FYI Annual Pass Sales Halted

[Narcoossee11]

I think AP will be sold when the new price increase comes around. Maybe FEB , that has been the month jn the past.

I predict a HUGE price increase. It really is the only way the crowds can get back in line.

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[New Mouse]

I think AP will be sold when the new price increase comes around. Maybe FEB , that has been the month jn the past.

I predict a HUGE price increase. It really is the only way the crowds can get back in line.

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Annual pass holders are not the reason for large crowds. They still choose to not have things running at full capacity.

Disney does a good job at creating the perception that too many people are buying tickets though!

 

[Ismo]

It’s more than just buying dvc it comes down to how many days I go to Disney. If Disney does not bring back annual passes it will simply mean I stop going more than 1 week a year. Not only will I not buy more dvc points, I’ll stop going to disney. The cost of tickets is Cost prohibitive and roi on my money decreases exponentially

i doubt I’m alone on this.

I don't have DVC points anymore (hoping to buy some again someday). But, we always stay onsite. If we get APs, we will be back this year and will keep renewing our AP and coming back more. Without APs, we won't come back for another year or two. So, we would be spending significantly less money at the parks. I'm sure others can relate to that too. Either way it equates to less money in the park.

But, I read somewhere that Chapek is the one (or on the team) who came up with the Disney Vault. Put movies in the vault to create demand when they release LE copies of movies. I can't help but feel that's what he's doing with APs. He's creating a huge demand for them and he can absolutely charge more because he's created the illusion that they are a very limited commodity that can be taken away at any time.

But I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that we will be able to upgrade while we're there over the next 3 weeks.

 

[shafke]

I don't have DVC points anymore (hoping to buy some again someday). But, we always stay onsite. If we get APs, we will be back this year and will keep renewing our AP and coming back more. Without APs, we won't come back for another year or two. So, we would be spending significantly less money at the parks. I'm sure others can relate to that too. Either way it equates to less money in the park.

But, I read somewhere that Chapek is the one (or on the team) who came up with the Disney Vault. Put movies in the vault to create demand when they release LE copies of movies. I can't help but feel that's what he's doing with APs. He's creating a huge demand for them and he can absolutely charge more because he's created the illusion that they are a very limited commodity that can be taken away at any time.

But I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that we will be able to upgrade while we're there over the next 3 weeks.

The Disney Vault has been around for close to or more than 50 years. The vault has been around since before home releases.
They would release one their older movies to theaters for a limited run and then put them back in the vault for about 7 years or so.
This carried over into home release once VCR became popular.

 

[NCDisNut]

I am not a local AP holder. I am from North Carolina, but I travel to Florida often and I've had an annual pass for over 10 years. I let it lapse during this covid period but my travel is getting ready to restart. Are there any option for people who were passholders "pre-covid"? If not, I guess we just wait and see where things go.

 

[soniam]

I am not a local AP holder. I am from North Carolina, but I travel to Florida often and I've had an annual pass for over 10 years. I let it lapse during this covid period but my travel is getting ready to restart. Are there any option for people who were passholders "pre-covid"? If not, I guess we just wait and see where things go.

Nope. Not now. Good luck.

 

[Tar_Heels_Love_WDW]

I am not a local AP holder. I am from North Carolina, but I travel to Florida often and I've had an annual pass for over 10 years. I let it lapse during this covid period but my travel is getting ready to restart. Are there any option for people who were passholders "pre-covid"? If not, I guess we just wait and see where things go.

I am in the exact same boat (even living in NC). At this point, I just purchased day park passes to make park reservations and hope to upgrade before/during our actual trip.

 

[Don137]

With parks at big crowd levels Disney can make a lot more money filling parks with tourists that come once or twice a year and pay the going rate than have thousands of annual pass holders fill the parks. The cost the tourist pays to enter the park is much higher than the annual pass holder factoring how many times an annual pass holder goes annually.

 

[Leight19]

With parks at big crowd levels Disney can make a lot more money filling parks with tourists that come once or twice a year and pay the going rate than have thousands of annual pass holders fill the parks. The cost the tourist pays to enter the park is much higher than the annual pass holder factoring how many times an annual pass holder goes annually.

I understand this concept but don’t feel this is the case now. For the most part Disney isn’t hitting capacity limits going forward and they still are selling the cheapest annual pass to Florida residents. There is no evidence selling AP would push out day ticket guests in near future for capacity constraints and Disney seems to support this claim as they are allowing the lowest spend per day guests to continue filing the parks. This shows it’s not about getting higher spend guests in parks but miking more money from guests who are committed to going.

To me the reason has to be more they feel many guests that would have bought annuals passes will buy multiple sets of tickets since they already have commitments for multiple trips. This is why stopping the sale of annual passes to non Florida residents is particularly egregious. This was even worse to December guests as it was essentially bait and switch when guests were advised to wait to upgrade to AP until at parks and option was taken away before they arrived forcing guests with multiple trips planned to move forward as day tickets.

 

[peabody58]

We thought we needed an AP starting in May 22. Now we can wait till Sept 22 (surely they will be back by then) as we have creatively planned out our May trip using our NE+ tics for 1 park hopper day, 1 WP and 1 MG. We'll also drive down to Punta Gordo and visit a relative. Should be a more relaxing trip. There's always a way to make things work, often to your advantage.

 

[TisBit]

My theory on this is the new annual passes did not black out Easter/Spring Break and instead blacked out Thanksgiving. I think Disney realized this was a huge mistake and paused AP's until after Easter. This way people who bought their annual passes based on blackout dates can't complain if Disney changes them. If they wait until after Easter and resume with Thanksgiving/Christmas/Easter all blacked out no one can buy the pass and complain if in 2023 they blacked out Easter again. It doesn't quite explain why the pass with no black out dates isn't being sold, so I am sure there might be a combination of things. Even adjusting the prices accordingly or if they are going to make Thanksgiving not blacked out again and people who bought the more expensive pass complains. Just my thoughts.....

 

[Ismo]

My theory on this is the new annual passes did not black out Easter/Spring Break and instead blacked out Thanksgiving. I think Disney realized this was a huge mistake and paused AP's until after Easter. This way people who bought their annual passes based on blackout dates can't complain if Disney changes them. If they wait until after Easter and resume with Thanksgiving/Christmas/Easter all blacked out no one can buy the pass and complain if in 2023 they blacked out Easter again. It doesn't quite explain why the pass with no black out dates isn't being sold, so I am sure there might be a combination of things. Even adjusting the prices accordingly or if they are going to make Thanksgiving not blacked out again and people who bought the more expensive pass complains. Just my thoughts.....

I’m still hoping the unpause them between now and the 9th so I can upgrade us and convince my husband to come back next year.

 

[ScottOKW2K]

My theory on this is the new annual passes did not black out Easter/Spring Break and instead blacked out Thanksgiving. I think Disney realized this was a huge mistake and paused AP's until after Easter. This way people who bought their annual passes based on blackout dates can't complain if Disney changes them. If they wait until after Easter and resume with Thanksgiving/Christmas/Easter all blacked out no one can buy the pass and complain if in 2023 they blacked out Easter again. It doesn't quite explain why the pass with no black out dates isn't being sold, so I am sure there might be a combination of things. Even adjusting the prices accordingly or if they are going to make Thanksgiving not blacked out again and people who bought the more expensive pass complains. Just my thoughts.....

We'll see. I'm DVC and have three possible trips planned for this year - 4th of July, Food & Wine and mid-December. I do not plan on purchasing separate tickets for each trip so if AP sales have not resumed by early June then at least one trip gets cancelled. These dates fall within the ones that were listed for the Sorcerer Pass, but if I purchased regular multi-day admission with no park hopping the total would be more than the Incredipass. Disney - I like you but just not that much.

 

[TisBit]

We'll see. I'm DVC and have three possible trips planned for this year - 4th of July, Food & Wine and mid-December. I do not plan on purchasing separate tickets for each trip so if AP sales have not resumed by early June then at least one trip gets cancelled. These dates fall within the ones that were listed for the Sorcerer Pass, but if I purchased regular multi-day admission with no park hopping the total would be more than the Incredipass. Disney - I like you but just not that much.

Yeah, we have DVC as well and were planning to do the spring breaks this year and next. Our kids are now Juniors in high school, so it just kind of worked out based on their schedules and pre college activities, but with the annual pass pause (and my theory on black out dates) we have decided to go ahead and cancel this year and find a different time.

 

[cccory]

Waiting for AP passes too. Hoping they come out soon.

 

[slduck]

I was waiting to buy an AP until my daughter started her CP so that we could have some flexibility when we visit. I hate that I waited and now the passes aren’t open yet.

 

[seeyarealsoon71]

This is insane. I cannot believe they still haven't brought them back yet.

 

[ajsamett]

I'm guessing it at this point has something to do with this

https://wdwnt.com/2022/02/per-capit...s-disney-attributes-to-more-favorable-guests/

 

[DannysMom]

This is insane. I cannot believe they still haven't brought them back yet.

I’m guessing after spring break.

 

[NCDisNut]

I'm pushing to go in 5 or 6 weeks and my wife is saying they're not ready for us yet. There is so much demand built up that there may not be a business case for Disney to offer us passes yet. I had one that expired during covid and I did not renew, waiting to see how the whole pandemic would play out. I never considered they would get rid of them and that would no longer be an option.

I know people will say that they make more money off of the people who buy day or multi-day tickets. Has anyone seen data on Florida versus outside of Florida passholders? It seems short-sighted to me. We are out of state but with a pass we'd take 4 trips per year. Without a pass we'd take 1. It's hard to imagine that they'd make more money off of me by not offering me the pass. I stay onsite and I eat onsite.