Prices do change, but in early 2008, the price for an adult park hopper
annual pass
is $448.00. I have never seen a discount on this, but there may be one
that exists somewhere that I don't know about. The price for an annual
pass seems like a lot, but depending on how many days you will be at
Disney and factoring in any hotel, shopping, or dining discounts you
can get with the pass, it could end up being a real bargain.
You could buy an annual pass online (follow the link above), but I
wouldn't do it (with one exception I'll mention below). You can buy an
annual pass at any ticket window at the theme parks; it only takes
about 5 minutes and the price is no different. The reason I wouldn't
buy online in advance of my trip is that you want your pass to last as
long as possible. Let's say you bought your pass online and then you
were forced to postpone your trip because of illness or other factors,
then you would have less than a year's worth of use for your pass.
Some people who travel to WDW every year buy annual passes and stagger
their trips to make the best use of them. For example, if I visit WDW
and buy an annual pass in January 2008, I might plan my next trip for
December 2008 so that I have nearly, but not quite a year in between
trips. This way you get two trips worth of park tickets covered by the
pass.
The one exception to my not-buying-in-advance strategy for annual
passes is if you happened to see a great hotel discount that was
available only to passholders. (These do happen with some regularity.)
Then I might buy the pass early so that I could take advantage of the
good hotel rate.
Let me know if you need anything else.