Hey Scott,
Welcome back to planDisney! What’s better than having a visit to Walt Disney World booked? Having 2 visits booked! I love the fact that the wheels are turning in your head as you think about
Annual Passes instead of regular tickets, because this is exactly the kind of Disney adult math I would do. Guests who live outside of Florida can only purchase the
Disney Incredi-Pass unless they are eligible
Disney Vacation Club (DVC) members, in which case they are also eligible to purchase the Disney Sorcerer Pass. If you look at the current pricing for the Incredi-Pass and compare it to the cost of day tickets for your dates, you’ll probably have your answer.
Not knowing your December dates, I did a little math using Christmas week and discovered that the cost of your 6-day Park Hopper Plus tickets for that visit as well as your October visit will cost more per person than Annual Passes (not including the Water Park and Sports add-on). However, if you purchase tickets that allow entry into one park per day and have no Water Park access, the difference is negligible but the single tickets wind up being a tiny bit less than an Annual Pass.
Now that we’ve done all this Disney adult math, I’ll tell you that I do think the Annual Passes are worth it whether you will plan to use them again after December or not looking at the numbers. However, numbers aside, these passes will encourage you to visit Disney World more over the course of the next year to get the full value and personally I think that’s a good thing! You may want to add that in as a factor while you make your decision, though to be fair. Also, consider the fact that Passholders get so many
amazing benefits like access to Passholder specific merchandise and dining as well as discounts on merchandise, dining, special event tickets, hotel rooms and more.
You have a few different options for
upgrading your existing ticket. You can either do this via the
My Disney Experience app, in-person with Guest Services, or by
phone. You’ll want to do this before you purchase tickets for October if you decide to upgrade because you cannot combine the value of more than one ticket per person when upgrading to an Annual Pass.
Scott, I hope this information was helpful. If I haven't talked you into Annual Passes yet, I've definitely talked myself into them! If you need any additional information, please feel free to visit us here at planDisney again. Until later, TTFN… ta-ta for now!
Sakinah