy my time at WDW more because the more frequent trips allow me to feel ok about taking the parks slow and enjoying the details. The bad is I’m missing out on other trips too a point. I still take other trips, don’t get me wrong, but without the AP I would go even more places. At some point I will probably cut off the AP but for now I’m quite happy with my WDW:Other trip ratio.

 

[loves to dive]

Disney has said park reservations for APs will only be certain days during the year - which we're hoping are only the most crowded times. Hoping much of the year is without park reservations, especially since APs can already enter any park after 2PM without one.

Not true. In 2024 if you buy a date based ticket you do not have to make a park reservation. APs will still have to make them. Unless you are staying at a Disney resort, APs can only make up to 5 reservations at a time, they do have random free days and they have said in 2024 those will increase. That means you will have the ability to make them for more than 5 days at a time if one of the random free days falls in your time frame. You can get into any park after 2 without a reservation, except MK on weekends, then you will need a reservation.

OP - as others have said do the math. Pick what days you think you might visit the parks then go to a ticket calendar and find the prices for a park hopper. If you don't normally buy a park hopper then find the non-hopper prices. Then do the math. Do take into consideration if you aren't staying at a WDW resort parking is free, don't take into consideration any discounts. Just use the ticket price and parking if you are driving and not staying on site (it's free if you are staying on site). The discounts can be a bit tricky, I've sometimes found better general discounts then AP discounts for rooms. If you don't eat TS often, you don't get discounts at QS so food discounts aren't going to be that much. Merch. discounts can be pretty good if you shop at Disney owned stores, some of the non-Disney owned ones don't give an AP discount. Also, when you are doing the math for the tickets, take into account if you always buy your tickets from Disney or if you go through a discount dealer like the Frog. In that case, use the discount dealer's prices.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I concur with much of what has been said. I ended up getting the Incredipass in April even though we are on the west coast. We decided to only get one in our family and see how it goes. Cost is the biggest downside but if you plan on two long trips it is worth it. I added the memory maker portion and I feel with the addition of the discounts (food and merchandise) we will break "even".

The biggest issue I see is wanting to plan multiple trips lol

Just a note about doing this, having even 1 AP in your party will mean not being allowed to book many of the 'regular' Disney offers. If you try to book a resort + ticket offer, all in the room need to have the exact same tickets so having even one AP in a room means booking resort and tickets separately. Not a deal breaker for many but something to keep in mind if looking at Disney Offers.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Not true. In 2024 if you buy a date based ticket you do not have to make a park reservation. APs will still have to make them. Unless you are staying at a Disney resort, APs can only make up to 5 reservations at a time, they do have random free days and they have said in 2024 those will increase. That means you will have the ability to make them for more than 5 days at a time if one of the random free days falls in your time frame. You can get into any park after 2 without a reservation, except MK on weekends, then you will need a reservation.

Disney has absolutely stated AP park reservations will only be certain dates, not every day. They just have offered no clarification what that means yet. The 'good-to-go' days. Since we don't know how many they'll offer, it's just my hope it's only during busy times they'll require park reservations - to handle the capacity concerns, like they were originally intended during Covid.

 

[flowergleam1211]

It is much more cost effective if you take numerous shorter trips rather than 1 or 2 longer trips.

Hi! Can you please share more of your thoughts/rationale for this idea?

 

[Kitty & Covs Covs]

Someone else mentioned this, but definitely that you end up going more and spending more money. I bought one for me and one for my daughter anticipating a few trips, and we’re already planning four starting later this month. We are out of state, so I can see all of our vacation time and money is funneled to WDW instead of other places. That’s probably okay for a year, but I imagine we’ll want some variety at some point.

I also ended up buying one for my husband, because he originally wasn’t coming on any trips and then decided to join for at least two. After seeing that it would be $700 for those two trips anyway I went ahead and bought him a pass, anticipating he’d tag along other times and it keeps our planning easier/spontaneous.

So you might *think* you’re saving money, but you might end up spending a lot more.

 

[jimmymc]

The only thing to consider is the price of park tickets you plan to buy within the year. You have to go on at least 3 trips for it to be worth it, since you can buy two 10 day base tickets or 7 day park hopper tickets for less than the cost of the Incredipass. But the pass is cheaper than three 4-day base tickets or 3-day park hoppers, so even with 3 shorter trips you're better off with the annual pass.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Hi! Can you please share more of your thoughts/rationale for this idea?

You have to run the numbers based on how often you hope to go, how many days of tickets you want, what kind of tickets, etc.

'X' number of days in the park = purchase an AP no longer works. You have to do the math.