News Disneyland Magic Key Program

[SoCalDisneyLover]

The spontaneity is mostly gone. Gone are the days when your friend called you up and asked if you were down to ride Pirates or Splash that same day (one of my best friends and I used to do this all the time). This is a different program.

There will still be days where you can do this. Think weekdays in January-February & September-October.

And if it's anything like the Flex Pass, people will cancel the night before, and reservations will be available the next day when you check.

 

[fctiger]

I think the reservations make this all a gamble. I was fine with Flexpass year one, but paying for the premium pass and not knowing what days I can get in? Not really comfortable with that.

I liked being able to decide the night before that I was going to Disneyland.

We've had reservations since April 30th. WDW since July. Aps there ORIGINALLY complained how blocked out they were there, now they have a lot more access once they loosened capacity.

But I will say if people want to buy a pass thinking they can go 'tomorrow' then those people probably shouldn't get one right away if at all. But if you, like me, plan a week or two ahead, you will probably be fine most of the time. Pure speculation on my part of course but just basing it on what the availability has been like for 1 day and park hoppers, I don't see a huge difference happening.

I mean if you have a 1 day or PH now, the entire month of August is open to you if you just plan 3-4 days ahead...and it's August.

 

[Californian Elitist]

There will still be days where you can do this. Think weekdays in January-February & September-October.

And if it's anything like the Flex Pass, people will cancel the night before, and reservations will be available the next day when you check.

It’s the reservation part that I don’t like. Even if it’s during the week, I’ll still have to hop on my computer or phone and make a reservation.

 

[Stevek]

This is true, but you're paying less than you would pay to visit 4 times all year. For those who can go during the week in the off season, it's a great deal. Even if you worked a M-F job, you could pop over for a few hours at night, and get a great value out of it in only a couple of weeks.

Yup, this is why I can't understand why some folks think the So Cal pass is a bad deal. It's actually an exceptional value for some people, many not be for everyone which I totally understand.

 

[mickEblu]

I dunno maybe I’m just not bothered by reservations as a trip to DL was rarely ever spontaneous for me. We live an hour and half (with the Usual 5 South traffic) away from DL. We went once every 3 or so weeks and it was usually planned around weather or everyone in my parties availability.

I also have two kids. 5 and 10 months. I’m the definition of NOT spontaneous.

 

[fctiger]

There will still be days where you can do this. Think weekdays in January-February & September-October.

And if it's anything like the Flex Pass, people will cancel the night before, and reservations will be available the next day when you check.

Literally right now you can get a PH and enter DCA first and then go to DL. I think people forget there are still going to be a ton of down days once the fall and winter hits. It won't be exactly like before but yes it will probably be plenty of open days once capacity is back up and non-peak times come around.

 

[hopemax]

Honestly this all sounds fine to me. It's the same program as before, you just have to make reservations now, which is not a shock since that's what everyone buying a ticket have to do. And even in a few years that may disappear when we get to true normalcy.

I can't see Disney announcing "New ride opening xx/xx/xx" and not having a reservation system on that day, or the first week, or weekends for the first couple months. How far it extends...holidays, major ride or park anniversaries, most popular weekends during festivals, the last week before summer blockouts. Days that you could predictably guess that truckloads of people will be showing up for a specific reason.

If you believe that…I got some beans to sell you

Even on the type of days I mentioned, you think they still want to pack in as many people as possible? Instead, of trying to get some people to wait, or limit people from coming every day to ride the new ride for 30 days straight?

 

[mickEblu]

Literally right now you can get a PH and enter DCA first and then go to DL. I think people forget there are still going to be a ton of down days once the fall and winter hits. It won't be exactly like before but yes it will probably be plenty of open days once capacity is back up and non-peak times come around.

As soon as they think a reservation cannot reasonably be attained they ll probably periodically stop selling certain passes. Mostly likely Enchant.

 

[CaptinEO]

We've had reservations since April 30th. WDW since July. Aps there ORIGINALLY complained how blocked out they were there, now they have a lot more access once they loosened capacity.

But I will say if people want to buy a pass thinking they can go 'tomorrow' then those people probably shouldn't get one right away if at all. But if you, like me, plan a week or two ahead, you will probably be fine most of the time. Pure speculation on my part of course but just basing it on what the availability has been like for 1 day and park hoppers, I don't see a huge difference happening.

I mean if you have a 1 day or PH now, the entire month of August is open to you if you just plan 3-4 days ahead...and it's August.

They rightfully should complain about having to reserve days, when in the past they didn't need to.

I can gamble on a ticket to try and get the day I want, but a whole year of planning each visit? It's not worth the money for me.

 

[fctiger]

Exactly. Reservations, most expensive pass has an open calendar, but still no guarantee if reservations are out, can’t park hop until a certain time, consequences for not showing up on the day you planned without cancellation…

The spontaneity is mostly gone. Gone are the days when your friend called you up and asked if you were down to ride Pirates or Splash that same day (one of my best friends and I used to do this all the time). This is a different program.

It's more restrictions but it functions as an AP. For 99% of people, it's an AP, just in a different name.

The point is if you want to go to DL tomorrow and you can reserve it, then you can go tomorrow. If not, then maybe the day after. That's why people love APs, you still have real flexibility than any of the other passes.

 

[Californian Elitist]

It's more restrictions but it functions as an AP. For 99% of people, it's an AP, just in a different name.

The point is if you want to go to DL tomorrow and you can reserve it, then you can go tomorrow. If not, then maybe the day after. That's why people love APs, you still have real flexibility than any of the other passes.

I agree that it’s a system, but it’s not what it was. That’s all I’m saying.

These reservations ain’t it for me.

 

[fctiger]

They rightfully should complain about having to reserve days, when in the past they didn't need to.

I can gamble on a ticket to try and get the day I want, but a whole year of planning each visit? It's not worth the money for me.

Huh? Dude it tells you in the big print you have to reserve. If you don't want to do this, don't buy it then. Simple.

And how is that ANY different than buying a 1 day pass or a PH? If you don't want to reserve tickets then you're simply not going to DL under any situation.

 

[Californian Elitist]

They rightfully should complain about having to reserve days, when in the past they didn't need to.

I can gamble on a ticket to try and get the day I want, but a whole year of planning each visit? It's not worth the money for me.

Not to mention nothing they’ve come up recently for the parks has been worth my time. Not looking forward to anything in the near future.

Makes not going/purchasing keys that much easier.

 

[fctiger]

I agree that it’s a system, but it’s not what it was. That’s all I’m saying.

These reservations ain’t it for me.

OK, that's fine. My guess is in 1-2 years they won't have reservations but who knows. But yeah we are STILL in a global pandemic. Disney still wants to control capacity. If this is the biggest issue people have with the new program, its not going to be a huge issue for majority of people since not everyone who buys them lives that close to the park. Most of us plan days and weeks ahead. I do and I only live 25 minutes away. But I also have family and kids. I can't just drop everything and go to Disneyland whenever I want. That's really only a reality for a small subset of people IMO.

The first two times I had a pass, I was living in San Francisco and once in Japan lol.

 

[Californian Elitist]

OK, that's fine. My guess is in 1-2 years they won't have reservations but who knows. But yeah we are STILL in a global pandemic. Disney still wants to control capacity. If this is the biggest issue people have with the new program, its not going to be a huge issue for majority of people since not everyone who buys them lives that close to the park. Most of us plan days and weeks ahead. I do and I only live 25 minutes away. But I also have family and kids. I can't just drop everything and go to Disneyland whenever I want. That's really a reality for a small subset of people IMO.

Plan away.

 

[britain]

It honestly makes perfect sense to keep APs more or less the same if they are planning on bringing in Paid Fastpass. The typical AP will not take advantage of a highly priced FP since they'll say "Eh, I'll just catch that ride on standby the next time I'm here." This thereby frees up a spot for the once-in-a-lifetime guest to buy a fastpass and get a guaranteed good time.

Wringing dollars from wallets? Yes, but it should lead to more customer satisfaction.

Paid FP vs. Rise of Resistance Boarding Groups... I think I'd prefer the Paid FP.

 

[MK-fan]

Anyone know how many Disney gift cards you can use at once on Disneyland.com?

 

[fctiger]

Plan away.

Dude I ALWAYS plan away lol. This has been my reality for 20 years now.

 

[flynnibus]

can we all agree these names are stupid and lack any form of projection of purpose/value?

 

[flynnibus]

OK, that's fine. My guess is in 1-2 years they won't have reservations but who knows

They're never going away - it's the magic piece the old AP product lacked - the ability to dynamically limit how many consumers of the AP product showed up on any given day.

Sure in the future we can expect the scaricity of them going down, but around events, launches, openings, etc... This is the tool they've always wanted.