Non-LA Area folks with annual passes?

[A Small World]

I live in the UK and we had APs a few years ago. The first year we went at the beginning of December and we spent approx 6 nights there before going onto Vegas then the following year we did a trip at the same time of year but about a week earlier so the AP ran out on the last day there.

 

[CateinPhoenix]

We live in Phoenix, DH has Signature, me and the kids have Deluxe. We usually go one week in the summer, fall break, a week over the Holidays, and sometime in the Spring, then another week in the summer if we can time it right before the APs expire.
Will have to figure out what to do over the Holidays because the Deluxe is blocked, might upgrade to Signature for everyone!

 

[Speechphi]

We live just past Sacramento, about a 6 hour overnight drive (when speed limits aren't exactly enforced on I5). Dh & I got our first premium APs in Dec 2014, knowing we had 3 trips planned (2-days for Christmas, 5 in June, and 3 in October). We got the kids deluxe passes in March, after convincing dh that we should make a quick 2-day spring break trip. And then dh & I took an adult-only 2-day trip for my birthday in May. We definitely got our money's worth in 2015! We renewed our passes again for this year and have gone three times as a family and once just ds & me. I'm not sure if we'll renew or not, but I have a feeling we will! It's just too easy to make 3 quick trips, and it's so nice to just relax while we're there because we know we'll be back in a few months.

 

[Minnie Sue Oz]

Australian annual pass holder here

We visited for Thanksgiving last year and will be back again in............( see ticker below!!! ) to get some more use out of our passes. We feel very blessed to be able to do so Disneyland is my everything

 

[agamble]

Silverwood in ID for real coasters. Great Wolf Lodge an hour+ away from me (it's below Olympia WA). Wild Waves water and themepark 20 minutes up the road from me (it's in Federal Way WA).
Are the second two "major"? Maybe not, but they are still good.

The Federal Way park used to be owned by Six Flags. It's not a bad little park and one could easily spend a whole day there. I was wishing it was still owned by Six Flags when we were in WA last month as we would have been able to go for "free" with our Gold Pass. There's also a park in Utah called Lagoon, owned by the same company as Knott's and Great America. I've never been there, but I get the feeling it's at least as large as Great America, it's certainly expensive.

 

[MommyLove]

I am enjoying reading this since I think many people assume that all AP's are locals who go every week and clog up the park and "ruin it" for vacationers when there are in fact many people with AP's who aren't locals and get them for a few trips a year like I do. In the case of many here AP's are the fiscally prudent way to do a few trips a year, not a way to have unlimited night/weekend entertainment.

We're about a 7 hour drive away and have done APs a few times. We will go about 5 times in the year and each trip is pretty big with 5-8 days in the parks each. We're planning on another Year of Disney starting with New Year's and we'll try to go even more times (to include stuff like Dapper Days, Tinkerkbell 10K, etc).

 

[Imdboss]

We live near Seattle (Auburn) and I'm getting my first ever Signature AP this week! DH currently commutes to L.A. for work so kids and I will be flying down to see him and visit DL for 5 days. I figured it'd be worth it for me to get an AP since I'll probably fly down to stay with him again in the next year. Plus with parking, photo pass, and discounts it'll be better than buying a PH two times in a year.

 

[darrenf67]

Another Australian here - I've has an AP for 2years get to DL twice a year.

 

[Disney_Princess83]

I was wondering if you do not live in the LA area (however you wish to define it) and still have annual passes, where do you live and how often do you get to the parks?

We live in Australia and have AP's this year to Disneyland. We stayed at DL for two weeks so it was the best ticket option for us. Aside from entry into the parks, we also had the discounts on food and merchandise as well as AP Days (we met Roger Rabbit one week)

 

[queso2992]

I'm from Texas and got my first AP in November 2015. I'd had several trips over the course of a year previously and realized that an AP would be more cost efficient than normal tickets, so with a few trips in the works, I decided to get a Deluxe when I went solo in November. I have been in the park 9 times, in November, February, and June. I'd love to go again before my pass expires, but I'm not counting on it. I already got my money's worth, not including discounts. I probably won't renew this next year because I have some other things to save for, e.g. a house!

 

[Keels]

I live in Texas and have an Annual Pass. This year, I was out for six days during Tinker Bell Half Marathon weekend, and I'll be back for another six days during Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend.

On top of that, my husband travels to his company's home office in Santa Monica once a month, so the AP made sense even if I were to just take one additional trip with him to California.

I usually go for race weekends and participate in all three races that weekend, so when Disney/PhotoPass took over race weekend photo coverage, getting an AP became a COMPLETE no-brainer.

 

[Simba001]

I live North of Seattle. We had a Deluxe AP that just expired this month. We went August and December 2015 and this last May. We already have plans to return January and July of 2017, so we will at the minimum purchase a Deluxe AP in January. Will probably fit in at least one more trip in sometime after July and before the passes expire in January 2018.

 

[rentayenta]

We live just north of SLC, Utah and have Deluxe APs. We visit 2-4 times a year, sometimes more.

 

[julesann]

I live in No Cal about an 1-1/2 hours north of Sacramento and I fly into Orange County from Sac. I had an AP a couple of years ago as I'd planned on going twice. I ended up with four 3-4 days trips and it was wonderful.

 

[Aladora]

We are in Victoria, BC and we will be upgrading our 4 day hoppers to APs when we go down in a few weeks. We are heading back next March for my birthday and the way the hoppers are priced, it is better for us to upgrade instead of buying 4 day hoppers twice. Also, this way we have incentive to try and fit in a 3rd trip in, likely at the end of August 2017.

We have done APs before and as long as we go twice in 12 months, it is worthwhile.

 

[rowan1813]

I live in the Central Valley (about 4.5 hours north) and I go at least twice a year for Halloween and Grad Nite (I'm the coordinator for my high school). I am also starting to run in the Rundisney events so it makes sense for me to have an AP.

 

[Ryan120420]

The Federal Way park used to be owned by Six Flags. It's not a bad little park and one could easily spend a whole day there. I was wishing it was still owned by Six Flags when we were in WA last month as we would have been able to go for "free" with our Gold Pass. There's also a park in Utah called Lagoon, owned by the same company as Knott's and Great America. I've never been there, but I get the feeling it's at least as large as Great America, it's certainly expensive.

Lagoon is not owned nor operated by Cedar Fair (Knotts and CA Great America parent company). Lagoon is an independent family owned theme park.

 

[smartlabelprint]

Full day in airports. 2x a year.

 

[Jedi Mouse]

I live in the Fresno area and will be purchasing AP's next month with our first trip scheduled for December. We've gone once a year since 2012 and figured if we can cover two of those trips on one AP then we would only have to go on one additional trip in between to break even and anything over that is icing on the cake. We've got a little more disposable income now that my wife graduated from school and landed a great job, so we've talked about maybe taking a few quick 1-2 night weekend trips. I've also brought up the possibly of a mid-week, off-season, "mental health day" day trip. With the marginal cost of 6-8 hours at Disneyland being a tank of gas, the 500 mile round trip doesn't seem so bad.

 

[azdisneylover]

Our Deluxe APs expire next month. We knew we would make a minimum of two trips 6 days or longer (each trip), so annual passes saved us money. We aren't planning to go back to the parks until maybe October '17 (I'll be 25 years cancer free and I want to celebrate), but my daughters want to go for their birthdays this coming spring. So, now I am crunching numbers to see if APs would fit into our budget. If one trip is all we can do, then I would go for the birthdays and go for 35th wedding anniversary in Dec, 2018.

If you are thinking of getting passes, do the math. If you only go for two, 3 day trips, it may not be worth getting a pass. If you go for two 7 day trips, it will be worth getting a pass.