News Nightmare Scenario Unfolds for Disneyland Passholders as Reservations Disappear

[DavidDL]

They really should have just gone with a DVC-point style membership system. You buy a pass, you get X amount of points (higher tiers, more points). You can then go to the parks whenever you want but need to be mindful of the days you pick. Days Disney expects to be busier would cost more and lighter days could cost much less. Disney could then adjust and entice as they see fit. It's not perfect but it would still discourage folks from filling the parks every single day while also providing them the freedom to choose to go whenever they want.

Additionally, if your unspent points rolled over when you renewed each year, you would encourage folks to keep buying the membership.

 

[mickEblu]

I think part of the issue is they give each key holder too many reservations. I think they should do like 3 Reservations max for Dream. 2 for Believe. 2 for Enchant and 1 for Imagine. Then when you use one it replenishes. I’d imagine key holders would value having more days available over more reservations.

At 6 reservations at least half of them are just placeholders that one is most likely not going to use and it just throws off the entire system.

 

[DrAlice]

I suspect that in the end, nothing will come of this. Reservations will be available eventually. People will forget that they had this "nightmare". The parks will be packed. Status quo. It may affect which pass people choose to buy next year, but I don't see it really hurting Disney's bottom line.

 

[mickEblu]

I suspect that in the end, nothing will come of this. Reservations will be available eventually. People will forget that they had this "nightmare". The parks will be packed. Status quo. It may affect which pass people choose to buy next year, but I don't see it really hurting Disney's bottom line.

No way. It will definitely effect present and future sales if nothing is done. At the very least people will downgrade. In the long run of course Disney will be fine. But they are very much concerned about short term results.

 

[DrAlice]

No way. It will definitely effect present and future sales if nothing is done. At the very least people will downgrade. In the long run of course Disney will be fine. But they are very much concerned about short term results.

Like I said, I think it will affect which pass people buy. But I think that's it. I've seen far too many "I'm never buying a pass again!!!" comments by people that then go on to renew their pass to believe them anymore. And, I'm not saying anger at this isn't justified. I just think that reservations will eventually open up. And once people have gone a bunch of times in the course of the year and it comes time to buy a new one, they will. It will just be justified with, "well, the holidays are out, but I can still use it the rest of the year".

 

[mickEblu]

Like I said, I think it will affect which pass people buy. But I think that's it. I've seen far too many "I'm never buying a pass again!!!" comments by people that then go on to renew their pass to believe them anymore. And, I'm not saying anger at this isn't justified. I just think that reservations will eventually open up. And once people have gone a bunch of times in the course of the year and it comes time to buy a new one, they will. It will just be justified with, "well, the holidays are out, but I can still use it the rest of the year".

People who have them might renew or downgrade to lower a pass but people that haven’t bought them yet will not buy. So if Disney is ok with that then maybe you ll be right. I don’t think they re ok with that though.

I’m not sure why people are Angry. I get being disappointed or surprised.

Yeah a lot of this could be the pent up demand for the holidays but I think the system is flawed and they need to lower the amount of reservations passholders can make.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Pretty sure APs did not make up that much of attendance.

Somebody fact check me, but I am pretty sure prior to the pandemic, APs made up about 70 percent of the attendance at DLR.

The new DLR key with no blackouts was about the price of the previous non blackout AP for DLR, so it makes sense that a lot of prior AP holders simply got the no blackout key for DLR.

The joke is on them, they purchased a AP that has no blackouts and still can’t get into DLR..
Disney wins big time.,

 

[Californian Elitist]

Somebody fact check me, but I am pretty sure prior to the pandemic, APs made up about 70 percent of the attendance at DLR.

The new DLR key with no blackouts was about the price of the previous non blackout AP for DLR, so it makes sense that a lot of prior AP holders simply got the no blackout key for DLR.

The joke is on them, they purchased a AP that has no blackouts and still can’t get into DLR..
Disney wins big time.,

What?

 

[Disstevefan1]

Last I remember from the smart people doing the math estimates, pre-pandemic AP attendance was about 35% of the resort total.

Ok 35 vs 70 is a big difference. Who knows what the real number is.

Whatever the number is, it sounds like folks holding the DLR key with no blackouts can’t get park pass reservations for DLR.

Is that an exaggeration too?

 

[Disstevefan1]

What?

Disney sold folks passes they can’t use, Disney gets the money from the passes they sold, Disney serves fewer guests at the parks, lowering their costs. Disney wins.

 

[el_super]

I just think that reservations will eventually open up. And once people have gone a bunch of times in the course of the year and it comes time to buy a new one, they will.

If people stop buying them, the reservation problem will have fixed itself.

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

Buying a Dream Key and not being able to get a reservation is just like buying a day ticket and not having an opportunity to wait in line for Rise of the Resistance. Funny how all the AP's mocked non passholders and sucked up virtual queue reservations several times over. Well, now is my turn to smile.

As for this "nightmare," I think it will depend on how things are post Christmas. Right now, everyone is wanting to do things and experience life again. Couple that with the already increased demand of Halloween/Christmas at the parks and of course the reservations are sold out.

Buying a Dream Key doesn't ensure you access to the park, it gets you a free reservation. If reservations are all sold out, that's on other dream key holders snatching them up before you did. Me? I'll keep getting my day ticket whenever I want to go. Beats having to worry about blackout dates and reservations. 3-4 visits per year without restrictions is much cheaper and easier than a $1500 dream key.


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Well said.

 

[milordsloth]

Looks like a bunch of availability for key holders opened up for October

 

[truecoat]

I suspect that in the end, nothing will come of this. Reservations will be available eventually. People will forget that they had this "nightmare". The parks will be packed. Status quo. It may affect which pass people choose to buy next year, but I don't see it really hurting Disney's bottom line.

Yeah, I agree. Everyone getting a pass are making all their reservations asap. It'll even out in a couple months after most get their Disney fix.

 

[mickEblu]

Yeah, I agree. Everyone getting a pass are making all their reservations asap. It'll even out in a couple months after most get their Disney fix.

Something already came of this last night. Disney released a bunch of reservations for those booked dates. Most likely due to the negative attention they were receiving on social and main stream media. Looks like it might be a fluid situation where they move reservations back and forth from the key holder and day ticket pools. Or they re just packing the parks to the max again.

 

[Rich T]

It's too bad people don't have some backbone to resist. So long as people continue to purchase the upper Keys, Disney has no reason to change a thing.

The fans, ironically, are causing the destruction of everything they loved about Disney in the first place. They’re addicted and in denial.

I’d love to see any form of annual pass or “key” eliminated completely. Simply offer Multi-day, non-transferable Flexpasses at a decent price.

But, no, the Bobs want to have their cake and eat it too. And eat it. And eat it. And eat it. And eat it...

 

[Californian Elitist]

The fans, ironically, are causing the destruction of everything they loved about Disney in the first place. They’re addicted and in denial.

I’d love to see any form of annual pass or “key” eliminated completely. Simply offer Multi-day, non-transferable Flexpasses at a decent price.

But, no, the Bobs want to have their cake and eat it too. And eat it. And eat it. And eat it. And eat it...

Yes. I wouldn’t say it’s a lack of backbone, just a genuine and honest addiction to the place and the high they get when they visit.

 

[shambolicdefending]

The first (and probably only) thing Disney will change is making it harder to cancel reservations at the last minute. They'll want to discourage people from hoarding.

Otherwise, this is probably working exactly as the suits intended. The fact that reservations are so hard to come by will just confirm to them that they've gotten it right. They finally have the level of control on the temperamental AP program that they've always wanted, and can subsequently shift resources and focus more on the higher-margin guests.

This is reality now. The old way is gone and it's never coming back.

 

[Newtwo]

Why can't you all just learn to code and write a lambda script to alert yourself when the date you want opens up like I did?

 

[Rich T]

Why can't you all just learn to code and write a lambda script to alert yourself when the date you want opens up like I did?

Ah, the wonderment of Bobs-era Disney. Such a magical enchanted dream wish. On a stick.