Please help me to not hate Disney!

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Is may a good time to go and how are the lines? I've heard the last week in August is a good time as well.

[FLA]

Early May and October are my favorite times, not too hot, kids are still in school so the lines are low. The last time I went, I took DD in August the year before last and it was awful. First time stayed on property, Port Orleans, it was brutally hot, hated the bus system and the lines seemed as long as when we went during Feb school break. I will never do summer again. That's just me but DD agreed.

I figure the next time I go, if we ever go again, I'll wait until both are in college and go in May when they get out. DD will be a senior next year. But my health has to massively improve before going again and I wonder if they will still go if they are college aged.

[Like2Plan]

Is may a good time to go and how are the lines? I've heard the last week in August is a good time as well.

Both May and Aug are too hot for my liking at WDW.

May has some additional events like the flower and garden festival at EPCOT.

The least crowded time that we ever experienced at WDW was the last week of Aug. prior to about Friday leading up to Labor Day weekend. But, with the reduced crowds, Disney had reduced hours at the parks (don't know if that is still the case, but I don't see the last week of Aug posted on Disney's website, yet).

[disneysteve]

Does anyone else purchase the annual passes to either Disney World or Disneyland?

We currently have annual passes to Disney World. We bought them in November knowing that we would be going back in January and July. That being the case, getting an AP is a no-brainer.

5-day hopper pass: $403.64
Annual pass: $797.69

So for less than the cost of two 5-day tickets, we can go every day of the year. In our case, we knew we'd be going at least 15 days so we would have needed three 5-day passes, or $1,210.92 per person, so we saved $413.23 per person by getting the annual pass.

In addition, the AP gets us free parking ($20/day) so that's another $100 per trip, $300 total saved. The AP also gets us a 10% discount on almost all merchandise purchases on Disney property. There are also dining discounts at the sit down restaurants but we don't go to any of those so that doesn't matter to us.

There are some other perks too, like special events, limited edition pins, etc. but those aren't a big deal to us either.

Oh, the one other big thing is that PhotoPass is included with APs. That's the system where photographers throughout the parks will take pictures of you and you can download all of those photo files to your mobile device or home computer. It also includes the photos taken of you on rides. On our trip in November, DW and I got a bunch of nice photos of the two of us, something that never happened previously. And in January, the 3 of us got a bunch of family photos which also never happened before.

[Like2Plan]

We currently have annual passes to Disney World. We bought them in November knowing that we would be going back in January and July. That being the case, getting an AP is a no-brainer.

Do you think you will renew for another year when your passes expire in November?

I think I am still in sticker shock with the latest price increases back in October.

[disneysteve]

Do you think you will renew for another year when your passes expire in November?

I know we're going in December 2016 and probably again in January 2017 so two trips is enough to come out ahead by buying an annual as I illustrated above. That being the case, we will probably renew.

[Like2Plan]

I may end up getting a DVC GOLD WDW annual pass after all, but it definitely won't be the Premier pass that had been my plan before the latest price increase. The Premier Pass went from $1099 (which is a breath taking amount in itself) to 1485.77 on the last price increase back in OCT.

We can get 2.53 special priced DVC Gold annual passes for the same amount of money as 1 Premier pass--we just can't go to WDW over NYE or spring break with the Gold pass (for which we don't have plans this year) and of course, it doesn't include DL. The other good feature about the DVC Gold pass is I can purchase a voucher and lock in the price which I couldn't do with the Premier.

I think the biggest reason for the huge price increase on the Premier pass is that the prices at Disneyland have gone up so much. It costs more for a DL Signature Plus pass ($1049) than it does for a WDW Platinum Plus ($849)--which the Premier Pass is a combination of. So, from that perspective, the Premier Pass seems like a good deal--but, I doubt I would buy either DL Signature Plus pass or WDW Platinum Plus because I don't need all of the benefits they offer. I love both DL and WDW, but it seems wild to me to pay more for DL.

[disneysteve]

I think the biggest reason for the huge price increase

From what I've heard, the reason for the big price increase at DL is that they have too many AP holders. DL is very much a locals park but there are pros and cons to that. Conventional wisdom is that they upped the price to try and thin the herd a bit.

As for WDW, they hiked an AP by $200 but then added in PhotoPass which normally costs $149 I think so that helped them justify the price hike somewhat.

[Like2Plan]

From what I've heard, the reason for the big price increase at DL is that they have too many AP holders. DL is very much a locals park but there are pros and cons to that. Conventional wisdom is that they upped the price to try and thin the herd a bit.

Yes, I've heard that. I know some folks (local to DL) that decided not to renew their southern CA pass--too many block out days and too expensive.

We did a waive off this past December--probably the first time we visited LA without stopping at DL. Due to some last minute changes in our itinerary I figured we would only be able to manage 1 day at DL. No special priced tickets. I figured it was going to cost close to $500 for 3 of us. (And, it is crowded beyond belief between Christmas and New Years.) So, we did other stuff in the LA area. So maybe that strategy is working, but I doubt they missed us at DL.

As for WDW, they hiked an AP by $200 but then added in PhotoPass which normally costs $149 I think so that helped them justify the price hike somewhat.

I bought a voucher for a photopass several years ago and we still haven't used it, so I am not sure how I would value the photopass for us. The other pricing consideration is that you would only buy 1 photopass. If you bought 3 annual passes you have paid 3 X 200. I get it--if you go several times you can maybe recoup some of the cost.
On the other hand, I do have an upcoming visit with my sister-in-law and niece which will be their first time visit. I'm thinking that they will want to pose for a lot of pictures.

[disneysteve]

The other pricing consideration is that you would only buy 1 photopass. If you bought 3 annual passes you have paid 3 X 200.

I didn't say it was a good justification . It was just part of how Disney tried to spin the price hike.

[QuarterMillionMan]

It's that time again for me when some family members will be going to Disneyland (CA). I don't like that place but since I live in Los Angeles and it's only about 40 miles away I decided to meet them there when they get there. Even though I don't like it, something about that place sure is magical. As this title goes, please help me to not hate Disney (lol).

[QuarterMillionMan]

I guess I could say that I have a love/hate relationship with Disney. The long lines, crying babies, expensive everything. But it is quite a fun place. As for rides, the best one I like is called soaring over California at California Adventure park. It is a simulated hang glider ride which seems like a real hang glider ride with different scenes such as going over the ocean, flying through mountains and valleys, etc.

[MooseBucks]

I guess I could say that I have a love/hate relationship with Disney. The long lines, crying babies, expensive everything. But it is quite a fun place. As for rides, the best one I like is called soaring over California at California Adventure park. It is a simulated hang glider ride which seems like a real hang glider ride with different scenes such as going over the ocean, flying through mountains and valleys, etc.

Not sure about Disneyland but Soarin at WDW was just redone and is every bit as amazing.

[Like2Plan]

Not sure about Disneyland but Soarin at WDW was just redone and is every bit as amazing.

Yes-- they redid the one at DL as well. It's just called Soarin now.
The WDW ride ending of Soarin is slightly different from the DL version.

I have a visit to DL coming up this month. One of my favorite rides is the train ride. It's been down for over a year because of work on the new Star Wars land.
(They moved the train track.) It's supposed to be running again "soon" (summer 2017). (I can't wait to go on it again! )

[disneysteve]

Not sure about Disneyland but Soarin at WDW was just redone and is every bit as amazing.

I'd have to disagree with that, although I know I'm in the minority. I think the new film is awful. A lot of it is CGI rather than actual footage and the distortion is terrible. Everything is massively curved which ruins the whole effect. I also think they went way overboard with the smell stuff. It was neat in the original film when you went over the orange grove and smelled oranges but doing it with multiple things in the new film (like dirt) is just too much.

We'll be at a private party in Epcot later this month and be able to ride Soarin' as much as we want with no wait so I'm going to give it another try and see if my opinion changes but I doubt it.