News Disney CEO Bob Chapek commits to look into reintroducing the Disneyland and Walt Disney World combined annual pass

drnilescrane

Well-Known Member
My understanding of the thing was - it never had enough volume to justify doing the system integration work properly, but was complex enough it required at least one full time cast member making sure WDW and DLR's incompatible systems were in sync.

The need for park reservations and the growing divergence in benefits between the Magic Key product and the WDW AP makes that exponentially worse.

I can't see them bringing it back unless kicking and screaming. They just won't introduce a new product that needs to be sold in person - anybody who bought one knew how much of a pain it was for the CM, and the constant technical problems where a DLR originated pass wouldn't work at WDW and vice versa.

They'd rather focus on useful things, like being able to update your credit card for your monthly payments online (seriously, you still have to call).
 
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Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
My understanding of the thing was - it never had enough volume to justify doing the system integration work properly, but was complex enough it required at least one full time cast member making sure WDW and DLR's incompatible systems were in sync.

The need for park reservations and the growing divergence in benefits between the Magic Key product and the WDW AP makes that exponentially worse.

I can't see them bringing it back unless kicking and screaming. They just won't introduce a new product that needs to be sold in person.

They'd rather focus on useful things, like being able to update your credit card for your monthly payments online (seriously, you still have to call).
How’s about you just go with what worked for 40 years??

…nah…so simple it could never work
 

Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
The statement could have just been a way to brush off the questioner. Though it would be nice to think that Chapek may be beginning to think beyond the pure dollars and cents calculations as to whether things like this promote brand loyalty even if they don't show up as immediately profitable in and of themselves.

I've only ever once had this pass when I went to Disneyland and Walt Disney World a few times in one year due to a range of things that kept bringing me back to the US.
 

drnilescrane

Well-Known Member
I'm just frustrated nobody asked them about the stop sale. Obviously Disney went to the effort of rebuilding these programs so they intend to offer the products, they just don't feel like they have to currently.
 

monothingie

Nakatomi Plaza Christmas Eve 1988. Never Forget.
Premium Member
I know how much the the new premier pass will cost!

First you take the cost of the top of the line AP at WDW.

Next Add the cost of the top of the line Magic Key at DLR.

Finally ADD on an additional 15% for some extra Pixie Dust.

And viola you have the new Bob Cheapek Supercalafragilisticexpialidocious Pass!
 

aaronml

Well-Known Member
Considering the fact that the top level APs at both resorts have been “sold out” for quite some time now, I don’t see this happening anytime soon.

From Disney’s standpoint, they have enough APs, and don’t seem to want many more. At least for APs that aren’t blocked out during weekends and other peak times.
 

drnilescrane

Well-Known Member
Isn’t MB about to roll out at DL? Should be much easier to merge the systems with RFID
Completely different backends. WDW has an extremely custom system built around a product called SnAPP. Disneyland uses a mostly off the shelf system called Galaxy. Universal also uses Galaxy. (Not proprietary information)

The problem mainly is one of scale - WDW is such a huge and unique beast, it makes sense to develop custom systems and processes because no vendor is going to give you exactly what you want. The place is big enough it can support this.

However, Disneyland isn't that big and doesn't need all of the "extra" stuff - but does sell to a different enough type of guest they need some local control.

It's ultimately better for them to be separate otherwise you end up with a situation like Aulani where they were forced to be part of WDW's systems despite it being absolutely not appropriate for 1000 rooms in Hawaii. That's why the idea of MM+ was killed pretty quickly in Anaheim.
 

aaronml

Well-Known Member
Completely different backends. WDW has an extremely custom system built around a product called SnAPP. Disneyland uses a mostly off the shelf system called Galaxy. Universal also uses Galaxy. (Not proprietary information)

The problem mainly is one of scale - WDW is such a huge and unique beast, it makes sense to develop custom systems and processes because no vendor is going to give you exactly what you want. The place is big enough it can support this.

However, Disneyland isn't that big and doesn't need all of the "extra" stuff - but does sell to a different enough type of guest they need some local control.

It's ultimately better for them to be separate otherwise you end up with a situation like Aulani where they were forced to be part of WDW's systems despite it being absolutely not appropriate for 1000 rooms in Hawaii. That's why the idea of MM+ was killed pretty quickly in Anaheim.
Technically they could customize the DLR ticketing system as much as they’ve customized the WDW ticketing system, it would just be extremely expensive and a logistical nightmare for minimal ROI. As such, I don’t see it happening anytime soon. I suspect that MB+ functionality at DLR will be far more limited than in WDW.
 

JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
remember when bob iger "committed" to a name change for disney's hollywood studios when that cute little kid asked him?

saying "wow, that'd be great" doesn't mean anything until it's actually done
Not my memory, more that he didn't know the final decision of if it would be changed. Out of the loop but still the kid was great
 

No Name

Well-Known Member
Not my memory, more that he didn't know the final decision of if it would be changed. Out of the loop but still the kid was great
No, he actually did tell the kid the name would be changed. He just wasn’t completely sure whether the change had been announced yet (he looked toward Tom Staggs to clarify) but at the time they were fully committed to changing it.
 

IanDLBZF

Well-Known Member
Completely different backends. WDW has an extremely custom system built around a product called SnAPP. Disneyland uses a mostly off the shelf system called Galaxy. Universal also uses Galaxy. (Not proprietary information)

The problem mainly is one of scale - WDW is such a huge and unique beast, it makes sense to develop custom systems and processes because no vendor is going to give you exactly what you want. The place is big enough it can support this.
Plus unlike DLR, both Universal and WDW use biometric scanning at their turnstiles.
 

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