Disneyland officially reopening April 30th

[HauntedPirate]

Imagine the amount of hubris needed to believe that AP’s “aren’t needed” and thinking guests will gladly pay full price for tickets, basically taking them for granted in the process, when the competition is more than willing to offer AP’s and discounts to show their appreciation for their guests. Maybe someone should dredge up that old quote by Iger when he said all they needed to do was tweet that GE was open and that’s all the marketing they needed, and people would flock to the park.

 

[Darkbeer1]

Here is a weird one, I didn't sign up and have no idea what day this is, but Lisa and I are GOING to DIsneyland.

(I presume my chairperson signed up for me)

>>Dear David,



Thank you for completing registration for the upcoming Disneyland Resort Reopening Community Event. A Cast Member will contact you if additional information is required. We look forward to welcoming you in person. Pre-arrival information will be sent about one week prior to your arrival with details regarding event check-in and your itinerary.



Have a magical day!<<

 

[CaptinEO]

Imagine the amount of hubris needed to believe that AP’s “aren’t needed” and thinking guests will gladly pay full price for tickets, basically taking them for granted in the process, when the competition is more than willing to offer AP’s and discounts to show their appreciation for their guests. Maybe someone should dredge up that old quote by Iger when he said all they needed to do was tweet that GE was open and that’s all the marketing they needed, and people would flock to the park.

There is no need for annual passes so long as they price tickets to meet demand.

To suggest people need to be sold "a year of visits" is silly. Yes there was a time where for many years Disneyland relied on Ticket sales and guess what? It survived and did fine.

Disneyland will watch how guests like the new setup. It's entirely possible guests will enjoy these low capacity days so much that they can raise prices and cap capacity permanently.

A few years back many were in agreement that capping capacity and taking away fastpass would improve the guest experience. I wish those didn't happen under the tragic circumstances of a global pandemic.

That being said, I welcome the changes with open arms. We've had many decades of the park being AP based, give tickets a chance.

 

[fctiger]

Just to let people know for April 30th Disneyland appears available on the calendar again!

Edit: Annnnnnd it's gone again!

 

[Curious Constance]

Anyone else look at the availability calendar and have a little ache in their heart for poor, little DCA?

 

[TP2000]

That being said, I welcome the changes with open arms. We've had many decades of the park being AP based, give tickets a chance.

I heartily agree. They need to give this a chance, let it settle and establish itself for at least six months, if not a year.

My fear is that TDA will panic around the second week when a Saturday isn't a complete sell out or when a slow Tuesday before school lets out (for states beyond California that still let students attend school) isn't more crowded than it should be.

My concern is that the sharp pencil boys in TDA who have spent the last 15 years packing the park year-round will panic and ring alarm bells that shouldn't be rung. And TDA executives, like Ken Potrock who has never worked in the theme park industry before, will also panic and try and bring back Cheap-O EZ-Pass Monthly Payment Plans+ to pack the park year round immediately.

Just let it settle. Just let it develop. Give it a few months. Allow the customer to adapt. Don't panic. Breathe. Wait. Observe. Breathe.

I don't have much faith that TDA has those skills, however.

 

[Sharon&Susan]

Yes there was a time where for many years Disneyland relied on Ticket sales and guess what? It survived and did fine.

Disneyland didn't cost a fortune to get into in those days though.

 

[CaptinEO]

I heartily agree. They need to give this a chance, let it settle and establish itself for at least six months, if not a year.

My fear is that TDA will panic around the second week when a Saturday isn't a complete sell out or when a slow Tuesday before school lets out (for states beyond California that still let students attend school) isn't more crowded than it should be.

My concern is that the sharp pencil boys in TDA who have spent the last 15 years packing the park year-round will panic and ring alarm bells that shouldn't be rung. And TDA executives, like Ken Potrock who has never worked in the theme park industry before, will also panic and try and bring back Cheap-O EZ-Pass Monthly Payment Plans to pack the park year round immediately.

Just let it settle. Just let it develop. Give it a few months. Allow the customer to adapt. Don't panic. Breathe. Wait. Observe. Breathe.

I don't have much faith that TDA has those skills, however.

I'm worried about that too! Disney World's operation where they haven't sold APs for nearly a year and besides Christmas it hasn't been crowded is a great sign that the company is exploring things beyond annual passes.

I hope the company embraces this concept and sees the effects it has on guest happiness and spending.

Maybe SoCal people who are used to going 12 times a year will be shell shocked. Hopefully the vacationers make up at least 25% of Disneyland's audience, which I'm sure they do.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Anyone else look at the availability calendar and have a little ache in their heart for poor, little DCA?

No lol. Just business as usual for the past 20 years.

 

[waltography]

Anyone else look at the availability calendar and have a little ache in their heart for poor, little DCA?

Don't worry, it's getting its day in the sun come June... and then it'll go right back to normal as the second-loved sibling by September (give or take a few months).

 

[Tamandua]

You know how Disney employees get free passes to the parks? Does anyone know when they're allowed to start going?

 

[socaljoeyb]

I heartily agree. They need to give this a chance, let it settle and establish itself for at least six months, if not a year.

My fear is that TDA will panic around the second week when a Saturday isn't a complete sell out or when a slow Tuesday before school lets out (for states beyond California that still let students attend school) isn't more crowded than it should be.

My concern is that the sharp pencil boys in TDA who have spent the last 15 years packing the park year-round will panic and ring alarm bells that shouldn't be rung. And TDA executives, like Ken Potrock who has never worked in the theme park industry before, will also panic and try and bring back Cheap-O EZ-Pass Monthly Payment Plans+ to pack the park year round immediately.

Just let it settle. Just let it develop. Give it a few months. Allow the customer to adapt. Don't panic. Breathe. Wait. Observe. Breathe.

I don't have much faith that TDA has those skills, however.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. With that being said I honestly expected DL to be almost sold out through the 60 days from the rabid AP crowd. Seeing weekends still available at DL is definitely not what I would have expected a week ago. I see panic at TDA if attendance doesn't ramp up when capacity increases.

 

[Curious Constance]

I’m hoping these reservations still available makes Disney realize just how important not only Oregonians are, but all states are other than California (but mostly Oregon). I hope they develop a program that encourages us to visit by making it ridiculously affordable to do so with the option to make monthly payments on our trips if we so choose, gives us free stickers and pins when we are there, offers us all the popcorn we can eat for $1 (after we purchase a special bucket for a reasonable fee of course), and makes special merchandise that only we can buy. Like “Disneyland Oregonian” t-shirts and oven mitts.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I wholeheartedly agree with this. With that being said I honestly expected DL to be almost sold out through the 60 days from the rabid AP crowd. Seeing weekends still available at DL is definitely not what I would have expected a week ago. I see panic at TDA if attendance doesn't ramp up when capacity increases.

Disney certainly expected it, which is why they released all 60 days at once, don’t have arrival windows, and allow park hopping. They don’t need to sell out every day to make money.

 

[Tamandua]

I’m hoping these reservations still available makes Disney realize just how important not only Oregonians are, but all states are other than California (but mostly Oregon). I hope they develop a program that encourages us to visit by making it ridiculously affordable to do so with the option to make monthly payments on our trips if we so choose, gives us free stickers and pins when we are there, offers us all the popcorn we can eat for $1 (after we purchase a special bucket for a reasonable fee of course), and makes special merchandise that only we can buy. Like “Disneyland Oregonian” t-shirts and oven mitts.

Rumor has it they will unveil an OP program soon. The Oregon Pass program is designed to make Oregonians feel superior to Californians even when they are in California, just like at home.

 

[Supreme Leader]

Anyone else look at the availability calendar and have a little ache in their heart for poor, little DCA?

My friend bought a small group of us tickets and when I saw he chose DCA for the park and I saw "ALL DAY" was selected...I may have prayed that he bought Park Hoppers.

 

[Supreme Leader]

Even full day dca for cm preview tickets weren't sold out the others were as of last night.

I'm really going to be in the inferior park all day huh?

 

[flynnibus]

It's entirely possible guests will enjoy these low capacity days so much that they can raise prices and cap capacity permanently.

The only reason Disney is going to cap capacity is because of optics or outside forces. Post-pandemic? Only for safety.

Not gonna happen.

 

[AJFireman]

You know how Disney employees get free passes to the parks? Does anyone know when they're allowed to start going?

Unused Comp tickets are able to make reservations starting on the 20th. I have not seen a anything about self admission or sign-ins.

 

[CaptinEO]

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The only reason Disney is going to cap capacity is because of optics or outside forces. Post-pandemic? Only for safety.

Not gonna happen.

If they can make more money with lower attendance why would they chose to have higher attendance and make less money.

The CEO said this himself mentioned that exact sentiment a month back.

If Disney has 50 thousand guests spending 200 for a ticket vs 100 thousand AP guests getting in for an average discount of 70 dollars, you can see where there is a price differential.

Food, merch, etc can all be factored. No one has the data but Disney. When the CEO considered GE a huge success despite insanely low crowds and mentioned they found happier guests meant more spending, you can't argue with it.