I'd be interested to know the following data about annual passes:
% of annual passes held by those within easy driving distance for day trips - say 1 hr(?)
$ spent per park-visited day broken down by annual pass tier & and that divided by locals vs non-locals
$ spent per park-visited day by dated tix holders
% of hotel occupancy filled by AP vs non AP
% of park capacity (pre-pandemic and now) filled by AP vs non-AP holders
Not being an insider and simply wondering - is a typical AP holder (particularly w/o blackout dates) actually a drain on the system -- creating sold out days / longer lines? (Hear me out - not judging - if I lived within driving distance I'd be doing exactly what I'm describing) Many go to the parks, don't pay for parking (b/c of pass), ride a few rides, maybe each lunch, and then leave? Disney gets an extra $20 for the lunch, maybe. Sure, there are some that come and buy merch each time, do staycations, etc. That's why I'm curious about some of the stats above.
Meanwhile, a family is thinking about coming for 5 days and staying at a resort (maybe even a 500$/night+ deluxe). They see no park availability and don't bother booking. Disney loses $2500+tix*people+F&B+merch(?). How many of the FL annual passes does that offset? Also, if the parks are less crowded and the ~$5000(+) vacationer raves about it to friends vs. "we couldn't get into any parks we wanted and the lines were horrible don't bother" that's a potential issue?
Assuming Disney only cares about $$, I wonder what is in their best interest? I always thought of the APs as local good-will. (Perhaps not the one that costs 4 figures...) I could have it all wrong - I claim to know nothing. (Now there's a claim that no one should dispute.)
Obviously I would have a totally different perspective if I lived in the area and I personally feel that Disney should care about locals as much as the 1xyear or 1x every few year people, (not to mention 1 and dones!) but what does Disney accounting think?
Your questions don’t have simple answers. First, before Covid restrictions, WDW had tiers of closure, when parks are deemed full. And the full closure hasn’t happened in years. So except for the biggest holidays, there hasn’t been a concern for closed parks. And resort guests are allowed into the park at all but the final closure level. So if you are booked at an on-site hotel, you have been able to get in the parks in all but extreme circumstances.
WDW has several different AP options, which serve to limit the number of APs in the park. Those who live close & buy the restricted passes are blocked out of the most popular times. So they’re not the ones filling up the parks Christmas week or on the 4th of July.
The unrestricted pass costs $1167. We live in a western NY & have had these APs for years. Because we have them, we have been making 3 or more trips a year. We stay deluxe resorts & almost always club level (when it was open). We don’t spend all day filling up the parks. We go for a few hours, then return to our hotel to relax. We often do 2 table service meals a day & one of them is almost always a signature place. We don’t worry about doing every ride & staying at the park open til close because we know we’ll be back another day. We don’t hurry thru a quick service meal because we want to get all the rides in. We relax with appetizers, entrees & often desserts & spend a good bit on them. And the 20% gratuities that go along with them.
No, we don’t buy a lot of souvenirs anymore. We get occasional mugs or tshirts. And I have 12, count them 12, Dooney & Bourke purses & my DH has several the Tommy Bahama $150 shirts. These purchases are often made with AP discounts. But I’m pretty sure Disney is still making a good profit on what we buy.
Because we go so often, we have paid for multiple extras, like several behind the scenes tours or lunch with an imagineer. Heck, we even made a special trip down JUST for an after hours event. We wouldn’t have taken most of our trips or done the extras if we didn’t have APs. There are many people on these boards with APs who have the same kinds of stories. I don’t have numbers for what we have spent year over year. I am pretty sure we compare favorably to the “once in a lifetimers“ or guests who come every few years & spend all day on rides, eat breakfast in the room & get a quick service meal once a day, so they can have all the ride time they need.
It takes all kinds of guests to keep spending at WDW. APs aren’t the drag on the resort you seem to think they are.
