Disney Annual Passes

I'm pretty sure I know the answer to my question, but knowing how knowledgeable you folk are I thought nothing ventured etc.
We want to buy annual passes for Disney Florida. Unfortunately it looks like they put up the prices yesterday. Seems you can still pick up 7/14 day passes at the old price and I wondered if anyone had any idea if it is possible to buy Annual passes at the old price and if so where?
Here's hoping. Thanks.

You do indeed know the answer... it's Disney! They will honour transactions made at the old ticket / AP rates before the price increase, but anything made after the price hike is at new prices only. One thing very predictable at Disney... at least one (sometimes more) price increases / T&C changes per year. But as long as the punters flock to their parks in their droves (which they do), the prices will keep on going up.

And of course, as soon as Disney get away with a price increase it's a green light for Universal / SeaWorld to test the waters too.

A holiday in Florida is not cheap park ticket-wise. We spent over £700 each on tickets for an 18 day break last year. 14 Day Ultimate Disney Ticket, 6 Park / 14 day ticket covering all Universal & SeaWorld / Aquatica & Busch + a Discovery Cove dolphin swim. We wanted complete flexibility to do what we wanted, where we wanted each day & paid for it. We could have saved money by doing only Disney / only non-Disney, but that did not appeal to us.

And what was the best day of all the last three 2-week+ holidays we've done in Orlando? Without a doubt, Discovery Cove. Just a complete chill-out relaxing day with no crowds / queues and everything included (OK, you've paid for it in the ticket price!) The dolphin swim experience seems to have been lengthened a little too, but Discovery Cove is a welcoming respite from theme park crowds & queues everywhere.

Something I'd add on Annual pass value is that if you happen to have a DVC membership that Annual passes have been at Florida resident rates (ie, a lot cheaper) for several years now for the owner and their family - and renewals also get a lower rate. This over the years has saved us a great proportion of the costs of DVC (the fact we also get ~2-3 weeks a year at Disney too if we want it is also a bonus) - its several hundred dollars a year in savings, though admittedly it's not a guranteed benefit..

This does make going twice to the mouse in a year a lot more attractive for us than once as it really only works out a small amount more than 14 day ultimate pass in reality and the parking being included helps a lot when off-site at villas... DVC does get complaints from some, but it's a purchase our family (and I think others on this forum) has never regretted for its savings.

A holiday in Florida is not cheap park ticket-wise. We spent over £700 each on tickets for an 18 day break last year. 14 Day Ultimate Disney Ticket, 6 Park / 14 day ticket covering all Universal & SeaWorld / Aquatica & Busch + a Discovery Cove dolphin swim. We wanted complete flexibility to do what we wanted, where we wanted each day & paid for it. We could have saved money by doing only Disney / only non-Disney, but that did not appeal to us.

And what was the best day of all the last three 2-week+ holidays we've done in Orlando? Without a doubt, Discovery Cove. Just a complete chill-out relaxing day with no crowds / queues and everything included (OK, you've paid for it in the ticket price!) The dolphin swim experience seems to have been lengthened a little too, but Discovery Cove is a welcoming respite from theme park crowds & queues everywhere.

That's why it pays to plan ahead, ask yourself what days you plan to go the parks, develop a rough plan and take it from there. Thanks to advice on this forum, the last few times I've been the parks I bought my tickets from Undercover Tourist. The prices are in USD, but if you're not after the 7-day or 14-day passes that only seem to be available from the UK-based outlets, there's some decent savings to be made by only buying tickets for the length you plan to go to them, even more so if you're only planning to do 1 park per day.

I completely agree about Discovery Cove. I went there the last time I was in Florida and we thoroughly enjoyed the dolphin swim, unlimited food and drinks and the general relaxed atmosphere of the place. Going in mid-September probably helped as well. A tip is that entrance to SeaWorld and Aquatica is included in the cost of your Discovery Cove ticket and valid within a 14-day period around your booking.

A slightly "naughty tip"... if you (or some of your party) have tickets that cover SeaWorld, Aquatica & Busch Gardens...

When you first use the said ticket at one of the two Orlando parks, they will take your photo to link the ticket to you. The "other" Orlando park will also see the same photo if you try and use the ticket there. However, if you go to Busch Gardens, based on our 3 visits there last year, there is no link between Orlando & Tampa for photos - so Busch Gardens just take a new photo (didn't even ask us for a signature either).

You could, therefore, if you wanted to risk the T&C's, share passes amongst your party if only some wanted to visit Busch Gardens and forego SeaWorld & Aquatica. It's not without risk mind, but based on my experience it may well work.