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News Disneyland Magic Key Program
- Thread starter DCBaker
- Start date
Model3 McQueen
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
my fiance told me we should've asked our friends if anyone wanted a pass, since you could by up to 10 of them. But at the same time there's this feeling that "well if they wanted it so bad, they would've been in line with me, or even talked to us about it!". The 4 of my family members were in line and all 4 of us communicated over the phone all morning / afternoon.
My heart goes out to people like your friends though who tried at opening and didn't make it. I was anxious the entire time that we weren't going to get a pass after the queue wait was over. I was the first out of all my family members (they were still at "over an hour wait" when mine was ready, despite all of us being in the queue at almost the exact same time) so I snagged them for the 4 of us.
Also my fiance and I were at a dentist appt at the time, thank god it ended at the exact time my place in line was up, and was only a mile from where I live LOL.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
Makes sense. I would have snagged an Enchant if it was still available for sure.
Lol I’ll tell her you said that.
Same here. With this purchase I believe I have now been every tier of the various iterations of the AP program. So Cal, Premium, Signature, Flex, Believe and now Imagine.
In my experience last year as a MK i think the middle of the week were less busy than Saturdays. I have it going as follows from least crowded to most crowded on average (holidays can change things)
Sunday
Tuesday- Wednesday - Thursday (not sure there’s a noticeable difference between these three days)
Friday
Saturday
Monday
But yeah I agree it’s not really about a ride count for me but I do obviously enjoy walking around a park that’s less crowded.
I was in the queue for 6 hours. Got in at 9am. Around 3pm I tried to put the Believe Keys in the cart and it just froze. Then Stitch ate the page. I have a bunch of screenshots that show Im signed in with my name showing with the Believe Keys in my cart. Wife thought it would be worth calling customer service but I’m pretty see they wouldn’t do anything. Maybe three years ago. Anyway, by the time i got back in the queue and my turn came up again all other passes were sold out. So Disney gets about $4000 less from me this year. More if you count the 5 month break.
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AJFireman
Well-Known Member
Ok first I will give a thanks to Disneyland IT.( Ok Let it out). My nephew went to buy 8x passes today and it kept saying there was an error regardless what we did it would not complete purchase. He was in the queue all day yesterday and an hour this morning. After several phone calls and 5 hour after Sold out it was able to be resolved it had to be done online because of monthly payments . The system honored the cart and never cleared it even when changing devices/ computer when logged in.
Also last night I was at lazy dog bar top. There was group of 4 next to me and they where discussing the purchasing of MKs. 2 where first time MKs/APs .they discussed how stressful it was to make the purchase after several hour wait. But they where happy to get one and didnt seem like they where disheartened what it took. They where more happy they got one after the effort it took. So since either sold out doesn't seem there is a lack of interest to buy them.
Also last night I was at lazy dog bar top. There was group of 4 next to me and they where discussing the purchasing of MKs. 2 where first time MKs/APs .they discussed how stressful it was to make the purchase after several hour wait. But they where happy to get one and didnt seem like they where disheartened what it took. They where more happy they got one after the effort it took. So since either sold out doesn't seem there is a lack of interest to buy them.
Phroobar
Well-Known Member
I can go to any theme park in the world's ticket page and buy annual passes. Within five minutes I'll be done. Why does this multibillion dollar multimedia corporation can't figure out how to have enough processing available to handle ticket requests is beyond me. Even Comic-Con and rock concerts has mostly figured this out. What does Disney make it incredibility hard to give them money? It didn't used to be this way. Are people actively trying to sabotage Disney with denial of service attacks? Probably so. How secure is Disney's ticketing system? Could someone execute a man in the middle attack and redirect you to their page for payment after waiting hours?
CaptinEO
Well-Known Member
In my case I had 3 browsers going. People are aware the Disney queue once it hits 9 is random and not first come first serve so use multiple devices. This makes the queue worse.
Man in the middle attack would be pretty hard to do as the connection is encrypted and secured with SSL certificates and they'd need to mess your DNS settings.
But I agree with what you're saying. In 2019 I bought two annual passes with giftcards over the phone. Now you have one day a year to get a chance to get an annual pass.
If demand is too high I'd rather they raise annual pass prices to the point that although less people will buy them, you can walk up to a booth and purchase.
Imagine that's Disney's plan? They have this super inconvenient MK system as a way to hike up prices for the return of Annual Passes (no reservations, can purchase any time).
AJFireman
Well-Known Member
All three top tier passes sold out first day at about 6pm. The So Cal pass lasted a couple of hours the next day when they reopened the queue
Phroobar
Well-Known Member
Agreed a man in the middle attack is unlikely however a DOS attack probably happens constantly for them. That is why their servers are SOL.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
So how exactly do MK renewals work? My wife’s friend said she just renewed/ downgraded from a Believe Key to Enchant Key today. How, if those passes are not available anymore? I assumed “renewal only” means you can only renew into the pass you currently have (unless other passes are available). So at any point in the year a MK holder can renew into any of the 4 passes?
Disney Irish
Premium Member
If I recall correctly, during your 30 day renewal window you can renew the same MK level or downgrade to any lower MK, but upgrading to a higher MK requires that new MK to be on sale.
MarvelCharacterNerd
Well-Known Member
I thought any MK can renew into any level of MK up or down? (Aside from Dream Key, which is no longer an option.)
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
Interesting
Disney Irish
Premium Member
Yes, but to upgrade the higher tiered MK has to be available, which is not guaranteed during renewal.
PlanDisney has answered this question last year, and I don't think its changed -
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
Interesting. Usually one has more options when they are trying to give Disney more money not less.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
I guess I don't understand the point as this isn't new. This has been the options for MKs since release. You were never guaranteed to be able to upgrade to a higher tier during renewal.
So you do have options.
1. Renew to same level
2. Downgrade to lower level
3. Upgrade to higher level (provided its being offered)
The idea is Disney is trying to control how many of each MK tier is available, ie limit the number of MKs that have less blockout days. And maybe I'm misremembering but wasn't this how the final days of the old AP program worked too, especially after introducing the Flex pass. I don't think you could just upgrade during renewal into Sig Plus if it wasn't available for purchase.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
You don’t understand the point of what? The point is I obviously didn’t know you could renew down (or to anything other than your current pass) when the passes aren’t for sale.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
No, I understood that you didn't know you could renew down or up tiers. But I didn't understand the point you were making with this statement -
"Usually one has more options when they are trying to give Disney more money not less."
As its not like they took options away for renewal.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
Oh I guess you threw me off with the follow up statement of “this is nothing new.”
I meant that doesn’t line up with some of their day ticket policies. For example if you were to buy a Tier 5 day ticket they’ll let you upgrade to a higher tier because you re forking over more money but would not let you downgrade to a lower tier and give you a refund.
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Disney Irish
Premium Member
I wouldn't expect it to line up one-for-one with day tickets policies. As this isn't really the same thing. Think of it as buying a new MK every time you renew. So in your example think of it as you bought the Tier 5 day ticket, used it, and now want another day but at a different tier. Just in the case with MKs its another years access instead of a single day.
Also I think the only real difference between the renewal policies for MKs and APs, was that with APs you can upgrade (provided the new AP was available) during the year and just pay the difference. Whereas with MKs you can only do it during renewal time.