What's going to happen with Annual Passes?

[Tha Realest]

We know that Disneyland's AP has been phased out for a yet-to-be rolled out "Legacy" system, and now today it appears Disneyland Paris is halting new sales and renewals of their APs.

Anyone have any guesses as to what happens to WDW's Annual Passes as we presently know them?

 

[Disney Glimpses]

My uneducated useless take:

The WDW AP program consists of more vacationers than DLR does; so the program has much more stability in terms of distribution. Also, having 4 theme parks as opposed to 1.5 makes the situation very different from DLR.

My expectation is that AP sales resume soonish (without any drastic changes to the program). But major program changes should be expected in the nearish future.

 

[Mark48]

My uneducated useless take:

The WDW AP program consists of more vacationers than DLR does; so the program has much more stability in terms of distribution. Also, having 4 theme parks as opposed to 1.5 makes the situation very different from DLR.

My expectation is that AP sales resume soonish (without any drastic changes to the program). But major program changes should be expected in the nearish future.

I agree with all of this with the reservation requirements becoming the main control factor . In other words, length of stay reservations for pass holder resort guests .....Limited monthly reservations for all other passholders.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

But major program changes should be expected in the nearish future.

That's my worry. Even things that may not on the surface seem drastic could have great impact. Say, if they eliminated free parking from the AP. The locals that go 4x a month could end up paying more in parking than they do on tickets. Even for someone like me who walks into a park about 25x a year on average - that's an extra ~$600 a year on top of the AP price. And they ain't lowering the AP price to account for charging for parking.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

I agree with all of this with the reservation requirements becoming the main control factor . In other words, length of stay reservations for pass holder resort guests .....Limited monthly reservations for all other passholders.

Totally, which is already occurring. However, when operations are back to normal and there are no capacity limits, we'll see the true belly of the beast that is the Park Pass system.

It will be a very, very unfortunate scenario if come a Friday afternoon an AP decides they want to go to Magic Kingdom to watch fireworks but cannot because the Park Pass system is sending them to EPCOT or Animal Kingdom because their attendance is too low that day.

That's my worry. Even things that may not on the surface seem drastic could have great impact. Say, if they eliminated free parking from the AP. The locals that go 4x a month could end up paying more in parking than they do on tickets. Even for someone like me who walks into a park about 25x a year on average - that's an extra ~$600 a year on top of the AP price. And they ain't lowering the AP price to account for charging for parking.

I don't expect them to eliminate things like that, because it is against part of the point of being a local AP. But I do expect their use of the Park Pass system to be borderline evil towards APs.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

I can’t imagine they’d get away with charging AP’s for parking, but they will be able to closely monitor attendance with the reservation system and limit how many low-spending AP’s are in the park at any given time.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I can’t imagine they’d get away with charging AP’s for parking, but they will be able to closely monitor attendance with the reservation system and limit how many low-spending AP’s are in the park at any given time.

If Chapek could, he’d have people qualify for AP tiers by credit score.

 

[Mark48]

Totally, which is already occurring. However, when operations are back to normal and there are no capacity limits, we'll see the true belly of the beast that is the Park Pass system.

It will be a very, very unfortunate scenario if come a Friday afternoon an AP decides they want to go to Magic Kingdom to watch fireworks but cannot because the Park Pass system is sending them to EPCOT or Animal Kingdom because their attendance is too low that day.


I don't expect them to eliminate things like that, because it is against part of the point of being a local AP. But I do expect their use of the Park Pass system to be borderline evil towards APs.

Boderline evil is a good way to put it. Unfortunately the CEO ( me no likey da Chapek ) is already on record as not being a fan of AP holders spending patterns. Reservations will allow control of how many of us " Low spending " passholders get in .

 

[Tha Realest]

If Chapek could, he’d have people qualify for AP tiers by credit score.

Validation for free parking if you spend over $175 on merchandise in the park that day

 

[Zummi Gummi]

If Chapek could, he’d have people qualify for AP tiers by credit score.

This just made my night. Thank you.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

I would doubt they would have one system for Florida and a totally different system for California and Paris but of course there’s no way to know for sure without making an unfortunate deal with a sea witch.

Chapek doesn’t like AP’s... I wouldn’t be surprised to see the whole program go away to be replaced with a limited “yearly membership” that offers so many days per year.

 

[bcoachable]

(Now we’re talking!!)

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

Has anyone checked the Park Availability Calendar lately? If you are an AP you have the pick of the litter....most days available other than weekends. Wonder if they'll play with that and reduce the allocation a bit?

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

If Chapek could, he’d have people qualify for AP tiers by credit score.

And what would he do with the Florida Resident AP program?

 

[ToTBellHop]

And what would he do with the Florida Resident AP program?

No need. There is UNPRECEDENTED DEMAND from Floridians to stay at the Grand Floridian and learn, once and for all, what is so grand about Florida.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

And what would he do with the Florida Resident AP program?

Depends on your credit score. And how much available credit you have - that’d be my guess. Anybody with a high utilization and under 5k in available - “No Disney for you”

Unless of course you have some collateral- in which case there’d be some “special” Disney financing options - starting from a low 42% APR.

 

[Mark48]

Has anyone checked the Park Availability Calendar lately? If you are an AP you have the pick of the litter....most days available other than weekends. Wonder if they'll play with that and reduce the allocation a bit?

Mr. Chapek will see to it the" Litter " dwindles down after opening Port Orleans, All stars and Animal Kingdom lodge fully.

 

[TYOTimer]

Has anyone checked the Park Availability Calendar lately? If you are an AP you have the pick of the litter....most days available other than weekends. Wonder if they'll play with that and reduce the allocation a bit?

It was constantly full, until a certain coaster opened up at Universal, then the floodgates opened for AP availability

 

[TYOTimer]

I’d say passes won’t go back on sale until they figure out how to put paid FPs in with them, and wether it’s going to be like Universal’s Express Pass in that regard. I will say though, Disney will never get rid of them in Florida, even if it is only kept for locals.

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

Mr. Chapek will see to it the" Litter " dwindles down after opening Port Orleans, All stars and Animal Kingdom lodge fully.

Yes....especially the remaining two All-Stars and AKL Jambo.....those alone are close to 5,000 additional rooms....