I was chatting with a good friend yesterday about annual passes. He is looking to buy passes for his family and was asking for my opinion. Which pass should I get? I say it depends on your financial situation, how often are you planning on heading to the parks and location.
I have had the Premium Pass for over a decade. It works for my family for a number of reasons. We live about a 20 minute drive from the park, we have quite a few family members that live outside the area and like to come down to Disneyland during the holidays, we are big Disney Geeks, we hate crowds and we love the freedom it provides of visiting any day of the year without restrictions.
Here is the scoop on the Premium Annual Passport:
- 365 consecutive days of admission to both theme parks.
- 10% merchandise discount at select locations throughout the Disneyland® Resort
- Exclusive benefits at select Downtown Disney® District locations
- Free annual parking pass for the Mickey & Friends parking structure. ($79 value)
- 10-15% dining discount at select Disneyland® Resort restaurants
- Special rates at Disneyland Resort Hotels
The Premium Passes are very expensive. The pass is $429, however you can use the payment plan option, guests will pay for the cost of a 1-Day, 1-Park ticket – $72-upon purchase and will pay the remaining amount over the next 12 months, with no finance charges applied.
If you don’t want to splurge on the Premium, then I highly recommend the Deluxe Annual Passport. Most of my friends and family have this pass.
Here is the scoop on the Deluxe Annual Passport:
- 315 days of admission. Most Holidays and some peak season Saturdays are blocked out.
- 10% dining discount at select Disneyland Resort Restaurants
- Special Rates at Disneyland Resort Hotels
- Parking is NOT included- $79 for parking.
The Deluxe Annual Passport is a little pricey at $289 . However, it does offer many admission days and if you plan on using your pass frequently, it could be your best option. As with the Premium Pass, you can use the payment plan option and you will pay for the cost of a 1-Day, 1-Park ticket -$72-upon purchase and will pay the remaining amount over the next 12 months, with no finance charges applied.
The other two options are more affordable options but have many blackout dates.
Here is the scoop on the Southern California Annual Passport:
- 227 days of admission. Most of these days are off peak season. All Holidays and Saturdays are blocked out.
- 10% dining discount at select Disneyland Resort Restaurants
- Special Rates at the Disneyland Resort Hotels
- Parking is not included -$79 for parking pass
- This pass differs from the Southern California Select in that Sundays are allowed
The pass is $194, and as with the other passes you can use the payment plan option. You will pay for the cost of a 1-Day, 1-Park ticket – $72-upon purchase and will pay the remaining amount over the next 12 months, with no finance charges applied.
The least expensive of the passes is the Southern California Select Annual Pass:
- 176 days of admission. This is a weekday pass only! All Holidays, weekends and most peak times at the park are blocked off.
- 10% Dining discount at select Disneyland Resort restaurants
- Special Rates at the Disneyland Park Hotels
- Parking Pass is not included
The pass is $144 and as with the other passes you can use the payment plan option. You will pay for the cost of a 1-Day, 1-Park ticket-$72- upon purchase and will pay the remaining amount over the next 12 months, with no finance charges applied.
My friend decided to purchase the Deluxe Annual Passport since he wants to bring his kiddos down on Saturdays. I want to hear from you. What pass do you have? Do you love it? Do you use it often?
We've got the Premium Passes. Love them. Just the other day they saved me $7 because of the discount when I purchased dinner. But then again… we are Disney Geeks too and tend to go on average of once a week. Not many of us would have noticed the increase of $.25 for the souvenir buckets of popcorn… yup, that much of a Dork. 8:0)
The hubs & I have the Deluxe Annual Passports & we love them! We used to go ALL the time when we lived 5 minutes from disneyland but now that we're about an 1hr away we only visit 3-4 times a month 🙁
We used to have the Southern CA passports but didnt care for all the black out dates. We're really enjoying these because we actually get to join in on the halloween fun & most of summer isnt blocked. We got ours on the monthly payment plan so we only pay about $33 for both of us (includes 1 parking pass). I think it's pretty afordable.
Love this post! We have never been pass-holders and have been considering it. Your blog broke it down perfectly. Thanks so much!
I have the So Cal Select (cheapest) pass. This works out very well for us, as my son is a few months from turning 3 (so he's still free) and I'm a stay at home mom, so I just take him during the week. My husband and I had the Premium Passes for years, but we just didn't feel like they were worth it any longer: I am spoiled from going so often than I refuse to wait on long lines for rides – I'll just come back on a random Tuesday and hop on in 10 minutes. I live about 35 minutes away, and I try to make it a point to visit every couple of weeks. I have MORE than gotten my money's worth! Sadly, times are tight at our house (just like at many others), so I don't think I'll be renewing my pass when it expires. Boo!
This is my second year as a passport holder. Last year we had the Southern California pass which was great because it allowed most Sundays but because of the block out dates around the holidays, we had to scramble to be able to see the park during holiday times to see the theme decorations. This year we upgraded to the Deluxe pass since they allowed you to apply the birthday money toward the purchase of a pass. We are enjoying the more flexibility and open dates including Saturdays for the Deluxe pass.
Great post! Would you be interested in reposting on my blog as a guest spot? 🙂
We are premium passholders. We kept getting blocked out on the Saturday's that we wanted to go. We buy our passes every year with our tax return money.
We have the cheapest passes and it works out perfectly because my kids are only 4 and 2. Blocked out for weekends and holidays/summer? Fabulous! I don't want to be there when it's crowded anyhow, plus we pack our snacks so we don't miss the discounts. I imagine when the kids are in grade school, we'll need to upgrade so we can visit during the weekends, but until then, we're pleased as punch with our option.