There are many options for getting passes to Walt Disney World, so how do you know which one is the best and most economical for you? I’m here to tell you how my Disney World Gold Pass paid for itself in only one day.
1. Buy a Three- or Four-Day Pass First
My husband and I bought four-day Florida Resident passes to Walt Disney World in July of 2015. On the fourth day of that pass, we decided to upgrade to annual passes. The great thing about this is that we didn’t have to pay the full price of the annual pass — we just had to pay the difference in cost. Even better? The day we bought the annual pass is the day the pass started; it didn’t start on the day we originally bought the four-day passes. That means we actually got about three months added to our annual pass for free (between July and October). That alone was a savings of about $200/each.
2. Photo Package Included
Ironically, we bought our annual passes on October 3, which was the last day of the old pricing. The very next day, October 4, Disney changed their pricing structure. When I found out that the new Gold Pass included all of my Photo Pass photos for free, I knew I had to upgrade. In addition to being a blogger, I also happen to be a professional photographer, and it’s always frustrating to take perfect photos of everyone else and not get any really good ones of me because nobody else I’m traveling with knows how to use a camera. So it was a no-brainer to spend the $21 for me to upgrade from the old annual pass to the new Gold Pass. There was no need to upgrade my husband’s band because as long as I could get photos on my account, why spend the extra money to upgrade his? Plus, all of the photos we had taken since our original trip in July were included as well!
You want a vacation full of professional photos? A Disney PhotoPass will cost you $149 (if purchased at least 3 days in advance) to $169. It’s included for free in the new Gold Pass. This alone is a huge savings. The Gold Pass photo package gives you an entire year full of beautiful photos. Your typical Disney PhotoPass will only give you the length of one trip before you have to buy another package. If you go to Disney once a month, you used to have to pay for the photo package separately each time. Now, it lasts all year. That’s a savings of anywhere from $149 for one day to $2028 for a year of photos. The savings for one day alone pretty much covers the difference between the Silver Pass and the Gold Pass. Plus, you get a lot fewer blackout dates. Totally worth it.
Here’s another secret. You have friends who are going to Disney World? Even if you aren’t going with them, add them as friends on the MyDisneyExperience app. You’ll be able to download their photos for free as well. So not only are you saving money for yourself, you’re saving money for your friends. You’re so generous! If you’re lucky, they might even buy you a Dole Whip for your trouble. 😉
3. Hotel Room Discounts
My husband and I got married in Hawaii, and we were lucky enough to go to Disney’s Aulani. (Yes, it lives up to the hype.) So when our one-year wedding anniversary rolled around, I wanted to go to Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. I figured it’s the closest thing to going back to Hawaii and reliving our wedding without actually having to buy plane tickets back out there. (So I guess you could say that’s a savings of another $2,000 — ha!)
One night with a theme park view at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort for the night of our anniversary is about $722. With the Disney Annual Passholder discount (this applies to all annual passes, not just the Gold one), our price was more like $400 — a savings of more than $300!
4. Free Parking and Discounts on Food & Merchandise
Just parking before you even get into any of the Walt Disney World theme parks is going to cost you $20/car, but it’s included with any of the annual passes (excluding water park passes). If we’re going with a large group of friends and/or family who don’t have annual passes and we can’t all fit in one car, my husband will take one car, and I’ll go in the other. That way, both cars get in for free.
Plus, the annual passes include discounts at all the gift shops on property and most sit-down dining options. Make sure you tell the cashier or the server that you’re an Annual Passholder and show your pass (I don’t think just scanning the Magic Band works for the discount yet) because the discount isn’t automatically applied. Warning: Not all restaurants accept the discount, so make sure ahead of time you know if the one you want to go to takes the discount.
5. Only One Person Needs a Gold Pass
With all these discounts I already mentioned, you only need one person in your family or circle of friends to actually own a Gold Pass. Everyone else can get one-day passes. Let’s say you have a family of four, and, for the sake of keeping things easy, you’re all at least 10 years old. If you’re only going for one day and only go to one park, that can be anywhere from $97/each during the low season to $124/each at Magic Kingdom during the peak season. For one night at a deluxe resort, that’s about $700. You want all the photos the professional photographers take while you’re on vacation? That’s another $149 to $169. So for a family of four to spend only one day at Magic Kingdom during peak season, you’re looking at $1,365. If only one of you gets the Gold Pass for $549, that $700 hotel room goes down to about $400, and the cost of the photo pass goes away. That takes the total of your trip down to $1321 — a savings of $44. Maybe that doesn’t seem like a lot, but consider that you also get discounts on merchandise at gift shops and on food at restaurants, the savings start to add up. Not to mention, Gold Pass members get free parking, so that’s another $20 of savings. Plus, at least one of you can keep going to Disney over and over again for the next year.
Bonus: Minimal Blackout Dates
My favorite part of the Gold Pass is the free PhotoPass downloads, but the next best part is that the only blackout dates are the two weeks around Christmas and the two weeks around Easter. With the Silver Pass, you pretty much can’t go for half the year. A lot of the spring is blocked out. Forget summer and Christmastime completely. The two weeks around Christmas and the two weeks around Easter are the worst times to go anyway because they are the busiest. My family went to Magic Kingdom once on Christmas, and it was like you couldn’t walk down Main Street at all. My best recommendation is to go after Thanksgiving but before Christmas. The crowds are among the lightest of the year because everyone is saving money for the holidays, and you still get to see all the beautiful holiday decorations.
