If you’re planning a trip to Walt Disney World in 2021, there’s a lot to be excited for! There’s also plenty of changes that you want to make sure you’re aware of. Sure, there are still some hotels that remain closed in addition to various food and beverage outlets as well as shows and parades that are temporarily paused. There still are no FastPasses available, but Park Hopping has returned! Before you get too far into planning your trip, you want to fully understand how pricing has changed for theme parks in 2021
New Pricing at Walt Disney World for 2021
Effective January 1st 2021, Walt Disney World rolled out updated pricing for theme parks, in addition to add-ons for water parks (when they re-open) and additional attractions such as the ESPN Wide World of Sports.
First things first, there are four different ticket options.
One Park Per Day Tickets
This ticket option starts at $109/day and will increase in price based on the popularity of the day, similar to how “dynamic” pricing used to be. Expect prices to be higher on weekends and holidays, in addition to traditional peak vacation times. The price of these tickets (per day) will decrease the more days you buy. As of now, guests can purchase anywhere from 1 day to 10 days.
Here’s an example of some of the pricing that is currently available for February 2021. You can see that the base price is only available for one day this entire month. Peak pricing for the month is $138 on President’s Day Weekend.
One-day tickets are valid only on the selected date. For multi-day tickets, all days must be used during the valid ticket dates. Multi-day tickets are valid for one theme park per day for each day of the ticket and have a variable number of total days they can be used over. For example, a 10-day ticket will expire 14 days after the first time you enter one of the parks.
Don’t forget, you also have to have a valid Park Pass Reservation for each day. You need to check that availability before you purchase a ticket to ensure the park of your first choice is available. Why? Because tickets are non-refundable. You don’t want to buy tickets to a park you can’t access on the day of your choosing.
Park Hopper Option
If you’d like to visit multiple parks each day of your ticket, it’s going to cost you more. To compare, let’s take a look at the same month:
Here’s what the breakdown looks like for multi-day discounts:
As we’ve shared recently, the return of Park Hopping comes with some strings attached. Park Hopping isn’t available until after 2pm and requires you to still have a Park Pass Reservation for your first park of the day (and you have to actually enter the park you have a reservation for). Also, the park you want to “hop” to must have capacity available for you to be able to enter.
Water Park & Sports Option
This is the option for you if you’re not concerned about Park Hopping, but want to enjoy water parks (when they re-open in March 2021) as well as the NBA Experience, ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, golf courses and both Disney’s Fantasia Gardens and Disney’s Winter Summerland miniature golf courses. This option is only available starting on March 7th (the re-opening date of the water parks)
Park Hopper Plus Option
This last option is the full offering: theme park tickets, Park Hopping & water park and sports experiences as described above. Pricing is only available starting on March 7th:
Annual Passes
As of this writing, Walt Disney World Annual Passes are still not available to the public. Though we have heard of Annual Passholders who have been able to successfully renew their passes (without lapse) as well as Disney Vacation Club members who were able to purchase new Annual Passes (even when they lapsed). Of course, there is no official statements to whether or not this is policy, and with anything in life “your mileage may vary”.
Florida Residents
Pre-COVID, Florida residents were able to subscribe to an Annual Pass by paying a monthly fee. That was discontinued when Annual Pass sales were suspended. New pricing has been announced for Florida residents that offer them a sizeable discount when they purchase up to a 4 day ticket. For a single park per day ticket, pricing looks like this:
These tickets are treated no different than the ones we’ve outlined above. There are four options, as listed above and the pricing will fluctuate as such. The only difference is the discount (and the fact you can only buy up to 4 days). But don’t try to cheat the system – proof of Florida residency is required.
The only exception is a new type of ticket Disney calls the “Florida Resident Discover Disney Ticket”. This option offers great value for purchasing 4 days (only $199), but comes with a slew of restrictions and blackout dates.
If you’d like to add the Park Hopper option, it will cost you $241.50 (an add on cost of $42.50).
There is some flexibility as they don’t have to be used on consecutive days. The fine print is:
- 2-Day Discover Disney Tickets: Valid January 4, 2021 through March 11, 2021; subject to the following blockout dates: January 16 – 18 and February 13 – 15, 2021
- 3-Day and 4-Day Discover Disney Tickets: Valid January 4, 2021 through June 18, 2021; subject to the following blockout dates: January 16 – 18, February 13 – 15, March 26 – April 11 and May 28 – 31, 2021
This is similar to the ticket offer that was available in Summer/Fall 2020. We expect Disney to have another option available after the peak summer season – though it might change based on the current pandemic situation and guest attendance.
The Recap
Ticketing for Walt Disney World in 2021 is a bit more complicated. But, it’s not impossible to understand if you know what type of trip you’re planning for. Check Park Pass Reservation availability before you buy tickets (and make sure you book them as soon as you buy your tickets). It will definitely cost you more for the possibility of Park Hopping.
