Hi Donna,
Welcome back to the Disney Parks Moms Panel, and a warm hello to you in Australia. It sounds like you’re planning quite the magical vacation!
There are some great perks to becoming an Annual Passholder, including complimentary standard theme park parking, PhotoPass downloads, and discounts on select dining, merchandise, and resort rooms. My suggestion is that you compare the price of your 8-day ticket to the price of an annual pass, and then factor in the cost of theme park parking for your offsite days (if you’ll have a rental car) and Memory Maker if you plan to purchase it. You’ll also want to look through the
Annual Passholder Extras to see if they are things you’d use, to see if you’ll find value in these perks. Once you’ve done those things, I think you’ll have a sense of whether it will make sense, given your budget and plans. My family always buys so many souvenirs, and I admit that the merchandise discount makes the bill a little easier to pay!
Donna, it’s a good strategy to have one member of your party purchase the Annual Pass, but there are some limitations to the approach. Be aware that the Passholder must be present any time you redeem discounts, as they will have to show their Annual Pass card as well as a valid ID – so, for example, as a party of six, if you needed to take two cars, you would only get one parking discount. Similarly, when dining, the discount is only valid for the Passholder and three guests, so you would need two Annual Passes to cover your full party. It might be helpful to contact the Annual Passholder phone line at (407) 560-7277 to have a Cast Member help with any questions you might have.
Have fun planning and Disney dreaming, and please come back and see us if you have any more questions.
Wishing you a magical vacation,
Robyn