Is Disneyland even worth visiting anymore?

[DLR92]

Yes and no. I wouldn’t spend day tickets at all. Being a Californian resident, the monthly payments make the pass affordable and way more value to spend with some ease. Surely beats spending on day tickets.

 

[DavidDL]

On the subject of value, I have been impressed with what the Platinum annual pass at Universal Studios Hollywood offers for it's price. Obviously the park has way less to do than at Disneyland but assuming that you like what is there, you get 15 months, no blockout dates, free parking, 15% food and merch discount (in park and Citywalk), free one time line skip at each attraction every day after 3pm, a free Halloween Horror Nights ticket, invites to special events (my wife and I got to do a lights on tour of one of the HHN houses a while back), discounted admission for friends and family and all the other little freebies collectibles (like the magnets n' such) for $599 or $26 monthly payment. I want to say they even had an Annual Passholder-only line for Grinch meet n' greets during Grinchmas the year we went that was way shorter, too.

When you consider that a one-day admission with Express pass is like $329 in the Summer, as a local, it feels like a no-brainer. Again, assuming you care enough about what's in the park to visit it that much (which, I do).

But going back to Disney, their SoCal resident pass is usually our go-to. The price is solid and as long as we're not visiting with friends or family, we don't even need the Lightning Lane add-on (most things we do once inside don't really need it or we get there early enough/stay late enough to knock that stuff out during those times). For my wife and I's tickets plus parking it ends up being around $618 for 3 visits, which by today's standards doesn't feel so bad for two people and three visits to Disneyland. It's a far cry from the top tier annual pass being like $200-some odd dollars when I was in high school but, oh well.

If I'm honest, as long as Haunted Mansion/Holiday is still around, Disneyland will see at least one trip from me a year. But I suppose that goes back to whatever one considers personally to be of "value".

 

[Distorian]

Yes and no. I wouldn’t spend day tickets at all. Being a Californian resident, the monthly payments make the pass affordable and way more value to spend with some ease. Surely beats spending on day tickets.

As a non-California resident, this means nothing to me. However, even if I were, I still can't imagine myself paying for even the Imagine Key. At $600 per person, that's $3000 for a family of five and only offers a 25% discount at the Toy Story Lot, not even the Mickey and Friends garage. Even if you visit the 4 times necessary to pay off the pass, that's $120 worth of parking. Add on the average cost of a full day of eating at $50 per person ($45 with the "generous" 10% discount), that's $225 for a family for just one day. To get your "money's worth" out of the Imagine Key, you'd likely spend over $1,000 in those four visits. This is all ignoring that the pass is only valid for weekdays and completely blocked in Summer and Christmas, the best times to visit.

I really just cannot see the value in getting a Disneyland pass unless you are so local you can walk there and take the kids after school. The California resident 3-day park hopper deal they offer gives far more bang for your buck at only $250 a person, even if it is limited to January to May, but that's still only 3.5 months less than the Imagine Key offers and doesn't block out weekends.

 

[DavidDL]

If their goal was to get locals to buy less annual passes and buy more day tickets, it definitely worked on us. To @Distorian 's point, with the SoCal 3-day ticket or a regular day ticket, you don't need to worry about being blocked out on weekends or the like. You just, go whenever. -and I've never had an issue securing a reservation with day tickets, unlike some stories I hear from passholders. I wonder if the allotted amount Disney allows in runs out quicker for them?

After the 3-day ticket at the beginning of the year, my wife and I will typically spring for one more trip before year's end: either Halloween or Christmas. So for 4 visits to the park a year, with parking (no Lightning Lane), we spend about $1,056 between the two of us. Which is about $528 each and almost 1/4th the price of the most expensive annua- I mean, Magic Key. *shudder*

Growing up a spoiled kid, I used to get dropped off like once a week at the parks. Then when I started working there, I was there even more often. But at this point in our busy lives, I realize the limited amount of times we go are more than enough. -and frankly, are way more than some will ever have the fortune to experience at all, so I am grateful for it.

 

[mickEblu]

If their goal was to get locals to buy less annual passes and buy more day tickets, it definitely worked on us. To @Distorian 's point, with the SoCal 3-day ticket or a regular day ticket, you don't need to worry about being blocked out on weekends or the like. You just, go whenever. -and I've never had an issue securing a reservation with day tickets, unlike some stories I hear from passholders. I wonder if the allotted amount Disney allows in runs out quicker for them?

After the 3-day ticket at the beginning of the year, my wife and I will typically spring for one more trip before year's end: either Halloween or Christmas. So for 4 visits to the park a year, with parking (no Lightning Lane), we spend about $1,056 between the two of us. Which is about $528 each and almost 1/4th the price of the most expensive annua- I mean, Magic Key. *shudder*

Growing up a spoiled kid, I used to get dropped off like once a week at the parks. Then when I started working there, I was there even more often. But at this point in our busy lives, I realize the limited amount of times we go are more than enough. -and frankly, are way more than some will ever have the fortune to experience at all, so I am grateful for it.

Yup, this is exactly why Spring Break has been so slammed so far. No blackout dates on those 3 day So Cal tickets this year. In years past they were blocked out IIRC.

It seems like between the post Covid burnout, the economy, and some of the not so great changes at the parks many people have actually finally hit that proverbial wall. Not to say there isn’t someone in line to take their place but if things don’t change their might be much more AP turn over than in the past. We’ve come to the same conclusion as you have. One 3 day So cal pass for Spring (peak Disneyland) and maybe another trip during Christmas works for us. But I probably wouldn’t feel the need to do Christmas every year. Maybe every other year. Our passes expired two months ago and my 10 year old son hasn’t asked about Disneyland once. My 5 1/2 year old daughter has though. A few times. So I’m not ruling out buying passes again next year while she she’s still in that prime DL child age bracket and after some of the burn out fades for the rest of us.

 

[coffeefan]

On the subject of value, I have been impressed with what the Platinum annual pass at Universal Studios Hollywood offers for it's price. Obviously the park has way less to do than at Disneyland but assuming that you like what is there, you get 15 months, no blockout dates, free parking, 15% food and merch discount (in park and Citywalk), free one time line skip at each attraction every day after 3pm, a free Halloween Horror Nights ticket, invites to special events (my wife and I got to do a lights on tour of one of the HHN houses a while back), discounted admission for friends and family and all the other little freebies collectibles (like the magnets n' such) for $599 or $26 monthly payment. I want to say they even had an Annual Passholder-only line for Grinch meet n' greets during Grinchmas the year we went that was way shorter, too.

When you consider that a one-day admission with Express pass is like $329 in the Summer, as a local, it feels like a no-brainer. Again, assuming you care enough about what's in the park to visit it that much (which, I do).

It's subjective for sure. I used to live within 15 mins of USH and didn't have a pass. It just didn't offer enough for me outside of HHN. I did have an AMC A-list pass though, so I was at CityWlak and AMC a few times a month. But if Hollywood Drift existed back then I probably would have gotten a pass.

If their goal was to get locals to buy less annual passes and buy more day tickets, it definitely worked on us. To @Distorian 's point, with the SoCal 3-day ticket or a regular day ticket, you don't need to worry about being blocked out on weekends or the like. You just, go whenever. -and I've never had an issue securing a reservation with day tickets, unlike some stories I hear from passholders. I wonder if the allotted amount Disney allows in runs out quicker for them?

I think weaning some people off APs is part of their goal. In practice, fewer APs could mean more room for other people to go to DLR. So regulars go less, but more locals get to experience DL overall, which is good for DL IMO.

After the 3-day ticket at the beginning of the year, my wife and I will typically spring for one more trip before year's end: either Halloween or Christmas. So for 4 visits to the park a year, with parking (no Lightning Lane), we spend about $1,056 between the two of us. Which is about $528 each and almost 1/4th the price of the most expensive annua- I mean, Magic Key. *shudder*

I don't think there's a right or wrong way to do it. As a local, DL is still offers the most value in terms of entertainment it just depends what works best for each person.

 

[Distorian]

These are the experiences and artistry that still makes Disneyland valuable in my eyes.

 

[Dear Prudence]

Why? Nursing is a professionally educated, very in demand speciality. Cumulative inflation in the US has been 90% since 2000. Generally a well functioning economy would even like to see wage growth reasonably above inflation. Did nurses not deserve 40-50k 26 years ago? Because that’s the threshold for them to deserve 6 figures today.

I feel like comments like this simply ignore the economic reality. Things can’t be simultaneously more expensive/inflated, but you also want to advocate for wage suppression.

Ps I’m coming at this from the third party Canadian lens, but NHS obviously has its issues as well.

Not a Canadian, but very biased towards nurses-- they deserve every penny and more-- especially since so many are regularly pulling 10-12 hour days. They are literally the Healthcare system.