Any drawbacks to SoCal CityPass?

[Anim8ed]

Is there anything (perks, FastPasses, early entry) that you get by purchasing your Disneyland tickets from the DLR website that you wouldn't get by going with the Southern California CityPass? We're planning on visiting Seaworld also while in California and the whole pass seems too good to be true.

 

[karylrocks]

Nope, you don't lose a thing. You will get the same 3-day park-hopper bonus ticket that you would get anywhere else. The zoo admission even includes the bus tours.

 

[Anim8ed]

Do still get a hard ticket to Disneyland that has Mickey or whatever if you go with the CityPass? It'll be our honeymoon and I'd like to have some stuff for our scrapbook and was counting on a DL ticket stub.

 

[lark]

Do still get a hard ticket to Disneyland that has Mickey or whatever if you go with the CityPass? It'll be our honeymoon and I'd like to have some stuff for our scrapbook and was counting on a DL ticket stub.

I'm not sure what a hard ticket is. It's not plastic or anything -- it's a paper ticket with some character on it -- we got mickey with the 50th logo last week when we traded in our city passes.

 

[Anim8ed]

Oh, so you TRADE IN the CityPass for a DL pass? That's kind of where I was going with this. If that's the case, the cost may be less to do the CityPass and still have a DL ticket as a souvie. Thanks! Where do you trade it in? Is it a whole long process or pretty quick and easy? Can I do it at the DLH?

 

[karylrocks]

You need to present your CityPass booklets at one of the Disneyland ticket booths in front of the park. They will tear out the coupons and issue your parkhopper passes.

 

[azgal81]

I used the city pass about a month ago. It's great! The will give you a actual disneyland ticket in exchange for the coupon in the booklet. Disneyland is the only place you need to first exchange the booklet for a ticket at the booth. For Knott's, the zoo and seaworld you just go straight to the gate you don't have to wait in the ticket line and they'll just tear the coupon out of the booklet and that's your admission to those parks.

 

[Pokemom]

You can also trade in your City Pass at Guest Services. There is usually less of a line-up there than at the Ticket Windows. Takes about 2 minutes.

 

[pink elephants]

One downside to the SoCal pass is that if you're planning to go to DL for more than 3 days, I don't believe you can upgrade their three day park hopper. Also, I believe that it doesn't include early entry.

 

[karylrocks]

One downside to the SoCal pass is that if you're planning to go to DL for more than 3 days, I don't believe you can upgrade their three day park hopper. Also, I believe that it doesn't include early entry.

You might be referring to a different pass here. The CityPass does give you a park-hopper bonus pass that includes early entry, and you can upgrade it. I upgraded mine to an annual pass; they will give you credit of $139 for the 3-day pass.

 

[lark]

You might be referring to a different pass here. The CityPass does give you a park-hopper bonus pass that includes early entry, and you can upgrade it. I upgraded mine to an annual pass; they will give you credit of $139 for the 3-day pass.

Yup -- just to confirm, once you trade in your city pass, you are holding the same 3-day advance purchase park hopper that everyone else has, with all the same rights (like EE and ESPN credit) and upgrade potentials as anyone else who bought the same thing through the disney web site before arriving.

 

[javaj]

Has anyone used the SoCal City Pass with a AAA package eligible for the AAA enhanced fast pass? If so, any problems with it?

We're going in December and our AAA agent said there would be no problems getting the AAA enhanced fastpass with our hopper when we traded in our voucher for the 3d park hopper -- but I'm still a little nervous. Anyone with personal experiences with this?

 

[pink elephants]

Yup -- just to confirm, once you trade in your city pass, you are holding the same 3-day advance purchase park hopper that everyone else has, with all the same rights (like EE and ESPN credit) and upgrade potentials as anyone else who bought the same thing through the disney web site before arriving.

Great news! I'd actually asked an agent about this question just about a month ago (because we need 4 days, not 3, and I wanted EE) and was told no. Good to hear that others have been able to upgrade, as we're doing both SD and DL on our Feb. trip.

 

[Anim8ed]

Yup -- just to confirm, once you trade in your city pass, you are holding the same 3-day advance purchase park hopper that everyone else has, with all the same rights (like EE and ESPN credit) and upgrade potentials as anyone else who bought the same thing through the disney web site before arriving.

So, I need a 4 day DLR and a Seaworld admission. Purchased seperately, they total 209.95pp. The CityPass plus an additional 1 day/1 park DL ticket comes to 241.00. How do I go and upgrade the DLR ticket from the CityPass from a 3 to a 4 day hopper? Any idea of the extra cost?

Thanks for all your help, everyone! I'm trying to save money so we can afford to do more on our honeymoon without spending more than need be.

 

[lark]

So, I need a 4 day DLR and a Seaworld admission. Purchased seperately, they total 209.95pp. The CityPass plus an additional 1 day/1 park DL ticket comes to 241.00. How do I go and upgrade the DLR ticket from the CityPass from a 3 to a 4 day hopper? Any idea of the extra cost?

Thanks for all your help, everyone! I'm trying to save money so we can afford to do more on our honeymoon without spending more than need be.

Actually, for you, the city pass might not be the way to go. When you use the 3 day hopper to upgrade you get the advance purchase price from disney as credit -- so you would get $139 in credit to use toward your 4 day hopper. The problem is that you still have to pay the full gate price for the 4-day hopper, or $189, so you'll have to pony up an additional $50 per ticket to upgrade to a 4 day hopper.

The reason this is a bad deal is that you can get an advance 4-day hopper for $159 from disney (and as little as $154 from discounters like ARES travel), if you purchase it in advance.

So basically, if you can get a city pass through costco for $165, your total price for the upgraded 4-day park hopper and the rest of the city pass tickets should be around $215.

By comparison, if you merely purchased an advance 4-day hopper for $159 and then found a discount source to get sea world tickets (which can be had for around $40 and even less if you work at it), you'd only pay $200.

So, the bottom line is that if you ONLY want the sea world ticket and a 4-day disneyland park hopper, the city pass would not seem to be a good deal. If, however, you are planning to use either of the other two tickets in the city pass -- the zoo or knotts -- getting the city pass and paying $50 to upgrade to the 4 day hopper is still a better deal.

Hope that helps; I just reread it and understand it's pretty confusing but hopefully I got the basics across.