It happens every year. October hits, there is a crispness to the breeze, the trees shed their orange and red leaves and Disney releases the new (and increased) prices for going to the parks.

After the last few years, we are no strangers to this song and dance, in fact one of my first posts was about the benefits of the Disneyland annual pass. But with the new price increases across the park, is the flight to Cali even worth it anymore?

For folks not familiar, Disneyland and Walt Disney World both offer several tiers of annual passes. Back when I originally considered purchasing a pass I weighed the benefits and challenges between the two program. In the end, I was blessed to be able to afford both passes, but was especially surprised at the value of the Disneyland passes over the WDW ones.

The biggest difference was in the cost.

With Disneyland, we were able to get the second lowest Magic Key, the Enchant Key. For $699 the Enchant Key included discounts on food, merchandise, Lightning Lane purchases and included ride photos for free. At this price, Tiff and I would only need to visit the parks for 4 days in order for the pass to essentially pay for itself.

The drawbacks for this pass were the blackout dates during the summer, most weekends and all major holidays. This also worked well for us as neither Tiff nor I felt that crowded weekends, hot summers or busy holidays felt like a vacation and were easy to give up.

When the prices for the 2023-2024 Magic Keys were released, the increase in annual passes was substantial. The Enchant Key went up a whopping $150, to $849. Out of the 4 tiers of passes, the Enchant had one of the highest increases with no added value. In doing the math it worked out to adding an additional day at the park for the cost, so 5 park hopper days instead of 4 which still seemed very doable.

While I decided to renew, this increase was a bit too rich for Tiff's blood and she let her pass lapse. The lack of a renewal discount similar to Walt Disney World also made renewing less of an 'Oh Yeah!' to a "Heck No" for her, and I'm sure others.

When the Magic Key increases were announced earlier this month for the rerelease of Magic Keys in 2025, I braced for the worst...and was right to do so.

• Inspire Key $1,749 from $1649
• Believe Key $1,374 from $1249
• *Enchant Key $974 from $849*
• Imagine Key $599 from $449

As a reminder, the Imagine Key is the lowest tier but only for residents of Southern California. For anyone else, Enchant is the lowest tier available and my current pass.

So while most of the passes have gone up around $100 from the previous year, this new set of increases represents an additional $250 added to the cost of low level annual pass over a two year period.

So, it was a fun ride but I am done.

For some folks, the rate of these price increases may not be a dealbreaker, but I'm sure there are a lot of other people in situations like ours that just can't make this price work.

Even though it was a magical time to be a Magic Key holder, deciding to not renew doesn't mean we'll be throwing away any plans to head out to the West Coast.

Between now and when my pass expires in the spring of 2025 we still have one trip planned to take advantage of the $50 kid's ticket for my son B.'s first trip ever.

Also, maybe you heard of a little park called Epic Universe that will be opening up in Orlando in summer 2025?

Deciding not to renew gives me the flexibility to look towards the future and to choose to do something new for me and my family.

While this may be adieu to Disneyland for now, it will definitely be a hello to all the new experiences 2025 has to offer, and we can't wait!