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View Full Version : Is S. Cal. Annual passport a good deal?



iflykc10s
03-24-2002, 01:55 PM
Is the S. Cal. annual passport a good deal? Is it renewable annually as in every December 31st or 365 days after you purchase it?

MammaSilva
03-24-2002, 02:36 PM
the only one that can decide if that pass is right for them is each person. You need to look at the blackout dates and for the So Cal pass there are a LOT of blackout dates! Any Annual Pass expires a year from the day you activate it.

MonorailMan
03-24-2002, 04:05 PM
It worked for me and my mom, but the Deluxe (For only $50 more), has a lot less blockout dates.

It's not a bad deal, just It needs to work for you, for us, I work on Sat., and Sun. are the best days to go, and most of them are not blocked out. :) :)

Darkbeer
03-24-2002, 04:16 PM
And the upgrade to Premium is another $50, but you get free parking (a $35 value), plus a lot of additional discounts, usually it pays for one member of the group to get the Premium... the others depends on the dates you want to attend and do they conflict with your schedule.

Lost Boy
03-24-2002, 08:33 PM
What's nice is you can buy that Annual Pass for $99 at a Disney Store and then activate it when you go to the Park. And you can activate it on a Blackout day and both Park will be available that day. Now the $99 pass has most weekends blacked out during the summer and all holidays. What I did was buy the $99 pass from my local Disney Store, then waited a couple weeks until my next paycheck, went to the Park on a blackout day and upgraded to the $150 pass for $50 that day. So the entire $150 did not all come out of one paycheck. I sort of spread it out. And maybe at some point for another $50 I will upgrade again to the Premium Pass. And yes it is a good deal. You get both Parks on one Pass, and as I keep saying over and over, DCA is not all that bad. In fact last Sunday I only spent from 8:30am until 10am at Disneyland then went over to DCA and ended up staying until 4:00 when it started to raind and get really windy and cold so I left. That is the nice thing about the AP's. After you use it once or twice it has paid for itself and all other visits are free. You don't feel as if you have to spend all day there if you only want to go for something special, or look at a new pin, or just see Blast or some other show and then leave. Depending, of course, on how far away you live. But if you are local, it is perfect if you don't go on the weekends a lot, then you need to upgrade to the next level. Then Sundays are open, unless it is a holiday.

socabch
03-24-2002, 08:49 PM
I didn't get the So Cal Pass because the whole summer is blocked out and that's when my kids are out of school. But if you don't plan to come in the summer or the other block out days then it's good price. My kids have a Deluxe and I have a Premium. I upgraded for the free parking and better discounts. I do alot of shopping when I'm there. I'll go this week to get my Easter presents. Lost Boy has a great idea if it's tight on the pocket all at once. I cashed in vacation hours last year to pay for mine.

Ace
03-24-2002, 09:12 PM
If I were getting a pass (which I will be in a year) then I would get the 200 one... it's only 100 more and you get discounts, free parking (just don't pass go) no black out days, and plus you just feel special all over.

Morrigoon
03-24-2002, 10:00 PM
Socal is a decent deal if you can handle all the blackout days, BUT, if you're going to go for the deluxe then you might as well go all the way with the premium and here's why: if you're going to go often enough to get your money's worth out of the pass, then you need to get parking added - once you add parking to the deluxe, for $15 more you can have premium, with NO blackout days and the discounts. So really, with the exception of kids who don't drive, there's no point in getting the deluxe. Either go socal or premium.

If you're on a shoestring budget, then yes, the socal is a good deal, but if you can scrape enough together for the premium, I think it'd be worth your while to consider.

hefferdude
03-25-2002, 11:19 AM
So Cal works well for our family. When we travel to DLR,
we use the blockout saturday to go see an Angels game
( not included in APs ) when they're in town, do some swim downtime by the pool and finish the evening at DTD.
Then we'll do DLR or DCA on Sunday. Very casual weekend.
Its rare we spend $ to go in on a blockout but it has happend.

Dlandmom
03-25-2002, 12:42 PM
Yes, it really does depend on your situation. If you don't plan on going a lot (like my husband), then the SoCal pass works great (except when you forget to check for blackout dates like yesterday when decided on the spur of the moment to go and then realized that it was blacked out last weekend through this weekend!).

If you plan to go a lot, and the person who's driving has a premium, I think that's sufficient. However, it really is a pain sometimes having so many blackout dates.

TerryTiger
03-25-2002, 06:45 PM
Does anyone with a SoCal AP live in another state? And did it cause any hassles since the So Cal pass is supposedly ONLY for So Cal residents? My sister will be visiting from Oregon in a few weeks and wants to do 2 days at the park. She might come back before Christmas so I was just going to get her the $99 AP but need to know if she has to register with MY address or can she use her own?

HBTiggerFan
03-25-2002, 06:53 PM
TeryTiger,
I know that some people who are from out of state have had luck getting the SoCal AP, but others have not. There may still be the $49 2 park hopper pass. Its suppost to be for SoCal, but my firend from DC got it. It has the option of one park on one day and the other park on the other day or you can use it for one day as a hopper. And if you did 2 of those, for 2 days it would be the same price as an AP, but not with the extra days...its an option to buying expensive park hoppers.