Fla RESIDENTS Do you buy annual passes?

[kiki02]

Which one? The weekday , the after four, the full ON EXPENSIVE annual?

 

[JandJ]

I grew up in south Florida and after college moved to central Florida. At that time my whole family had the "full on" annual passes. That lasted a few years and then I realized I wasn't going as much in the summer and switched to the seasonal pass, which has block-out dates in the summer, and around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, also the seasonal does not include parking. The seasonal worked great. It always came back before my birthday and it's too hot and/or crowded to go at the other times. My now-husband even got one when we were dating. We kept the seasonal passes when we were married, even though we moved farther from Disney. That is, until last year. I miss it, but I am now pursuing my doctorate and we have a dog now and just don't have the time to go because I seem to always be studying and we'd have to find someone to watch the dog (we brought him to the on-site kennel once and he got very sick, ended up with a $300 vet bill so we'll never do that again).

I used to love waking up on a random Saturday and say, "want to go to Disney today?" and we'd drive over and park hop and watch Wishes and then drive back home. Did I mention I miss it?

DH's parents got the weekday pass when they retired, but they found they didn't use it much and didn't renew. I couldn't believe it - if I'm still living close enough to Disney to drive there and back in one day I will get the pass when I retire. What a great way to spend your retirement days!

 

[ChristineNic]

We used to do the Seasonal Pass, but upgraded to the regular Annual Pass because like to go in early June and Christmas week. We use the monthly payment option and just include the payments in our budget.

The smarter thing to do would be to buy Seasonal passes (or the cheapest pass that you would use) and one regular AP to get the free parking. If you buy the passes outright, if you want/need to go to the parks during the blackout periods, upgrade at that time.

 

[delmar411]

We have APs. But we go to the parks every day so blackout dates wouldn't work for us. I didn't get the PAPs though because I wasn't willing to go to the water parks in the summer and if the kids ever want to go once school starts I can get the after 2pm passes for cheap.

 

[sunkissed4]

We had the regular AP for a couple years, but we always avoided the major holidays and most of summer so we switched to seasonal and really enjoy it! Our sons aren't in school yet so we have had more freedom. My oldest starts pre school Monday so we might eventually upgrade again in the future.

Blackout dates end this week so we're heading there Sunday! It's always really exciting going back after our little break.

 

[NACFl]

I have an ap because I'm there several times a month and the free parking and dining/merchandise discounts make it a bargain all the way around for me. My fiancé has a seasonal because he hates going when the parks are crowded and/or hot.

 

[worm761]

We are in Pensacola so not close. We normally buy the Seasonal pass and go at off peak times. This works for us as we homeschool/virtual school so no school schedule to follow. Next year I am planning on getting the weekday select pass since it will be a very budget trip.

 

[HLAuburn]

We live about 2 hours away and we have had 2 sets of the Seasonal Annual Passes. The blackout dates are the most crowded times, which we would avoid anyway.

 

[mhfrau]

We're in South Florida, and we have the annual pass, not seasonal. Since I have a teenager, the seasonal wouldn't do us any good with school schedules. It has been really awesome this summer, because my son and I can hop up for a day, and if we are too tired, we just spend the night and go back the next before heading home in the late afternoon. We definitely have gotten the use out of it

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

We're about 6 hours away and have done the Seasonal Passes a few times. Since we can't just go for a day we go for at least 3-4 days at a time and stay on-site so it's OK that the SP doesn't have parking included. When we have them we do try to do more than one trip to get our value out of them. I think it's a great deal if you can go often.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) We do not need paid passes as a CM's.
2) However, we have advised many people to buy Weekday Seasonal FL Passes.
. . . good only weekdays
. . . has blackout days during summer and some holidays
3) But,
. . . many FL people prefer weekdays to avoid weekend residents added to tourists
. . . really cut down the crowd levels versus weekends
. . . truly don't mind not going during the summer heat and humidity *
4) And, the passes are REALLY CHEAP.


* Popular Florida Saying:
. . . "Only Mad Dogs, Englishmen and tourists go out in the Florida midday sun."

 

[thunderbug548]

We are an hour west (near Tampa). I have one AP for parking privileges and the other 4 have Seasonal passes. We don't go during super busy times and it's cheaper this way. We go enough that it's worth it.

 

[Disney845]

We have seasonal passes and find it just right for us.

 

[DOOM1001]

I live 4 hours away and have the seasonal,if I lived 2 hours or less away I would have to upgrade to the full annual pass because I would be there a lot more.But for now the seasonal works just fine,the blackout dates are usually from around Dec 20th to January 4th or somewhere around those dates,then another 2 weeks during the peak of spring break and like 2 months in the summer,basically all those dates are either really crowded and/or really hot,I like going the other times of the year.I also have the full annual passes for the other parks in the area,the Platinum Sea World/Busch Gardens pass and the preferred Universal pass,so for example I will do at least one trip in the summer and that trip will include the Sea World/Busch parks,the Universal parks and a waterpark.

 

[reginaastralis]

My dd and I have annual passes, and my boyfriend has the seasonal. The only time we make it over to Disney during the summer is at night anyways, and he works, so it makes more since for him to have the blackout. And, he'll never make the trip without me anyways ... so no need for him to pay for parking.

Chesire Figment broke it down not that long ago, but the price difference of having to pay for parking outweighs the cost difference of the annual pass.

 

[Tinkerboy00]

We had APs. I think it really depends on how close you are to the parks, how often you think you'll go, and when, etc.

I know ppl (family and friends still in FL) that only go to the parks once or twice a year so a full AP wouldn't be worth it.

When we lived there, we were about 15-20 mins from the park and would ALL the time. Like literally all the time. DH would call me up and say meet up at Epcot after work for drinks around WS. That was our "Happy Hour" Plus the free parking and discounts were nice to have, so it made sense for us.

Now we are in MA and we go back two - four times a year. Within the next year we will be done there a lot, so we are going to actually pick up APs again when we go down in Nov. We figured out that we will actually save $ by doing this, rather than buying single day park hoppers etc and paying for parking each time we come down in the next year.

 

[JeRmS]

Live about an hour away and we have regular Annual Passes (not premium) ... we love it!! We have driven over on a saturday morning, went to the parks for the day and then drive home at night but most often we plan long weekends around the kids day's off school and such.

The seasonal wouldn't work for us, and neither would the weekday pass.

 

[DVC-Don]

We buy our AP's with the DVC discount. Better deal than the resident pass and with no blackout dates.

 

[sherreis]

WE bought PAPs this past year with the DVC deal. We just moved to Central FL in December so we figured we would be using them. DH has taken our boys to the water parks several times over the summer. And, it's nice waking up and saying "let's go to Disney." Don't know what we'll do yet when it's time to renew at the end of the year. My 1 problem is our friends come to WDW when it would be blacked out for us. And, we have really been enjoying going to visit with people who are down on vacation.

 

[cllrn]

My kids are just now at ages that we will go more so I just bought our 1st set--seasonal passes for the family and 1 annual pass for me (for the free parking). As Floridians, we do NOT like to go in the summer when it is hottest and crowded and we prefer to avoid all the most crowded holiday weeks and spring break. This works great for us.