Tips for saving money on annual passports at Disneyland!

Read these tips on how to save money by upgrading your Disneyland park ticket to an annual pass using discounted tickets from Get Away Today. I have personally used this method for years. I will give you as much information as I can think of. Then I will answer some frequently asked questions. This post contains affiliate links which means I make a little something when you purchase through the link with no extra cost to you.

UPDATE: Disney announced the new pass program called Magic Key passes. You can find all the information about these 4 different keys on this post. The information below is now outdated!

Who can save money on an annual passport?

Anyone can save money on an annual pass. If you plan to visit Disneyland more than twice a year it makes sense to purchase an annual pass. You can take your ticket that you use to get in the parks and upgrade it to an annual pass at the end of your trip. You can actually upgrade on any day of your trip, you don’t have to wait until the last day. Just know that your annual pass date starts the first day you used your ticket.

Or in a year when your annual pass expires and you’re ready to upgrade you too can save money by using the method I’m going to explain below. You will want to purchase discounted tickets and then use them to upgrade to Magic Key pass. But for those that utilize the monthly payment plan you can’t take advantage of the discount because you have to pay for your pass in full at the time you upgrade if you use my method below.

How do you save money on an annual passport?

The key to saving money on an annual pass is in the ticket that you use to upgrade. When you go to upgrade a ticket Disney gives you the value of the ticket based on the published Disneyland website price. So if you purchase a discounted ticket and save for instance $10 on your ticket, then those savings transfer over when you upgrade cause you’re given the full value not the discounted rate you paid. Let me show you an example.

Below is an example of savings. Note these are not current prices anymore but it will give you an idea of how this works. The Disneyland website shows a 5-day park hopper with MaxPass is $515 and the same ticket on Get Away Today’s website is $440 which is a $75 savings. (see side by side comparison photo below) So when you take this ticket to the ticket booth to upgrade it Disney is going to give you $515 towards an annual pass even though you only paid $440 for the ticket. Now you take the $515 and apply it to any annual pass. For instance you could put that towards a Flex Pass which is $649. You now pay the difference of $134 and you’re the proud owner of an annual pass. You must pay for the annual pass in full at the time of upgrade. Then you decide if you want to add MaxPass to your annual pass or not. If you decide to add MaxPass to an annual pass it’s $125 for the year. But you don’t have to add MaxPass to your annual pass even though it was on your ticket.

Now to save the most money on an annual pass you should purchase the 5-day park hopper with MaxPass and you’ll save $75 off an annual pass.

Here were savings through Get Away Today back when I created this post. The savings below are no longer current but it gives you an idea of how the more days you go the more savings over the gate price you receive.

2-Day Park Hopper or 1-Park per Day: $15 Savings

2-Day with MaxPass: $25 Savings

3-Day Park Hopper or 1-Park per Day: $15 Savings

3-Day with MaxPass: $30 Savings

4-Day Park Hopper or 1-Park per Day: $20 Savings

4-Day with MaxPass: $35 Savings

5-Day Park Hopper or 1-Park per Day: $50 Savings

5-Day with MaxPass: $75 Savings

It’s important to note that to save the $75 in the scenario above you need to pre-purchase the MaxPass on your ticket. This way the price of MaxPass will apply towards your annual pass! If you pre-purchase a ticket without MaxPass and then purchase MaxPass through the app as an add on, in this case the MaxPass value is not put towards the price of the annual pass. In other words purchase the MaxPass through Get Away Today on your ticket to maximize the most savings.

Bottom line is you can use any ticket to upgrade to an annual pass. But the more you save on the original ticket the more you’ll save on your annual pass when you go to upgrade.

Frequently asked questions about upgrading to an annual pass.

When can we upgrade our tickets?

You can upgrade on any day of your trip, just do it before you go home. Once you’ve gone home you can’t go back and ask to upgrade.

Where do we go to upgrade to an annual pass?

Go to any of the ticket booths outside the gates in the esplanade. And an all new option is located in the Disneyland app.

Can you use the layaway plan for annual passports?

No you can’t use it for the annual passport. But you can use their layaway plan to lock in ticket prices and then use them when they are paid off to upgrade to an annual pass. More on the Get Away Today’s layaway plan here.

Which park hopper should I get the 3-day or 5-day?

I would purchase the 5-day park hopper because it gives you the MOST savings! And add MaxPass to save even more!

Can I use a discounted ticket to upgrade and use for a monthly payment plan?

Sadly no, you have to pay for the annual pass in full at the time of upgrade.

Discounted ticket deal

I personally purchase all my Disneyland tickets through Get Away Today and have for years. They also offer some great hotel deals and will price match if you find a better deal.

Get Away Today offers the ONLY refundable Disneyland tickets
You can lock-in your prices for just $175 down with their interest-free Layaway Plan
Use my promo code DTG10 and save an extra $10 on any 2-night or longer hotel stay + at least 2 tickets