For past pass holders...how far were you from the parks?

[fivelittles]

Hello! I used to live in Arizona, but we moved to California last year. I live in north county San Diego, about an hour from Disneyland (in good traffic). Since finding we were moving here, I dreamed of getting annual passes, but it will be a huge financial splurge for our large family (I'll be buying 6). Due to school schedules, I'd have to get the Believe Key to make it even usable. I know that many people buy passes from other states, so they can take more than one trip a year, which makes sense. But, for locals, do you find it feasible to make it to Disneyland often enough for day trips when you live at least an hour away? With traffic, parking time, etc...does it still work to go often for a day? Like every other week or so? We used to do big, multi day trips every other year when we were out of state. I don't think we'd be doing more than 1-2 days at a time now, most often single day trips. I think we'd have to go at least 8 times or so to break even? Just trying to gather some opinions before I make, for us, a huge purchase. I appreciate it!

 

[Briarrose1306]

I live in Sacramento and when I drove it was about 6hours but I fly mostly now. I used mine 3-5 times a year usually 3 or more days so I always felt I got full use of it and will be getting the new one. Torn between Enchant and Believe.

 

[dreeger]

We live north of San Francisco, which is usually a 6-7 hour drive. We typically fly the past few years and would go 3-4 times a year for 3-4 days at a time.

 

[kristensideaoffun]

We live in San Diego (near San Diego State) and we would visit 1-2 times per month for weekend trips when we had APs in the past. We’d take the Pacific Surfliner train up after work/school on Friday, stay in a hotel for two nights, and then take the train back Sunday night. Day trips were just way too tiring for us and driving was really, really difficult after a long day at Disneyland.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I live 25 miles away, at the west end of the 91 fwy. It can take a half hour in low traffic to an hour. There are times I don’t go for weeks/months, and then friends come in from out of town and I will go every weekend. I end up going enough times to make it worth my while. I have already been there eight times this year without an AP or Magic Key, and that was with making reaervations.

When my kids were younger we went often, then my son wasn’t interested. My daughter continued to be and so we went often. I would have to rethink my visiting plans if I had to get six passes.

 

[fivelittles]

I live in Sacramento and when I drove it was about 6hours but I fly mostly now. I used mine 3-5 times a year usually 3 or more days so I always felt I got full use of it and will be getting the new one. Torn between Enchant and Believe.

Thank you! I was trying to make the Enchant work, but I know we'd want to visit in the summer. I wish there were more summer days available!

 

[fivelittles]

We live in San Diego (near San Diego State) and we would visit 1-2 times per month for weekend trips when we had APs in the past. We’d take the Pacific Surfliner train up after work/school on Friday, stay in a hotel for two nights, and then take the train back Sunday night. Day trips were just way too tiring for us and driving was really, really difficult after a long day at Disneyland.

This is so helpful. I too worry about being exhausted after a full day. The Surfliner is a great idea! Do you walk or Uber from the station to Disneyland?

 

[Becca1007]

I live in the bay area, we had Signature passes. My strategy was to plan a long trip in the summer 5-6 days and then I would wait for Southwest sales and book a bunch of flight options. We ended up going at least once a month for a 2 day trip (fly down at 6am, be in the park all day, stay overnight at a Harbor hotel, park until about 4pm on departure day, fly home). We started our passes in August of 2019 and had also planned a 6 day trip in May for my kiddo's 5th birthday [Grand CA, VIP tour, all the grandparents, etc] ... alas thanks to Covid that didn't happen.

 

[kristensideaoffun]

This is so helpful. I too worry about being exhausted after a full day. The Surfliner is a great idea! Do you walk or Uber from the station to Disneyland?

It’s definitely not walking distance but about a 7 minute Uber drive. You can also take the bus for free with your train ticket, but we never have. We stopped driving 7 years ago after the second time we had to pull over for a nap on the way home. We were both in our late 20s at the time, which is apparently young enough to make it through a full day at DLR, but old enough to not make it through the drive home.

 

[evilmommie]

We are 25 miles south of Disneyland. Usually a 30 min-ish drive.
We haven’t had passes for a few years and the last time we had them, we had Premier as we were going back to FL and to CA.

This time around we’ll be doing Dream keys and probably going 2-3x a month. We have another couple that are Disney lovers too and have similar backgrounds (first responders) and so we’ll go hang out with them for some much needed pixie dust.

 

[DizMe]

I live about 2 hours north of Sacramento. I had a pass for myself for years (most recently, Signature) and I'd go with a friend who lives in the same town. We'd fly down from Sac and make use of the cheap SW flights and meet other friends who live locally. We'd usually stay 2-3 nights, go to things like Dapper Day and Adventureland Day etc. We often went on our birthdays. It was easy to make a last minute trip because no park reservations were required. I'm not sure how different it will be now since you can't plan too far ahead and know you'll get in but you may be locked out if you wait until the last minute.

We'd go down as a family about once/year. Wasn't worth it to get passes for all 5 of us and my dh only goes to DL if the girls go. They're all off at college this year so I'm probably going to get the Dream pass because my dh buys it for me so why not? LOL. He doesn't mind and, as I've commented on here before, says "It's cheaper than therapy" My oldest was an entertainment CM but got furloughed and later laid off, She is moving back down to OC in a week after being up here for the past 1 1/2 yrs because of Covid, and is hoping she can work at DL again.

 

[laugard]

Hello! I used to live in Arizona, but we moved to California last year. I live in north county San Diego, about an hour from Disneyland (in good traffic). Since finding we were moving here, I dreamed of getting annual passes, but it will be a huge financial splurge for our large family (I'll be buying 6). Due to school schedules, I'd have to get the Believe Key to make it even usable. I know that many people buy passes from other states, so they can take more than one trip a year, which makes sense. But, for locals, do you find it feasible to make it to Disneyland often enough for day trips when you live at least an hour away? With traffic, parking time, etc...does it still work to go often for a day? Like every other week or so? We used to do big, multi day trips every other year when we were out of state. I don't think we'd be doing more than 1-2 days at a time now, most often single day trips. I think we'd have to go at least 8 times or so to break even? Just trying to gather some opinions before I make, for us, a huge purchase. I appreciate it!

I live in LA, so easily a 45 minute drive one way without traffic or delays. Until this past May when I splurged on 2 nights hotel (was not long after parks opened) I never did overnight visits. Having a Flex pass was the first time I had an AP and we were probably on track to go 6-8 times. (We'd gone 4 before parks closed.) I'd never gone more than a couple times per year in the pass, but loved being able to visit more often with the AP.

Since we weren't true locals and work during the week, it was always full day Saturday or Sunday visits for us. We'd wake up early (especially when ROTR still required being onsite at 7), spend the day and usually stay pretty late. Not closing, but within 30 minutes to an hour of closing, usually. Yes, I always wished I could just walk to a hotel rather than getting in the car to drive home at end of the night. But honestly, it was never a problem. Traffic is moving fast by then on a weekend night and we usually got home pretty quickly. This last visit in July we didn't even leave super early and got ROTR at home first. Still got there by a little after 8 and stayed until 10 I think.

Because we always get Park hoppers and are there on the weekend, I've calculated it really will only take 4 visits to make the Believe pass worthwhile for us. Even with the pass, I don't anticipate going more than once a month at the very most (probably 6-8x over the year is more likely.) But when we do, it'll likely remain one-day visits.

 

[dina444444]

I’m just under 30 miles away. Usually about a 30-35 minute drive without traffic, about an hour with. I’m also a single adult. Pre covid I went almost every Saturday and usually 1-2 times a month on Thursdays after work for the pin releases.

 

[Meriweather]

Arizona....6 hour drive

 

[PirateBrigade]

Outer SF Bay Area (between San Francisco and Sacramento).

Flex pass users (previously held deluxe), we went every other month on average (some months we went consecutively, the most frequent was every 2 weeks in October/November). We were a family of 3 at the time (2 parents, 1 kid was 6 at the time). We flew pretty much every time except 1-2x/yr if we had an extended trip (> 1 week in SoCal).

With new baby in the house + uncertainty in general, we will likely pull back to 2x/yr on tickets until 2022. After that, we anticipate going up to the highest tier due to weekends/holidays, but the private school my daughter is in has a very lax policy on taking time off during the week, so we may utilize the 2nd highest tier on the new AP system.

We'll reevaluate at that point, we're also considering sticking to 2x/yr visits on tickets.

 

[MikeRx]

Arizona, 6 hrs by car, we typically visit 3-4 times a year. We will get one dream and 2 believe in Jan 2022 . Best mix of blockout and discounts for our family. Our old pass (signature) was renewed in Jan 2020…we did get 2 trips before the shut down. Trip in Mid-July with tickets stunk as we would have gotten passes for that trip….

 

[joseph821]

I live in New York. I had a Signature pass. We visited 2 or 3 times a year. Maybe a solo trip for me. Not buying anything right now. WHY? Usually stay at the Disneyland Hotel, right now the rates are too high for no room service, no daily housekeeping and no early entry. Not a fan of the mobile ordering. The operation hours are not as long as they used to be. Menus and restaurants are not at full capacity. No Fantasmic. No World of Color. Also not a fan of wearing masks indoors and wearing a mask on a 6 hour flight. I'll wait.

When I am ready, I'll get a Dream Key and book my hotel through the Walt Disney Travel Company or direct from Disneyland Hotel.
The 90 day window really is harsh for me. If it was 120 I would be ok.

 

[Epicnemesis]

I live in LA, about 40 minutes with no traffic (there is almost always traffic)
We used to go twice a month day trips, get there in the afternoon, stay until like 8. Nice and relaxed days. The best part of a pass is you don’t feel the need to push your pace to get value out of your ticket. If something you wanted to do has an unusually long line just skip it and hit it up next time.

We are probably going the enchant pass this year to test the waters and will upgrade to believe later or just renew at believe.

 

[fivelittles]

I live about 2 hours north of Sacramento. I had a pass for myself for years (most recently, Signature) and I'd go with a friend who lives in the same town. We'd fly down from Sac and make use of the cheap SW flights and meet other friends who live locally. We'd usually stay 2-3 nights, go to things like Dapper Day and Adventureland Day etc. We often went on our birthdays. It was easy to make a last minute trip because no park reservations were required. I'm not sure how different it will be now since you can't plan too far ahead and know you'll get in but you may be locked out if you wait until the last minute.

We'd go down as a family about once/year. Wasn't worth it to get passes for all 5 of us and my dh only goes to DL if the girls go. They're all off at college this year so I'm probably going to get the Dream pass because my dh buys it for me so why not? LOL. He doesn't mind and, as I've commented on here before, says "It's cheaper than therapy" My oldest was an entertainment CM but got furloughed and later laid off, She is moving back down to OC in a week after being up here for the past 1 1/2 yrs because of Covid, and is hoping she can work at DL again.

I'm having a dilemma about the husband and kids too. My husband travels a lot and I have two teens that will be busy with school, jobs and friends. Not sure how much they'll even go! I also have one 20 yr old "kid" that won't be getting one because he's a wildland firefighter and won't be using it enough. But we also have two elementary aged kiddos that would really love to go!

 

[fivelittles]

I live in LA, so easily a 45 minute drive one way without traffic or delays. Until this past May when I splurged on 2 nights hotel (was not long after parks opened) I never did overnight visits. Having a Flex pass was the first time I had an AP and we were probably on track to go 6-8 times. (We'd gone 4 before parks closed.) I'd never gone more than a couple times per year in the pass, but loved being able to visit more often with the AP.

Since we weren't true locals and work during the week, it was always full day Saturday or Sunday visits for us. We'd wake up early (especially when ROTR still required being onsite at 7), spend the day and usually stay pretty late. Not closing, but within 30 minutes to an hour of closing, usually. Yes, I always wished I could just walk to a hotel rather than getting in the car to drive home at end of the night. But honestly, it was never a problem. Traffic is moving fast by then on a weekend night and we usually got home pretty quickly. This last visit in July we didn't even leave super early and got ROTR at home first. Still got there by a little after 8 and stayed until 10 I think.

Because we always get Park hoppers and are there on the weekend, I've calculated it really will only take 4 visits to make the Believe pass worthwhile for us. Even with the pass, I don't anticipate going more than once a month at the very most (probably 6-8x over the year is more likely.) But when we do, it'll likely remain one-day visits.

Thank you so much. It does seem doable to do day trips. I'm sure we'd get a hotel here and there, but they add up so quickly! $$