Walt Disney World has released the new 2-Park Explorer Ticket for Florida residents for Winter & Spring 2026, with modest discounts on visiting EPCOT and Animal Kingdom. This shares info & details about the limited-time offer, commentary about the deal quality (spoiler: it’s not very good), and more.
This is one of several new deals; if you also need to add a hotel stay, Walt Disney World has released discounts of Up to 35% Off Walt Disney World Resorts for Florida Residents through Summer 2026. This is just one of many discounts available right now at Walt Disney World, thanks to the release of 5 other new discounts.
There are also two other ticket deals: Get 2 Free Days on Summer 2026 Walt Disney World Tickets, which is aimed at the general public wanting to spend 6+ days in the park (so probably not a good comparison to a 2-park ticket). There’s also the 4-Day Discover Disney Ticket, which is also aimed at Florida residents. Here are deal details of this Florida Resident 2-Park Explorer Ticket…
Florida residents! Get a special 2-Day, 2-Park Ticket to EPCOT and Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park only—for just $190 plus tax (that’s $95 per day, plus tax). NOT valid for admission to Magic Kingdom or Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
This special 2-Day, 2-Park Ticket is valid for use from January 12 to April 18, 2026, with an advance park reservation. Reservations are limited and subject to availability of reservations allocated to this ticket as determined by Disney, and park capacity.
These tickets can be used on consecutive or nonconsecutive days—so you can spread out the fun!
Visit one theme park per day—for a total of 2 admissions, on 2 separate days. Tickets and add-on options expire April 18, 2026. All tickets and options are nontransferable and nonrefundable, and exclude activities/events separately priced or not open to the general public.
You can also choose a special 2-Day, 2-Park Ticket with an add-on option—so you can enjoy water parks, sporty fun or even the Park Hopper benefit!
Explore add-on options:
- Park Hopper Option – $40 More Per Ticket, Plus Tax
Visit more than one of the following theme parks each day of your ticket: EPCOT or Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park. - Water Park and Sports Option – $35 More Per Ticket, Plus Tax
Visit one of the following theme parks each day of your ticket: EPCOT or Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park. Plus, enjoy 2 visits to a water park or other Walt Disney World sports-related fun. - Park Hopper Plus Option – $53 More Per Ticket, Plus Tax
Visit more than one of the following theme parks each day of your ticket: EPCOT or Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park. Plus, enjoy 2 visits to a water park or other Walt Disney World sports-related fun.
With this special ticket, Park Hopper and Park Hopper Plus options are not valid for Magic Kingdom park and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
You must make a theme park reservation for each date of your visit. Tickets and add-on options expire April 18, 2026. All tickets and options are nontransferable and nonrefundable, and exclude activities/events separately priced or not open to the general public.
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.
This is a ticket deal that Walt Disney World offered a couple of times during heyday of revenge travel, when demand was running hot and the parks were routinely running out of reservations.
According to the DTB Archive, the 2-Park Explorer Ticket was last offered from August 1 to September 29, 2023. At that time, the ticket was $159. Comparing this deal to one from a few years ago might seem unfair, but admission prices haven’t increased that much since, and again, that deal was during the tail end of revenge travel, when Walt Disney World had more leverage.
We would also point out, once again, that 2026 Disneyland ticket deals are much better than they were back in 2023. And that’s without forcing guests to spend all of their time at DCA!
From my perspective, a deal like this makes a lot more sense around Christmas or other popular dates when discounts are scarce and locals are willing to compromise and accept something smaller. Here, it’s coming alongside a bevy of other discounts, and is the worst of the bunch.
With that said, I thought the exact same thing about the recent 2-Day Disneyland Ticket Deal at Costco (which has quietly ended). That was an objectively poor deal (IMO) relative to other ticket discounts, but it turned out that a lot of people wanted to take advantage of it.
As a practical reality, many guests only want a couple of days to get a ‘taste’ of Disney. Some are more concerned with the total, all-in cost than the per day price. (But in that case, why not just get a single day ticket to Magic Kingdom?) Others may only want to visit these two parks. Variety is the spice of life and all that.
The bottom line is that we view this as a really poor deal. It’s one that should even be insufficient to entice most locals who want to visit just EPCOT and Animal Kingdom (for some odd reason?). It’s one that is worse than the other offers that are available right now.
If Walt Disney World wants to push people towards the two least popular parks, they should be sweetening–not worsening–the deal. (As I’ve mentioned before, I think the truly savvy move right now would be a ~$200 After 3 PM Annual Pass for Animal Kingdom.)
With that said, not everyone is me! Even if I view this as a bad option for 95% or more of guests, there is still that 5% or whatever for whom this might work out. You know your circumstances best, so if it makes sense for you…that’s great!
However, we’re also not going to offer the typically thorough commentary about the impact on crowd levels, because there really isn’t one. Uptake on this deal will be sufficiently low such that it does not move the needle at all. Animal Kingdom and EPCOT will undoubtedly be busy on some dates between January 12 and April 18, 2026–but it’ll have absolutely nothing to do with this deal.
I will say that the animating idea of this ticket deal is a savvy one by Walt Disney World in theory. This 2-Park Explorer ticket prevents its purchasers from visiting in Magic Kingdom or Disney’s Hollywood Studios, which are the two most popular parks.
Back at the height of pent-up demand, the company has used theme park reservations to limit access to Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, redistributing attendance and pushing people towards Animal Kingdom and EPCOT. The goal was to increase the utilization of those parks and normalize numbers across all four parks. That was an instance of the infamous “yield management” approach discussed by executives on earnings calls and in interviews.
It’s a similar idea here. If left to their own devices, people would not visit Animal Kingdom and EPCOT in the same numbers or with the same frequency as Magic Kingdom (also known simply as “Disneyworld” to many casual guests) or Disney’s Hollywood Studios (aka “The Star Wars Park” or “The One With Big Rides and New Stuff”). That’s doubly true once DINOSAUR closes, giving Animal Kingdom an even weaker ride roster.
The 2-Park Explorer Ticket is valid only at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom, so it props up numbers for those two parks, which otherwise are going to have quiet years. There’s only one problem–the price is way too high to act as a proper incentive.
If Walt Disney World really wants to incentivize locals to visit EPCOT and DAK as opposed to MK and DHS, the per day price should be more competitive with the 4-Day Discover Disney Ticket, which offers access to all 4 parks. That’s the type of tradeoff that’s necessary to coax guest behavior like this.
In general, I’m really struggling to see the point of a ticket deal like this at all unless it’s capturing an entirely new audience. It’s not 2021-2023 anymore. No park has hit a capacity closure in a while, and that won’t change during this deal. With excess bandwidth everywhere, Walt Disney World should be doing everything possible to incentivize longer visits, including Magic Kingdom and DHS (and in fairness, they’re doing exactly that with other discounts).
As discussed elsewhere, it’s almost certain that we haven’t seen the end of Walt Disney World’s efforts to woo back former fans and pull “levers” to incentivize more demand and guest spending. This one is a major misfire, but it’s still nice to see WDW pulling from its past playbook and trying new things. Stay tuned–there’s surely more to come in the days, weeks, and months ahead! 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 2-park ticket deal at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom in 2026? 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!
