Disneyland has a very easy, even painless system to buying an annual pass, and with so many options, you can choose which one is best for you. The lowest-tier pass can get you half a year of fun, mostly during the week, and as the price jumps, so do the amount of days you can come into the park. Plus free parking. And if you really want to splurge and get the free PhotoPass (digital only), you drop a grand for the fun and merriment. Fun isn’t free, and Disney isn’t a public service, it’s a business.
For the truly obsessed Disney fans, who can’t get enough of their enchanted theme parks, Disney offers an add-on to your Disneyland pass, which can get you into literally everything in Walt Disney World. In order to upgrade, you must already have the highest tiered pass, which runs at $1049. Then for $390 more dollars, plus $46.77 FL sales tax, you can get Walt Disney World, too! Unfettered access and your heart’s desire. Hop to Epcot then to Animal Kingdom and then to Blizzard Beach all in one day!
When you crunch the numbers, it’s a great deal, especially if you plan on going twice in one year. A normal park hopper for a week will run more than the add-on price, and the Disney World annual pass is expoentially more expensive, so if you value your Disney fun, you dole out the funds and pay the piper, who is dressed like a mouse.
Here are some tips and warnings for those who wish to partake in this process. Since this is a “special” procedure, it cannot be done online. Remember how easy it was to buy your passes online? You must stand in line at the ticket booths at Disneyland to purchase them. Then set aside 30-45 minutes for this process. No one at the ticket booth seems to know how to perform this operation. In the past, ticket booths would give you an almost-unrestricted FastPass ticket (no Cars ride), and that would appease almost anyone. Not this time. You have to stay at the Disneyland Resort hotels on the right night to get one of those.
Disney likes to reward its loyal members by giving them discounts when they renew annual passes. Call it a perk for years of continuous patronage and also spending copious amounts of money on food and merchandise. In my case, I thought I was being rewarded for renewing my pass by receiving $60 off the price of the Premier Passport. When I upgraded to include Florida, they deduct the price I paid, $989, from the cost of a normal Disney World/Disneyland annual pass, $1,439, which comes out to $450. Add on Florida sales tax and you’re up to $500 for the add-on.
This leaves the park patron feeling a bit cheated, however, there is not much that can be done. It seems I was going to have to eat the cost of the discounted renewal price at some point, but it’s still cheaper than buying the park hopper or Disney World annual pass (since I plan to go twice in one year), and when it comes down to it, I will pay any price to go to Disney parks. Once you have all that nonsense sorted out and you have a physical Premier Passport in your hands (save your pass upgrade for when you’re about to leave the parks), be ready to wait until your pass is active to start booking your FastPass+ online for Disney World. And the myriad of troubles Disneyland Cast Members will have whilst trying to scan your pass for your discounts and PhotoPass.
This instance, which was identical in 2014 when the same issues occurred, is worthy of a call to the hotline dealing with park passes, because the process upgrading a pass should not be this difficult. This is not the deter those who wish to get the dual pass, just merely a warning of what to expect. I think the best course of action is to just plan on getting the dual pass every year, pay the cost upfront and just have fun.
The Star Tourists 