skip to the end: One Year as a Disneyland Passport holder.

This post is not sponsored by Disney/Disneyland. I just really love it. :)

Yesterday, May 23rd, our Disneyland Annual Passports expired. While I am sad that we aren't able to renew this year, I am very happy with the one year we did have at the parks.

In case you don't know, Disneyland offers Annual Passports to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. At first glance the cost looks outrageous, and really it is, but if you plan to actually use it to it's full potential it's worth it. Adrian and I chose to purchase the Premium Annual Passport which is the highest one you can get. The reason we did so is because that one comes with free parking, no blackout dates, and higher discounts; 15% for dining and 20% for merchandise. Like I said, at $699.00 (it was slightly cheaper when we purchased it last year, they raise prices yearly), it doesn't seem worth it. Until you look at the regular ticket prices.

For the cheapest ticket they offer to Southern California residents it costs $129.00, that is a 2-day 1-park ticket (so 64.50 per day), plus you have to add on the $15 parking price per day. Adrian and I managed to go 25 times over the last year. If you divide the $699 cost by 25 it only comes out to $27.96 per visit. Deduct parking and we only paid $12.96 per visit, had we paid for parking 25 times we would have paid $375 for parking alone. Fortunately because we are SoCal residents we were able to make monthly payments, which for us was $50 each after a $96 down payment. Just fyi, they charge you $96 immediately when you buy the pass (this goes towards the total yearly amount) but they will also charge you the first $50 the following day.

In my opinion, though, if Adrian and I didn't live within an hour from the park and we didn't have his mom to stay with in the Anaheim area I don't think we would have bought our passes. To me they are worth it if you plan to visit around as many times as we did and you live fairly near to the parks.

For us it was a really fun thing for us to do and look forward to every other week and I'm so glad we were able to experience as many fun things as we did. We visited for the 24-hour Disney event, Halloween/Fall, Christmas/Winter, Villains day and so much more. My only regret is not being able to participate in Dapper Day or yesterdays Rock Your Disney Side 24-hour event.