Pros

The most significant advantage for an annual pass is what I just said. You have the run of Disney for an entire year. You pay for 365 days of admission all at once, which works out to less than $3 per day. As I just said, you won’t use all of it, of course. So, let’s presume that you visit Disney once a week. You’re effectively paying $20 per day of admission, a much better value.

Also, the best annual passes, the Platinum ones, negate surge pricing. You can visit the parks on any day, even Christmas and July 4^th, the most crowded single dates each year. Disney welcomes you anytime, day or night at any park at the resort where you purchase. You can enter, exit, and re-enter as needed. It’s marvelous. And there’s also an annual pass that’s good for all North American Disney parks!

The other advantages of the annual pass are, perhaps counterintuitively, financial in nature. With your pass, you'll receive passholder benefits. The ones that you'll use the most provide discounts at certain restaurants and stores around Disney campuses.

Most of the discounts are for a modest 10 or 20 percent. However, you'll find that you can maximize the value by doing a bit of research. Disney also offers discounts of this nature for some of its tours and non-park attractions. All annual passholders know to mention that they have one to a cast member. The Disney employee will know whether passholders qualify for a discount, and the answer is often yes.

The other massive passholder benefit involves parking. Disney charges a fortune to park at the various gates. As a passholder, you receive free parking, a savings of up to $45 per visit, no joke. Of course, this advantage only applies when you drive to the parks, a subsection of theme park tourists that has grown smaller in the ride-sharing era.

Cons

Let me be blunt. The annual pass isn’t for most theme park tourists. It only makes sense when you plan to visit the parks multiple times in a single 365-day period. In other words, annual passes are primarily for locals in Florida and California. However, exceptions exist.

I live several hundred miles away from Walt Disney World, yet I own a Platinum Pass. As a Disney Vacation Club member, I'm entitled to a hotel room at a Deluxe Tier resort each visit. And that plays an essential factor in my decision.

This program incentivizes me to vacation at Walt Disney World more, and so an annual pass makes sense for me…sometimes. When my family visits three times in a year, we get a yearly pass. When we're only visiting once, we buy regular admission tickets. 

I would estimate that 14 days is the magic number. When you’re spending less than two weeks at Disney, which describes the overwhelming majority of out-of-state travelers, an annual pass makes little sense.

If you attend the parks more than that, the price is similar for regular admission vs. an annual pass, especially once we factor in meal and merchandise discounts. Ergo, I view annual passes as something to consider only when you plan to visit Disney at least twice in the same year. And you’ll need to spend a full week there each time.

Most people would never do that, but there are some folks like me out there who may need an annual pass. We're spending at least 21 days at Walt Disney World in eight months. Buying individual admission each time would be crazy for us. Only you can decide which kind of ticket best fits your needs, though. Grab a calendar and a calculator and figure it out!