Still no news I know of a lot of people lately who are wondering whether or not they should renew their Walt Disney World Annual Pass. Of course this is a personal decision, but there are some things that you should take into account.
The argument that most have for not renewing is that they will just buy a new Annual Pass once they are offered again. That’s assuming that they will be offered again! Right now the only Annual Pass for sale is the Disney Pixie Dust Pass. It’s not a bad deal, a brand new pass is $399 for the year, but there are a lot of blockout dates (including all weekends) and it is only available to Florida Residents. If you aren’t a Florida Resident you can’t buy a new pass right now. New passes are listed as “currently unavailable”, and have been since November of last year! We’re getting close to a year of no new passes being sold.
The situation is similar at Disneyland. New Magic Keys (Disneyland’s Annual Passes) haven’t been sold in months. During this time the system has been tweaked a bit, and even those who want to renew may not get all of the benefits that they had before.
I hope I’m wrong, and that new Annual Passes will be available at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland soon. But if you’ve been to the theme parks lately, you probably noticed that there’s no shortage of guests. Annual Passes help to fill in the extra spaces, and there isn’t much extra space right now. Not selling Annual Passes is a smart business move. I’m not saying that I agree with it, but from a financial standpoint, it does make sense.
If you’re a Florida Resident or DVC Member, renewal is the only time that you can change the type of pass that you have. If you plan to renew, look over the blockout dates so that you won’t end up having to pay out of pocket for tickets.
Remember, if you don’t renew, you’re risking that you won’t be able to get a new Annual Pass, ever. If you’re fine with just buying tickets from now on, then you could save money in the long run by not renewing. Maybe it’s time for a different vacation destination. But if you want to keep coming back to Walt Disney World over and over again, think twice before letting that pass expire. I plan to renew my Disneyland Magic Key, even though I don’t know when I’ll be in California again. It more than paid for itself this past year, and I hope that I’ll be able to say the same thing at this time next year!