Should I buy a Disneyland Annual Pass?

Disneyland Annual Pass prices continue to rise year after year (and for 2019, some increased as much as 21.76%!). Unfortunately, your pockets can only go so deep regardless of how much you love the parks. To determine your best value, we break down how many times you need to visit to justify the purchase.

Prices updated of Feb. 14, 2019.

What Disneyland Annual Pass to Buy

• Buy the Signature Plus Passport if you don’t want to worry about any blackout dates and can make it to the parks at least 8 times in a year (parking included).
• Buy the Signature Passport if you don’t plan on visiting during the 2 weeks around Christmas and New Years and can make it to the parks at least 7 times in a year (parking included).
• Buy the Deluxe Passport if you want to save a little money and can make it to the park at least 5 times forgoing major holidays and most Saturdays (parking NOT included).
• Buy the Southern California Select Passport if you don’t care about visiting the park on weekends or during peak times and can make it at least 3 times (parking NOT included).
• Otherwise, just buy a ticket when you want to go.

Background Info

There are four Disneyland Annual Passport packages: Signature Plus, Signature, Deluxe, and Southern California Select. The prices are $1399, $1149, $799, and $399, respectively. All of the packages include admission to both theme parks (Disneyland and Disney California Adventure). You also receive special resort hotel rates and discounts on guided tours. For dining and merchandise, you get discounts ranging from 10-20%. The Signature Plus and Signature Passports include parking, or you can pay $25 each visit (which adds up quickly!). Your main concern, however, are blockout dates. Blockout, or blackout, dates are days that you cannot enter the park with your Annual Pass.

Blockout Dates Overview

• Signature Plus – No blockout days, but subject to capacity and other closures.
• Signature – No weekend before Christmas through the Saturday after New Years.
• Deluxe – No Saturdays most of the year, major holiday weekends, most of the summer, and peak times before/after Christmas and New Years
• Southern California Select – No weekends, holidays, or peak times (spring break, summer, Thanksgiving week, winter holiday season).

Should I buy the $100 MaxPass add-on?

The MaxPass is a fairly new offering from Disneyland that gives you the ability to add and manage FASTPASSes using the Disneyland mobile app. It also gives you unlimited PhotoPass downloads. This is a per ticket add-on, except if you have the Signature Plus Passport which includes it. If you plan on using these features for more than eight visits, add it to your Annual Pass purchase. Otherwise, buy it when you need it at $15/day (per ticket).

How are you basing the value of an Annual Pass?

We chose to use a “Regular,” Ages 10+, 1-Day, Park Hopper ticket that costs $179 as a basis of comparison because an Annual Pass gives you access to both parks. In addition to Regular, there are also Value and Peak ticket prices for $154 and $199, respectively.

Compared against a “Regular,” Ages 10+, 1-Day, 1 Park (NOT Park Hopper) ticket that costs $129, you would need to go the following amount of times to break even:

• 11 times for the Signature Plus
• 9 times for the Signature
• 7 times for the Deluxe
• 4 times for the Southern California Select