Park Parent #5: Is A Disney World Annual Pass Worth It When You Live Out of State?

Park Parent #5: Is A Disney World Annual Pass Worth It When You Live Out of State?

My wife and I became annual passholders to Walt Disney World as of August 25, 2024 for the very first time. I was originally hesitant about an annual pass because I wasn’t sure if we would be able to make the most out of it living in North Carolina, but like the Disney Adult I am it took very little convincing to change my mind.

We had two trips planned for the upcoming year that led to us considering annual passes, and the math started making our decision for us pretty quickly:

Sorcerer Pass: $1079 per person (2024 rate)

Trip #1: 4-day park tickets = $640 per person
Trip #2: 4-day park tickets = $610 per person 

  • Combined cost: $1250 per person (without park hopper)

Even without the added flexibility of being able to park hop or pop into the parks on a shortened arrival day, the annual pass was already cheaper than our two planned trips with four park days per trip. Everything we would be able to do on top of those two trips was free (DISNEY MATH), and it turns out we were able to add plenty on top of those two trips once we had the freedom/temptation of annual passes! 

We are about to take our final trip that will utilize this annual pass purchase, so I thought it would be a good idea to look back at everything we were able to do from August 25, 2024 to August 24, 2025 thanks to being annual passholders. Even coming from out of state, the purchase was beyond worth it for us!

Some caveats to help explain how/why we were able to do all of these trips in a single year…

  • We are Disney Vacation Club owners. We have a 200 point contract at the Grand Floridian, and we borrowed all of our points from next year to be able to cover (almost) all of these resort stays. DVC ownership also qualified us for the Sorcerer Pass, which is what we purchased.

  • We have two daughters, both under the age that requires park tickets: one 2.5 year old, and one infant born in January. Both of them are miraculously good at handling long car rides, so we drove for all of these trips and didn’t have to factor flight costs into our trip planning. 

  • Our September + January trips were add-ons because of other life events taking us to central Florida… and once you’re that close, why not pop over for a park day or two? We also took advantage of our annual pass by visiting the parks before a cruise last August, and are doing the same thing this August just before our passes expire!

Trip #1: August 25 (pre-cruise embarkation bonus) 

  • 1 night at the Riviera (DVC)

  • 1 Park day at Epcot 

Trip #2: September 19-21 (bonus trip #1)

  • 3 nights at Saratoga Springs (DVC)

  • 2 Park days at Magic Kingdom + Epcot

  • Added cost: MNSSHP Tickets 

Trip #3: November 16-20 (planned trip #1)

  • 4 nights at Boardwalk (DVC)

  • 4 Park days at MK, HS, Epcot, & AK

  • Added cost: MVMCP Tickets 

Trip #4: January 8-9 (bonus trip #2)

  • 1 night at Wilderness Lodge (DVC)

  • 2 Park days at Epcot + Magic Kingdom

Trip #5: April 7-12 (planned trip #2)

  • 5 nights at Beach Club (DVC)

  • 5 Park days at MK x2, HS, and Epcot x2

Trip #6: August 19-22 (bonus trip #3, pre-cruise)

  • 3 nights at Riviera ($$$)

  • 3 park days planned at MK + Epcot + HS

Total park days: 17!


Even with Disney Math, I hesitate to say that buying an annual pass “saved” us money. We went back more often, which enabled us to purchase food & merch more often than we otherwise would have… but it also means we enjoyed so much more time than we ever have at the parks! We spent nearly 5% of this year on Disney World property, and the amount of memories we made on those trips is something I never thought we’d be able to fit into one 12 month period. 

Verdict: Sign me up to renew!

We (probably) won’t be able to match that same pace in 2025-26, but we have found that trips to Disney World are the most fun, but still manageable, travel option for our family. This year we will have a 3 year old and a 1 year old, and I can’t imagine boarding a plane or navigating international travel with them quite yet. I can’t wait to do all of that one day; but for now, sign me up for more of the joy and wonder they experience whenever we are back at Disney World.

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