How much is the Disney World Annual Pass and is it worth it?

Florida residency gets you much more bang for your buck

Disney offers much more flexibility for its Florida residents. Those who live in-state get to choose from a total of four annual passholder tiers, including the Incredi-pass.

One tier below the Incredi-Pass, the Sorcerer Pass costs $969 (plus tax). This pass gets you access to all four of the Disney World parks, free parking, and similar discount benefits. However, it does come with some of the major holiday blackouts like Christmas. The Sorcerer pass is available to Florida residents and any Disney Vacation Club members regardless of whether you are out of state, so long as you meet their requirements.

The Disney Pirate Pass is the next lower tier and will cost you $749.00 per ticket. There are blackout dates, mostly around the holidays and busier windows. But this is a great option as it's both relativel affordable and allows you access to the parks on most days.

The last option is the Disney Pixie Dust Pass. This is the most affordable option, costing $399, but there are a lot more restrictions. You are only allowed to visit the park during weekdays and are blocked out for most holidays as well as things like spring break.

The Pixie pass will run $399.00 until they raise the prices again.

The Pixie Dust Pass a perfect budget-friendly plan that lets you visit the parks throughout the year if you don't mind taking off from work or keeping the kids out of school. At its current cost, you can break even after about your third park visit, depending on Disney's single-day pricing.

Regardless of which annual pass you own, parking at the theme parks is free. And remember, Disney removed the parking costs for its on-property hotels. You can also upgrade to preferred parking for an extra $20 upon your arrival, which I recommend if you hate walking.

Each annual pass also comes with a renewal option that begins 30 days prior to its expiration and 60 days after. There is a discount for renewing which helps and if you are a Florida annual passholder, you have the option to upgrade.

In addition to the parks, you can also add an ESPN Wide World of Sports and water park option for only $99.00. The water parks alone are worth the addition. You can also add a PhotoKey passport to your ticket as well for an upgrade price.

Other Annual Passholder benefits beyond the price of admission

Disney will offer Annual Passholder magnets throughout the year. The downside is you have to be in the park to get one and each magnet is only available for at most two or three months before it changes.

There is a passholder entrance to every park but most of the time you don't really need to use it and it doesn't offer a more streamlined entry. I would much rather see an AP security entry point which would save time getting to the park faster.

Unless you are staying at a Disney resort, being an annual passholder will not get you on a ride faster or provide you with any other ride benefits that are not available to everyone else.

At Disneyland the pricing structure is different than at Disney World.

Disneyland has a different system than Disney World. Instead of annual passes, they are called Magic Keys and come in four different platforms.

• Inspire key - $1,599
• Believe key - $1,099 - available only as a renewal option
• Enchant Key - $699 - renewal option only
• Imagine key - $499 - this pass is a renewal option only and is only available to Southern California residents residing in a certain zip code.