buying premium annual passport worth it?

[Minuet888]

Just what the title says
with the monthly payments its worth it
does anyone else have the premium annual passport and is it worth it.
We just moved to Palmdale about 1 hour and 30 minutes away from Disneyland.

 

[sonnyjane]

This is the second year I've had the Premium AP. I love it. I go to the parks about once a month by myself (I'm also about 90 minutes away), and I also like to go with family and friends that are visiting from out of town. Usually when my friends or family can visit is during peak vacation time, so I wanted the PAP to avoid blockout days. I enjoy having the included parking and the higher food and merchandise discounts. True, you can add parking to any level of pass, but by the time I would have done that to say, the Deluxe, it wouldn't have really been that much more to just buy the Premium, so I just bit the bullet and did the PAP.

I haven't utilized the payment plan but that certainly would make it easier. My current AP expires in November and while I plan to go a few more times before then, I think I may let my pass lapse until I know I have more friends or family visiting. For some reason, paying $429 a couple years ago wasn't as big a deal as paying $499 now Now...ask me on the night before it expires and you might catch me renewing that sucker after all - who knows

 

[skiingfast]

I think the OP should guess how many time they will visit, the duration of the visits and timing of the visits. Being in SoCal but not being tied to school schedule can make the SoCal passes worthwhile. But if far away that you aren't a local all you have to do is visit 3 times for 3 days and you'd be ahead if you had the premium.

But as suggested consider your visitation habits and if the shopping and dining discount would help out.

 

[Malcon10t]

We are 6 hours away and have PAPs. It works for us because we tend to visit at times when the other passes are blocked.

 

[wdwrich]

What we've done in our family (we're SoCal residents) is to buy one premium AP and the rest of the family gets deluxe APs. Blockout days are not an issue for us with the deluxe APs because we avoid those crowded days anyway, but yet we still get the parking and higher level discounts on food and merchandise via the one premium AP.

 

[GrandBob]

I think you're really asking two questions --

Is an Annual Pass worth it?

Does it need to be a Premium Annual Pass?

For the first question, yes, if you're going to visit the parks for at least two separate trips a year, buying a pass is definitely worth it.

For the second question, here's what I suggest. Start with a lower level pass, e.g. a Deluxe. As long as that's not blacked out for the dates you want to visit, fine. If you want to go during a blockout period, then (and only then) upgrade to PAP.

That's how I approached it. And I never bothered to upgrade. Our visits were covered just fine by a DAP.

-Bob

 

[Malcon10t]

For the second question, here's what I suggest. Start with a lower level pass, e.g. a Deluxe. As long as that's not blacked out for the dates you want to visit, fine. If you want to go during a blockout period, then (and only then) upgrade to PAP.

That's how I approached it. And I never bothered to upgrade. Our visits were covered just fine by a DAP.

-Bob

This is what my brother does, and it works for them. Since we visit 2 weeks at Christmas (the 22-Jan 3 each year) PAPs are necessary. It really depends on what your visit schedule is like.

 

[MrsMac218]

My family lives in Burbank, and we have had PAP's for about 6 years now. We live about an hour away and we go to the parks about once a month. We also do monthly payments, and I personally love it. For 3 of us it costs $109 a month. Not bad at all, and totally pays for itself. We love the free parking, and the merchandise discounts are awesome, too.

 

[Belle Ella]

The biggest perk for me on the Premium (besides no blackout dates) is the free parking! I've more than made up for the price on that alone it seems.

 

[Pinocchio #1 Fan]

My wife and I have Premium passes, as we live within 10 miles of Disneyland, so we often decide spontaneously to pop in for a few hours. Due to how close we are to the parks, we didn't want to have to look at a calendar when we have a sudden urge to split a Monte Cristo or enjoy the Tiki Room. Also, we are both kids at heart and I often buy thing that make the 20% discount come in handy. For example, did I really need a Dr. Doofenshmirtz action figure last week? No. Did I buy it using the reasoning it was discounted due to my pass? You bet I did!

For us, the difference between the Deluxe and the Premium was less $10 per month, even less after you add parking to the Deluxe. Therefore, it was a no brainer to go Premium. Sometimes, it's also fun to go when it's mega crowded with the idea we are just gonna people watch and take fun pictures, arriving with no aspirations of getting on any ride aside from perhaps the Disneyland Railroad or taking in the Aladdin show.

Anyway, that's why the Premium passes work well for us.

 

[Rynosaur]

for us it is worth it and we live about 4hrs away in Vegas. we have been twice this year and we are going back next weekend. a weekend in november and 3 or 4 days in december.

so, i guess it you have make a pro/con chart and/or a Venn diagram

 

[Vexorg]

I had to ask myself this question, as multiple trips down to LA in one month justified the purchase of an AP for the first time. Originally I was going to get the Deluxe, but When I did the math, it came out that just parking for a few days I'm the park (I've already used it to park four times in less than a month) and a high likelihood of future visits taking place during blackouts justified going for the PAP. Whether I would ever be able to justify renewing it next year is another story, but it made sense at the time, although I still have no idea just how much use I will get out of it, especially being nearly 1200 miles away.

 

[cloudconnected1039]

Before I had gotten my pass and I was thinking about it, I had about 4 DLR trips planned over the span of just 6 months. And most of those times were during peak season so it was essentially worthless to get anything but the Premium. Now, I couldn't even imagine NOT having my pass!! And having the payment options are fantastic for a college budget Having the option to just go whenever I want is exactly what I want and need, and I use that 20% discount as much as I can.