Hiya Kevin - welcome to
planDisney!
Thanks so much for stopping by with your question for our team of panelists. We love to help Guests just like you plan your very own, very magical,
Walt Disney World Resort vacations!
Isn't being an
Annual Passholder great?! Being able to visit frequently is the obvious perk, but there are so many other benefits, including complimentary standard parking at Walt Disney World Resort Theme Parks. I'll give you the official answer to your question, and then also share some of my own experiences.
Officially, you'll be asked to produce either your physical Annual Pass card or you can have your MagicBand scanned, as long as your Annual Pass is linked to your My Disney Experience account and MagicBand. Alternatively, if you set up a
Disney MagicMobile pass on your smartphone, that can also be used. With this option, sometimes the Cast Member at the Theme Park entrance has scanned my smartphone, and other times I've been asked to go into my Apple Wallet and show the details of my MagicMobile pass. It shows "ANNUAL" in the Affiliation field, but this is on an iPhone, and I'm not 100% certain where the information is shown on Android devices.
To be honest with you, sometimes I've been waved through just by holding up my physical Annual Pass card, and sometimes the Cast Member sees the little Annual Passholder charm located on my MagicBand and it hasn't been actually scanned. These instances are rare, and 99% of the time, it's been just a quick scan of my MagicBand or my smartphone to access the parking area. You are also able to upgrade to
Preferred Parking for a small fee if you would like to!
I'm so excited to hEAR that you'll be visiting in a couple of weeks! While you're there, be sure to check out my favorite new ride,
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at
EPCOT - it's a blast!
Ryan J.