Jealous of your zip code...and wondering?

[poptart90]

Hello all,

We will not be purchasing AP/Magic Keys this year, if we had a financing option like my fave zip codes to the South, we might think differently! But that has us thinking as we plan our first trip back since the Covid shutdown:

A poll, of sorts? Or just soliciting info on this Magic Key topic, please?

If you live in SoCal and will be purchasing a Magic Key, what level will you choose, as all levels are available for financing? (I don't know if the AP's were or not? And if they were I'm SUPER jealous!! lol)

Trying to decide if the blackout dates this year might "help" us have a Thanksgiving at DL. We've never been for Thanksgiving. Notice I said "help"...I totally get if it will be nuts, like Xmas and New Years. We were just looking at the calendars for all passes and except the "Dream" Key, all other passes are blocked at least Thursday thru Saturday this year. Thoughts?

Also trying to assess if blackout dates may be any help in the future once park capacity returns to normal, assuming it will.


And on a side note: MAXPASS. THIS IS THE WAY.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

All crowd predictions are off at this point - there are so many new variables with Covid, the Keys, reservations, staffing... but on the whole, I would not expect Thanksgiving crowds to be much different than they have been before, if that's your underlying question.

We'll be buying Dream Keys, as will literally everyone I know buying Keys, including a lot of people who had lower-level passes before. It's mostly due to the combo of it being the only pass where parking is included + a lot of people having more cash on hand after a year+ of not spending as much on entertainment.

The blockout calendar and monthly payment plan are not that different than they were before, so I'm not sure that has much bearing on the conversation. Eventually, the blackout calendar may help some with crowd predictions, but until there's time for patterns to emerge, there's really not much to be learned from them yet.

Hope that helps.

 

[poptart90]

We'll be buying Dream Keys, as will literally everyone I know buying Keys, including a lot of people who had lower-level passes before. It's mostly due to the combo of it being the only pass where parking is included + a lot of people having more cash on hand after a year+ of not spending as much on entertainment.

That does help. I was really curious to know how many SoCal zip coders might spring for the top tier (Dream Key) this year given exactly what you stated, the time off and money saved from the shutdown. If we lived there, we would!

There are almost too many variables to consider planning a trip from out of state right now - it's stressful for sure, but we are dying for a trip "home." Thanks for the feedback!

 

[TheTinyTiger]

We are moving to Southern CA in a month or so and plan to get the Enchant Key. We don't typically go during the summer, so it's a good fit for us. The only bummer is I won't be able to go on my birthday like I usually do, as it's a blockout day.

 

[dleyel]

I’m getting Imagine Keys. We had SoCal Select passes before, so this works for us. We will go mostly on Fridays.

 

[Kender]

If you live in SoCal and will be purchasing a Magic Key, what level will you choose, as all levels are available for financing? (I don't know if the AP's were or not? And if they were I'm SUPER jealous!! lol)

I'm not SoCal (I'm NorCal), but just answering your secondary questions:

The payment plan is available to all Californians and for all keys (the only exception is the Imagine Key which only SoCal residents are eligible for so therefore only they can use a payment plan on it by default).

The payment plan existed for APs as well for all Californian residents. The exceptions (besides the SoCal restriction for their location based passes) being for the Premier, you could only have the payment plan on the California half of the pass. You had to pay the Florida half in full.

 

[fivelittles]

Hi! I think we are going to get the Believe Key. I'd like the Dream for the ease of free parking, but we have to buy 6 passes, so there's nearly $3k price difference between the passes. That's way more than we'd ever spend on parking. And I'm not even sure we can afford the Believe Key at this point. Haha.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

Hi! I think we are going to get the Believe Key. I'd like the Dream for the ease of free parking, but we have to buy 6 passes, so there's nearly $3k price difference between the passes. That's way more than we'd ever spend on parking. And I'm not even sure we can afford the Believe Key at this point. Haha.

We used to buy one Signature pass for the parking and discounts, and then the other two Deluxe.

If one person you’re buying for would always go, parking + discounts can make that work out financially pretty quickly. One year our daughter (who was three) had the best pass becsuse she was the member of the family who was always included in a Disney day.

 

[colormegreen]

Honestly, I am getting the dream as I like the free parking and flexibility of not having to see which day is blocked out. For the rest of the family who only plans to do weekends it will be the believe. My oldest said he doesn’t want it and I’m willing to buy him a day pass as it would be cheaper since he’s old enough to stay home alone. Plus, we aren’t all day people so we’d open the parks and be home by 7.

 

[Disney0010]

We’re about two hours from the park so the Enchant Key probably works best for us but we still are not 100% sure. That would be the lowest that we go. Edit to add that I’m not sure at this point when to purchase. Until Covid settles down we really have no desire to venture out to theme parks even though the clock doesn’t start until after the first visit. Just have to keep a watch on things.

 

[KPeterso]

We will be getting the Dream Keys. We had the Premier before (since we go to WDW too) so we are used to the free parking, no blackout dates, and the 20% discount. Those are all items important to us.

To the other part of your question, we will also pay our passes 100% up front. We do not use the monthly payment plans. I have the money saved and bought gift cards at Target with the 5% savings so I am ready to purchase once available.

 

[LisaL]

We live close to DL, but usually go to WDW for vacation. Given we can only go on weekends, we will most likely just buy passes for the day we want to go. I miss the old days of simple passes with unlimited access and parking.

 

[Wesley815]

Dream key here, I live in SoCal, but not doing monthly payments. I don't want to be stuck in some endless guest service loop if any refunds are do, or changing credit cards, etc.... I need parking so Dream is the best option living close to the parks.

Easier to pay upfront and be done with it for the year. Plus I've saved up money during closure knowing Disney will eventually bring back some type of AP (and will earn nice cash back rewards with purchase on credit card.)

 

[Sunnyore]

Dream key here, I live in SoCal, but not doing monthly payments. I don't want to be stuck in some endless guest service loop if any refunds are do, or changing credit cards, etc.... I need parking so Dream is the best option living close to the parks.

Easier to pay upfront and be done with it for the year. Plus I've saved up money during closure knowing Disney will eventually bring back some type of AP (and will earn nice cash back rewards with purchase on credit card.)

Interesting! I was planning on buying the Dream but wanting monthly payment this time in case things go haywire and I won’t have so much money tied up. I had the premier and I was only 1 month in when they shut down and I remembered worrying if I’ll see any of the money back (it did and Disney was generous). I figured if monthly they would just stop the payments if they close again. As for benefits the monthly are charged on cc anyways so I figured that part is the same. Were you doing monthly during covid and it got messy?

 

[cruisehopeful]

Getting the Dream Key, but not because of monthly payment option. It's just what makes sense when looking over the course of the next year (next 7 months actually). Granted, I am only buying one. I don't know what I'd do if I had children living in the home.

 

[V.I.N.CENT.]

We live in the Bay Area (about a 5 hour drive) looking at the Enchant Key. Don't go during the summer, and the weekends are usually our travel days. Four days is enough for us, if we do travel on a Saturday, we would probably do something else on the Sunday. Can always upgrade or buy single day tickets later if need be.

 

[bwvBound]

SoCal w/ Flex AP at time of closure; we might purchase Imagine keys but not on day 1. We are taking a wait-and-see approach, hoping for hard-ticket events through the holidays.

We have tickets and VGC reservations for Oogie Boogie Bash ... and several future VGC reservations that are "undecided" for plans. We are reaching a point where staying at the Grand Cal does not automatically justify park entry. We are considering other, nearby, activities. If were were to match our existing Grand Cal reservations to Magic Key blackout dates -- only the Dream key would cover the dates!

We will not be using the payment plan. We used this once before and suffered greatly when Disney made a mistake on our renewal. It was clearly their fault but took three months for them to correct. They never acknowledged their error (grrrrr!) but did walk back the change and provide the proper refund/repair. It was soooooo aggravating and disappointing. I'm still not over the grudge against them.

 

[DLgal]

Live 15 miles south of Disneyland. Buying 4 Dream Keys, mostly because as a family, we will primarily go on Saturdays this year and too many are blocked out with the next lower tier pass.

Not sure yet whether I'm going to pay in full or do monthly payments. On the one hand, my savings account is earning 0.50% APY. Do I want to hand Disney $5600 with all this covid uncertainty? Not sure. I might split it 50/50 and purchase 2 upfront and finance the other 2 for a nice even $200 monthly payment.

Probably planning on going over Labor Day weekend, if reservations are available.

 

[roxy72]

We live 3 hours away, we go on quiet weekdays (never the weekends or holidays), and we stay at nearby walkable hotels, so we're getting the Enchant Key. We have a tentative trip planned mid-September, and we plan to go for our honeymoon in early December (1.5 years after our summer 2020 Covid wedding, good lord!).

I'd like to plan some trips in 2022 as well if we can afford it. Visiting DL is just so expensive for us- between multiple nights at the hotel, tickets, souvenirs, food (we love shopping and trying the food!), it gets so darn pricey. Add in pet sitter costs while we're out of town and wowza!

ETA: We will do the monthly payment plans to help spread out the cost.

 

[poptart90]

We have a tentative trip planned mid-September, and we plan to go for our honeymoon in early December (1.5 years after our summer 2020 Covid wedding, good lord!).

Oh Wow! Congratulations! Hope it's fantastic...even if it's been delayed!