A Question for Deluxe Annual Passholders

[dancer_mom]

Do any of you who hold this type of passport live 4+hours away from Disneyland? Is it worth it if you live that far away? Do you feel like the Deluxe is worth it with so many Saturdays in the busy season being blocked out? Do you take a few longer trips to get your money's worth or a lot of short trips?

We are a family that wouldn't use the pass on Sunday (church and stuff) and I am trying to figure out if the Deluxe would be worth it or if it would be better to go for the premium. I am also trying to factor in the fact that we would have to do a lot of Fridays which would mean Dad taking a day off from work.

I am so excited at the idea of getting AP's and just hoping for some insight into how you "seasoned" AP folks enjoy your year at the parks - TIA

 

[iKristin]

I live 16 hours away and own one because I go for 8 days a year then plan out my next trip a year later that's just within when my pass expires Cheaper for sure that way

 

[FourM's]

DH and I have had a DAP before and will be getting one next month. We have 3 trips planned in the next 12 months so the AP makes sense money wise. We live in Washington state so its a plane ride for us to get there. We keep our eyes peeled for good airfare deals!

 

[Capt Silly]

We live about a 7 hour drive from DLR, and have really enjoyed the annual passes this year. We simply planned our trips to DLR around the blackout dates. We have gone for 3 weekend trips, a California Trip that included 3 days at Disney, a week long Disney only trip, and will add one more weekend trip. Our weekend trips are all on long weekends that aren't blacked out, so the kids don't miss school. We will drive over after school/work, arriving late or spending the night part way, then have 2 days in the parks, and drive home on the third day.

It just takes some planning, but since the Saturday blackout are a summer thing, if you go during the off season it is very much worth it.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

We live 6 hours away. We took 4 trips on our APs: 6 days (Sept. '09 during 6 for 4/birthday promo where we upgraded to APs), 3 days (Oct '09, Halloween party), 6 days (Dec '09, 2 nights onsite with AP rate) and 6 days (June '10 with extended family). In reality if you go 2 or 3 times a year for 3-4 days each, or 2 longer trips. The only time we went when our APs were blocked was in June. Saturdays are only blocked mid-March to mid-August.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

We live 7 hours away, this is the 2nd time we have had Deluxe passports. We really like to go during x-mas time so in 2010 we went the 1st week of December, in 2011 we will go the week after Thanksgiving. We are also throwing in a week during the summer.

We usually go during the week so we avoid those blackout days.

For us it is worth it. Yes, passports are more but our next 2 trips will be hotel and food and we won't have to worry about 500-600 worth of hopper passes.

If you go more than once during the year for 3-5 days it pays for itself.

 

[blackjackdelta]

I live 16 hours away and own one because I go for 8 days a year then plan out my next trip a year later that's just within when my pass expires Cheaper for sure that way

My wife does the same thing, this year we expect to go early August and it does save us a bit of $$$. 18 hrs away.


Jack

 

[auntiegem]

We are from Washington state and bought DAPs in November. We plan on using them 1 or 2 times more within the year. If Saturdays are blocked when we go, we will plan our trips so we are in the parks on either Sunday or Friday if we are dying to see weekend shows/fireworks. IMO, if you are doing Disney more than once within a year, missing Saturdays and all they have to offer isn't such a big deal. You can always work around the schedule.

 

[Jana0326]

We live about an hour and 15 minutes from DLR and have had both Delux and Premium annual passes. It seems like whenever we get the Delux passes, we have company or friends in town that want to go on a blacked out day. This year we just bought Premium passes so we wouldn't have to deal with the blackouts.

 

[dancer_mom]

Thanks for all of the examples... all of those scenarios make a lot of sense.

I could see us using them in the summer once when hubby would have to miss work and then during the off season on some Saturdays. We live just close enough to come up for one overnight - but not quite close enough for a day trip.

Also - I love the example of two long trips to get two years worth out of them. I don't think I had ever crunched the numbers of the ticket prices that way - thanks guys!

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Also - I love the example of two long trips to get two years worth out of them. I don't think I had ever crunched the numbers of the ticket prices that way - thanks guys!

This was our main goal when we upgraded (before the Disney snowball plowed me down ). We had a 6 day tripped booked and paid for. It cost us around $90 to upgrade DH and my PHs and around $120 to upgrade the 2 older kids (2 of our kids were under 3). We really only needed one short trip to pay for the passes.

 

[hurleysweety]

We live 6 hours away and had Premium APs in May09-10. It was really fun to just be able to plan a trip whenever we needed a quick getaway. We didn't have to plan really far in advance, except for our first trip. Other than that we usually planned about 1-2 months, or in once case, 5 days out. We also both have jobs that allow us to take a random Friday off, without a whole lot of advanced notice, which is really nice.

If you do have the ability and are the type of person that likes to plan things out, then go deluxe and save the money.

But if things like 20% off merch, and 15% off food are big deals for you vs the benefits with deluxe, and you would like to take a spontaneous trip at some point, I would recommend Premium.

 

[kelmac284]

We too live about 6 to 7 hours away and I have had a deluxe for about 5 years now. We have gone back and forth with the entire family having them and currently we all do since my girls and I took a trip last june and all 4 of went in December when dh got an AP and then we are all going once more in June of this year before the girls and I passes expire and dh's will be good till dec of 11 so technically we could get one more trip in in the fall if we wanted.

They do have more saturdays blocked out it seems then they did when I first bought my AP back in 06 but we have found ways to work around it and just don't go on Saturdays if it happens to be a time of year when they are blocked.

IF the rest of us don't have one usually at least one of us get one for the food and at this point the merch discounts. It is worth it for that if nothing else and as someone else said if you take one trip for about 4 days and then even 1 more trip within the calendar year it is worth it!!

 

[wvnative]

We are about 6 hours away. We plan to buy DAP's on our next trip as we have a second trip planned in November and should be able to go one more time before they expire.

I've actually put off upgrading in the past just because I know it will lead to more trips and it's just never been in the budget.

 

[Flitterific]

Do any of you who hold this type of passport live 4+hours away from Disneyland? Is it worth it if you live that far away? Do you feel like the Deluxe is worth it with so many Saturdays in the busy season being blocked out? Do you take a few longer trips to get your money's worth or a lot of short trips?

We are a family that wouldn't use the pass on Sunday (church and stuff) and I am trying to figure out if the Deluxe would be worth it or if it would be better to go for the premium. I am also trying to factor in the fact that we would have to do a lot of Fridays which would mean Dad taking a day off from work.

I am so excited at the idea of getting AP's and just hoping for some insight into how you "seasoned" AP folks enjoy your year at the parks - TIA

I live almost 7 hours away from DLR and previously had a PAP, which had expired in August 2010. We usually take 2.5-3.5 day trips. As much as we loved the flexibility of being able to go whenever we wanted with our PAPs, we had to take at least 3 trips to break even. So instead of renewing them, DBF and I got DAPs in October. We have taken two trips so far (end of October and Thanksgiving weekend) and pretty much got our money's worth from them already (not to mention the discounts on food and merchandise--only available during the holidays). I think if you take at least two 3 day trips, you should definitely get the DAPs. Plus, it's always good to have an excuse to take a small vacay

 

[jacky b]

I live in WA state and we used to have the Prem. Annual Passes when we used to go twice a year. But that was when we used to have non-stop flights from Spokane to LAX. We don't go as frequently now that they discontinued them.

 

[Merry Mousketeer]

Where we live is about an 8 hour drive from DL. I have a Premium Pass and my wife has a Deluxe Pass so that we get all the benefits of the Premium. We tend to plan around the blackout dates, but during our last trip there was a blackout date. My wife paid a nominal fee, I forget how much, to get in to the park for that one day.

 

[twopeasonepod]

We live in Hawaii and it totally makes sense to have Deluxe APs. We will go twice this year (for 10 days each) and it's better by far. On blackout dates, we just go to Legoland (or Universal)!

 

[nunzia]

We live in New Mexico...it is worth it to get an AP IMO if you go more than once a year. We just avoid the blocked out Saturdays.

 

[dmked]

We live about 12 hours away, this is the first year we have had DAPs. I think it is worth it if you go even once a year. If you are only using it once a year though, it is not worth it to renew. We got an AP in Aug. 2010, we will use it this upcoming March (and maybe once more in July) and then next year when we go (in 2012) we will probably get another AP which will last us until 2013.