Hi, Dawn! Welcome to planDisney!
Congratulations on your brand new Walt Disney World Annual Passes! I love being a member of the Annual Passholder family, so I'm happy to walk you through some of the great perks of being a Passholder.
It sounds like you'll be arriving the day before your adventure in the theme parks begins, so I definitely recommend having your passes activated in advance. It just makes so much sense to take care of it early so nothing gets in the way of your Disney day! Your best option would be to stop by the
Disney Ticket Center at Disney Springs to pick up your passes. It's easy to access, and it's usually not a long wait. Plus, you can make a day of it and enjoy some of the amazing shopping and dining at Disney Springs to kick off your vacation!
The Cast Member helping you will give you Annual Pass Cards that can serve as your theme park admission, so you don't really need
MagicBands if you'd prefer not to purchase them. But if you'd love to sport customized MagicBands in the parks, you do have the opportunity to buy them at a discounted price. If you log into your
My Disney Experience account and go to "My MagicBands and Cards," there's an option to order MagicBands for everyone in your family. Prices vary, but you'll see the discounted amount when you hover over the image of each band.
Dawn, it takes a couple of weeks for your MagicBands to arrive, so you probably wouldn't have them in time for this trip. But did you know that your smartphone can be your ticket with Disney MagicMobile service? You just create a digital pass in the My Disney Experience mobile app, then send it to your electronic wallet. You'll find more info on how to create your digital pass on the
Disney MagicMobile page on the Walt Disney World website.
Last question -
Disney PhotoPass! While it's not automatically included with your Annual Pass,
you can purchase it as an add-on for $99. Prices are subject to change, but that's the current posted amount as we're chatting today. If you think you might like to add it, it's probably easiest to do so when you activate your passes in person.
Whew! That's a lot of info! There are so many great reasons to be a Walt Disney World Annual Passholder that I couldn't mention them all, but you can read more about the benefits on the
Annual Passholder page. Thanks for stopping by to see us, Dawn, and I hope you make many magical memories with your Annual Passes!
Keep Disney Dreaming,
Kathy K.