Flex Pass Superthread: Disneyland Resort Introduces New Annual Passport that Combines Value and Flexibility

[socaldisneylover]

FYI, you are allowed to park at the Anaheim Transportation Center(ARTIC) on Katella for no charge, and can then take a shuttle for $6 Round Trip that drops you off right at the Disneyland Transportation Center in about 20 minutes.

Sure, you're not parking right near the parks, but so what? You still have to walk from wherever they park you to the trams, and then wait for the trams coming & going, plus you also have the tram ride itself which takes several minutes.

Obviously if you are not going alone, you might have to make adjustments. Like dropping everyone off at the park, while you go to ARTIC, so only 1 person needs to pay for shuttle. Sure, there will be times you might just want to park at M&F, but if say you go 16 times in a year, I think it's ridiculous to pay $400 out of your $1,000 total cost, just to park.

 

[kristensideaoffun]

If you're out of area,and stay at a hotel, you can leave your car there (assuming you choose a hotel that includes parking).

I am guessing that many of the people that are close enough to drive in for the day (or a few hours) will likely stick with the much lower cost SoCal Select pass. I had originally planned to purchase SoCal passes, but we are now going to take the flex passes for a test drive this year. We knew we would visit enough to make the SoCal passes worth it for us. The Flex pass has the same “good to go” days as the SoCal pass, and I know that we will visit more often or extend trips if we can get reservations on Fridays or the weekends when we don’t have to take time off work to go.

We are in San Diego and 95% of the time we take the train, so the parking is almost worthless to us. We also usually go for more than one day and stay in a hotel. I can imagine this pass appealing to more people like us.

 

[debloco]

If you know where to park, it's free, and you can take the ART Bus round trip for around $6. I refuse to just willingly pay 50% or more of the pass cost, just to park. IMO there is no bigger ripoff in the world than Paid Parking. If you think Disney is making a lot of money on the $100+ tickets, imagine how much they make charging each vehicle $25 to take up 1 spot in a giant parking garage.

Agreed. This is why I said YMMV. But there is the extra time cost.

 

[debloco]

I am guessing that many of the people that are close enough to drive in for the day (or a few hours) will likely stick with the much lower cost SoCal Select pass. I had originally planned to purchase SoCal passes, but we are now going to take the flex passes for a test drive this year. We knew we would visit enough to make the SoCal passes worth it for us. The Flex pass has the same “good to go” days as the SoCal pass, and I know that we will visit more often or extend trips if we can get reservations on Fridays or the weekends when we don’t have to take time off work to go.

We are in San Diego and 95% of the time we take the train, so the parking is almost worthless to us. We also usually go for more than one day and stay in a hotel. I can imagine this pass appealing to more people like us.

Agreed. This is why I said "YMMV" for your personal situation. Although how are you getting from the train to your hotel and then back to the train? There must be a cost involved there.

 

[debloco]

I agree with this. I have been staying in walking distance or with a shuttle and it’s 10 times better then the crap show of parking they have there now.

Agreed. This is why I said "YMMV" so crunch the numbers for your personal situation.

 

[pharmama]

Sure, but a lot of hotels in the area charge for parking. And there is the cost in extra time to get from your hotel to the park and back each day.

You don't have a choice in paying for parking at a hotel if you are staying at a hotel that charges for parking (which many do, though not all) and you have a car. Many of the hotels on Harbor/in the resort area do charge (though usually less than Disney) and also take LESS time to get to the park from than either of the Disney lots (walking, so no additional cost). I have a Sig pass and have only used the parking once in the last two+ years, though I often have a car there-it's usually just parked in the hotel lot (which, yes, I may have paid for but I would have paid for it either way whether my pass included Disney parking or not).

I know you said YMMV but I think it just highlights that this pass is not really meant for people who plan to park in Disney parking.

 

[debloco]

You don't have a choice in paying for parking at a hotel if you are staying at a hotel that charges for parking (which many do, though not all) and you have a car. Many of the hotels on Harbor/in the resort area do charge (though usually less than Disney) and also take LESS time to get to the park from than either of the Disney lots (walking, so no additional cost). I have a Sig pass and have only used the parking once in the last two+ years, though I often have a car there-it's usually just parked in the hotel lot (which, yes, I may have paid for but I would have paid for it either way whether my pass included Disney parking or not).

I know you said YMMV but I think it just highlights that this pass is not really meant for people who plan to park in Disney parking.

True. Although with a Sig Pass you are paying for parking. It's built into the cost of the pass. You are paying again for parking at the hotel but saving time because it is so quick to walk to the park from the hotels on Harbor.

 

[debloco]

FYI, you are allowed to park at the Anaheim Transportation Center(ARTIC) on Katella for no charge, and can then take a shuttle for $6 Round Trip that drops you off right at the Disneyland Transportation Center in about 20 minutes.

Sure, you're not parking right near the parks, but so what? You still have to walk from wherever they park you to the trams, and then wait for the trams coming & going, plus you also have the tram ride itself which takes several minutes.

Obviously if you are not going alone, you might have to make adjustments. Like dropping everyone off at the park, while you go to ARTIC, so only 1 person needs to pay for shuttle. Sure, there will be times you might just want to park at M&F, but if say you go 16 times in a year, I think it's ridiculous to pay $400 out of your $1,000 total cost, just to park.

Agreed. The cost for parking is the bugaboo with this pass. The cost/benefit analysis-that includes the time it takes to utilize whatever option you choose-is a highly individual choice.

All I'm saying is do the math (all the math-not just the $$$ math) and do what works for you.

 

[pharmama]

True. Although with a Sig Pass you are paying for parking. It's built into the cost of the pass. You are paying again for parking at the hotel but saving time because it is so quick to walk to the park from the hotels on Harbor.

Sure but it's not an option for Sig to not have parking-the point is that some people (like me) are not using it with their Sig so wouldn't need it for the Flex Pass either. So in doing a cost analysis I wouldn't factor in an unused "benefit". The hotel parking is irrelevant since I'd have to pay it either way (I can't park my car at Disney to use my included parking and leave it there for 3 days while I stay at a hotel).

I will likely get a Flex for at least some of my family members. Depending on how that's working and how easy it pans out to be to get reservations, I may downgrade to a Flex as well when my Sig expires in December. We'll see. With parking out of the equation it takes a lot of food and merch to make up the difference.

 

[kristensideaoffun]

Agreed. This is why I said "YMMV" for your personal situation. Although how are you getting from the train to your hotel and then back to the train? There must be a cost involved there.

It’s free to transfer to a bus to get to the hotel, but we just take a Lyft. It costs about $6 each way.

For us, we had the SoCal (pass above SoCal Select) for I think 5-6 years. We let those expire last August because we knew there was just no way we could extract the value out of our passes due to our daughter’s travel schedule for competitive gymnastics. Now that we have some more time to go over the next 8 months, we wish we had the option to get our old passes back. This pass it at the same price point (if I remember correctly) of the old SoCal pass and I think we will be able to use it enough to make it worth it. It’s an experiment for us, so we will take the gamble and see if it is worth it.

 

[MrLincoln]

So I reserved May 26th and 27th. Once the 26th hits I can go ahead and reserve June 22nd(if available)?

Sorry, I didn't see anyone else answer your question. You are correct, although when exactly during that elapsed reservation day you can make another reservation, I am uncertain.

This is what I plan to do with June 5 as soon as we use our first reservation day in the parks Monday, June 3. And yes, the discounts are not as deep as they are on the Signature+ AP--which is what DW and I had five years ago, when you got 20 percent off dining and shopping across-the-board--but I'll take 10 percent off over the full price that's always managed to blow our budgets on every trip to the park since 2013.

As for the parking cost, I can see this being an issue with larger families. But Uber and Lyft have cut that expense dramatically in the last couple of years.

Believe it or not, the percentage of hotels from Walnut Street east to the 5 between Ball and Katella that charge for parking is only about 25 to 40. The vast majority of the "Disney area" hotels in this radius have free parking, while the ones that do charge for parking are mostly near the convention center, especially north up Harbor Blvd. from Chapman Ave. to the Red Lion.

 

[Ryan120420]

For those looking to avoid paying to park you have a few options:

1. Fullerton Amtrak/Metrolink train station

Free parking in the 2 parking structures. Take OCTA bus 43 or 543 to the park for $2 each way. 25mins each way.

2. Fullerton Park and Ride

Free surface parking lot located at the 91 and 5 Freeway interchange. Take LA Metro bus 460 to the park. $1.75 each way. 15min each way. This option is also great if you want to go Knott's Berry Farm and not pay for parking.

3 ARTIC Train Station.

Free parking in the lot in front of the station. All other parking lots are permit only. On days were there is an event at the Honda Center or Angels Stadium free parking is extremely hard to find.

Take ART route 15 to the park. $3 each way. 25-40min each way. Or take OCTA route 50 and get off at Katella and Harbor and walk to the park. $2 each way. 30-40min each way.


Personally I prefer Fullerton train station.

 

[ardanxela]

I think this pass will be best for us because we'll probably only go 6 times per year so add on another $150 for parking. As far as discounts go, we usually only buy one meal and maybe some snacks and purchase merchandise occasionally. We can still buy special event tickets like the Halloween party or After Hours events and still come in under or close to what it cost for the Signature pass.

 

[socaldisneylover]

For those looking to avoid paying to park you have a few options:

For those like myself, in South Orange County, there is OCTA #83, which goes from the Laguna Hills Transportation Center to Harbor/Katella and the Disneyland Transportation Ctr, for $4 Round Trip. I mention Harbor/Katella, because the bus stops there about 20 minutes before it finally gets to Disneyland, so you save a little time by walking rather than staying on bus to end of line.

The travel time can be as much as 1 1/2 hours during peak times, but you would still have much of that driving yourself. Considering you avoid parking & tram time, it's really not much longer, so I plan on utilizing this, except on dates when I want to stay late, because the buses stop running earlier than the park closes.

 

[ardanxela]

Sure, but a lot of hotels in the area charge for parking. And there is the cost in extra time to get from your hotel to the park and back each day. Also, you can only reserve two visits a month outside of the "good to go" days.

Without looking at the calendar that still gives you what, 15 visits a month, at least 9 months out of the year...give or take. Not a bad deal, imo.

 

[socaldisneylover]

I hate to say it, but I tend to agree with what I have read, that they plan to eliminate the So Cal Select Pass next, and this will become the cheapest pass available. But I also have to say, that this seems like it will end up being a better value, because assuming with planning you are able to get reservations on a couple of summer days, and a couple of Saturdays during the year, it gives the opportunity for a lot more use than the So Cal Select does, with all it's blockout dates.

I also think what makes this a better value, is that there will almost certainly be a lot of days where Disneyland is not available, but CA is. So unlike with the So Cal Select, you could still visit that park on say a Saturday, where that is not an option with So Cal Select. I think it will end up driving more traffic to CA, as people make reservations there once Disneyland is unavailable.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

For those looking to avoid paying to park you have a few options:

1. Fullerton Amtrak/Metrolink train station

Free parking in the 2 parking structures. Take OCTA bus 43 or 543 to the park for $2 each way. 25mins each way.

2. Fullerton Park and Ride

Free surface parking lot located at the 91 and 5 Freeway interchange. Take LA Metro bus 460 to the park. $1.75 each way. 15min each way. This option is also great if you want to go Knott's Berry Farm and not pay for parking.

3 ARTIC Train Station.

Free parking in the lot in front of the station. All other parking lots are permit only. On days were there is an event at the Honda Center or Angels Stadium free parking is extremely hard to find.

Take ART route 15 to the park. $3 each way. 25-40min each way. Or take OCTA route 50 and get off at Katella and Harbor and walk to the park. $2 each way. 30-40min each way.


Personally I prefer Fullerton train station.

Thank you for this list -- I'm sure it will be very helpful for lots of people! One more option for people with this new pass (or any other pass without parking): car pool! We have friends with passes who are looking to downgrade to the Flex Pass. They car pool to M&F. 5 people in a car = $5 per person per park visit. Not bad. For students or young professionals, this can be a practical option.

 

[socaldisneylover]

If they still offered Parking as an add on, I might even consider paying up to $200 for that. I'm sure if they did still offer one, it would be at least $250 or more.

I guess Disney expects they will make more in the long run, having people pay $25 each time they visit. IMO they're missing out by not selling a parking add on anymore. Disney would "lose" on some who came a lot, but perhaps the reason they're coming a lot is the free parking....but Disney would also make $ off someone who paid $250 for one, and then only visited 7 or 8 times.

My paying for parking will be the exception rather than the norm, so if Disney was counting on making a lot of extra money on me from that, I'm sorry, but it's not going to happen. I will however be spending on food & drink while in the parks, so they'll make plenty more off my visits that way.

 

[Vysecity]

Thanks for answering my question. I think for my family that visits maybe 8 weekends a year it works best for me to keep the Signature and rest get the Flex. We use Disney parking 80% of the time

 

[agamble]

When it comes to paying for parking at a hotel I count that cost in my total cost when choosing a hotel. Desert Inn charges for parking and a resort fee, but the per night rate is often still cheaper than other nearby hotels even with those extra charges. HOJO has free parking and no resort fees, but has a higher per night rate and also a further walk (but a fun water area). These are just things people should keep in mind when choosing a pass.

Also paying $25 for parking is a lot if only 1 person is in the car. But if people come with a large family or carpool the cost to park per visit goes down. A family of 5 would be paying just $5 per person for parking. So over 12 visits that is only $60 more than the original pass per guest. So for those staying at nearby hotels or parking with large groups the pass still offers significant savings.