Disneyland Annual Pass Holder Perks or Pains?

Being a Disneyland annual pass holder certainly has its perks for visiting the theme parks in Southern California in terms of overall value price per visit, meaning you generally get to visit many more days via an annual pass than you probably would if you purchased a ticket each time you go to the parks. This part is pretty obvious and the main reason most people get a pass to begin with.

Other perks that come with an annual pass are discounts on merchandise and food and sometimes special events that may be available only to pass holders, along with some merchandise such as AP t-shirts or getting the "AP" logo on a set of mouse ears. Among the merchandise that are exclusive to annual pass holders recently are limited edition popcorn buckets which are also available for purchase for a limited time, making them extremely popular therefore difficult to get.

Pictured above, these cute Little Green Alien popcorn buckets, as of writing this, are currently available for purchase from April 24, 2018 to May 24, 2018. Once purchased, you may bring the bucket back to any popcorn cart in either Disneyland or Disney California Adventure park, show your annual pass and pay $1.00 and receive a popcorn bucket refill from whenever you purchase it until June 21, 2018. So there is a limit on the window of purchasing and also a limit on getting to use the bucket to receive $1.00 popcorn refills. Now this is a pretty great deal assuming you like to eat popcorn. The bucket retails for $20.00 and you may purchase 1 bucket per transaction, meaning you cannot purchase a bunch at once, and if you and your friend are in line together, even though you may both have annual passes, you cannot pay together, because that would be 2 buckets in 1 transaction. So simply, you would each have to pay separately in your own transaction.

Now the seemingly growing problem....

This is a perk available to those who purchased an annual pass. True. However, not all annual pass holders are able to get a bucket and it's not for lack of trying. If you just go onto ebay and search for "little green alien popcorn bucket" you will see many of them listed ranging from $35 up to $100 each. People listing Disney limited items on ebay is not new and it will not be going away anytime soon. This I do not argue nor have an issue with on its own merit.

The issue seems to be that there just aren't enough buckets and for those annual pass holders who just want one for themselves, they are unable to get one. I think an issue is the lack of quantity available.

I'm not trying to start any conspiracy's, those will start on their own, but I don't believe that Disney is purposefully trying to make the buckets scarce, however, it does seem odd that via social media I'm constantly reading that they're sold out.

This past Saturday, May 19, I personally went to Disney California Adventure with the sole intent on trying to purchase this popcorn bucket. I parked at the Mickey and Friends parking structure 2 hours prior to the official park opening time and I was second in line at the main entrance to DCA and ultimately I was the first in line at the popcorn stand adjacent to Carthay Circle. Prior to opening the popcorn cart, a cast member brought out three cases, literally 12 buckets per case and another cast member shortly afterwards announced that these 36 buckets were the only ones they had and afterwards DCA would be completely sold out!

I find this amazing that the entire park would be sold out minutes after the park opened for the day. Needless to say many people in line were upset and asking questions, but not getting much resolve.

I was fortunate to get one, but I felt I worked pretty hard to get it and I was also lucky that they had any to restock this past Saturday, because it might have all been for nothing.

I have mixed thoughts on this, but I think I'm leaning towards the idea that they should limit the quantity that you're allowed to purchase, in an attempt to level the playing field. I believe that you should be allowed to purchase additional buckets for keepsakes, selling on ebay or gifting to a friend or family member...and just to clarify, yes, I said I agree you should be allowed to sell it on ebay. I think that you should perhaps be limited to 2 buckets per pass. They have the ability to scan you pass and keep track on how many you've purchased so this would be easy and the software is already in place. As for the annual pass holders, this would still allow you to purchase one or two, as well as help increase the chances that more pass holders get to purchase one. I understand that not everyone wants one, and Disney cannot make a projected sales plan for everyone purchasing one, so there will always be some left out, should the unlikely event happen that every single pass holder decided to try and buy one. Again, I think having a limit would help swing the balance back a bit more towards the annual pass holders and the reason for this in my opinion is that the passes are not cheap and for paying all of that money, you're probably already pouring in money for food, souvenirs and other things so seeing that this is an exclusive pass holder item, the fact that you are spending all of this money and then being denied a pass holder perk, just feels unfair.

Let me also end by saying in the realm of problems of the world, this certainly isn't one, but in the arena of Disney topics, I would like to hear your thoughts on this and what you think about it. Is this an issue? Perhaps you think not and therefore nothing needs to be done; or maybe you have a completely different idea on how they can curb this problem to satisfy more annual pass holders. We'd love to hear your thoughts, please leave a comment below or on our social media pages. Thanks for reading!