News Disneyland Magic Key Program

[mickEblu]

Just came back from a quick trip to DCA after work today and it was pretty bad. Guardians was 65 minutes (now 95 minutes), RSR was 90 minutes (down now), Soarin was 40 (still 40 now), Incredicoaster was down (now 75). Wall to wall crowds. I was just there to check out the Ratatouille Epcot merch at Knick's Knacks (plenty available!) and to grab the Magic Key print of Avengers Campus.

Will be at the parks again this weekend, but it's clear I need to adjust my expectations about what I'll be able to do on any given day. I'm shocked and worried that they've added additional reservations over the next few weeks because it's already crowded as is.

Ridiculous. On a Wednesday no less.

Yikes. This is definitely worse than Halloween weekdays in years past right?

 

[mickEblu]

This mirrors my experience a couple weeks ago midweek, I think the crowd calendar is enticing people to go whenever they can get a date because they are panicked they might not get another chance anytime soon, the end result is it’s causing higher crowds in the parks rather than smaller crowds.

Yeah I agree. The FOMO. That’s why they have to decrease the amount of reservations key holders can make like Costco limiting toilet paper

 

[Newtwo]

Loaded up on reservations for every other weekend until mid-December.

Thanks Bob.

 

[waltography]

Yikes. This is definitely worse than Halloween weekdays in years past right?

By far. Typically Halloween weekdays you'd have only 1-2 of the big rides push past an hour over in DCA, typically RSR and Guardians. Incredicoaster being over an hour is not a good sign (although admittedly it doesn't help that the park is so light on rides that when one ride goes down, it affects all of them pretty badly).

 

[mickEblu]

By far. Typically Halloween weekdays you'd have only 1-2 of the big rides push past an hour over in DCA, typically RSR and Guardians. Incredicoaster being over an hour is not a good sign (although admittedly it doesn't help that the park is so light on rides that when one ride goes down, it affects all of them pretty badly).

I can’t help but think are they doing this purposely to increase the value of genie + / Lightning lane? Using the reservation system to create even more demand.

 

[matt9112]

Well you know what they say "throw a tantrum on social media and get your way."

I think part of it is just allocation day guests are more profitable period. So the AP bucket will be xyz and when its overflowing and the day guests aren't showing up disney can just open more space. Likewise if day ticket sales were boomjng they could tell key holders to pound sand. This is the result of the former it seems.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I think part of it is just allocation day guests are more profitable period. So the AP bucket will be xyz and when its overflowing and the day guests aren't showing up disney can just open more space. Likewise if day ticket sales were boomjng they could tell key holders to pound sand. This is the result of the former it seems.

More proof that without APs Disneyland can’t fill the parks, they tried getting rid of the AP program for more profitable day guests and quickly realized that wouldn’t fill the parks, then they created the Keys program so they could prioritize day guests while backfilling with APs and are quickly realizing day guests still aren’t showing up, I wonder how long it will take them to realize that no matter how badly they want higher spending day guests it’s not going to happen in the numbers they want and APs are vitally important to the parks success? They better realize it before all the APs decide its not worth the hassle or they’re going to see a massive attendance crash next year.

The reality is WDW is Disneys US tourist park, DL is largely a regional park. Disney may not want it that way but that’s how it is.

DL probably sees more regular visitors from CA, NV, AZ, and UT in a year than day guests from the entire rest of the world.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Maybe even locals AP holders are affected by a world wide pandemic.

 

[waltography]

At the parks this morning waiting for rope drop and it’s already pretty deep. Pray for me.

 

[DCBaker]

"Disneyland has sold out of the top-priced Magic Key after just two months as complaints from angry passholders continue to echo throughout social media about the widespread lack of reservations available for the $1,399 pass with no blockout dates."

"Disneyland will continue to monitor the Believe Key, Enchant Key and Imagine Key and make adjustments as needed to deliver a great guest experience, according to Disneyland officials.

All Disneyland keyholders who purchased a Magic Key — including current Dream Key holders — will continue to have access to passholder holder benefits like the Magic Key terrace, specialty merchandise, select discounts and the upcoming Magic Key month."

https://www.ocregister.com/2021/10/25/disneyland-sells-out-of-toap-priced-magic-key-annual-pass/

 

[mickEblu]

I understand the perception isn’t good for a key holder with no blackouts to not be able to make a reservation but this reservation system is effecting key holders of all tiers the same in that one isn’t able to (easily) make a reservation for days they aren’t blacked out. I say “easily” because I’ve been able to get every reservation I wanted. Twice, when plans changed and I had to move reservations around I was able to snag reservations the night before/ a couple days before Sunday by checking periodically. So far, I’ve been able to get every day I wanted and we usually go on Sundays.

 

[CJR]

Remove your only pass that includes free parking, check.

Increase parking rates by 20%, check.

Bring back trams next year, while starting the price increase immediately, check.

 

[truecoat]

I understand the perception isn’t good for a key holder with no blackouts to not be able to make a reservation but this reservation system is effecting key holders of all tiers the same in that one isn’t able to (easily) make a reservation for days they aren’t blacked out. I say “easily” because I’ve been able to get every reservation I wanted. Twice, when plans changed and I had to move reservations around I was able to snag reservations the night before/ a couple days before Sunday by checking periodically. So far, I’ve been able to get every day I wanted and we usually go on Sundays.

The still believe the whole reservation thing will be better after the new year when the "newness" of going back to Disneyland has worn off.

 

[mickEblu]

Remove your only pass that includes free parking, check.

Increase parking rates by 20%, check.

Bring back trams next year, while starting the price increase immediately, check.

Yeah I made that connection too. Then they also don’t have to worry as much about the perception of no blackout day key holders not being able to get a reservation. Any future key holders that were planning on Dream will buy Believe instead. Meaning the last two Sundays that were actually quite pleasant at Disneyland (10/24 and 10/17) are about to get busier

I have a Believe Key and was just telling my wife I was going to change our Saturday reservations in November to Sundays. The last Saturday we went to the park on 10/2 was miserable.

 

[Stevek]

Several dates for November and December mid week that were DCA only just opened up for both parks.

This is Imagine Key

Dream Key

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

The still believe the whole reservation thing will be better after the new year when the "newness" of going back to Disneyland has worn off.

The problem is the reservations are so scarce people are making them months in advance out of fear they won’t be able to get one if they wait. This is creating artificial demand.

We just booked a trip for the end of January because it’s the only available 3 day weekend with availability, we don’t even know if that weekend is good for us but we’ll make it work because it’s our only option.

There’s probably tens of thousands of key holders doing the same thing.

 

[SoCalDisneyLover]

The problem is the reservations are so scarce people are making them months in advance out of fear they won’t be able to get one if they wait. This is creating artificial demand.

We just booked a trip for the end of January because it’s the only available 3 day weekend with availability, we don’t even know if that weekend is good for us but we’ll make it work because it’s our only option.

There’s probably tens of thousands of key holders doing the same thing.

Yeah, but you can only hold a total of 6 reservations, so by doing that, you're foregoing the opportunity to hold a weekend day in November or December. Yet every weekend day in November & December is still fully booked. Of course, if Disney is holding an extraordinary amount of reservations back, to sell as day tickets, then there are fewer available for Key holders, and that would have less to do with the # of say Dream Key holders, than it would to do with Disney shortchanging them by providing a small pool of availability.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Yeah, but you can only hold a total of 6 reservations, so by doing that, you're foregoing the opportunity to hold a weekend day in November or December. Yet every weekend day in November & December is still fully booked. Of course, if Disney is holding an extraordinary amount of reservations back, to sell as day tickets, then there are fewer available for Key holders, and that would have less to do with the # of say Dream Key holders, than it would to do with Disney shortchanging them by providing a small pool of availability.

Good point, we have the second weekend in Dec booked and the last weekend of Jan booked, we are now shut out from going to the parks or making reservations until the second week of Dec.

These will be our 4th and 5th weekends in the first 6 months of our keys so we’ll definitely get our monies worth but I’m still not a fan of the program.

 

[waltography]

Good point, we have the second weekend in Dec booked and the last weekend of Jan booked, we are now shut out from going to the parks or making reservations until the second week of Dec.

These will be our 4th and 5th weekends in the first 6 months of our keys so we’ll definitely get our monies worth but I’m still not a fan of the program.

Totally agree. We're in sort of the same boat, though we prefer day trips over weekend trips, which means we can spread out our 6 reservations and roughly have 2 reservations a month.

Between the 2-day parkhoppers we bought when Disneyland reopened, the 3-day California resident tickets over the summer, and the Dream Key, we've been to the parks 8 times now, and we've got another 4 planned through the end of the year (typing it out like that has got me seriously reassessing my priorities).

The best time I've had at the parks in a while was during the reopening period when the park had restricted capacity (serious capacity restrictions, not the barely-there restrictions we see now), we had ride vehicles all to ourselves, and there was still the post-opening glow. It was never sustainable, but the experience has only gotten worse from there.

 

[mickEblu]

Totally agree. We're in sort of the same boat, though we prefer day trips over weekend trips, which means we can spread out our 6 reservations and roughly have 2 reservations a month.

Between the 2-day parkhoppers we bought when Disneyland reopened, the 3-day California resident tickets over the summer, and the Dream Key, we've been to the parks 8 times now, and we've got another 4 planned through the end of the year (typing it out like that has got me seriously reassessing my priorities).

The best time I've had at the parks in a while was during the reopening period when the park had restricted capacity (serious capacity restrictions, not the barely-there restrictions we see now), we had ride vehicles all to ourselves, and there was still the post-opening glow. It was never sustainable, but the experience has only gotten worse from there.

Not quite sure what’s happened the last couple Sundays but I hope it stays that way. Things were looking scary in early October. Not sure if I just got lucky but it’s hard to believe that some 60-65 degree weather (at night) scared some people away.