Disney World Raises Rates on Annual Passes for 2026 & 2027, Top Tier Up by $120
Walt Disney World has raised prices for Annual Passes by as much as $120 as of October 6, 2026, continuing the company’s tradition of increases at the start of the new fiscal year. This post offers details and our commentary about all of these changes, the amount of cost jumps for each tier, motivations, and more.
This is the first notable price increase of the year on admission at Walt Disney World. They normally happen in early February or mid-October, so it’s not particularly surprising that one happened. In fact, we covered this two weeks ago in Walt Disney World & Disneyland Price Increases Are Coming: What to Expect & How to Prepare.
That article specifically predicted the following: “In all likelihood, both Walt Disney World and Disneyland will raise rates on or around October 8, 2025.” As it turns out, this was off by one day. For those wondering what my sources (Madame Leota) are saying about next year’s increase, pencil in October 5-6, 2027 on your calendar as the most likely date for the next price increase.
In any case, this is the first price increase on park admission since last October, which has been the trend for the last few years. It’s not always the case that prices “only” go up once per year. During the height of inflation and the Chapek era, Walt Disney World actually did two major price increases in 2022.
It may be hard to believe, but 2022 was actually the last huge across-the-board price increase at Walt Disney World. Everything since has been much more pedestrian, and closer to in line with inflation. Certain prices have gone up more and new revenue streams have been added (Lightning Lane Premier Pass), but not to the degree that everything did in 2021-2022. Revenge travel was a rough run!
Regrettably, Walt Disney World Annual Passes are one of the products that have been hit harder with the October 2026 round of price increases. This isn’t completely shocking in light of the 2027 ticket prices reaching a new record of $219 back with Walt Disney World’s annual product launch in April. Given that the company typically attempts to keep the cost differential roughly equivalent between regular tickets and Annual Passes, we’ve expected APs to follow suit with higher prices.
At the same time, Disneyland rolled out its yearly price increases on admission, and all Magic Key Annual Passes and multi-day tickets are unchanged. If there isn’t a single AP seeing its price hiked at locals-centric Disneyland, you might think that the more touristy Walt Disney World where APs aren’t as much of a “problem” would follow suit. Well, you’d be wrong!
Here’s a look at before and after prices on Walt Disney World Annual Passes…
Here are the new prices for each tier of Walt Disney World Annual Pass from now through October 2027:
- Incredi-Pass: $1,749 – previously $1,629
- Sorcerer Pass: $1,139 – previously $1,099
- Pirate Pass: $909 – previously $869
- Pixie Pass: $499 – previously $489
Here’s a look back at last year’s price increases, which occurred around the same time in October:
- Incredi-Pass: $1,629 – previously $1,549
- Sorcerer Pass: $1,099 – previously $1,079
- Pirate Pass: $869 – previously $829
- Pixie Pass: $489 – previously $469
Just “for fun” here’s how new Walt Disney World AP prices compare to when they were re-introduced with the new tiers back in 2021:
- Incredi-Pass: $1,299
- Sorcerer Pass: $899
- Pirate Pass: $699
- Pixie Pass: $399
For further “amusement,” here are prices for the old Annual Passes as of early 2020:
- Disney Platinum Plus Annual Pass: $1295 / $999
- Disney Platinum Annual Pass: $1195 / $899
- Disney Gold Annual Pass: $719
- Disney Silver Annual Pass: $539
- Disney Weekday Select Annual Pass: $369
- EPCOT After 4 Annual Pass: $319
The two prices for the first two tiers are for the general public versus Florida residents. Additionally, PhotoPass downloads and water parks became $99 add-ons with the change, so the before/after prices on the top tiers are really more extreme than they appear, especially for Floridians.
Depending upon the tier, it’s really not so much “fun and amusement” as “horrify and shock the conscience,” but hey, it is still spook season!
What’s most interesting to me is that the Pixie Dust Pass increased by only $10. Unlike the other tiers, this option for Floridians didn’t have sales paused, so there are a ton of them in circulation. That’s resulted in some quirky crowd dynamics, such as the weekends when that AP is blocked out being among the slowest days of the week at Walt Disney World.
That trend has been undone to some degree by Florida resident ticket deals no longer blocking out Saturdays and Sundays, but it’s evident at times of year when there’s no Floridian promo. Those ticket deals might also explain why the Pixie Dust Pass seldom sees significant price increases. Perhaps Disney doesn’t want too significant of a pricing premium on the AP, because they’d actually prefer to have a high number of Florida residents who are Annual Passholders.
Not only do APs offer recurring revenue on food & beverage and merchandise sales, but they also contribute to ‘healthy’ crowding that keeps a floor under wait times and can incentivize tourists to buy Lightning Lanes, etc. Counterintuitive as it may seem, there’s probably an incentive for Disney to have an affordable Annual Pass for Floridians, as opposed to pushing all locals towards the multi-day ticket deals.
The case could be made that trying to ‘nudge’ Pixie Dust Passholders to higher tiers via higher pricing would make sense. On the other hand, the gap between the Pixie and Pirate tiers is already so significant that perhaps Walt Disney World (correctly) realizes that no such nudging is possible.
That for a good portion of Pixie Annual Passholders, breaking the $500 barrier would cause them to cancel and downgrade to discounted multi-day tickets, or not visit at all. Disney probably doesn’t want to lose too many of those guests to Universal, especially at a time like right now that’s between development cycles and economic uncertainty is on the rise.
Accordingly, it makes sense to not overdo the increases on the lower tier APs. That’s probably why they offer disproportionately better value for money than the higher tiers, and never go up much in price. Of course, never say never. The fruits of the ongoing expansion projects start coming online in Summer 2027, so let’s check back and see what the 2028 price increases look like!
It’s somewhat surprising that the Incredi-Pass jumped by $120, especially after going up by $80 last year, but it’s not a complete shock. This has clearly been positioned as a premium product aimed at a segment of the Walt Disney World fan community that is either price insensitive or gets enough mileage out of the top tier pass to not be overly concerned about its cost.
My theory since the relaunch of Annual Passes in 2021 has been that Walt Disney World does not really want out of state APs. This might be painful to read, as we receive comments all the time about how Walt Disney World should appreciate non-Floridian APs even more and offer better deals to out of staters.
The logic is somewhat sound, albeit misguided. These readers reason that they are “better” for Walt Disney World because they book hotel rooms, do all of their meals on-site, buy souvenirs, and so forth. Basically, they do all of the right things to keep those coveted (in Disney’s eyes) guest spending metrics high. In theory, these aren’t just Walt Disney World’s whales–they’re the sustainable whales. Even better than one and done first-timers!
That’s one way to look at it. Another is that these whales would spend even more if they instead purchased multi-day tickets when they visited Walt Disney World. That AP price increases need to be commensurate with multi-day admission, otherwise it’ll incentivize more out of state tourists to “downgrade” from regular tickets to Annual Passes.
Alternatively, this type of big spending guest would pay more per trip if they decreased their frequency of visits. From Disney’s perspective, this is all upside. They get even higher per capita numbers from the guest profile I’ve described and someone else takes the place of the fan decreasing the frequency of their visits.
Have you ever heard the saying, pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered? That’s how I’d describe this POV, which is also to say I do not agree with it. Yes, in theory this works. Assuming the whales don’t get just fed up, travel elsewhere, and realize maybe they’d prefer doing that all the time. This would be the equivalent of Philip Morris jacking up the prices of cigarettes to the point that people stopped smoking. Addicts are great for business…until they stop being addicts.
The other gaping hole in this logic is that it assumes Walt Disney World is operating without any surplus capacity. That is very much not the case anymore, and hasn’t been true since 2022. Except for a few weeks per year, there’s plenty of extra bandwidth to accommodate APs in addition to that fictional family from Denver. The bottom line is that it’s better to have two families of whales than one family of super-whales plus empty space.
Perhaps the most reasonable possibility is that Walt Disney World thinks they still have plenty of pricing power over higher spending Annual Passholders. That they’ve increased prices with impunity on the top tiers of APs, and yet, the number of these APs in circulation continues to hold steady.
That anyone willing to pay $1,549 for unlimited access to Walt Disney World in 2025 would be willing to pay $1,629 for the same in 2026, and $1,749 in 2027. Maybe they’re right. At the same time, it’s also a rather bold bet to make in one fell swoop, which is precisely why WDW opts against the market-clearing rates we’ve previously discussed for the October 31st date of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, for example.
Of course, Walt Disney World can always offset the higher purchase price with incentives and discounts should demand decrease. As covered elsewhere, Walt Disney World opted against repeating last summer’s gift card incentive for AP purchases prior to the end of the recent fiscal year. Perhaps instead, that’s released towards the start of the new fiscal year, shortly after these price increases hit. Either way, I wouldn’t expect it to offset the ‘damage’ at the highest end of the spectrum by virtue of the Incredi-Pass jumping to $1,749. It seems unlikely that Disney will offer a $120+ gift card for renewals or new purchases of that later this year.
The Incredi-Pass being priced at $1,749 also makes me curious about what the coast-to-coast Premier Annual Pass would cost if it ever made a return for the general public to purchase (it’s still available for Club 33, Golden Oak, and perhaps others). This oddly comes up often during the shareholder’s meetings, but my guess is that a standalone Premier Pass, divorced of an affiliation membership, would cost $5,000 to $6,000 in 2027.
Although he discussed it in the context of Disneyland, this is more or less what former CEO Bob Chapek suggested in his new memoir. That price increases didn’t really thin the herd of Annual Passholders. It would seem that trend is no longer holding steady in California, but it could be the case with the top tier of Walt Disney World AP.
I would not be the least bit surprised if this Annual Pass is held primarily by out of state fans who visit fairly frequently, diehard fans who almost view it as a status symbol or those who are price insensitive and just want the freedom to be able to visit whenever they want, and do not care about the cost.
This is precisely why I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s eventually a more mass-market membership program that’s positioned below Club 33 and differentiated from Disney Vacation Club (in that it lacks the timeshare component), but offers fans some sort of status, admission, and loyalty perks. Treating it as a membership as opposed to an Annual Pass would sidestep the negative headlines about a $6k AP, but this is probably another topic for another post.
Finally, we’ll once again make our pitch given that the top tier of AP just increased by $120: It’s Time to Retire Park Reservations at Walt Disney World.
Many Walt Disney World fans have the perception that theme park reservations are being used to cap capacity, reduce staffing levels, or as an important source of data for resource allocation. None of those things are particularly true. In any case, this data is also available via other channels, like Lightning Lanes, resort and restaurant reservations, historical data, etc. Between all of that and the park reservation loopholes and exceptions, they offer very little in the way of valuable data.
Park reservations were one of Josh D’Amaro’s projects when he was at Disneyland, which is part of what makes this improbable even if it’s highly logical. Reservations still make sense for Annual Passholders at Disneyland. But Walt Disney World is different.
At minimum, Walt Disney World should flip the script and make it so reservations are required on APs for the few weeks per year when crowds pose a problem, and let everything else be open access. Good to Go Days should be the default for 45+ weeks per year; there’s zero danger of any park hitting capacity on over 320 days of the year.
Requiring reservations for WDW Annual Passholders is doing more harm than good. They’ve mostly become a formality, and yet, there are former APs and prospective purchasers who are holding out due to the reservation rule. Either on principle or because they don’t realize reservations are now a non-factor at Walt Disney World.
Pulling that lever would generate positive goodwill and could give AP sales a nice little boost, with little to no actual downside. During the busiest weeks of the year, blockouts do the heavy lifting, anyway. They worked for decades through 2019, and would again in 2027.
This one would be a win-win for the company and fans, while also signaling that Walt Disney World is continuing to simplify and streamline the guest experience and remove needless friction. Even for regular tourists who only daydream of having an AP, that would be a good message to send!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts on the price increases to Annual Passes at Walt Disney World? Surprised to see the Incredi-Pass jump by $120 to $1,749? Expect to see aggressive discounts offsetting these increases? Thoughts on Walt Disney World squandering Good to Go Days? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
My wife and I have a similar attitude as that of “Charles,” above.
We were both AP’s in 2023, as were the five members of our extended family, because we had planned two family trips that year, plus two couples trips. We stayed at the Deluxe Resorts (Contemporary, Jamboree Lodge at Animal Kingdom, Beach Club Villas, Swan Reserve, Boardwalk), ate several character meals, as well as other specialty dinners at places like Space 220, Le Cellier, The Wave, etc., and bought articles of clothing and numerous souvenirs for the kids, built light sabers, droids, and did the Bibbity, Bobbitty Boutique, twice. In short, we dropped a bundle.
We considered becoming AP’s for a trip this coming Spring, but could not justify it with the prices going up do severely. So, this time we will be staying off-site at a Good Neighbor Hotel that offers complimentary breakfasts and evening foods, and will only enjoy lunches in the parks.
We will now be “little fish,” as being AP “whales” is no longer advantageous.
Bye bye, ridiculous prices. Hello, reasonable cost.
WDWNT is saying that there are still discounts on renewals, and unless I missed it, I don’t think your article mentions this? I hope it’s true! Being an out of state non-whale (I’m sure I drag down Disney’s per-cap numbers), I only pay attention to Incredi-pass prices, but with a $250 discount, this would be $1499 for a renewal.
This past AP year I used the 40% discount twice on Disney resorts, and the 30% discount once on the Swolphin, and with the merch and dining discounts, the AP more than paid for itself.
But if Disney did away with the renewal discount, I’m not renewing, as I said in my reply to your previous post which suggested they *were* doing away with this discount. I’d go to WDW once instead of three times a year. Maybe they would prefer that, as you suggest.
Renewals are still less than a new pass, that has not changed. As long as you renew in your window of time. Prices are posted on the WDW site under the AP section.
Hey Kids, for all our baseball fans keeping score at home.
• headline Inflation: 3.4% year-over-year change for the 12 months ending in August 2026.
3.4% of $1,629 is (drum roll please) $55.38
• Core Inflation: 2.4% year-over-year, which excludes volatile food and energy items.
2.4% of $1,629 is …….$39.09
• Monthly Change: The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4% from July to August 2026.
0.4% of $1,629 is ……………………………………………..$6.51
$120 pf $1,629 is actually 7.37% ……more than double. So unless someone in the Disney top offices thinks Biden is still president this number of $120 is something more than tied to inflation.
This just in: The final score is Disney $1,749 Visitors 0.
I will say that $250 off of $1,740 comes to $1,499 which is nicer sounding than anything over $1,500.
But as any baseball fans is fond of saying, “Wait till next year.”
Out of state AP that just got our first AP (2 retirees) activated Nov last year. We were on the fence about renewing this year but decided to and knowing prices go up in Oct then renewed at 60 day mark. So glad I did! We are from AL and have visited 5 times this year. 4-6 days each trip. The AP hotel discounts have been worth the cost alone (we primarily stay at Fort Wilderness in our MH but if not there then POR because we have a dog).
With the ridiculous increase will we renew next year – not sure … But trying to price out the out of state AP makes no sense. We spend a lot of money on lodging, etc. that locals don’t.
I’m going to put on my tin foil hat for a minute. I wonder if there a disproportionate number of top-tier APs that become eligible for renewal in August/September because those fans are more keyed in to the fact price increases happen early Oct and plan accordingly. By the time those APs are up, they have had 10-11 months to mentally get used to the new price (no matter how much of a jump it was) and thus have an easier time convincing themselves to renew.
In truth I think this way more 4D chess than Disney is capable of playing, but what if it isn’t???
They have no shame at all. They continuously raise their prices without concern. They don’t care about families struggling to make ends meet or about families taking their children to Disney World; they make it unaffordable.
Antidotes are not my favorite approach to providing data but I’ll provide this. We got into serious Disney World and Disneyland visits in 2018 but didn’t become passholders in Florida until the post-pandemic sales resumed. We road the wave with the price increases since we became passholders but this year, we reached enough and didn’t renew. Primary among the reasons for non-renewal were the DAS changes which drastically changed the parks for us and our ability to navigate enjoyably. We did all of the new suggested options (including Lightning Lane purchase) but functioningly what made DAS work is not purchaseable or duplicated through alternatives. And, based on online forums I’m a part of, I’d say more often than not APs who no longer receive DAS are more often than not choosing not to renew.
I understand the long list of reasons why DAS AP users provide very little value to Disney. But, I’d say, between trips we’ve taken (nearly exclusively Deluxe resorts including add on events like After Hours or holiday parties, eating at least one to two table service per day) family and friends that have gone with because they specifically have come along we’ve gone with (also doing similar accommodations, activities, food), our “non-value” as APs contributed north of $250k since 2018 with $25k of that pre pass.
I’m sure we’re not unique in being a disability whale with our family and friend pod in toe. We went on our farewell trip with friends of ours this year because, frankly, if you go from the magical pre 2020 super disability-friendly organization to a more restrictive, more expensive and, unfortunately, decidedly less value place, my loyalty to Disney brand has broken. We’re still figuring out what vacations look like for us in the future. But, one consideration we aren’t even considering is how Disney World and Disneyland might fit into that.
Again, antidote being what it is, as the economy tanks, Disney-flation and inflation rise, at some point more and more people will arrive a conclusion like we did. I get the argument that we’ll simply be replaced by others and that well may be true. But what is also true, I believe, is that millennial and generations forward from us as starting to lose interest in the uniqueness of the Disney Experience which at the same time us becoming less unique. The built in audience may not die off in the next 5 to 10 years (with coming park improvements) but I think the shiny will eventually become dull and in 10 to 20 years, as subpar intellectual property continues to be produced and placed in the park, Disney parks in the US will lose their gold standard and simple go the way of the US capitalism system post abandonment. The strongest economic powerhouse but also something everyone slowly comes to resent. See “most expensive day ever” shirts for the start of this. I can only imagine, as wealth compounds in the US that those shirts (or worse the underlying feelings behind them) will become more common. To be clear, I love Disney Parks. There’s still an opportunity to close the gap for us….but it’s fading. I suspect it is fading for many more people than Disney wants to acknowledge or even can conceive of. And brand damage will simply compound this. I don’t think it is coincidence that attendance has started to fall harder in the off-season…I think it is a warning that unless it is “core memory” experience for families (in whatever form they appear), Disney Parks does have limits. In some ways, it is eerily reminiscent of the retail apocalypse a decade or so ago. At first, purchasing patterns shifted in timeline, then they shifted in quantity, then they shifted in method. There’s a reason Dillard’s, JC Penney, Sears, Target, Macy’s are in free fall and online retailers aren’t. It’s pricing, yes. But it’s also convenience, the realization you don’t have to stand outside a store on Black Friday to be able to get the best deal. The value proposition final reached critical mass, and stores refusing to pivot will go the way of irrelevance.
I wrote a novel and I’m sorry for that…but it feels like an inflection point has been reached and people are missing the warning signs…not that Disney will be in trouble financially. The parks will continue to print money. The issue is that Disney becomes just like everything else: disposable. And that’s the saddest thing of all for me.
These continued ticket price increases, DVC fee increases, very poor upper management decisions after many years as a DVC member I’m seriously considering selling all my DVC properties. In case Disney hasn’t noticed people already save years to go to Disney World with their children and grandchildren just to pay for rooms and park passes and then face ridiculous prices for mediocre food in the places they can afford to have a meal.
I realize it’s a business and need to make a profit, I’ve also seen businesses price themselves right out of business. Do I think this would happen to Disney ? No. But I can see attendance take a big hit.
Totally agree with you. The increases on the bottom three tiers are all reasonably reasonable compared to inflation. Only the Incredi-Pass is not. Making much larger hikes to the Incredi-Pass has a secondary benefit to Disney (and guests), in addition to all the reasons you cited: it intentionally widens the gap between Incredi-Pass and Sorcerer Pass. Since DVC members are eligible for Sorcerer Pass, this growing gap makes DVC look more attractive to out-of-staters who visit frequently. We bought DVC direct from Disney back when 100 points was enough to unlock membership perks. At the time, the delta between Gold and Platinum APs was $200 so our family of four stood to “save” up to $800 per year on tickets. That made the math pretty dicey as to whether DVC was worth buying from a strict economics perspective. Now the delta between Incredi-Pass and Sorcerer Pass is $610, offering a “savings” of $2,440 per year on tickets. That gap is so large that joining DVC could almost pay for itself. Our family only buys APs every other year, but half of $2,440 is still more than the cost of our annual dues!
Excellent point with the DVC angle–right on the money with that!
I hope they get rid of the reservation requirement too. It seems to be an unnecessary extra step we do 7-11 months before we arrive. There’s no way of knowing what park we want to be at on a given day half a year or more from now. Your other recent article about the reservations prompted me to log in and make 7 days of mostly Magic Kingdom park reservations for our April 2027 trip. A) we are staying at the Grand Floridian that trip so it makes sense to heavily weight that park, B) it’s the park that is most likely to fill up first. Then we have to modify the reservations as the actual trip unfolds. Just a needless annoyance.
As a local that leaves our house after work M-F on a pixie, the parks never need a reservation outside of select events. (Festival Opening weeks at Epcot, busy weeks around holidays.) July is usually wide open, with, maybe MK being the park of concern.