SoCalDisneyLover
Well-Known Member
Exactly, which is why I've moved on. Knotts & Universal are going to get my money for the next few months. Perhaps if I like the new program, I'll be back in late 2021 or early 2022.
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Former Disneyland annual passholders complain about lack of priority ticket access for parks’ return - OCR/SCNG
- Thread starter Darkbeer1
- Start date
CaptinEO
Well-Known Member
Yep. Some people seem hurt that they can't buy an Annual Pass, even though there are discounted tickets to go multiple days.
Lets face it, the days of just showing up whenever you want to a themepark are over. Reservations will be required everywhere for the foreseeable future.
Disneyland was most likely moving to this system pre pandemic with the Flex Pass. It makes sense as they can keep the park from getting insanely crowded/unbearable.
I'm excited to visit the week of Christmas this year and not have it be insane.
I hope the reservation system stays permanently.
The days of reservations won't end. But the days of lower than true fire marshall max capacity Christmas week are definitely numbered.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
I don’t know about permanent, but they intend to keep it long-term.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Sort of. They don’t intend to ever get to 100% again because of staffing issues. They’d rather keep a smaller workforce all year and force people to spread out throughout the year. It is working in Florida and I presume all of the locals will have no problem with it in California as passes are released to locals targeting toward specific dates. Profit margins are much better when the parks have more guests in September and fewer in July.
Tamandua
Well-Known Member
It will be at normal capacity this Christmas. APs or not, they will pack the parks to the brim. The real dreamers here are the people who think that Disney will limit capacity just because people are paying full price. If they can fill the parks with full price admissions, they will absolutely not say "let's reduce capacity by 25% so that people enjoy it more. Maybe they will spend more." That's a pipe dream.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
And yet, they are doing exactly that at WDW.
Californian Elitist
Well-Known Member
I highly doubt this reservation system for tickets will be permanent. Once the mess we’re in blows over, the parks will most likely revert to the way it was and folks will be in the ticket lines at 5pm again.
CaptinEO
Well-Known Member
It's not only about guests spending more but also ticket pricing. They can easily have a higher tier for holidays to adapt to demand while also creating good experiences for their customers.
The Disney experience should be a premium one after all. Why not charge 250 for a day ticket during holidays if the demand exists?
You can keep the park nice without it being chaotic and as another poster mentioned, the park doesn't have to worry about staffing issues.
When the park is at capacity you have a large portion of people spending hours of their days in lines for food, stores, and rides, time they could have used to be spending more money is wasted waiting.
Meanwhile staffing is maxed out, you have loads of angry customers. It doesn't actually benefit the parks.
Tamandua
Well-Known Member
Think what you want of the AP program, but you can't fault people for being irritated that they bought into a program at a certain price for certain perks only to have Disney renege on the deal on favor of new terms that benefit them. They should have allowed passholders to run out their remaining time and just stopped selling new ones. In normal times, If a passholder told Disney that they wanted to move so they want a refund on the remaining months of their pass, Disney would laugh and say no. But Disney can decide that they don't like the terms anymore and just cancel all passes.
CaptinEO
Well-Known Member
Oh I agree. I'm upset that they held onto my refund for a year because they claimed passes would be extended.
Now that being said, people paid for the perk of being able to go whenever they wanted (besides Flex). Flex pass had the same availability as Signature.
Post covid suddenly reservations are a must and the person who bought a Signature for 1200 dollars has the same benefits as someone who bought a Flex Pass for 600.
I can see why it just made sense to scrap it all.
Californian Elitist
Well-Known Member
A “Costco membership” that Disney encouraged.
CaptinEO
Well-Known Member
Yes they did. Their problems are their own creation. This is the first time I've ever seen an attempt to actually switch things up. Maybe it's only because of covid, time will tell.
Californian Elitist
Well-Known Member
Yes, I see it sticking around for now. Permanently though, I don’t see it happening. It’s convenient right now.