News Disneyland Magic Key Program

[CaptinEO]

I mean, the most expensive option and the cheapest options are both still available, so I'm not sure a price increase would necessarily work here. If we were to follow the rules of supply and demand, we'd also need to lower the Inspire key costs because they have excess supply compared to demand.

You can't raise the price of the cheaper Believe and Enchant keys without also raising the price of the Inspire key, unless you want to give those two keys more perks to compensate which seems the opposite of what Disney normally would do. The better option from a business standpoint, which is the one Disney seems to be doing, is to limit the number of those passes available to push people towards the more expensive option, thus artificially creating demand and increasing their profits.

I disagree. The passes go up every few months and some sell out in hours, others in a day or two. These are critically underpriced.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I love when I can agree with opposing sides, selling out in a matter of hours shows they are priced too low, I also agree if passes aren’t selling they are priced too high, that’s more of a hypothetical though since we don’t know how many sold, if 50% are unsold they are too expensive, if 5% are unsold they are probably priced perfectly, ideally passes should be priced just high enough they never sell out.

 

[mickEblu]

Are they priced too low or has Disney become master manipulators at creating artificial demand? Maybe a little of both?

 

[Californian Elitist]

I don’t think they’re priced too low. I think it’s obvious that fans will find ways to make buying passes work, no matter the price. People have been saying they’re priced too low for years. They keep going up and up. People will keep saying that forever.

 

[Ne'er-Do-Well Cad]

RIP lower deck being on the water but it’s still a great spot. I was definitely not in favor of the PatF retheme there just for the off chance they tried to do something stupid there like enclosing it. Then again, judging by the French Market retheme, it doesn’t look like they would have done anything like that.

I’m relieved as well — if they must do a Tiana restaurant overlay, it makes more thematic sense in NOS (that said, really hoping they don’t cartoon-ify that space too much…).

 

[waltography]

I don’t think they’re priced too low. I think it’s obvious that fans will find ways to make buying passes work, no matter the price. People have been saying they’re priced too low for years. They keep going up and up. People will keep saying that forever.

Some people will take out a second mortgage before they tell themselves they can't afford their Disney fix anymore.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Some people will take out a second mortgage before they tell themselves they can't afford their Disney fix anymore.

Exactly. People are addicted to the Mouse and addicted to visiting the Mouse. The pass could get to $2500 and they will likely still sell out. Disney knows this.

 

[Phroobar]

Some people will take out a second mortgage before they tell themselves they can't afford their Disney fix anymore.

Some people will movie to Florida to live off of Disney and run a mediocre web site about it.

 

[truecoat]

Some people will take out a second mortgage before they tell themselves they can't afford their Disney fix anymore.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Charging a super high price will create customers who go every week, if not more, to get their money's worth. This is the guest pattern Disney seems to want to get away from somewhat.

They probably want that happy medium of people who visit 12-24 days per year with a pass, and spend money in the parks.

 

[Jrb1979]

IMO the easiest solution is get rid of the payment plan. If you want an AP you have to pay for it in full.

 

[CaptinEO]

Charging a super high price will create customers who go every week, if not more, to get their money's worth. This is the guest pattern Disney seems to want to get away from somewhat.

They probably want that happy medium of people who visit 12-24 days per year with a pass, and spend money in the parks.

I don't know if that's the case. The Magic Keys cost more and require more visits per tier than ever to "break even".

12-24 days a year doesn't seem like a happy medium to me personally, so I have to disagree on that point. At one point I used to visit once a month and that felt like a lot, people told me I was crazy. I'd imagine only the most extreme people visit this much, but guess I could be wrong as some people see value in these top tier passes.

Disney probably just realizes they can't reach the revenue targets they want on certain days, and passes supplement this.

 

[CaptinEO]

IMO the easiest solution is get rid of the payment plan. If you want an AP you have to pay for it in full.

Sadly it's here to stay. It allows them to charge more, which is unfortunate. People are uncomfortable paying 1500 dollars for a pass, but when it's "100 dollars a month (after a 300 dollar down payment)" it seems attractive. Sadly many people are not smart with money these days and will do monthly payments for all sorts of things without realizing the annual cost.

 

[shambolicdefending]

The discussion about passes and pricing always revolves around the one, basic economic fact - there are still more people who want to go to Disneyland than there is space and time for Disneyland to comfortably accommodate them.

In one respect, that means prices are absolutely too low. Disney could charge much more than they're currently charging and still have enough customers to be highly profitable. But, the company also has its reasons for not absolutely maximizing their price points on the supply-demand curve.

In any case, the trend with both the legacy APs and Magic Keys has been the same for many years now. Prices have consistently increased (much faster than the rate of inflation) and benefits have consistently decreased. Quite literally, there has never been a worse time to be a Disneyland loyalty program customer than today. But next year the value will be even worse, and the year after...

It's not a sustainable trend, either. It may take a while, but increasing prices and decreasing benefits will always catch up to a business eventually. There's no such thing as a brand too big to be subject to basic rules of economics. Even Disney.

 

[chadwpalm]

Sadly it's here to stay. It allows them to charge more, which is unfortunate. People are uncomfortable paying 1500 dollars for a pass, but when it's "100 dollars a month (after a 300 dollar down payment)" it seems attractive. Sadly many people are not smart with money these days and will do monthly payments for all sorts of things without realizing the annual cost.

 

[MarvelCharacterNerd]

I don't know if that's the case. The Magic Keys cost more and require more visits per tier than ever to "break even".

12-24 days a year doesn't seem like a happy medium to me personally, so I have to disagree on that point. At one point I used to visit once a month and that felt like a lot, people told me I was crazy. I'd imagine only the most extreme people visit this much, but guess I could be wrong as some people see value in these top tier passes.

I know plenty of people who go weekly.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Quite literally, there has never been a worse time to be a Disneyland loyalty program customer than today. But next year the value will be even worse, and the year after...

I don’t think I agree. (Current magic key holder and past Disney premier pass holder).

The only new negative is the park reservation system and that applies to all guests of Disney, pass or not. Everything else is the same.

 

[Ryan120420]

I don’t think I agree. (Current magic key holder and past Disney premier pass holder).

The only new negative is the park reservation system and that applies to all guests of Disney, pass or not. Everything else is the same.

You don't have the ability to add Genie+ to a Magic Key at a flat annual price like with MaxPass. Also, if you are an Imagine Keyholder your access to the park has been drastically reduced as now the entire month of December is blocked. Enchant Key Holders now have all Saturdays blocked and Inspire has the last two weeks of the year blocked, despite being the most expensive pass.

So it's not the same. Annual Passes were never as expensive or restrictive as they are today.

The value of a Magic Key has been drastically reduced, while the prices are the highest they've ever been.

 

[shambolicdefending]

I don’t think I agree. (Current magic key holder and past Disney premier pass holder).

The only new negative is the park reservation system and that applies to all guests of Disney, pass or not. Everything else is the same.

It may still be worth it to you, but there's really no arguing that you're paying more and getting less as time goes on.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

It may still be worth it to you, but there's really no arguing that you're paying more and getting less as time goes on.

My point is the magic key is pretty equal in value to park tickets. Yes park reservations are annoying, but that applies to all guests. Yes FastPass used to be included…. But that applies to all guests. Yes prices have gone up….