Six Perks to Help You Maximize Your Disneyland Annual Pass

If you’ve considered purchasing a Disneyland Annual Pass, you know there are tons of perks and benefits to being a Passholder at the Happiest Place on Earth.

There are currently six Pass levels. They are, in order of lowest monthly payment to highest, the Southern California Select, Southern California, Disney Flex Pass, Deluxe, Signature, and Signature Plus. This does not include the Premium Pass, which gets you access to both Disneyland in California and Disney World in Florida. For the purposes of this article, we will only be focusing on the six Disneyland-exclusive Annual Passes.

Here are six perks that Disneyland Passholders can take advantage of every year to get the most out of their Passes!

Free Parking

The two highest-level passes, Signature and Signature Plus, include free parking. This can be a huge savings if you are planning on visiting the parks frequently, as parking at Disneyland is currently $25 per vehicle for standard parking and $40 per vehicle for premium parking. If you want premium parking and your Pass comes with parking included, you will end up paying the difference between the regular parking rate and the premium parking rate.

Food and Merchandise Discounts

All Disneyland Annual Passes come with discounts on food and merchandise, although this can vary by location as well as by Pass level. In general, Southern California Select, Southern California, Flex, and Deluxe have 10% discount at dining locations within the two theme parks, while Signature and Signature Plus have a 15% discount at these dining locations. Most dining locations in Downtown Disney are 10% across the board, regardless of which Pass you have.

When it comes to merchandise, with a few third party retail locations in Downtown Disney, the lower-level passes (So Cal Select, So Cal, Flex, and Deluxe) have a 10% discount on merchandise, whereas Signature and Signature Plus have a 20% discount on merchandise.

You can see a FULL list of all Annual Passholder discounts on Disneyland’s website here!

Pre-Sale Access to Disneyland Events and Parties

After Dark events such as the recent Disneyland After Dark 80’s Nite and holiday parties like the Oogie Boogie Bash often have Annual Passholder pre-sale dates where you can purchase tickets ahead of the general public.

This is a great opportunity since most of these events sell out rather quickly. Note, however, that there are typically no discounts available for these events. The perk is that you have first dibs on event tickets.

After-Hour Access to Some Attractions

This is a relatively new offering for Disneyland APs. On select nights, some attractions will stay open one hour after park closing for Annual Passholders to ride. Note that you must be in the park before closing to access the attraction.

For example, on March 4 and 5, 2020, Annual Passholders can ride Indiana Jones Adventure for one hour after Disneyland’s official park closing!

AP-Exclusive Merchandise (Including Some Freebies!)

Festivals like the Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival often carry Annual Passholder-exclusive merchandise like t-shirts. Other specialty merchandise includes Annual Passholder Pandora charms, Alex and Ani bracelets, and Trading Pins.

For signing up for an Annual Pass, you receive a free car magnet in the mail, and from time to time certain events will include free buttons for Passholders to collect. Occasionally you’ll even spot AP-exclusive popcorn buckets, like the recent Minnie Mouse refillable bucket.

Other Special Promotions

The final perk is a big one: for the past couple of summers, Disneyland has run a special Bring-a-Friend promotion where Passholders could purchase a 1-Day Park Hopper ticket for their friends and family for only $99!

There’s no word yet on whether this promotion will return in 2020, but we hope it does as this is a great value for Passholders!

Are you a Disneyland Annual Passholder? What’s your favorite perk? Let us know in the comments!

 

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