News Disneyland Magic Key Program

[mickEblu]

I‘m not sure we’ve ever had a bad time at DL but our last two trips have definitely been two of the least magical in our 10+ years of visits. Genie+ has changed the parks in ways we’ve never experienced before, we’re seasoned Disney pros and quickly adjusted to FP+, Maxpass, park reservations, etc but Genie+ is a different animal, I’m not sure it’s something that can be adjusted to, it’s fundamentally changed the parks and there’s just no way of getting around long lines and congestion now.

I‘m an optimist and still holding out hope that eventually the parks will be fully staffed, all the nighttime shows will be back, entertainment will be back, etc and it’ll spread out the crowds a little but as of right now we don’t have a March or April trip planned. We normally stay two months ahead and make reservations during our trips (as we use up our 6 reservation days) but I couldn’t bring myself to do it during last months disappointing trip and cant motivate myself to do it right now either.

If this becomes the norm and you can’t even have a good time when you buy Genie + then I’m not renewing our passes in August.

 

[SuddenStorm]

I‘m not sure we’ve ever had a bad time at DL but our last two trips have definitely been two of the least magical in our 10+ years of visits. Genie+ has changed the parks in ways we’ve never experienced before, we’re seasoned Disney pros and quickly adjusted to FP+, Maxpass, park reservations, etc but Genie+ is a different animal, I’m not sure it’s something that can be adjusted to, it’s fundamentally changed the parks and there’s just no way of getting around long lines and congestion now.

I‘m an optimist and still holding out hope that eventually the parks will be fully staffed, all the nighttime shows will be back, entertainment will be back, etc and it’ll spread out the crowds a little but as of right now we don’t have a March or April trip planned. We normally stay two months ahead and make reservations during our trips (as we use up our 6 reservation days) but I couldn’t bring myself to do it during last months disappointing trip and cant motivate myself to do it right now either.

I've had a similar thought as well, though I haven't been since Genie + debuted.

It's almost killed my desire to go to Disneyland. I'd love to know what operations managers think of it- it's completely changed how lines work at Disneyland and how accessing attractions at Disneyland works.

At this point it'll take something incredible- a fully refurbished Splash Mountain, the return of the original Fantasmic!, Indy being fully refurbed- to get me to go to the park.

 

[Phroobar]

If this becomes the norm and you can’t even have a good time when you buy Genie + then I’m not renewing our passes in August.

I think it is already at that point. If everyone uses Genie+, it that makes the stand by line stand still. The Lightning Lane now becauses the real line and everyone has to pay to be in it. The chumps in the stand by line never get in.

 

[Anjin]

If Genie+ is so popular that it's causing problems, they either need to limit the number they sell (which I doubt they will) or they need raise he price.

From conversations I've seen on here, it seems like Genie+ is a no-brainer. They need to shift the price up until it becomes a question again about whether it would be worth it or not.

 

[mickEblu]

I think it is already at that point. If everyone uses Genie+, it that makes the stand by line stand still. The Lightning Lane now becauses the real line and everyone has to pay to be in it. The chumps in the stand by line never get in.

Yeah I think so. I wrote that post you replied to before my trip this past Saturday.

 

[mickEblu]

If Genie+ is so popular that it's causing problems, they either need to limit the number they sell (which I doubt they will) or they need raise he price.

From conversations I've seen on here, it seems like Genie+ is a no-brainer. They need to shift the price up until it becomes a question again about whether it would be worth it or not.

It’s not a no brainer for everyone. Depends how often you go

 

[Phroobar]

If Genie+ is so popular that it's causing problems, they either need to limit the number they sell (which I doubt they will) or they need raise he price.

From conversations I've seen on here, it seems like Genie+ is a no-brainer. They need to shift the price up until it becomes a question again about whether it would be worth it or not.

Based on experience with ticket prices, there is no upper limit. People will pay any amount to go to Disneyland. They will pay thousands for an annual pass that they still need to make reservations to use. Once inside the park, I see people paying additional hundreds of dollars to Genie+. Right now the industry standard for a front of the line pass is $75 per person/per day. I can easily see Disney doing $100 per person/per day for Lightning Lane+ and $50 for special rides like RotR. People will buy it! Anyone without it will not go on a ride.

 

[mickEblu]

Based on experience with ticket prices, there is no upper limit. People will pay any amount to go to Disneyland. They will pay thousands for an annual pass that they still need to make reservations to use. Once inside the park, I see people paying additional hundreds of dollars to Genie+. Right now the industry standard for a front of the line pass is $75 per person/per day. I can easily see Disney doing $100 per person/per day for Lightning Lane+ and $50 for special rides like RotR. People will buy it! Anyone without it will not go on a ride.

If they priced it in a way that say only 10% -25% of Key Holders bought it on a given day I think that you could have a situation where everyone wins.

 

[Phroobar]

If they priced it in a way that say only 10% -25% of Key Holders bought it on a given day I think that you could have a situation where everyone wins.

That would be best but what would that magic number be? Would those people pay $80-$100 per visit everytime they go during a month?

 

[mickEblu]

Good question. I’d imagine most DL Keys would not be willing to pay $40- 50$ per person extra on every trip. Especially if they are going multiple times a month.

 

[Phroobar]

Good question. I’d imagine most DL Keys would not be willing to pay $40- 50$ per person extra on every trip. Especially if they are going multiple times a month.

So to get it down to 25% of that population, I would guess $100? Of course this hurts the tourist family the most though. Maybe it could be included in their hotel ticket?

 

[waltography]

If they priced it in a way that say only 10% -25% of Key Holders bought it on a given day I think that you could have a situation where everyone wins.

That would be best but what would that magic number be? Would those people pay $80-$100 per visit everytime they go during a month?

Assuming 75,000 average daily attendance across the resort and half of those folks purchasing G+ at $20 each, that's $750k in the bank per day. If we assume 20% of guests purchase at $75 each, then we get to the same number and LL become marginally better experiences.

I think the sticking point is that Disney's at a pretty comfortable spot right now with G+ in that the price point is appealing to both day guests and keyholders, but keyholders go to the parks often; if they can monetize an otherwise hard-to-monetize group like keyholders, I would think they'd tend to go for it because it makes the numbers look pretty. I don't even think we've hit the cap yet for G+ with regards to keyholders; it's in Disney's court to increase the price to $25 or $30 and I would bet they'd only see marginal drops in uptake.

 

[Phroobar]

Assuming 75,000 average daily attendance across the resort and half of those folks purchasing G+ at $20 each, that's $750k in the bank per day. If we assume 20% of guests purchase at $75 each, then we get to the same number and LL become marginally better experiences.

I think the sticking point is that Disney's at a pretty comfortable spot right now with G+ in that the price point is appealing to both day guests and keyholders, but keyholders go to the parks often; if they can monetize an otherwise hard-to-monetize group like keyholders, I would think they'd tend to go for it because it makes the numbers look pretty. I don't even think we've hit the cap yet for G+ with regards to keyholders; it's in Disney's court to increase the price to $25 or $30 and I would bet they'd only see marginal drops in uptake.

$20 for one time fast passes to each ride is a pretty good price considering Universal charges $75 for the same thing. Very few seem to use the $75 service. So they must hit an hump somewhere between $20-$75 for the maximum people would pay without thinking.

 

[mickEblu]

So to get it down to 25% of that population, I would guess $100? Of course this hurts the tourist family the most though. Maybe it could be included in their hotel ticket?

I think $40-$50 a day for a tourist family isn’t too bad. When you consider what you already paying to go to WDW for example another $200 a day to ensure you get on everything and have real “Lightning” lanes is well worth it. And you if you don’t want buy it then at least there are less annual pass holders buying it making the standby lines bearable. But they honestly don’t even have to go that far. I think $35 per person would be enough to deter me from buying it outside of very special trips.

 

[mickEblu]

Assuming 75,000 average daily attendance across the resort and half of those folks purchasing G+ at $20 each, that's $750k in the bank per day. If we assume 20% of guests purchase at $75 each, then we get to the same number and LL become marginally better experiences.

I think the sticking point is that Disney's at a pretty comfortable spot right now with G+ in that the price point is appealing to both day guests and keyholders, but keyholders go to the parks often; if they can monetize an otherwise hard-to-monetize group like keyholders, I would think they'd tend to go for it because it makes the numbers look pretty. I don't even think we've hit the cap yet for G+ with regards to keyholders; it's in Disney's court to increase the price to $25 or $30 and I would bet they'd only see marginal drops in uptake.

True this was going to be my next post. People might pay and we just end up with marginally better experiences.

 

[waltography]

I think $40-$50 a day for a tourist family isn’t too bad. When you consider what you already paying to go to WDW for example another $200 a day to ensure you get on everything and have real “Lightning” lanes is well worth it. And you if you don’t want buy it then at least there are less annual pass holders buying it making the standby lines bearable. But they honestly don’t even have to go that far. I think $35 per person would be enough to deter me from buying it outside of very special trips.

I was gonna say that Disney needs to do the math to figure out where the price caps for G+ are between day guests and key holders. I suspected that for key holders at least, their cap is going to be pretty substantially lower than day guests (I would've guessed $30, and your price point aligns with that).

$20 for one time fast passes to each ride is a pretty good price considering Universal charges $75 for the same thing. Very few seem to use the $75 service. So they must hit an hump somewhere between $20-$75 for the maximum people would pay without thinking.

I'm not privy to the percentage of key holders in the park daily, so the math here is gonna be a little dirty. However, we know that before the pandemic, APs made up around half of the daily attendance, so we'll be generous and say that half of the 75,000 attendance are made up of key holders. With these (made up) numbers...

Genie+ cost	Percent of key holders purchasing	Percent of day guests purchasing	Total revenue
$20	50%	50%	$750,000
$30	45%	45%	$1,012,500
$50	10%	40%	$937,500
$75	5%	20%	$703,125

It does expose a bit of why they keep Genie+ at the price right now, flawed as these numbers are. From a purely bottom-line perspective, they've already hit a pretty good sweet spot for price and number of people purchasing. Never mind the fact that a $75 Genie+ would be an improvement for the guest experience; if it doesn't show up in a spreadsheet, then it doesn't count.

 

[DCBaker]

"Disneyland has confirmed to Attractions that starting March 7, 2022, all Disneyland Magic Keyholders will be held to the no-show policy described on Disneyland’s website and the official Disneyland app, which states the following:

The ability of Magic Key holders to make and hold park reservations will be impacted by the no show policy. Magic Key holders who are a no show for three reservations in a 90-day window will be unable to make new park reservations for 30 days. Existing park reservations at that time will not be cancelled. The 30-day period begins the day after the third no show, and will continue even if the pass is upgraded to another pass during that time. A Magic Key holder who enters the designated park any time before closing on the day of the reservation is not considered a no show. If the reservation is for both parks, only one park needs to be entered to avoid being a no show. Magic Key holders who timely cancel a reservation are also not considered a no show. Cancellation of a reservation must be done by 11:59 PM PT on the day before the reserved date.

Since re-opening, Disneyland Resort has required all guests to make park reservations, including members of the four-tiered Magic Key program. Since Magic Keyholders can hold up to six park reservations at a time for the two top-tier passes (four reservations or two reservations for the lower passes), that obviously impacts the number of reservations available to guests who purchase individual park admission tickets. As a result, if a Keyholder is a “no show,” that means another guest was not able to reserve that spot.

While most members were likely not even aware that the “grace period” was in effect, it’s important to keep the Magic Key no-show policy in mind when making park reservations in the future.

At this point, Walt Disney World does not have a no-show park reservation policy for Annual Passholders."

Disneyland is now enforcing Magic Key no-show policy

All Disneyland Magic Keyholders agreed to a no-show policy for park reservations but the Magic Key no-show policy wasn't enforced – until now.

attractionsmagazine.com

 

[MK-fan]

I was looking into buying a pass about a month and a half ago and I remember seeing that may 28 was not blacked out to enchant key members, now it shows as blacked out, wondering if this was a mistake on my part, can anybody confirm?

 

[Sailor310]

I was looking into buying a pass about a month and a half ago and I remember seeing that may 28 was not blacked out to enchant key members, now it shows as blacked out, wondering if this was a mistake on my part, can anybody confirm?

All the Saturdays are blocked out until Aug 27th. I would think you misread it.

 

[MarvelCharacterNerd]

There were a few days a while ago when the calendar was glitching for May and beyond and showing extra days available. I was able to make a weekend reservation even though my pass would normally be blocked out. It'll be interesting to see what they do that day since I have the email confirmation and the reservation shows up in my account but the calendar was fixed later to show it as a blocked out day.