Walt Disney World has released a new discounted ticket for Floridians for early October through Christmas 2023, with deals on 2-4 day tickets for Florida residents. This shares info & details about the limited-time offer, commentary about this Floridian special offer, return of Annual Passes, and historical comparisons.
This is one of several recently-released deals for the Halloween and holiday season, which is normally the busiest stretch of the year at Walt Disney World. If you also need to add a hotel stay, see All Current Discounts at Walt Disney World. If you also qualify for the Annual Passholder, Disney Visa, or Disney+ subscriber offerings, those are likely going to be better than the Floridian room rates.
Between those resort discounts and this special offer on tickets, Florida residents can visit Walt Disney World in October through December 2023 and actually have spend less money than the same dates and experience would’ve cost last year. It’s relatively unprecedented for year-over-year effective price decreases, but that’s precisely what we’re starting to see–and it’s very much welcome after a few years of massive price increases!
In terms of the details, this Late 2023 Walt Disney World ticket deal will offer Florida residents the ability to visit the parks for just $59 per day, plus tax–for a total price of $235 plus tax. Discounted 2-3 day tickets are also available.
Florida Resident Disney Weekday Magic Tickets are valid Monday to Friday only, from October 2 through December 22, 2023. Admission to one theme park per day. Tickets and add-on options expire December 22, 2023.
Proof of Florida residency required. All adults will need to show proof of Florida residency at park entrance. Both a theme park reservation via the Disney Park Pass system and valid theme park admission for the same park on the same date are required.
Here’s a visual chart that might make the info easier to digest:
You can also choose a Disney Weekday Magic Ticket that includes these add-on options:
- Park Hopper Option: $40 More Per Ticket, Plus Tax.Visit more than one theme park on the same day. You must make a theme park reservation for each date of your visit.
- Water Park and Sports Option: $35 More Per Ticket, Plus Tax.Visit one theme park per day. Plus, get a certain number of visits to a water park, golf course or miniature golf course based on the length of your ticket. For example, if you purchase a 4-Day Florida Resident Disney Weekday Magic Ticket with the Water Park and Sports Option, you can visit a Walt Disney World theme park on 4 days with a theme park reservation—and visit a Disney water park on 4 additional days by December 22, 2023.
- Park Hopper Plus Option: $55 More Per Ticket, Plus Tax.Visit more than one theme park on the same day. Plus, get a certain number of visits to a water park, golf course or miniature golf course based on the length of your ticket. This option is a combination of the Park Hopper Option and the Water Park and Sports Option. You must make a theme park reservation for each date of your visit.
As a reminder, the Late 2023 Florida Resident Disney Weekday Magic Tickets do not offer the Genie+ add-on. Previously, this could be purchased for the duration of the tickets at a flat-rate charge of $16 per day. However, this option has been retired for all tickets and Genie+ now uses date-based per-park pricing that ranges from $16 to $35 per day.
Depending upon when you visit, you could actually expect to pay Genie+ prices at the higher end of that spectrum–especially for Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. We’re expecting new price records to be set for those two parks around the weeks of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Everything you need to know is covered in our Guide to Genie+ and Lightning Lanes at Walt Disney World.
If you’re trying to choose the best dates to visit or ones to avoid, consult our 2023 Walt Disney World Crowd Calendars. There are going to be many dates that have low crowds during this Floridian ticket promo–but also, many dates that will have heavy crowds.
That’s why this Late 2023 Florida Resident Disney Weekday Magic Ticket Deal is so surprising to us. Excluding weekends is probably a savvy move for the heart of the Halloween and holiday season, as it is a time of year that’s popular for long weekend trips among diehard Walt Disney World fans. However, there’s also the reality that Saturday and Sundays are the least-busy days of the week at Walt Disney World.
What’s really odd is that Walt Disney World doesn’t have any blockout dates beyond weekends. Obvious candidates would be the weekdays around Columbus Day, Veterans Day, and Thanksgiving–just to name a few. Those weekdays will be among the absolute busiest days of the year, and now there’s a discounted Florida resident ticket added to the mix.
Frankly, this is why I am NOT a fan of this discount. I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion with Floridians who will take advantage of this deal, but this is going to worsen crowds during a lot of weeks that are already unbearably busy. It’d be one thing if Walt Disney World did this with surgical precision, using blockout dates to target times that are typically slower. Then, I’d be a fan. But as it stands, this is going to worsen crowds during times that Osceola and Orange County schools are out of session, and tourists spend big bucks for Walt Disney World vacations.
This is not the first Florida resident discount of the year. The first option was the Disney Weekday Magic Ticket, which started January 10 and ran through April 27, 2023. That offered Floridians discount tickets, with a 2-day ticket for $175 (plus tax), 3-day ticket for $195 (plus tax), or 4-day ticket for $215 (plus tax).
The 2022 Disney Weekday Magic Ticket discount was similar, just slightly cheaper. Those 2-Day Florida Resident tickets cost $149, the 3-Day version was $179, and the 4-Day Florida Resident ticket option cost $199. Additionally, there were fewer blockout dates.
Since then, there have been two other 2023 Floridian ticket deals without counterparts last year. Following a brief gap, the 4-Day Disney Summer Magic Ticket was released for $229 plus tax. Although that ticket was cheaper than this, it was also for less desirable dates and did not exclude weekends. However, it did have blockouts over Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day. If you’d prefer to purchase that ticket and do the slower season, you can still get it through September 29, 2023.
Currently, there’s the 2023 2-Park Explorer Walt Disney World ticket deal that offers Florida residents the ability to buy a special 2-day ticket that’s valid for admission to EPCOT and Disney’s Animal Kingdom for $159 plus tax. The Disney 2-Park Explorer ticket is valid from August 1 to September 29, 2023.
Our guess is that the 2-Park Explorer Ticket deal has not sold too well. It’s odd to us that Walt Disney World wouldn’t have offered the Weekday Magic tickets for all parks in August through September–a slower stretch of the year–and then the 2-Park Explorer Ticket for October through December 2023. That would’ve made more sense, but there’s a good chance they opted against extended the 2-Park Explorer Ticket offer because it wasn’t moving the needle. (It would’ve during October through December–locals love that time of year, and would’ve been satisfied with those two parks then.)
If you’re wondering how this compares to 2021, back then Florida resident ticket prices for the first half of the year were $149 for 2-day tickets, $179 for 3-day tickets, and $199 for 4-day tickets. (Those had more blockout dates–but were also available during a busier season.)
Post-reopening, Florida Resident Discover Tickets started at $130 per ticket for the 2-day ticket. The 3-day option was $174 per ticket and the 4-day Florida Resident Disney Magic Flex Ticket was $195 per ticket. None of those tickets were limited to weekdays-only.
As intimated above, this Late 2023 Florida Resident Disney Weekday Magic Ticket Deal comes as a fairly big surprise to us. If you asked me a few months ago whether an October through December 2023 ticket deal would be offered, I would’ve said no. In fact, a few of you did ask, and that’s more or less what I did say. (Probably crouching it with the caveat that a lot of the current offers are unprecedented, and you never know what Walt Disney World’s going to do.)
Again, that’s because this doesn’t make a ton of sense. Some Walt Disney World “fans” who want vindication or validation of their beliefs will point to this and say it proves that the company is struggling and the theme parks are hurting for attendance. And it’s definitely true that pent-up demand has largely exhausted itself. But the next three months are going to be busy as a whole. (Already, this off-season has been busier than we would’ve expected back in August.)
This feels more like Walt Disney World wanting to pack the parks as much as possible than it does a forecast of anemic attendance. (I guess that’s what you get when your streaming service is still hemorrhaging money, debt is high, and theme parks are the only bright spot!) To the contrary, we already know that at least some of these dates will be very busy. Hotel availability already points to as much for weekdays around the aforementioned holidays.
Much of October through December 2023 outside of those windows will be slower, but not as slow as the parks are right now. To that point, I’ll seek my own vindication, and point out that I’ve been saying for a while that despite claims to the contrary from leadership, Walt Disney World Doesn’t Actually Want Lower Crowds.
Another possibility is that Walt Disney World is “learning” a lesson from the low crowds over Fourth of July and Labor Day. The first of those holidays garnered headlines about the parks being dead or ghost towns in many mainstream media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and CNN. CEO Bob Iger even had to field questions about the Independence Day crowds (or lack thereof) on more than one occasion.
Rather than risking a repeat of those negative headlines, it’s plausible that Walt Disney World is overcorrecting by having no blockouts for the upcoming holiday weeks. In my view, that’s a mistake–Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, etc., would all be busy even with this discounted ticket being blocked out. But I can understand the logic, if that’s the rationale.
Ultimately, the Late 2023 Florida Resident Disney Weekday Magic Ticket Deal is the best way for locals to save on park admission for the heart of Halloween and the holiday season…unless you’ll get enough mileage out of an Annual Pass to make that worth the money. Frankly, we suspect that’ll be true for many Floridians who have an interest in Walt Disney World.
With that said, we’d expect this ticket deal to be hugely popular since this is a great time of year to visit Walt Disney World when seasonal events are happening and the weather is generally more favorable. If you’re thinking about doing this Weekday Magic Ticket Deal, we’d highly recommend buying early and making your Disney Park Pass reservations ASAP.
As a result of this unprecedented ticket deal, we wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if many dates in October through December 2023 end up going yellow or grey on the calendar. Honestly shocked that Walt Disney World is doing this during its most lucrative time of the year, which further suggests that more aggressive discounts are to come in 2024. We’ll continue closely monitoring what’s released and will notify subscribers of our free email newsletter when any Walt Disney World discounts are released or rumored!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of these park ticket promotions for Walt Disney World? Will you be taking advantage of the Florida resident deal for October through December 2023–or did you already purchase an Annual Pass when those sales resumed? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
