Disney fans wait hours online, in person to buy Florida annual passes

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - Patience ran thin Thursday as Disney World fans all over the country waited hours online and in person to buy its annual passes.

Diane, visiting from Ontario, Canada, joined the queue online at 7 a.m. About nine hours later, she showed up at Disney Springs to buy them in person instead.

"Right now, on the phone, it's saying it's about an hour left. But I just tried going to Disney Springs, and there's a queue there as well," Diane said. 

After not having much luck online, either, Lea-Marie Velardi, from DeLand, figured she’d try buying them in person, too.

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"I was mid-workout when I was in queue. I said, ‘You know what? I'm just going to stop,’ and I got in the car, and I'm still in queue right now, and it still hasn't loaded. This is faster [in person]," she said.

The two of them are lucky to be in Central Florida and near Disney, but others, like Danny Megill in New Jersey, had no choice but to hold out online. He waited in the queue for about six hours before he could purchase his passes. He attributes the long wait to high demand because they haven’t been sold since 2021.

"Whether you buy them at the park or you order them online, it's always right in, right out ... easy. Not like this. Not 6 hours’ worth," he told FOX 35 via Zoom.

Shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday, Disney posted on its website it would be pausing sales of its passes for the night beginning at 11 p.m. Sales will resume again at 7:15 a.m. Friday, but the company can’t guarantee all four of its annual passes will still be available.

"Guests will remain in the queue overnight, as long as they remain connected to the network and keep their browser open," Disney said in an update on its website.