Walt Disney World Annual Pass and Apple Pay

A few months ago I added my Walt Disney World annual pass to my wallet, specifically so that I could use my Apple Watch to enter the parks. It worked perfectly, and I was also able to use Apple Pay at any cash registers to purchase things.

But several weeks ago, both of them stopped working in different ways. At the turnstile when I place my Apple Watch on the sensor, it does not recognize my Annual Pass, and so I have to get out my physical card and hold it up to the reader. Then, when I go to buy anything, even though I have my default credit card selected, when I hold my phone up to the sensor for Apple Pay my credit card is deselected and my Walt Disney World annual pass is selected instead. Since there is no payment method behind that pass, the payment fails and I am completely unable to use Apple Pay.

That same credit card works fine with Apple Pay anywhere else I try it outside of the Disney parks. It only fails and flips over to the annual pass at Disney shops on property.

In case you are unaware, having the park pass as a payment method actually makes sense in some cases, if you are a guest staying on property who has tied their hotel room to their pass -- you can use that pass to both open your hotel room door, and to also purchase things in the parks and have those purchases charged to your room. For an annual pass, however, having the chosen card flip to your park pass will never work.

Is anyone else having this issue? I prefer to be contactless with payment, but at this point I am unable to use my Apple Watch to enter the park or to use Apple Pay at any merchant within the park. I am in the parks at least a half dozen times per month with my autistic son, so I would really like to get this issue resolved. I have no idea where to start or what to do. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.