Walt Disney World to resume annual pass sales

I was starting to wonder if the passholder numbers have dropped off to some degree. The preview for Tron was pretty small, but maybe that was intentional. Guardians didn't seem huge either, but it wasn't not busy. We can routinely walk up to the passholder turnstiles at the gates, too. These are all anecdotes though, so I don't know. What I do know is that the price increases over the last ten years have been pretty insane. When we arrived in 2013, I think we paid around $600 each. When we renew next month, we're looking at $969. If the increases were straight inflation, it would be $775-ish. Plus, they sucked us into the water park and mini-golf $100 upgrade, which truth be told has been an enormous value.

I am curious to see if they hit the limit threshold. That they're "relaxing" the reservation requirements after 2pm implies that they're not particularly concerned with passholder volume.

Will be interesting, DLR has had their most expensive pass remain for sale since Jan. All other passes are closed.

About 10 years ago, I was an out of state AP holder for several years when the price point more than justified the 4-5 short WDW trips I took annually.

And while the pass offered great value, for me, the biggest benefit was the ability to hit up a park for just a few hours without having the feeling of “burning” a day from a traditional multi day pass.

Sometimes, after hanging out at the pool all day, we would hit up a park in the evening just to grab dinner and watch the fireworks or a show. That was the biggest value proposition for me.

Fast forward to today, I’m Disney’ed out and with the recent price increases and crowd levels, I’m fine taking several years off from visiting the mouse. But it was a fun run at WDW at the time for what it’s worth.

It's hard for us to quit, partly because of the proximity certainly, but also because it's our easiest way to live music, good food, and sometimes rides. We're also back to meeting out-of-town friends at least six times a year. None of this is specifically because of the IP they own, it's mostly because it's a very strong hospitality business, and we like it when people are hospitable to us. I figure that we spend a hundred bucks per show during the Broadway season, for three hours of entertainment, so relatively speaking it's a good value when we go 30 to 40 times a year.

Does a WDW AP have any benefit for your cruising?

Jeff:

but also because it's our easiest way to live music, good food, and sometimes rides.

This is probably the sentiment of most AP holders; it certainly was the case for me. And I live out of state.

With the amount of times I’ve been to WDW, it wasn’t about the rides anymore. It was more about the entertainment in general, the streetmosphere, and the food. Many times we would go into a park and not ride anything; just walk around, take in a show and eat. I would generally avoid MK as that park is always mobbed, the food there in general sucks and there are kids everywhere. Not a kid fan (just me).

This is where I think Epcot has an edge over the other parks for local AP holders. If I lived in central Florida, I could totally see us going to Epcot every now and again just for dinner or a snack and not riding anything.

Yes, totally. We're going again tonight, though not looking forward to Starship playing, as they bring out the worst kind of Boomers (old people that like the remnants of Starship). Now that my kid is 13 and has his own phone, he's content to marathon Test Track while we get food and beverages, and that's a solid arrangement.

My employer hosts an event every year that went through a run of featuring throw back bands and one-hit wonders as entertainment. The only one worse than Starship was The Romantics, but not by much.

Jeff:

We're going again tonight, though not looking forward to Starship playing, as they bring out the worst kind of Boomers (old people that like the remnants of Starship).

If the band and the boomers are that bad, why go?

Probably because Epcot has things besides the Starship concert?

Jeff:

We're going again tonight

Tomorrow doesn't matter tonight.

ApolloAndy:

Probably because Epcot has things besides the Starship concert?

I didn't think that had to be spelled out, or that I was taking a tongue-in-cheek shot at Starship.

Speak for yourself. If I wasn't on Easter week block out dates I would be there tonight for that show. One of the first 45s this ol' millennial bought was We Built This City/Sara.

Vater:

Jeff:

We're going again tonight

Tomorrow doesn't matter tonight.

Nothing's gonna stop us now.

I like those songs.
I think they played them at my 10 year college reunion.
🙄

BrettV:

One of the first 45s this ol' millennial bought was We Built This City/Sara.

First, I'm sorry.

Second, my very first job was at a drugstore that played its own branded "radio station" (~20 minute cassettes on repeat) through the ceiling speakers all day long. If I never hear Sara again for the rest of my life, it will be too soon. Other classic tunes I heard roughly 437 times per week that I'd welcome an icepick through the temple over hearing again: Wind Beneath My Wings by Bette Midler, Truly, Madly, Deeply by Savage Garden, It Must Have Been Love by Roxette, and More Than Words by Extreme.

Seriously though, it's a wonder that I'm currently not rotting in jail for murder. Anyone forced to listen to Midler repeat "fly" during the outro absolutely nowhere near the intended key is a lock for justifiable homicide.

Vater:

If I never hear Sara again for the rest of my life, it will be too soon

So what you are saying is that no time is a good time for you to hear that song again?

So blatantly obvious I missed it. F you, Sara.

The cosmos was not working in our favor. We only tried one ride, and ended up evac'ing. And we were the absolute last out. Wonder what crashed that they so immediately decided to evacuate. Work lights came on and they announced it within a minute of stopping.