If you’re a DVC member, or considering becoming one, you may have thought about if buying an annual pass is worth it as a DVC member. Below, we’ll compare the annual pass options and when or if purchasing one would make sense for you.
Passholder Benefits
One of the great perks of being a Disney passholder is that aside from park entry, all Disney Annual Passholders receive a number of benefits that can be used every day of the year.
Some of the best benefits include:
- Free Parking at all Disney parks
- Dining Discounts of 10%, 15% or 20% at select restaurants throughout the Disney World Resort including at resort hotels and Disney Springs
- Tables of Wonderland discount of $25 off membership price
- Merchandise Discounts of 10%, 15% or 20% off at hundreds of shops around the resort and Disney Springs
- Tour discounts of 15%
- Room discounts
- Spa discounts
- Activity discounts (golf, boat rentals, excursions, movie tickets, bowling etc)
For a full list of Annual Pass benefits, the Passholder Benefits Book can be viewed at this link.
Annual Pass Options
Disney World currently offers two annual passes to all guests. The passes and prices are as follows:
Platinum Pass Plus
The Platinum Pass Plus is the ultimate ticket to Disney and its attractions. The Platinum Pass Plus give you:
- Entry to all four theme parks on the same day
- Entry to both water parks
- Entry to ESPN Wide World of Sports and Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course
- NO blockout dates
- Photopass downloads
- The cost of the Platinum Pass Plus is $1,219.00.
Platinum Pass
Entry to all four theme parks on the same day
- NO blockout dates
- Photopass downloads
- The cost of the Platinum Pass Plus is $1,119.00.
*Note that DVC Owners with a Blue Membership card and Florida Residents are both eligible to purchase a Gold Annual Pass for $699. Blue Membership card holders are also eligible for a discount of $220 for Platinum passes.
Comparing Annual Pass vs. Individual Tickets
Whether or not purchasing an annual pass is worth the cost will predominantly depend on how often you travel to Disney and how many days a year you spend in the parks.
As a Disney guest there are a number of tickets options to choose from depending on the number of consecutive days you will be visiting the parks. Additionally, pricing varies based on what time of year you are visiting the parks. For a full list of park ticket options, visit the following link for Disney Park ticketing pricing.
If, like many guests, you travel to the parks for a week at a time then you might buy a 5 or 6 day park hopper ticket to fully enjoy each park and then revisit your favorite park(s) on the extra days. Depending on your travel dates, a 5-day park hopper ticket would cost approximately $520 or $104 per day.
Using the figures above, an owner who travels to the parks more than 11 days per year will benefit from purchasing an annual pass. Remember, that both Platinum pass options allow you to enter the parks every day of the year with no blockout dates. So even if you travel during the most expensive times of the year, like Christmas, you can still enter the parks without any restrictions. And don’t forget all those extra perks you’ll receive as a passholder (free parking!), tipping the scale even more in favor of buying an annual pass.
There are many great perks to being a Disney Annual Passholder but to truly determine if buying an annual pass is worth it as a DVC member, be sure to calculate the number of days you generally travel to the parks each year and consider in which seasons you travel. For more information about Disney’s Annual Passes visit https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/passholder-program/.
Guest Author
Katherine Rand
