Our Disneyland Annual Pass - Year One
Yes, it has been an entire year since Marzz and I purchased our first Disneyland annual pass back in August 2017. I wanted to take this opportunity to give a follow-up to our second blog that we ever did, titled: Annual Pass Statistics and in fact a final overview on how we used our Disneyland annual passes during our first year.
I think our favorite part about having annual passes is the freedom to going just about whenever we want. We have the Disney Signature pass, so we are blocked out the very last two weeks of the year, which includes Christmas day; but we're fine with that. Having the entire rest of the year allows us so many opportunities to visit the parks and we try to take advantage as much as possible.
It was great being able to enjoy the different holidays such as Halloween, Christmas, Easter and recently the 4th of July. I think because Halloween and Christmas are celebrated at the parks for an extended period of time, as opposed to Easter Sunday or the 4th of July which are only celebrated on the day of the holiday, they are my favorite holidays at the parks.
We tried out Disney Maxpass a couple of times during our first year, we paid $10/person each day for a total of 3 days. My favorite part about having the Disney Maxpass is the convenience of not having to physically walk to the attraction in order to get your fast pass. In addition to fast passes, you also receive complimentary Disney Photopass service which we took advantage of each day we used Disney Maxpass. We enjoyed our experience with Disney Maxpass so much that we've added it to our passes for our second year.
Another thing we enjoyed about visiting the parks often was being able to try the new foods and treats that they seem to come out with often. Whether it be seasonal treats, limited addition items or new concoctions altogether. Some of my favorite items that we tried were the Milano from the Hollywood area in DCA which was Fanta, orange freeze with blue cream. The strawberry beignets from the Mint Julep window and the seasonal Milk and Honey funnel cake from the Hungry Bear restaurant.
Our favorite days in the parks were the casual ones where we spent the majority of time walking around and enjoying some snacks. On more than one occasion we drove down after work just to spend a couple of hours in the parks, perhaps hop on a ride or two, then turn around and come back home.
Below is a breakdown of our first year with some data that we were keeping track of while we visited the parks. We also noted every cast members name that we made a transaction with, we used the receipts to log the information. Overall I think our first year as annual pass holders was exactly what we were looking to do. We were able to visit at our own pace and on our terms.
We're both excited and looking forward to our second year as annual pass holders, as we've just renewed our passes and as mentioned earlier, we chose to add the Disney Maxpass option to our passes this year so we'll see how that makes a difference for us riding attractions and taking photos. There are some details that we did not track in our first year that I would like to attempt in our second; we'll see how diligent we can be about that?
We've been asked by lots of people if having a Disneyland annual pass is worth it? For us, it definitely is! I think it depends on what you're looking to do in terms of frequency of visits, duration for each visit, your budget etc. We just wanted the opportunity to be in the parks, enjoy the atmosphere, ride a few rides and eat some delicious foods; so for us, we got all of that and then some. As far as the different pass options are concerned, we would like to continue at the Signature pass or above, since that pass includes Saturday's and if given a choice of Saturday or Sunday, we would prefer to visit on Saturday so that Sunday can be a more restful day before we have to return to work on Monday.
We hope you enjoy looking through some of our data below and as always, thank you for taking the time to visit our page and read our blog. Don't forget to follow us on social media, click the link to our YouTube page or search Nate and Marzz to watch some of our adventures on YouTube!
