Trying to Budget for Disneyland (or Does Someone Want to Give Me an Annual Pass?)

I love Disneyland. Totally love it.

As a kid, I think I went to Disneyland once a year when my family drove down from the Bay Area to San Diego to visit family. I don’t remember loving Disneyland as much as a kid as I do now.

Since I’ve moved to LA 11 years ago, I’ve had several years of having an annual pass. When my work schedule was different, I would sometimes go 2 to 3 times per month. A bunch of times I would just go and ride a few rides, grab a Dole Whip, and head back to LA.

So much of the iPhoto on my laptop is filled with Disneyland adventure pictures like these:

(you can totally see me at all my different weights in those pictures)

My last annual pass expired last year in April. And I really want to make it to Disneyland now. I haven’t been on many of the new rides, and I just miss it there.

But as almost everyone knows, Disneyland is not cheap. A 1 day park hopper ticket is over $100. And if you are going to go at least twice in a year, the annual pass is the way to go. But the cheap annual passes have so many blackout dates that it’s tough to make sure you go on valid days. And when I get an annual pass, I almost always pay for the parking add-on. The best annual pass is $650 (but that includes parking). So if I can make it to Disneyland 7 times in a year, that pass will totally be worth it. And I’m not taking into account all the food and merchandise discounts you get with the passes.

But $650 is $650 and right now, I don’t have that. Well, I do, but I’d rather put it towards my credit card debit than Disneyland (I never thought I’d ever say that). I’m looking at the 2nd and 3rd cheapest annual passes, but those are both over $300.

I’m not going to get a pass until I know that I’ll be going to the park, and I think I’ll be going sometime next month. So I’m trying to see if I can budget for one of the cheaper passes. It is always an option to upgrade a pass or add-on parking later, so maybe I’ll have an amazing sale at work that will cover the cost of an upgrade or add-on.

This budgeting stuff is hard! 😉

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