Two New Disney Passholder Perks That CHANGE EVERYTHING

It’s time to roll out the red carpet for our Annual Passholder friends — Disney has been spoiling them with all sorts of perks lately!

For the past few months, we’ve noticed some major changes happening in the Disney World parks. We’re talking new benefits, new attractions, and new restaurants. But one group of people has some extra perks that we need to discuss.

What’s New?

Since Disney World reopened in 2020, the parks have utilized a Park Pass Reservation System, where guests must book a reservation before entering the theme parks. Up to this point, the only way to enter a Disney park was to make a reservation ahead of time.

Now, starting April 18th, Disney World Annual Passholders can enter the parks on weekdays without a park pass reservation any time after 2PM. Annual Passholders still need to make a park pass reservation on Saturdays and Sundays in Magic Kingdom, and pass blackout dates still apply.

What Disney World Isn’t Telling You About the Park Pass Reservation System

Additionally, Passholders now have access to free Disney PhotoPass lenses. These lenses are essentially AR filters that you can use on your smartphone to transform your photos.

Click here to learn more about the new Annual Passholder perks

How Will Things Be Different?

Now that we’ve covered what’s new, let’s talk about what this means for guests. To state the obvious, Annual Passholders will have a lot more flexibility throughout the week. They will be able to pop over to the World Showcase after work to grab dinner or stroll into the Magic Kingdom to catch the fireworks — without a reservation.

In the past, some guests were frustrated that they needed to make a park pass reservation just to visit the park for an hour or two before closing. Now, there’s no need for Passholders to feel guilty about taking a park reservation for a short visit to the parks!

On the other hand, this change may cause more people to visit the parks after 2PM. Additionally, the new rule might make it harder to predict the crowd level in the afternoon/evening.

Disney also recently announced that its Incredi-Pass, Sorcerer Pass, and Pirate Pass Annual Passes are available once again for purchase on April 20th, 2023. It’s been a pretty long time since these passes have been available, which means we’re expecting to see a lot of new Annual Passholders in the parks.

With all this new freedom thanks to the park pass reservation update, we might even see some higher attraction wait times. After all, we can think of a few dozen of our friends who would love a late-night ride on the PeopleMover; what about you?

Although these new benefits are currently available exclusively for Annual Passholders, could this signal more changes to come? After all, we’ve seen some major adjustments around the parks lately (yay for free parking and Genie+ modifications!).

With all this exciting news, we can’t wait to see what happens in the Disney parks in the coming months! In the meantime, stay tuned for all the latest Disney news and park updates!

What do you think about these changes? Let us know in the comments!