The first time you get a Walt Disney World annual pass can be an exciting thing! Ok, let’s face it, every renewal will probably be as well! If you are a Florida resident there are many options for levels of annual passes. If you do not reside in Florida your annual pass options are a bit more limited. Even if you live outside of Florida an annual pass may be something you consider if you plan on going to Walt Disney World for an extended period of time of more than once a year. If you are a military family or DVC (Disney Vacation Club) member you may have discounts available to you.

Non-Florida, Non-Military, Non-DVC member options:

Platinum Plus Pass $1219+ tax per pass at time of writing.
Benefits include admission to all four Walt Disney World parks, the two Disney water parks, ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, and Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course without any blackout dates! ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex admittance is only for days with events. There may be an additional fee to get in depending on the event. Admittance to Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course includes your greens fee only. Tee time reservations are required. You are allowed to park hop with the Platinum Plus Pass. Your Platinum Plus Pass includes the ability to download all PhotoPass® pictures taken at no extra cost. If you wanted a special item ordered from the PhotoPass® website it would be an additional charge. You will receive up to 20% off at select Disney restaurants. You should be given a book when you get your pass showing you what places participate in this discount. At this point I just ask everywhere we go; the worst they will do is tell me no your discount is not valid here. You will also get up to 20% off select merchandise at select locations. Again, I ask everywhere because honestly the extra possible 20% usually isn’t going to sway me unless I know the product I am attempting to purchase is at another location I know takes passholder discounts. You will also get the merchandise discount when you use the Shop Merchandise button in your My Disney Experience app. Standard theme park parking is also included with your Platinum Plus Pass. If you wanted to upgrade to Preferred Parking you would only need to pay the difference between the standard fee and the preferred price. Currently those are $25 and $50, but subject to change. When we went for Belle’s first birthday the parking prices changed literally over night! You are also able to get a personalized magic band. Recently Disney rolled out additional options other than the standard colors. At the time of this writing the additional options are currently sold out, but maybe by the time you get your annual pass they will be back!

Platinum Pass $1119+ tax per pass at time of writing.
Benefits include admission to all four Walt Disney World parks. You are allowed to park hop with the Platinum Pass. Your Platinum Pass includes the ability to download all PhotoPass® pictures taken at no extra cost. If you wanted a special item ordered from the PhotoPass® website it would be an additional charge. You will receive up to 20% off at select Disney restaurants. You should be given a book when you get your pass showing you what places participate in this discount. At this point I just ask everywhere we go; the worst they will do is tell me no your discount is not valid here. You will also get up to 20% off select merchandise at select locations. Again, I ask everywhere because honestly the extra possible 20% usually isn’t going to sway me unless I know the product I am attempting to purchase is at another location I know takes passholder discounts. You will also get the merchandise discount when you use the Shop Merchandise button in your My Disney Experience app. Standard theme park parking is also included with your Platinum Pass. If you wanted to upgrade to Preferred Parking you would only need to pay the difference between the standard fee and the preferred price. Currently those are $25 and $50, but subject to change. You are also able to get a personalized magic band. Recently Disney rolled out additional options other than the standard colors. At the time of this writing the additional options are currently sold out, but maybe by the time you get your annual pass they will be back!

Water Parks Annual Pass $139+ tax at time of writing.
You are able to go to both Disney water parks. Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach are both refurbished annually, but are done so in a staggered pattern so they won’t be closed at the same time unless there is inclement weather. A water parks only annual pass does not give the option of getting a personalized magic band nor does it give you discounts.

Florida Resident options:

Florida Resident Platinum Plus Pass $999+ tax per pass at time of writing.
Benefits include admission to all four Walt Disney World parks, the two Disney water parks, ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, and Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course without any blackout dates! ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex admittance is only for days with events. There may be an additional fee to get in depending on the event. Admittance to Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course includes your greens fee only. Tee time reservations are required. You are allowed to park hop with the Platinum Plus Pass. Your Platinum Plus Pass includes the ability to download all PhotoPass® pictures taken at no extra cost. If you wanted a special item ordered from the PhotoPass® website it would be an additional charge. You will receive up to 20% off at select Disney restaurants. You should be given a book when you get your pass showing you what places participate in this discount. At this point I just ask everywhere we go; the worst they will do is tell me no your discount is not valid here. You will also get up to 20% off select merchandise at select locations. Again, I ask everywhere because honestly the extra possible 20% usually isn’t going to sway me unless I know the product I am attempting to purchase is at another location I know takes passholder discounts. You will also get the merchandise discount when you use the Shop Merchandise button in your My Disney Experience app. Standard theme park parking is also included with your Platinum Plus Pass. If you wanted to upgrade to Preferred Parking you would only need to pay the difference between the standard fee and the preferred price. Currently those are $25 and $50, but subject to change. When we went for Belle’s first birthday the parking prices changed literally over night! You are also able to get a personalized magic band. Recently Disney rolled out additional options other than the standard colors. At the time of this writing the additional options are currently sold out, but maybe by the time you get your annual pass they will be back!

Florida Resident Platinum Pass $899+ tax per pass at time of writing.
Benefits include admission to all four Walt Disney World parks. You are allowed to park hop with the Platinum Pass. Your Platinum Pass includes the ability to download all PhotoPass® pictures taken at no extra cost. If you wanted a special item ordered from the PhotoPass® website it would be an additional charge. You will receive up to 20% off at select Disney restaurants. You should be given a book when you get your pass showing you what places participate in this discount. At this point I just ask everywhere we go; the worst they will do is tell me no your discount is not valid here. You will also get up to 20% off select merchandise at select locations. Again, I ask everywhere because honestly the extra possible 20% usually isn’t going to sway me unless I know the product I am attempting to purchase is at another location I know takes passholder discounts. You will also get the merchandise discount when you use the Shop Merchandise button in your My Disney Experience app. Standard theme park parking is also included with your Platinum Pass. If you wanted to upgrade to Preferred Parking you would only need to pay the difference between the standard fee and the preferred price. Currently those are $25 and $50, but subject to change. You are also able to get a personalized magic band. Recently Disney rolled out additional options other than the standard colors. At the time of this writing the additional options are currently sold out, but maybe by the time you get your annual pass they will be back!

Florida Resident Gold Pass $699+ tax at time of writing
Benefits include admission to all four Walt Disney World parks. You are allowed to park hop with the Gold Pass. Your Gold Pass includes the ability to download all PhotoPass® pictures taken at no extra cost. If you wanted a special item ordered from the PhotoPass® website it would be an additional charge. You will receive up to 20% off at select Disney restaurants. You should be given a book when you get your pass showing you what places participate in this discount. At this point I just ask everywhere we go; the worst they will do is tell me no your discount is not valid here. You will also get up to 20% off select merchandise at select locations. Again, I ask everywhere because honestly the extra possible 20% usually isn’t going to sway me unless I know the product I am attempting to purchase is at another location I know takes passholder discounts. You will also get the merchandise discount when you use the Shop Merchandise button in your My Disney Experience app. Standard theme park parking is also included with your Gold Pass. If you wanted to upgrade to Preferred Parking you would only need to pay the difference between the standard fee and the preferred price. Currently those are $25 and $50, but subject to change. You are also able to get a personalized magic band. Recently Disney rolled out additional options other than the standard colors. At the time of this writing the additional options are currently sold out, but maybe by the time you get your annual pass they will be back! Gold Passes do come with blockout dates attached. For the current year those dates are January 1-2, 2019, April 13-26, 2019, and December 19-31, 2019.

Florida Resident Silver Pass $519+ tax at time of writing
Benefits include admission to all four Walt Disney World parks. You are allowed to park hop with the Silver Pass. Your Silver Pass includes the ability to download all PhotoPass® pictures taken at no extra cost. If you wanted a special item ordered from the PhotoPass® website it would be an additional charge. You will receive up to 20% off at select Disney restaurants. You should be given a book when you get your pass showing you what places participate in this discount. At this point I just ask everywhere we go; the worst they will do is tell me no your discount is not valid here. You will also get up to 20% off select merchandise at select locations. Again, I ask everywhere because honestly the extra possible 20% usually isn’t going to sway me unless I know the product I am attempting to purchase is at another location I know takes passholder discounts. You will also get the merchandise discount when you use the Shop Merchandise button in your My Disney Experience app. Standard theme park parking is also included with your Silver Pass. If you wanted to upgrade to Preferred Parking you would only need to pay the difference between the standard fee and the preferred price. Currently those are $25 and $50, but subject to change. You are also able to get a personalized magic band. Recently Disney rolled out additional options other than the standard colors. At the time of this writing the additional options are currently sold out, but maybe by the time you get your annual pass they will be back! Silver Passes do come with blockout dates attached. For the current year those dates are January 1-2, 2019, April 13-26, 2019, and June 3-August 8 2019.

Florida Resident Theme Park Select Pass $439+ tax at time of writing
This one I found interesting. You will find a calendar here https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/passes/blockout-dates/theme-park-select-pass/ that tells you exactly when you are allowed at any of the four theme parks on any day. Notable dates are no Saturdays are you allowed in Magic Kingdom. EPCOT is pretty much always open except October 31-November 3, 2019 for the Wine & Dine Half Marathon. Hollywood Studios is completely unavailable once Galaxy’s Edge opens until the second week of January. You will receive up to 20% off at select Disney restaurants. You should be given a book when you get your pass showing you what places participate in this discount. At this point I just ask everywhere we go; the worst they will do is tell me no your discount is not valid here. You will also get up to 20% off select merchandise at select locations. Again, I ask everywhere because honestly the extra possible 20% usually isn’t going to sway me unless I know the product I am attempting to purchase is at another location I know takes passholder discounts. You will also get the merchandise discount when you use the Shop Merchandise button in your My Disney Experience app. Standard theme park parking is also included with your Pass. If you wanted to upgrade to Preferred Parking you would only need to pay the difference between the standard fee and the preferred price. Currently those are $25 and $50, but subject to change. You are also able to get a personalized magic band. Recently Disney rolled out additional options other than the standard colors. At the time of this writing the additional options are currently sold out, but maybe by the time you get your annual pass they will be back!

Florida Resident Weekday Select Pass $349+ tax at time of writing
Benefits include admission to all four Walt Disney World parks Monday-Friday only. You are allowed to park hop with the Weekday Pass. You will receive up to 20% off at select Disney restaurants. You should be given a book when you get your pass showing you what places participate in this discount. At this point I just ask everywhere we go; the worst they will do is tell me no your discount is not valid here. You will also get up to 20% off select merchandise at select locations. Again, I ask everywhere because honestly the extra possible 20% usually isn’t going to sway me unless I know the product I am attempting to purchase is at another location I know takes passholder discounts. You will also get the merchandise discount when you use the Shop Merchandise button in your My Disney Experience app. Standard theme park parking is also included with your Weekday Pass. If you wanted to upgrade to Preferred Parking you would only need to pay the difference between the standard fee and the preferred price. Currently those are $25 and $50, but subject to change. You are also able to get a personalized magic band. Recently Disney rolled out additional options other than the standard colors. At the time of this writing the additional options are currently sold out, but maybe by the time you get your annual pass they will be back! Weekday Passes do come with blockout dates attached. For the current year those dates are Every Saturday and Sunday, January 1-2, 2019, April 13-28, 2019, June 1-August 8 2019 and December 19-31, 2019.

EPCOT After 4pm $309+ tax at time of writing
This one is pretty much speaks for itself. You may enter EPCOT anytime after 4pm and before close. Standard theme park parking is also included with your Weekday Pass. If you wanted to upgrade to Preferred Parking you would only need to pay the difference between the standard fee and the preferred price. Currently those are $25 and $50, but subject to change. You are also able to get a personalized magic band. Recently Disney rolled out additional options other than the standard colors. At the time of this writing the additional options are currently sold out, but maybe by the time you get your annual pass they will be back!

Water Parks Annual Pass $139+ tax at time of writing.
You are able to go to both Disney water parks. Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach are both refurbished annually, but are done so in a staggered pattern so they won’t be closed at the same time unless there is inclement weather. A water parks only annual pass does not give the option of getting a personalized magic band nor does it give you discounts.

Water Parks after 2pm $89+ tax at time of writing
Much like the EPCOT after 4pm pass, this one allows you to go to either Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon any day after 2pm. As mentioned above they do seasonal refurbishments, so keep an eye on those closings. Same as mentioned in the water park pass you are not entitled to a magic band or discounts.

DVC Annual Pass Options:

DVC Platinum Plus Pass $999+ tax per pass at time of writing.
Benefits include admission to all four Walt Disney World parks, the two Disney water parks, ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, and Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course without any blackout dates! ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex admittance is only for days with events. There may be an additional fee to get in depending on the event. Admittance to Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course includes your greens fee only. Tee time reservations are required. You are allowed to park hop with the Platinum Plus Pass. Your Platinum Plus Pass includes the ability to download all PhotoPass® pictures taken at no extra cost. If you wanted a special item ordered from the PhotoPass® website it would be an additional charge. You will receive up to 20% off at select Disney restaurants. You should be given a book when you get your pass showing you what places participate in this discount. At this point I just ask everywhere we go; the worst they will do is tell me no your discount is not valid here. You will also get up to 20% off select merchandise at select locations. Again, I ask everywhere because honestly the extra possible 20% usually isn’t going to sway me unless I know the product I am attempting to purchase is at another location I know takes passholder discounts. You will also get the merchandise discount when you use the Shop Merchandise button in your My Disney Experience app. Standard theme park parking is also included with your Platinum Plus Pass. If you wanted to upgrade to Preferred Parking you would only need to pay the difference between the standard fee and the preferred price. Currently those are $25 and $50, but subject to change. When we went for Belle’s first birthday the parking prices changed literally over night! You are also able to get a personalized magic band. Recently Disney rolled out additional options other than the standard colors. At the time of this writing the additional options are currently sold out, but maybe by the time you get your annual pass they will be back!

DVC Platinum Pass $899+ tax per pass at time of writing.
Benefits include admission to all four Walt Disney World parks. You are allowed to park hop with the Platinum Pass. Your Platinum Pass includes the ability to download all PhotoPass® pictures taken at no extra cost. If you wanted a special item ordered from the PhotoPass® website it would be an additional charge. You will receive up to 20% off at select Disney restaurants. You should be given a book when you get your pass showing you what places participate in this discount. At this point I just ask everywhere we go; the worst they will do is tell me no your discount is not valid here. You will also get up to 20% off select merchandise at select locations. Again, I ask everywhere because honestly the extra possible 20% usually isn’t going to sway me unless I know the product I am attempting to purchase is at another location I know takes passholder discounts. You will also get the merchandise discount when you use the Shop Merchandise button in your My Disney Experience app. Standard theme park parking is also included with your Platinum Pass. If you wanted to upgrade to Preferred Parking you would only need to pay the difference between the standard fee and the preferred price. Currently those are $25 and $50, but subject to change. You are also able to get a personalized magic band. Recently Disney rolled out additional options other than the standard colors. At the time of this writing the additional options are currently sold out, but maybe by the time you get your annual pass they will be back!

DVC Gold Pass $699+ tax at time of writing
Benefits include admission to all four Walt Disney World parks. You are allowed to park hop with the Gold Pass. Your Gold Pass includes the ability to download all PhotoPass® pictures taken at no extra cost. If you wanted a special item ordered from the PhotoPass® website it would be an additional charge. You will receive up to 20% off at select Disney restaurants. You should be given a book when you get your pass showing you what places participate in this discount. At this point I just ask everywhere we go; the worst they will do is tell me no your discount is not valid here. You will also get up to 20% off select merchandise at select locations. Again, I ask everywhere because honestly the extra possible 20% usually isn’t going to sway me unless I know the product I am attempting to purchase is at another location I know takes passholder discounts. You will also get the merchandise discount when you use the Shop Merchandise button in your My Disney Experience app. Standard theme park parking is also included with your Gold Pass. If you wanted to upgrade to Preferred Parking you would only need to pay the difference between the standard fee and the preferred price. Currently those are $25 and $50, but subject to change. You are also able to get a personalized magic band. Recently Disney rolled out additional options other than the standard colors. At the time of this writing the additional options are currently sold out, but maybe by the time you get your annual pass they will be back! Gold Passes do come with blockout dates attached. For the current year those dates are January 1-2, 2019, April 13-26, 2019, and December 19-31, 2019.

Military Pass Options:

You will need to get passes at the military rate either at the Shades of Green Resort or by obtaining the form from Shades of Green by emailing them to have the tickets mailed to you.

Military Platinum Plus Pass $1,013.95 per pass at time of writing.
Benefits include admission to all four Walt Disney World parks, the two Disney water parks, ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, and Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course without any blackout dates! ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex admittance is only for days with events. There may be an additional fee to get in depending on the event. Admittance to Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course includes your greens fee only. Tee time reservations are required. You are allowed to park hop with the Platinum Plus Pass. Your Platinum Plus Pass includes the ability to download all PhotoPass® pictures taken at no extra cost. If you wanted a special item ordered from the PhotoPass® website it would be an additional charge. You will receive up to 20% off at select Disney restaurants. You should be given a book when you get your pass showing you what places participate in this discount. At this point I just ask everywhere we go; the worst they will do is tell me no your discount is not valid here. You will also get up to 20% off select merchandise at select locations. Again, I ask everywhere because honestly the extra possible 20% usually isn’t going to sway me unless I know the product I am attempting to purchase is at another location I know takes passholder discounts. You will also get the merchandise discount when you use the Shop Merchandise button in your My Disney Experience app. Standard theme park parking is also included with your Platinum Plus Pass. If you wanted to upgrade to Preferred Parking you would only need to pay the difference between the standard fee and the preferred price. Currently those are $25 and $50, but subject to change. When we went for Belle’s first birthday the parking prices changed literally over night! You are also able to get a personalized magic band. Recently Disney rolled out additional options other than the standard colors. At the time of this writing the additional options are currently sold out, but maybe by the time you get your annual pass they will be back!

Military Platinum Pass $911.95 per pass at time of writing.
Benefits include admission to all four Walt Disney World parks. You are allowed to park hop with the Platinum Pass. Your Platinum Pass includes the ability to download all PhotoPass® pictures taken at no extra cost. If you wanted a special item ordered from the PhotoPass® website it would be an additional charge. You will receive up to 20% off at select Disney restaurants. You should be given a book when you get your pass showing you what places participate in this discount. At this point I just ask everywhere we go; the worst they will do is tell me no your discount is not valid here. You will also get up to 20% off select merchandise at select locations. Again, I ask everywhere because honestly the extra possible 20% usually isn’t going to sway me unless I know the product I am attempting to purchase is at another location I know takes passholder discounts. You will also get the merchandise discount when you use the Shop Merchandise button in your My Disney Experience app. Standard theme park parking is also included with your Platinum Pass. If you wanted to upgrade to Preferred Parking you would only need to pay the difference between the standard fee and the preferred price. Currently those are $25 and $50, but subject to change. You are also able to get a personalized magic band. Recently Disney rolled out additional options other than the standard colors. At the time of this writing the additional options are currently sold out, but maybe by the time you get your annual pass they will be back!

Choosing an annual pass for your family can be a little overwhelming when it comes to available choices. We opted to do Platinum Plus because Belle is a fish! We knew Callen couldn’t handle water well when we picked that option, but we knew we could deal with it to have more options. I would not trade Platinum Plus for any other option specifically for our family.

Outside of the benefits mentioned in each pass category there have been some extras that we have also enjoyed over the last ten or so months! Every few months we have been able to get a special magnet at EPCOT that says Passholder and has a character on it. They are usually based around certain festivals happening at EPCOT, so we’ve had Goofy, Pluto, Daisy, Figment, and Mickey split between Food and Wine festival, Flower & Garden Festival, and Christmas. Also they have offered special passholder only events that you have to reserve really quick once you get the email about them because do they ever fill up fast! I’ve been lucky enough to attend two so far. The first time I had the option of picking Magic Kingdom or EPCOT. I chose Magic Kingdom. The second time was a choice between Typhoon Lagoon and Magic Kingdom. Again I chose Magic Kingdom. We haven’t done these events as a full family, but I did bring Belle with me the second time! 

I hope I’ve helped you pick an annual pass or at least guided you to know what’s available to you. Leave a comment down below with any questions you have about annual passes or if you have any suggests for posts you love to see!