News Disneyland Cancels Its Annual Pass Program - Theme Park Insider & OC Register

[Jrb1979]

What are you talking about/where is this liter of haterade coming from?

Guys like the one who liked your post are the elitests I am talking about. Hating on passholders and Vloggers. The hatred comes from Disney cutting everything as well as the holier then thou attitude I come across with many Disney fans.

 

[mickEblu]

What are you talking about/where is this liter of haterade coming from?

Lol. I’d like some specifics as well

 

[lazyboy97o]

"We want to make sure that we're creating a program that's understandable," Potrock said. "But at the same time delivers on great value - not just clicks at the turnstile but other benefits that bring value, whether those benefits are parking or discounts or many other things."

Super curious to see what they come up with.

If it's anything like Walt Disney World I'm sure it'll be very easy to understand and won't have features removed each year...

Agreed. I had my 5 minutes of joy from this news and then realized that the overcrowding problem is only a problem for guests, not Disney. Just look at WDW: it's mostly out-of-towners and there is nothing uncrowded about that place.

Disneyland has the huge advantage of having adequate capacity. Even Disney's California Adventure has better capacity than most Walt Disney World parks.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Guys like the one who liked your post are the elitests I am talking about. Hating on passholders and Vloggers. The hatred comes from Disney cutting everything as well as the holier then thou attitude I come across with many Disney fans.

@mickEblu @1HAPPYGHOSTHOST @lazyboy97o The three of you reacted to my posts and therefore that makes you ELITISTS! BE GONE.

In all seriousness, many of us are/were annual passholders. No one’s hating on passholders. Now the vloggers, they can kindly go away forever and I wouldn’t bat an eye. Many of us few that way. That doesn’t make us elitists.

Methinks you misunderstand us here in this sub-forum.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Lol. I’d like some specifics as well

You’re an annual passholder-hating elitist, even though you’re an annual passholder.

 

[lazyboy97o]

@mickEblu @1HAPPYGHOSTHOST @lazyboy97o The three of you reacted to my posts and therefore that makes you ELITISTS! BE GONE.

Well, yeah. How else does one get to wear sumptuous velour tracksuits?

 

[Disneyelisa]

I am fascinated by what their plan is here.

We've talked in the past about how the AP program was a devil's bargain for the DLR, as it provided a steady source of income for the "locals park", but it also created the entitled "AP culture" that has been a source of frustration for the company. In order for this to work, This could be a good thing....IF the options make sense. My guess is that they'll offer something closer to the Flex Pass going forward, where you have to reserve days that you want to go in advance, but if the single-day costs don't also come down as a result, my guess is they'll see massive losses as people just don't show up.

I'm curious to know what their plan is as well. I agree. I think it's going to be like the Flex Pass where you have to reserve. Time will tell.

 

[BrianLo]

Everyone's been threatening to cancel their AP for years now anyways... Disney just decided to call the bluff.

 

[Nirya]

You’re an annual passholder-hating elitist, even though you’re an annual passholder.

We never did do that meet up with the shirts...

 

[Californian Elitist]

We never did do that meet up with the shirts...

Corona had different plans, unfortunately.

 

[Sharon&Susan]

Before Covid I liked Disney but since Covid each cut that happens makes me like them less and less. The elitest attitude by some here really enjoy watching the cuts happen.

What cuts? Disneyland is closed right now, so other than layoffs (which no one here rejoiced over) and changes due to state governmental restrictions there's been none. If you're talking about WDW no one on this side of the forum really cares about the loss of Magical Express or Extra Magic Hours at a resort thousands of miles away from most of us.

 

[Disneyland68]

Aloha,

Please remember what Bob Iger said when he “retired”. He stated he would now have the opportunity to re-imagine Disney’s operations model. The changes we are now seeing for WDW and DLP I believe are part of his grand design. C19 has allowed Disney to make significant changes with minimal impact.

 

[smooch]

Aloha,

Please remember what Bob Iger said when he “retired”. He stated he would now have the opportunity to re-imagine Disney’s operations model. The changes we are now seeing for WDW and DLP I believe are part of his grand design. C19 has allowed Disney to make significant changes with minimal impact.

There is some truth to this I believe. While COVID obviously did cause some changes for business that wouldn't have happened otherwise (social distancing, capacity limits, etc.) it has accelerated some inevitable changes extremely quickly, the move to working from home being the best example I can come up with. I do believe Disney has been trying to come up with a way to redo their AP system and this happens to be a perfect opportunity to do so. Hopefully this system can prove to be effective at allowing locals access to the parks while balancing a local / vacationer balance that satisfies Disney's financial craving while providing a more enjoyable experience for those in the park at the time. As stated before it is possible the new system could fail and Disney could just bring back the AP system, but I do genuinely hope Disney is able to come up with a good system and leave it in place long enough to be given a good trial without COVID impacting operations / capacity / etc. to truly test if it is a good system to use, and if needed tweak it as time goes on.

As someone who has never had an AP or lived close enough to visit without making a 4 day trip out of it, this doesn't really affect me personally other than hoping there will be an at least somewhat noticeable decline in the overcrowding of the park. I don't know exactly the numbers of how much an AP spends in the park vs. someone on vacation who's buying merch, food, etc. while there, but I do hope the "hang out in the park like a mall" attitude mostly goes away. Granted, had I lived near DLR I would do that to an extent, stop in for a few hours to ride a couple rides and get a meal, but the extent to which people did this was crazy. My friend goes to Chapman and when she moved down for school she got an AP and would take her backpack to the park and get a table at the Hungry Bear or somewhere else "tucked away" that she could get on her laptop, bust out a textbook, and do her homework in the park, then ride a few rides afterwards. I think that sort of thing is ridiculous, personally, I would rather do homework at home and then go to the park afterward if my goal was to do homework then ride some rides as a reward.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

I think that this is something that would be fun to speculate on.

How would they do this?

They would have to partner with every single medical partner and business that is offering vaccines in order to get data from them and actually verify that the person got the vaccine. That isn't feasible to do at any point in the next year (let along maybe ever).

They could require people to show an actual vaccination card when they register for tickets and / or show up to the park.

This will create a huge black market for fake vaccination cards.

My daughter (health care worker) got the vaccine yesterday, and received a card to use as proof (and a reminder to come back in a few weeks).

Additionally, there is a verified virtual vaccination card for flights and eventually sporting events and concerts.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Aloha,

Please remember what Bob Iger said when he “retired”. He stated he would now have the opportunity to re-imagine Disney’s operations model. The changes we are now seeing for WDW and DLP I believe are part of his grand design. C19 has allowed Disney to make significant changes with minimal impact.

Aloha,

So what you’re saying is Iger hates equity performers and used a pandemic to get rid of them?

 

[TikiDisney]

Hopefully the new system costs much much more so not everyone has a "AP" next time. As a Passport holder I always hated the fact that the majority had the little "SoCal" pass that cost nothing and allowed people to swarm the park. Looking forward to the new system (eventually) with the logical top tier and a much more restrictive and expensive lower tier to prevent everyone from having access.

 

[truecoat]

Hopefully the new system costs much much more so not everyone has a "AP" next time. As a Passport holder I always hated the fact that the majority had the little "SoCal" pass that cost nothing and allowed people to swarm the park. Looking forward to the new system (eventually) with the logical top tier and a much more restrictive and expensive lower tier to prevent everyone from having access.

Yes, the people on the lower end of the economic scale shouldn't have the same ability to go to Disneyland.

 

[Deleted member 107043]

My friend goes to Chapman and when she moved down for school she got an AP and would take her backpack to the park and get a table at the Hungry Bear or somewhere else "tucked away" that she could get on her laptop, bust out a textbook, and do her homework in the park, then ride a few rides afterwards. I think that sort of thing is ridiculous, personally, I would rather do homework at home and then go to the park afterward if my goal was to do homework then ride some rides as a reward.

I know an APer living in Marina Del Rey who (pre-pandemic) occasionally takes their work laptop down to Disneyland, finds a table at the French Market, and catches up on job tasks. I've never said anything but I think it's weird.

 

[MarvelCharacterNerd]

What cuts? Disneyland is closed right now, so other than layoffs (which no one here rejoiced over) and changes due to state governmental restrictions there's been none. If you're talking about WDW no one on this side of the forum really cares about the loss of Magical Express or Extra Magic Hours at a resort thousands of miles away from most of us.

Ahem... I am DEVASTATED by the loss of Magical Express and it will have a HUGE impact on whether I ever visit WDW again.

Could care less about the half hour they're throwing in for the mornings though. Too dang early for me.


I now return you to your regularly scheduled thread...

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

I don't live in Cal and have never been to DL, only been to WDW.
However, I don't understand the hate for AP holders at DL. THEY did not cause the problem with overcrowding, DL did!
If I lived there and could afford an AP, I bet I would use the heck out of it and visit all the time It's only human nature. You paid for it, they allowed it, so.......
That is a "problem" DL caused. I believe when it started they depended alot on locals. Now, with the ever changing world, it doesn't work for them anymore. I am not surprised by this action.
I think the blame lies on disney and disney only, IMO as a no AP and non california resident, LOL.