I look at it this way. Getting to go to DLR so often is our reward for putting up with the traffic, smog, housing prices and all the other craziness that comes with living down here.
Heck yeah! Having DLR here (along with Catalina) is something that
keeps me living in Los Angeles and is one of the things that I would have trouble leaving behind since it has been such a part of my life for decades. Even though I don't get to go to DLR as often as I personally would prefer with my AP and I am not sure if I will be able to renew the AP this year or not, I feel very fortunate to have been able to go when I have because I know some folks will never get to go to DLR in a lifetime, let alone the dozens or hundreds of times I and many folks on this board have gone. I am very lucky if I can go on two extended weekend trips for Halloweentime and Christmastime in a year. But I DO know that if I lived where my friend lives (who is usually with me on DLR trips) in Anaheim, just up the street from DLR, I would not only make sure to have an AP, but I would be at DLR at least every other weekend, probably for several hours at a time, trolling the shops to see knick knacks what I could buy, eating breakfast at Pacific Wharf, then snacking on pineapple spears and cinnamon rolls, drinking coffee, then having lunch at either Bengal BBQ, Taste Pilots Grill or maybe White Water Snacks.
About geographical location contributing to Disney visits and Disney spirit: One of my other friends used to be an avid Disney buff like I am. She was right on par with me in getting merchandise (we would report back to each other when cool stuff was released and we would buy exclusive things from Cast Members and share info), she loved hamming it up in pictures with characters, she loved Goofy's Kitchen and Carnation Cafe, we would ride POTC several times in a row, she loved the Disneyland Hotel - she just LOVED being in Disneyland in general. We even talked about both getting Annual Passes at one point.
That all changed when my friend got married and moved away to Idaho (she tried to get her husband on the Disney bandwagon and it worked to an extent, but then he began to kind of tease her about being such a fanatic). The mentality changed and she lost the Disney magic somewhere. It is easier to stay IN the magic if you live relatively close to DLR and can at least get there once a year. But when you move away and it becomes too much of an effort to travel (and you marry someone who can not get 100% on board with the DLR spirit), then it eventually fades away. The last time my Idaho friends were down here in SoCal, they were only interested in going to Downtown Disney, and not into the parks!!!
The time before that, I think they went to Goofy's Kitchen to eat but not into the parks!
In 2001, we went on one or two rides in DL and then they wanted to go back to the hotel and ESPN Zone and hang out and that was it!!
Now that they have a young son, there was talk of bringing him out to California this Fall to see DLR at Halloweentime, and I was looking forward to re-introducing my old Disney partner in crime to the place she used to love and show her all the stuff that has changed in the time she has been away. Well, she looked at some online info and made some comments on the expensive prices of the Celebration BBQ and Goofy's Kitchen and how Disney was being "greedy," and now they don't seem to be planning to come out here after all. I think that once she lost the Disney magic and got away from it in every sense of the word, it was easy to forget how much joy and happiness DLR once brought her, to where she now just looks at it as being a (very high) price tag and Disney in general as being a greedy corporation.
To that end, I really think the out of town AP holders show a tremendous dedication to the place they love by continuing to make trips to DLR. It would be very easy to fall out of love with DLR like my Idaho friend did, being far away.