NorCal AP holders, how often do you go?

[Angrose]

Hi, I live in NorCal, near Sacramento, and am considering getting a Deluxe AP for the first time ever! This year I will have some extra vacation time so that, coupled with the AMAZING flight deals Southwest has been offering, I figure I can make it down there at least 3 times to use my AP, maybe even more I think that would definitely cover the cost of the AP.

I'm curious to hear from other AP holders in NorCal. How often do you go? Do you fly or drive? Solo or with family? Where do you stay?

I took my first solo trip last March and will do another one in mid-May. I LOVED going solo, but I would definitely look into another family trip, perhaps in the fall and then another solo trip for myself next spring. I think that's do-able!

 

[Minnie Loves Mickey]

My Husband and I get Premium APs and we get our moneys worth. We enter the parks over 20 times driving from the Bay Area. If all goes as planned we will get a lot more in this year. We drive about 6 hours and do weekend trips, stay at the Candy Cane Inn mostly.

 

[kirstie101]

We've had AP's for a few years now. We average 3 trips a year, sometimes 4. One is a week long and thats when DH (no AP) comes with us. The other trips are me and the kids and my mom. Those are shorter trips and its either for RunDisney races or to see Christmas decorations. We almost always stay at Hojo. Love it there and they offer an AP discount! We always drive down. My mom wont fly so even though theres been some great Southwest deals lately we continue to drive down.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

We live near you.
Got our first set of APs in December 2006. They were deluxe. Used them for 4 trips.
Upgraded those to premiums with the December 2007 renewal and could never go back to deluxes. Got 5 trips with those.
Waited until February 2009 and bought new premium APs. Got 6 trips on those.
6 trips on the next set of passes.
6 on the next.
5 on the next.
Four on the last set.
Two on this latest set so far. One more for sure, so three total at least.
Gets harder to go so often as the kids get older and have so many other activities and trips.
We almost always drive, have flown twice.

 

[Astylla]

It's just DH and I in the bay area of California and we have had Premium AP's since 2012. We usually take on average one "long" visit of 4-6 nights then at least several weekend trips in a year.

We typically stay at Super 8 on Katella since we have parking with our passes. Free parking, updated clean rooms and typically a rate of 60-80 on Orbitz. Recently our next go to is Castle Inn and suites. We also typically stay on site for our one longer trip, which will be starting this Sunday at the DLH, checking out Friday then staying one night at Castle Inn and suites before driving home Saturday afternoon.

We always drive and leave around 5am, take I5 and usually arrive by noon if not earlier. Just not worth it to fly when you factor in time to get to airport,transit from , etc.
We have a hybrid and only stop once usually so it's fast.

 

[bellazachmom]

We now live in the Sacramento area (thanks USAF!) and purchased annual passes during our trip in December.

We will have at least one more "big" trip with hubby and that will put us over the "break even" point for the cost.

I have planned long weekend trips with each of our 3 older kids leaving the 2 ear old home with Dad

I am also heading down in July for a Mom-cation that just happens to be during the 60th Birthday

So, at a minimum, we are looking at 5 trips this year

Question for you, however, about flying -- I get that there are really great rates, but how do you affordably get to your hotel?

I don't really enjoy the 6 hour drive, but after the travel time to the airport from our home North of Sacramento, flying and then travel time from the airport to the resort it seems to be about the same amount of time. Add to that the cost of getting from the airport to our hotel and it doesn't seem to make sense for us.

I'm obviously missing something because SO many people do fly from up here, but I just can't seem to make it work -- please tell me what I'm doing wrong

 

[Disneyluvr2]

I live in Chico and usually get 4-5 trips in on my pass each year. Some years I have a Deluxe, but this year I have a premium. I always fly because I hate that long drive! I usually fly down with DizMe and we'll meet up with a couple of other friends, for a fun 3 day girls weekend.

If we're going for Dapper Day, we stay on site, otherwise we just pick one of the hotels on Harbor that has a good rate. Usually the Carousel, but I really like the Candy Cane also.

 

[swooshbear]

DW and I (no kids) live in San Francisco and we go pretty often. We've done a lot of runDisney races in the past 3 years so it seems like we are there almost every other month. We also have Premier passes and in 2014, we went to WDW three times. I was short a few hundred miles from hitting Gold status on United so I took a day trip to Disneyland in December. We love having AP's because it really changes the way you experience the parks, it's so much more relaxing knowing you don't need to ride every ride and stay from rope drop to close.

 

[DizMe]

I fly down with Disneyluvr2! We usually get the great flight deals plus I have a SW card so I pay with points--free flights are awesome. We usually take SuperShuttle. It used to be $7 OW from SNA to the hotel but SS raised the rate and travelocity stopped giving the good coupon discount so it's now $10 pp with coupon/$11 without. For a family, you can get a taxi for ~$40 each way for everyone.

The SW $49 fares make it cheaper to fly than drive, even with the shuttle cost. That changes if you're a family, of course. When I go with my dh and kids, that's 5 of us flying and the cost to fly then goes from $100 for just me to $500 for all of us.

BUT...I almost always have enough points for all of us to fly free once/year plus enough for me to fly a few more times; we can be off the plane and in the park by 10 AM from the 7 AM flight; we don't have to leave early on the return date; and it's a lot more fun for me and dh not to have to drive 8-10 hours each way.

Anyway, back to the OP's question. I go 4-5 times/year and I always fly. Most of the time, I go with Disneyluvr2, my sister, or my adult DD. There have been times when I've flown down with my oldest DD on the earliest flight, spent all day in the parks, stayed overnight, spent most of the next day in the parks and then flew home on an evening flight to maximize the time. That whittles it down to 1 night in a hotel, so with an AP it's a pretty cheap trip for all the fun you enjoy. My younger kids know that DLR is Mom's getaway and my dh isn't much of a fan.

I have always gotten a Deluxe ap in the past, but this year I went with the Premium since I thought I might be going in the summer and they stopped offering block-out tickets. Not sure what I'll do next time, though. Have to say I love the 20% merchandise discount with the PAP, but it doesn't cover the extra cost for the premium and I don't use parking. Now that the dang things are so expensive, I put about half down and then use the payment plan for the remainder so it makes my payment around $30/month.

 

[MoreDisneyFreaks]

We live in Bay Area and haven't done season passes in awhile, but did get them this year. We plan to go 4 times (Feb/June/Oct/Dec). All our trips will be 2-3 days in the parks.

 

[Angrose]

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences!

I hate driving too, that's why I fly. I also have a lot of points with SW because last year I got their credit card and have started using it for all our household expenses. When they run their $49 specials it costs less than 5,000 points for a roundtrip! I figure if I'm not paying anything for my flight, I can splurge a little on transportation. I have taken SuperShuttle ($12) and taxis ($40), it just depends on how fast I want to get to/from the resort and airport. I have also thought about scoping out who is also waiting for cabs to see if I could share with someone. I've done this in Vegas before and it's a great cost-saver. I might try it next time.

I can see where having the AP could get addicting. I'm thinking I'll just try it for this year, but then I may not want to give it up! My DH does not see the point in going so often, but I agree that with the AP you can take in so much more detail each time and it's OK to miss things because you know you will be back soon! Also, as much as I love going with my family, I feel like I miss out on a lot of what I enjoy about the parks because I'm catering to their needs. We still have fun, but it's not the same. It would be great if I had a friend or family member who was crazy about Disneyland as much as I am and then we could be partners in crime! I'm totally fine taking my solo trips and maybe even I'll do a trip with just me and DS7 this summer while DH is away visiting family in the UK.

I have also considered doing a day trip. Jumping on the first morning flight and getting the last one home would be a fun way to spend a Saturday!

So there, I'm pretty darn convinced now to go ahead with the AP! That really didn't take much convincing though, did it?

 

[spellhex]

I live in the Sac area as well. I have a Premium AP, since I have very little vacation time and always go over the weekends. I'm currently on pace for six or seven trips in the one year. It's my go-to "get away from work" place.

I always drive, since I used to live in the LA area and I'm used to the NorCal to LA drive. Plus, my car gets good gas mileage, so $50 worth of gas will cover there and back. I also tend to take spur-of-the-moment trips, where I decide to go a week beforehand. Driving gives me that flexibility (and the flexibility to do other things in the LA area).

I've mixed it up so far - I've gone with family, two different groups of friends, and solo trips. Going with different people every time makes it fun because you tend to do different things with different people.

As for lodging, I've also switched it up every time. If I had the money, I'd stay on-site, but since I don't, I'm trying out all the "Good Neighbor" hotels. So far I've stayed at Castle Inn (back when it had the $65/night special - that was great), Candy Cane Inn, Alpine Inn, and Quality Inn on Katella. Free parking and cheap is all I care about, and all four met those standards.

I'd say it's definitely worth it. My AP has already paid for itself on park visits alone, much less all the merch and food I've gotten discounts on.

 

[disneychrista]

Last time I had an AP we went three time (2 - 4 days each).

 

[nicolispicoli]

I also live in Sacramento and hope to go at least 4 times before ours expire in November. However, now that my daughter is almost 4 (she just got her first AP), I don't think I'll be letting them lapse anytime soon. She asks if we can go to Disneyland at least once a week. If it weren't for Daddy, we would go once a month...lol.

The monthly payment plan really makes it more affordable to keep.

 

[Lauren in NC]

We got our APs last year - we went three times with our toddler and stayed 4-5 days each time. We drive (from the Bay Area) because I hate flying with the passion of a thousand fiery suns. We're probably going 2-3 times again this year.

 

[GatorChris]

We live in Modesto, so it takes about as much time to drive as it does to drive to the airport (90 minutes), wait 90 minutes from when we first arrive, fly about 75 minutes, wait 20 minutes for luggage, and another 20-30 for transport to the hotel. Assuming no delays, it takes about an hour more of travel time in the van and only costs me less than $80 for the whole family of 5. Flying is for going to Florida!

As for how many trips, we just got our first APs on our last trip in November. It was just going to be a 5 day trip, and we figured we'd be back next November for another 5-dayer so why not save a few dollars. First of all, we did the 5 days on our last trip, plus we did the parks in the mornings of the next two days (we had a concert the 6th evening, left on the 7th). That was really nice to just leisurely go back and ride some of our faves. Now we have a trip planned around Dapper Days to take advantage of the great DLH deals. That'll be for 3 full days, but it's nice to know we wake up on the 4th day and can still hit the parks for a few rides (the ones NOT down for refurb). And now we're thinking about a trip in either May or June for just a day or two so we can catch the dolled up castle and the new fireworks show before our next November trip.

So the answer right now is 3 trips, but it could be 4. I just don't have the vacation time go more than that. Sure I could go on the weekends, but I like the smaller crowds and a trip that's more than just a few days.

 

[Malcon10t]

We drive, since we live an hour south of Sac. Its about 5.5-6 hours each way. We are PAPs. We stay at various places, depending on what we are doing. (Race weekends are on property.) Nov-Jan are heavy times for us to visit. We made 5 trips then alone. The rest of the year we do long weekends, as I can work by phone if needed. So probably 11 trips a year, most 3 days, but a couple 6 days and 1 12 day trip.

 

[ddwlms]

I have also considered doing a day trip. Jumping on the first morning flight and getting the last one home would be a fun way to spend a Saturday!

We're 150 miles north of Sac (almost Redding) and we did this once. Got the kids up early and told them we were headed somewhere special for lunch. (Had reservations at CC). SW had $49 flights and we had credits that were about to expire. It was a lot of fun. (But I'm somewhat reserved so have felt the need to explain how "free" it was to anyone who found out that we flew to DL for the day.)

We make it down about 6 times each AP and have gone for about 6 months between APs (so 6 times every 18 months). We stay onsight if we can get a discount or if it is a special occasion. Otherwise, always DI&S. And we fly about 3/4 the time. We probably drove more when airline tickets were higher.

 

[amberCPA]

We're in Roseville, just North of Sacramento. We are upgrading our 4-day park hoppers to AP's when we go next month. We are driving this drip (8 nights) but I HATE driving. We have two more 3-day trips booked in May and July (Southwest $49 flights) and we'll go again in November/Early December for a week that we haven't booked yet. Wanted to make sure we get our money worth. We'll see how this year goes to determine if we'll do annual passes again.

 

[julesann]

I live in Chico and love my time at DLR. My db is my 'partner is crime' as you put it, Angrose, and we got AP's for DD last February as we knew we would be returning in December for a family reunion and we just about broke even. Then he and I decided to do September DD also. Last weekend, we booked for one last trip on our APs before they expire. We probably will get APs again, but not for a year (or maybe for Sept DD). We rendezvous and fly from Sacramento on SW. We look for the deals and I love not driving ! It makes me feel like I can fly in the a.m. and still get in a full day at DL! So that makes 4 trips to DL! It's been great!