Disneyland "Sunsetting" annual passes, WDW next?

[asianway]

The thread in the DL is just downright nasty in some ways. I had no idea AP holders were hated so much in Cali.

I hope they don’t get rid of it in Florida as I planned on getting one in 2022. But nothing Disney has done lately has been “expected”.

::grabbing my gas can and heading over::

 

[ppete1975]

::grabbing my gas can and heading over::

right behind you ...

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

I certainly think this is a sign of what’s to come in Florida. Whatever new membership program is rolled out in California will most likely be copied for Florida.

 

[ppete1975]

Hopefully this knocks down the people who make their livelihoods off of ebay who just come to the parks to buy everything to raise the prices yet have no interest in the actual parks.

 

[Indy_UK]

As much as we all love Disney, i have to agree when people say that Passholders 'say' they are keeping the company afloat while actually being one of the lowest contributors. I did it myself when i had a DLP Annual pass.

Maybe over the years, everything has become just way to complicated at WDW with so many annual pass tiers, Dining plan, magic band, fastpass+ system that maybe a lot of this needs to go and be more like the older days?

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

As much as we all love Disney, i have to agree when people say that Passholders 'say' they are keeping the company afloat while actually being one of the lowest contributors

Idk... 5-8 visits per year (hotels, dining Merch.) has got to add up to something. Plus the $1200 per year on a pass vs. $600 every 1-4 years for an average guest.

I’m not saying they are keeping the parks afloat, but they are definitely contributing Uncle Scrooge’s vault.

 

[Indy_UK]

Idk... 5-8 visits per year (hotels, dining Merch.) has got to add up to something. Plus the $1200 per year on a pass vs. $600 every 1-4 years for an average guest.

I’m not saying they are keeping the parks afloat, but they are definitely contributing Uncle Scrooge’s vault.

Maybe for more out of state guests? It does make alot more sense for Disneyland for it to go

 

[tirian]

I agree, but according to some passholders, they are the ones keeping the company afloat.

It’s kind of true for DLR. It will be interesting.

 

[GusEzra]

I certainly think this is a sign of what’s to come in Florida. Whatever new membership program is rolled out in California will most likely be copied for Florida.

I can't think it would WDW is a different beast and if you look at the make up of Passholders I bet there are way more out of state passholders at WDW than at DL , These out of state passholders are the bread and butter of passholders they only have the 2 highest tier options of passes, no monthly pay option, to get value out of your pass you need to plan 2 fairly long trips with in a year Most of these type passholders buy into that, but I'm curious how many actually go enough to get the value. If family of 4 from Missouri buys AP at just over 4 grand and ends up only making it to the parks once that seems like a pretty lucrative business. It takes work to get your moneys worth out of that WDW AP.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

It takes work to get your moneys worth out of that WDW AP.

Takes even more worth to get your money’s worth out of a Premier but that never stopped me!!!

 

[networkpro]

I certainly think this is a sign of what’s to come in Florida. Whatever new membership program is rolled out in California will most likely be copied for Florida.

DL/DCA are very different parks than WDW. Locals vs a global destination. Closed vs open.

 

[HarperRose]

It’s kind of true for DLR. It will be interesting.

I mean right now, some WDW passholders believe they are the only reason WDW is still open.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

DL/DCA are very different parks than WDW. Locals vs a global destination. Closed vs open.

I’m aware. My opinion remains unchanged and my prediction still lays on madame leotas table. We shall see.

 

[ppete1975]

I can't think it would WDW is a different beast and if you look at the make up of Passholders I bet there are way more out of state passholders at WDW than at DL , These out of state passholders are the bread and butter of passholders they only have the 2 highest tier options of passes, no monthly pay option, to get value out of your pass you need to plan 2 fairly long trips with in a year Most of these type passholders buy into that, but I'm curious how many actually go enough to get the value. If family of 4 from Missouri buys AP at just over 4 grand and ends up only making it to the parks once that seems like a pretty lucrative business. It takes work to get your moneys worth out of that WDW AP.

youre probably staying at a hotel on site as well. I dont think its the go a few times a month or year people they are trying to reduce.

 

[splashtest]

I can't think it would WDW is a different beast and if you look at the make up of Passholders I bet there are way more out of state passholders at WDW than at DL , These out of state passholders are the bread and butter of passholders they only have the 2 highest tier options of passes, no monthly pay option, to get value out of your pass you need to plan 2 fairly long trips with in a year Most of these type passholders buy into that, but I'm curious how many actually go enough to get the value. If family of 4 from Missouri buys AP at just over 4 grand and ends up only making it to the parks once that seems like a pretty lucrative business. It takes work to get your moneys worth out of that WDW AP.

We are out of state passholders. We were just allowed to repurchase a Gold Pass (DVC) 2 weeks ago. We will get at least two 9 night trips out of these, with maybe another few days in 2022. $749 ish each. An 8 day hopper run $642 so we see it as a significant savings. We usually never renew, because then we would lose $$ on that renewal and only get 1 trip out of the deal. We let the pass go and repurchase in the fall and get another 3 trips out of that cycle.

 

[coasterphil]

Now that they have conglomerated the two biggies (Epic and Ikon) have over 1 million annual passholders. There is nothing else in North America I can think of that has a million annual pass holders - so that's why I keep coming back to the comparison.

It's also a good comparison because I know that at least one of those two thinks about their passholders in a very similar way to DL. They absolutely love the gaudy guarenteed revenue, which is even more important on the ski side given that weather can wipe out the season, but they hate that those folks negatively impact the experiences of those paying much much more for their vacations/day visits and that the big crowd photos that spread during high seasons scare more of those types of guests away.

I know DL has been trying to figure out the AP problem for well over a decade and it's no secret that the folks on the operations side absolutely despise how big the number of passholders has gotten. There's not even close to the same AP impact in WDW, so that's why you don't hear the same amount of vitriol there.

 

[BrianLo]

I beg to differ. I think Knott's is a competitor to DLR

I meant in terms of direct impact on pricing. Disney doesn’t really seem to be connected to anything Knott’s does pricing wise. Knotts is waaaayyy cheaper and yet cannot attract the same loyalty

They do seem to be impacted somewhat by Universal (more in Orlando though).

I know you are a coaster fan and we are talking about AP’s, but knotts is still a regional park. I guess that doesn’t mean they aren’t competitors but my point is they aren’t in the same league (and I’ve been to Knotts - which is probably not that common considering the specificity of this forum).

 

[Tha Realest]

having processed this over the last day my general feeling is that with the protracted closure, uncertain opening date, and no idea of the sort of capacity/operational restrictions they would be laboring under once open, killing off the AP was almost a no-brainer. Logistically, I am not sure how they could operate fully (or honor existing AP guests) in a profitable way. Given that, it’s also an opportunity to recalibrate the program and maximize the dollar per visitor on a daily basis.

 

[Touchdown]

Knotts, Cedar Point, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Dollywood, Silver Dollar City, the Sea Worlds, and Busch Gardens are in a narrow field where they attract more national attendance then other regionals but not as much as the Disney and Universal parks.

 

[MurphyJoe]

I could easily see a new type of annual pass that has a limit on the total number of days you can use it. That would allow people who want to go regularly in non-consecutive periods to have an option that doesn't involve buying multiple expensive tickets, but could prevent the folks who are going 100+ times in a year.

I wonder if Disney would alter their standard passes so that buyers could get up to 20 or so days and offer an add on which extends out the ticket's expiration to 18 months after purchase; perhaps also offer ticket holders with the 18 month expiration option to add on additional days at a discount. So it's less of an annual pass or no expiration ticket, but still offers a bulk discount.