Is Magic Key worth the money?

[Unity]

This is a genuine question for those who have Magic Key / have considered it heavily.

Do you believe Magic Key to be worth it? As a curious non-Californian or Florida resident currently deciding things in the future - [and since California may be where the most jobs lay ahead for me in the field I'm pursuing versus Florida which has both anti-trans and gay laws, as well as not as much in the field I'm going into], I've been comparing prices between annual passes and Magic Keys, and honestly?

Maybe I'm not seeing something obvious - but I find that annual passes for Disney World are overall a much better deal and that Disneyland is really missing out right now. Again, might be missing something obvious.

For comparison's sake, I'm mostly looking at the Disney Sorcerer Pass versus something like an Inspire Key. Both have about the same blockout dates from what I regarded of the 2024/2025 calendars - but a Sorcerer Pass is about 999 dollars with the availability of monthly payments versus an 1600+ price key. Both have 20% on certain merchandise, and Sorcerer beats it out in terms of a 5% discount increase for certain dining. And if you wanted an unlimited photopass upgrade it would still be around 1100 - not to mention you can get another upgrade to get all water parks and sports stuff included for another 99. With both you still beat out the Inspire Key by more than 400 dollars.

Of course - the big difference is the Sorcerer Pass is limited to Florida or DVC members. But from what I can tell the only South Californian key there is very much more limited than the Sorcerer in terms of both blockout dates and more.

And so my question is: is it worth it to you?

 

[soniam]

I think it depends how often and when you can go. We own DVC at Disneyland Villas and live in Texas. We also have a kid heading off to college. We can’t always go whenever we want, I considered getting APs with the recent release. We might not go every year. This year we are going twice. In the end, with even the highest tier having black out dates, I decided it was not worth it. We have APs for WDW and Universal Orlando.

 

[AstroBlasters]

I think it depends how often and when you can go. We own DVC at Disneyland Villas and live in Texas. We also have a kid heading off to college. We can’t always go whenever we want, I considered getting APs with the recent release. We might not go every year. This year we are going twice. In the end, with even the highest tier having black out dates, I decided it was not worth it. We have APs for WDW and Universal Orlando.

I got it for myself (discounts on food/merch) but not for the rest of the family.

I wish they had another tier that had the top MK blackout dates but without parking for and at lower price for DVC-Y members.

 

[Hyphen677]

We live out of state (New Mexico) and have the Enchant key. It has saved us money but we also have been stuck going on days that were pretty crowded after 10:30 a.m. We're going to let our keys lapse and see if the crowds really are better on the dates the lowest three tiers are blocked. My guess is that Disneyland is just crowded all the time but we're going to test the theory.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

We live out of state (New Mexico) and have the Enchant key. It has saved us money but we also have been stuck going on days that were pretty crowded after 10:30 a.m. We're going to let our keys lapse and see if the crowds really are better on the dates the lowest three tiers are blocked. My guess is that Disneyland is just crowded all the time but we're going to test the theory.

Go on a Saturday in July and be amazed.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

I've been 5 times since I got back pass in January. I'll be going again next week, at least once in May and then like 4 or 5 times in June.

SO that will be 10 or 11 visits
Parking is 35 bucks to 350 bucks saved so that brings my pass to 1300 divide that by 10, so 130 a trip and that will be able half the year.

So by the end I should end up paying less then 100 bucks a trip, thats not including discounts when i do dine there or buy merch and perks like first dips on Oggie Boogie tickets

 

[foolish_mortals]

Depends on when you go, but yes.

It's a supply and demand question. The demand is much higher in CA than it is in FL. The population of Southern CA alone is about 23 million which is about the same population of the entire state of Florida. Median income is higher too, so if they charged the same just imagine how packed the parks would be.

Disneyland is a locals park and Florida gets more international visitors. They need more locals in their slow season thus the cheaper passes and heavy passholder discounts.

It works, I have passes to both and planned another WDW trip because the discounts were so good. I'm at Disneyland right now and going 6 times in the next 2 weeks.

 

[DisneyDad0315]

This is a genuine question for those who have Magic Key / have considered it heavily.

Do you believe Magic Key to be worth it? As a curious non-Californian or Florida resident currently deciding things in the future - [and since California may be where the most jobs lay ahead for me in the field I'm pursuing versus Florida which has both anti-trans and gay laws, as well as not as much in the field I'm going into], I've been comparing prices between annual passes and Magic Keys, and honestly?

Maybe I'm not seeing something obvious - but I find that annual passes for Disney World are overall a much better deal and that Disneyland is really missing out right now. Again, might be missing something obvious.

For comparison's sake, I'm mostly looking at the Disney Sorcerer Pass versus something like an Inspire Key. Both have about the same blockout dates from what I regarded of the 2024/2025 calendars - but a Sorcerer Pass is about 999 dollars with the availability of monthly payments versus an 1600+ price key. Both have 20% on certain merchandise, and Sorcerer beats it out in terms of a 5% discount increase for certain dining. And if you wanted an unlimited photopass upgrade it would still be around 1100 - not to mention you can get another upgrade to get all water parks and sports stuff included for another 99. With both you still beat out the Inspire Key by more than 400 dollars.

Of course - the big difference is the Sorcerer Pass is limited to Florida or DVC members. But from what I can tell the only South Californian key there is very much more limited than the Sorcerer in terms of both blockout dates and more.

And so my question is: is it worth it to you?

I have Inspire Key (it includes parking) and the rest of the family has Believe Key. We enjoy going on the weekend and we go about 3 times a month. We own DVC and stay at Grand Californian about 4 nights a year. We stay at Aulani with the rest of our points. It will not be worth the money when my kids are over it. As long as the kids and my wife enjoy going, I'll keep paying. It's not worth any price to me if my family is over it, which might happen one day (but not yet!)

 

[MillauFr]

It is worth it for the people that buy the pass. For the people who do not it isn't worth it.

 

[NorCalFanatic]

You gotta do the math and see what works for you. We’re in Northern California and have inspire passes. We’re also DVC and stay at VDH 2-3X a year ultimately 20+ days over the three trips. We still come out ahead over buying direct tickets.

 

[gelatoni fan]

For me, it's not worth it. I used to have a Magic Key but the reservation limits meant that often times, my friends living in Southern California who also had Magic Keys wouldn't go into the park with me in order to preserve their reservations for the weekend. Or they didn't know what time they would get off work and when it turned out they could get off work early, there were no more reservations available so I had to leave the park to go eat with them.

It's a one hour flight for me to get to Disneyland but I'd much rather fly to Tokyo several times a year to go to Tokyo Disney instead. If the Sorcerer or Pirate Pass were available to people who aren't Florida residents, I'd strongly consider getting one. Like you wrote, the Florida Annual Passes are better value.

I'm someone who will plan my year of vacations based around which annual pass provides the most value. I'm currently considering Universal Orlando and Disneyland Paris but not Disneyland California.

If I had to consider moving to either Southern California or Florida and was planning to get a Disney pass as a local, here's other considerations: Things are more expensive in California (gas at $5+ a gallon vs $3+ a gallon in Florida). Cities in California have a lot more homeless people and crime while Florida is uncomfortably hot in the summer. If the salaries were nearly identical, I'd pick Florida so the starting salary needs to be quite a bit better for me to choose California.

 

[Lisa24jks]

Whether a Magic Key is worth it or not is entirely an individual experience. In my case, it is. Even though I have to have the most expensive pass because I'm not local and can generally only visit on Saturdays/Sundays (so I need unblocked weekends), it's still worth it. Those are the highest price days for indidivual tickets, so it only takes me 6 visits to break even (not counting parking and other discounts) and I do more than that per year. For other people, it's not worth it. And there may come a time when I visit less and the pass is no longer feasible, but for now it works.

That said, I personally would not choose future employment or a home based on proximity to a Disney park and the price of their annual passes. You should choose the career path and location that is best for you and your future, and if it happens to be near Disney parks, then all the better. There are pros and cons to both places.

 

[Karin1984]

To keep in mind: yes, you can calculate how many days you would need to spend in the park to break even. Including other perks.

But when you do not live nearby, you have to calculate transport, hotel, food & drink costs as well.

Let's say the MK costs $1,000, and let's say you need 5x 3 day visits to break even. And all your additional costs are $500 per visit. Then the total cost of the MK is $3,500. That vacation money cannot be spend on other destinations, when you purely look at the monetary value.
It can be seen as an obligation.

You get more variety in WDW with more parks, but it probably also increases the time you spend (and therefore the money you spend) at the parks.

"Worth it" is a very individual decision. When I travel with my best friend, we both pay for own plane tickets. For me, the flight is part of the vacation experience, and I usually pay extra for more comfortable seats or a different cabin. For my friend, the flight is just transportation from A to B, she will get the cheapest ticket in economy. Worth it to me. Not worth it to her.

I have an annual pass for Disneyland Paris, and had the highest tier for many years. It almost expires. I know I probably can get my money's worth with the highest tier, even after the 40% price increase. However... DLP has removed almost all benefits. Which caused some bad blood between us . So, I am not sure yet if I will renew or renew to a lower tier.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

The DLR APs are always going to be much more expensive as long as several cities in Southern California have higher income and wealth levels than all of Florida— essentially, Disney is going to charge whatever the market will pay for the amount of passholders it’s hoping to entice. Currently we have APs on both coasts, but some years when we are busy or disenchanted we will stick to individual tickets. Others have alluded to it before, but in my opinion the passes almost always cost us more, because we find ourselves going more often to “get our money’s worth” and then between G+, ILL, merch and food, we end up spending hundreds a day. Just something to keep in mind as you’re calculating a purchase decision.

@AstroBlasters — I recently saw a sign at Starview station advertising $20 off Magic Keys for Y-card members.

 

[AstroBlasters]

The DLR APs are always going to be much more expensive as long as several cities in Southern California have higher income and wealth levels than all of Florida— essentially, Disney is going to charge whatever the market will pay for the amount of passholders it’s hoping to entice. Currently we have APs on both coasts, but some years when we are busy or disenchanted we will stick to individual tickets. Others have alluded to it before, but in my opinion the passes almost always cost us more, because we find ourselves going more often to “get our money’s worth” and then between G+, ILL, merch and food, we end up spending hundreds a day. Just something to keep in mind as you’re calculating a purchase decision.

@AstroBlasters — I recently saw a sign at Starview station advertising $20 off Magic Keys for Y-card members.

But only in person!

 

[klamb55]

Curious if it might be worth it living in Ohio? The flights I think would be the biggest challenge

 

[AstroBlasters]

Curious if it might be worth it living in Ohio? The flights I think would be the biggest challenge

In some ways I think reservations make it easier for someone who needs to schedule travel vs a local, but the thing that gets us is that the longer stays have a significantly lower price per day than the shorter stays.

And if you are coming from Ohio, how many times would you visit a year and what would be the duration of the visit?

Do you need weekend days? How about summer days?

It gets very convoluted very quickly.

 

[NVDISFamily]

We got good value owning our MKs this past year but we are taking a gamble and letting them expire for now. We have two weeks of WDW coming up in July and we are keen on just enjoying our Knott's passes for our August VDH trip as it's more a family/pool/resort trip and Soak City fits more into that theme. Not sure what we'll do for October. May renew the MKs by then. Will definitely want either MKs or tickets for our November trip so that's when we'll have to break out the workbook formulas and see what makes sense.

We got great value out of our MKs this last cycle but we also went the Believe and Knott's AP route as that combo is cheaper than the top tier of MKs even if you include the food into your pass at Knotts.

 

[PiratesOfTheSea]

We live in Northern California and had APs for a year when we had enough trips planned over that year to make the numbers work. We typically average 1-2 trips a year so it hasn't been worth it for us in recent years.

However, if you are thinking of moving here, especially to alphabet-friendly areas, the COL tends to catch a lot of people by surprise coming from LCOL areas. Your job and income is going to end up being the determining factor.

 

[pineapplepalms]

We have WDW and DLR passes because the math has worked out so far. For DLR we’re going around 30 days this year across 6 or 7 trips. It has definitely been worth it for us. We are also DVC members and stay at VGC/VDH on our points. We have Inspire Keys since that worked best for our travel dates, which are mainly over school breaks. We do mainly QS meals, so I like how often we get MK discounts at DLR vs. at WDW.