Annual Pass Sales

[sheilafri]

I don't think they'll ever get rid of APs in Florida at least. There is the capacity there and UO is clipping on their heels for their money. Bottom line when things are tough AP provide the baseline of income. No we don't buy a daily ticket but we buy the upsells, the expensive drinks, the expensive meals etc over and over. Our in park budgets are less constrained.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the limited Florida resident Pixie Dust pass remains the only option for awhile. When demand starts to fall, as evidenced by declining attendance, more options may come back. It seems like most corporations are incredibly focused on short term performance and management has no incentive to consider the long term health of a corporation. As for considering the user—forget about it, only a factor to keep enough dollars rolling in.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

That's like saying "You have an annual pass with no block out dates* *unless we decide to block out some dates"

Except as an annual pass holder from out of state, in other words, a holder of the top tier pass, I have not been blocked out from going on one single day that I’ve wanted to go since the reservation system was implemented.

And you know what, that’s fine print existed before park reservations did. They never utilized it but it was there

Didn’t see any one complain then

 

[Mrs.AMC]

They problem is that they are not charging enough for the passes. It makes sense for us to buy one even if we are only taking 2 trips a year to Disneyland. They should just get rid of the annual passes for good and move to a points based model with dynamic pricing based off of demand.

Is there a theme park of any level in the country that doesn’t offer an annual pass?

 

[Mrs.AMC]

On Sunday, July 10th the 60 day renewal window opens for the character passes that were first sold on September 8, 2021. If anybody renews please let us know if you see anything new or modified about the renewal process or the terms and conditions of the renewed pass. Thank you.

People actually read T&C? Lol. I could but I didn’t read the one before so I wouldn’t see any change in the new one. But really to tell the truth I would not read it. It’s not like I’m not going to renew.

 

[brightlined]

Except as an annual pass holder from out of state, in other words, a holder of the top tier pass, I have not been blocked out from going on one single day that I’ve wanted to go since the reservation system was implemented.

And you know what, that’s fine print existed before park reservations did. They never utilized it but it was there

Didn’t see any one complain then

DLR did have that problem, though - there were many days at the end of 2021 that Dream Keys could not get into the parks.

The crux of the matter, and how this whole thing differs from WDW: DLR did not have AP guests when the parks reopened. They'd entirely cancelled the program. When the Keys were first sold, there was no hint of how limited AP access would actually be, and the previous program was unrestricted at the top tier.

By comparison, APs were always part of the reservation system at WDW. Anyone buying an Incredi-pass would have had a really good idea of what they were getting themselves into. (And capacity wasn't as much of an issue at WDW - they were able to massage reservations to get APs through the door throughout the holiday season last year.)


People keep saying that the lawsuit will affect WDW's APs, but that's just not true. The lawsuit is specifically over Disneyland, specifically over the Dream Key, and specifically over the situation in October of 2021. If the liability issues were there, they would have paused all APs everywhere, including the Pixie Dust pass.

And, honestly, most of the issues being addressed in the lawsuit are no longer a factor now that capacity has eased (and now that DLR is doing a better job of managing the reservation pools - there's almost always AP availability the night before).

 

[brightlined]

Is there a theme park of any level in the country that doesn’t offer an annual pass?

Knoebels in Pennsylvania is one.

(Honestly, though, both WDW and DLR need APs. They can't get enough people through the gate without them.)

 

[Mrs.AMC]

DLR did have that problem, though - there were many days at the end of 2021 that Dream Keys could not get into the parks.

The crux of the matter, and how this whole thing differs from WDW: DLR did not have AP guests when the parks reopened. They'd entirely cancelled the program. When the Keys were first sold, there was no hint of how limited AP access would actually be, and the previous program was unrestricted at the top tier.

By comparison, APs were always part of the reservation system at WDW. Anyone buying an Incredi-pass would have had a really good idea of what they were getting themselves into. (And capacity wasn't as much of an issue at WDW - they were able to massage reservations to get APs through the door throughout the holiday season last year.)


People keep saying that the lawsuit will affect WDW's APs, but that's just not true. The lawsuit is specifically over Disneyland, specifically over the Dream Key, and specifically over the situation in October of 2021. If the liability issues were there, they would have paused all APs everywhere, including the Pixie Dust pass.

And, honestly, most of the issues being addressed in the lawsuit are no longer a factor now that capacity has eased (and now that DLR is doing a better job of managing the reservation pools - there's almost always AP availability the night before).

I’ve always stated that WDW AP holders were never impacted in the same way that DL were.
I don’t the lawsuit impacts WDW either, never have.
WDW and DL operate too differently with way too different demographics.
Others seem to connect them together.
I can’t explain the stop in AP sales any more than the next person can. All anyone here can do is speculate and one person’s guess is as good as another’s.
Do I think the lawsuit is related to DL? Yeah.
At WDW? No. I do think they are being narrow sighted in them. They aren’t thinking of those who buy them and don’t visit frequently, especially those from out of state who have to buy the high level AP. They may barely get 10 days in. They may go in to the AP expecting to visit more often but things come up and they don’t get to visit. Who knows what happens but there are quite a few high dollar AP sales where Disney makes money because that AP user don’t visit all that often. The local AP sure, those they do loose more money on. But that Incredipass, they are not seeing the big picture. Just my opinion.
I do think DL has had issues with AP access to parks before reservations though. So this is not an entirely new issue out there. It’s been quite some time ago but I’ve read about changing black out dates on some pass levels before during the middle of the year. WDW did not do this. At least there were not ever reports of it. DL may not have done it frequently but it was mentioned as happening.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

The connection between WDW and the DL lawsuit is very easy to see. It has nothing to do with operating differences or different demographics. It is not even the park reservation system so many people get hung up on. It has to do with the buckets.

Guess easy for you to see. Sure isn’t for me, and others. Clearly by comments

 

[mattpeto]

Based on some rumors, I think there could be be a park reservation system tweak that will be coming that will allow AP to pick different timeslots. Obviously once you are in the park, they won’t knock out for the day. But controlling different entrance windows would allow them to get more control of when guests are allowed to enter the park. It obviously won’t be a win for guests (just like the park pass reservation system), but the ripple effect could be good: it might open up AP sales again.

Really they just need a middle ground AP option, one that only works if you have a resort stay. It would benefit the people that want them the most.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

.