Disney to sell annual pass good for all its U.S. theme parks

March 10, 2010, 4:09 PM · The Walt Disney Co, confirmed today the rumor that it would start selling a combined "Premier Passport" good for admission to all its' U.S. theme parks, at Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland Resort in California.

The Premier Pass will sell for $700, plus tax, and including admission and parking at all six theme parks, two Disney World water parks, and admission to DisneyQuest at WDW, plus subscriptions to annual passholder publications.

The passes go on sale at the parks tomorrow. If you happen to be one of those hard-core Disney fanatics who own premium passes to both parks, you'll be issued a Premier Pass with an expiration date of the last of your two passes to expire. (Someone out there is smiling at their timing on this one, I'm sure.)

The pass also includes food and merchandise discounts, but you can't use a DVC discount to get a lower price. Nor are there child passes at a lower price. Kids pay the same as adults.

As far as I remember, this is the first time that the Disney Co. has issued admission media to the general public that covers parks on both coasts. When I worked at Disney World, each summer and winter, we'd get free one-day, park-hopper tickets that were good at all the Disney World parks and Disneyland. We'd joke that someone with more money that any of us had could use that ticket to spend the morning hitting all the Disney World parks, then hop a flight to the LA area and wrap up the day at Disneyland.

Now... some folks out there finally will have a single ticket that allows them to do that. Airfare not included, of course. :-)

A previous version of this story was submitted by a Theme Park Insider reader, who copied an Orlando Sentinel story in its entirety. This is a violation of Theme Park Insider's Rules for Writers, so that version of the story has been removed and the reader has been banned from the site. Sorry, hate to be a jerk here, but I have to have zero tolerance for that. So, please, please, please, phrase what you write in your own words, and provide links to your sources instead of copying text.

Update: It's been years since I had to enforce the no-plagiarism rule, and, you know, I've decided that banning people (actually, just deleting memberships) for that is stupid. I'll save that for people filing false reports or harassing others. (Which, frankly, rarely happens around here. TPI readers rock.) I still won't allow duped content on to the site, but the right thing to do is delete it, warn the reader and move on. So, my apologies.

Replies (13)

March 10, 2010 at 1:39 PM · I've got a Southern California Annual Pass for Disneyland and a 10-day, no-expiration park-hopper for Walt Disney World, which allows me to pop in on weekdays (our here) and for a two or three days a year (out there) for reviews, trip reports, etc.

Since the 10-day ticket lasts me about three years, I can't see yet paying the extra for the Premier Pass. A rough, back-of-the-envelope suggest that you'd need to make at least three or four days of weekend or high-season visits to each coast each year to begin to make this a good call, factoring in the free parking and discounts. (You'd need more weekday or off-season visits than that, when cheaper APs and seasonal passes are available.)

Now, if this pass included a discount on the Delta LAX-MCO run, too.... :-)
/dreaming

March 10, 2010 at 1:43 PM · Thought they would do that!

The question is, do people usually go to both? I mean they are pretty far from each other. My family are big Disney fans, but I have only been there three times in my life (number 3 is coming up this summer).

I mean its good for Mr. Robert Niles.....

March 10, 2010 at 2:41 PM · Trying to run the figures on this to see the value and I have to agree with Robert. Being a SoCal resident, I already get great discounts on Disneyland. I'm not liking the price of this premiere pass.

The first thought I had would be to purchase this pass on my next vacation to WDW Resort. Maybe this pass should raise the price a little more and be like a Busch/SeaWorld pass. Have two years of use.

March 10, 2010 at 4:16 PM · It is not THAT great of a deal (at least for my family)

First of all, its $700 no matter if you are 3 or 30. No kids and adult prices.

No DVC discounts


I love ya Disney, but no thank you!

March 10, 2010 at 4:54 PM · Also, if you thought that some Disneyland Premium AP holders had a snobby sense of self-entitlement, wait 'til these APs hit the park. :-p
March 10, 2010 at 5:18 PM · For the Disney jet setters this deal sounds convenient and worthwhile. For me its $3500/year for my family before hotel, food, travel expenses, and taxes.

I think I will stick with my Silver Dollar City season passes which are about $350/year for the family. Disney remains my favorite destination, but about ten days every other year is the most I can afford!

March 10, 2010 at 6:54 PM · I should probably say that it is a good deal if you are going to both coasts in one year and are not entitled to DVC or other discounts.

So I was excited, but then brought down when seeing this would not be a good deal to my family (especially since its the first time in 5 years we are going to both coasts)

March 10, 2010 at 7:27 PM · I loved having a WDW Annual Pass, but it was $470 and only included parkhopping and free parking (which is perfectly fine - it paid for itself). If I had the ability to jump coast on a whim I would absolutely plunk down an extra $230 to have the water parks, Disney Quest, and the entire Disneyland Resort at my disposal.

But I don't have the ability, so oh well.

March 10, 2010 at 8:50 PM · Took them long enough to come up with this!
March 10, 2010 at 9:30 PM · Thanks for that update, Robert. I thought it was pretty harsh to ban someone for that. It may have been plagiarism, but it might not have been intentional, and by that I mean they forgot to reference the article.
March 11, 2010 at 9:23 AM · When I use to get premium passes for my daughter or grandson and myself, I always got them starting in August. That way, the next summer, we'd go in June or July and get two vacations with the same pass.

If I was still into getting passes, I'd go to Disney World one year and the next year go to Disneyland. Up north here, a season pass is just that, it's good for only that summer season or just the year of issue. Unless Hersheypark has changed, when I get a season pass for Zachary and myself this summer, it'll only be good till December 31, 2010.

March 11, 2010 at 10:11 AM · HmmMmmMmmM-- I really love this idea... but it involves me having to fulfill several of my lifelong wishes.
1.) be rich
2.) get a credit card with no limit
3.) have a significant other with whom I can share the experience ;-)

On the other hand BWAHAHAHA I have family in the S. Cali area who I visit pretty often so BAM! I am a frequent FL/Cali visitor and BAM! I have free room and board at both locations!
On the other other hand... I have no more room on my poor credit card. boohoo

March 11, 2010 at 3:38 PM · $700 bucks, wow that is expensive. For my family of 3 that would be $2100. There is no way I could even begin to justify that kind of money for Disney. I like Disney but not that much.

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