As an international solo visitor to
Disneyland California I am actually excited and loving this.
I never used Maxpass as there was a free alternative which worked just as well. But now that its all paid, I am fine paying the extra $20 per day.
I am banned by a Presidential Executive Order from entering USA and my last visit was June 2019. I already have park tickets from my cancelled June 2020 trip, so basically on my next visit I will only have to pay an extra $20 per day.
Due to travel and other Covid restrictions in my country, I still have the money I had saved for my cancelled June 2020 visit. My financial situation has actually benefited from Covid, as I have worked all the way through but have had to cancel all travel and my day to day spending has been reduced. Therefore for my next Disneyland trip I am in a far better financial position than on any of my previous trips.
I know that I am a very different type of park visitor than most here on Diss, but I'm sure there are a lot like me, people who due to Covid have huge pent up demand AND are in a better financial position.
I know I am in a very lucky position to be part of the upper section of the "K-shaped economic recovery" I also work in the tech and internet industry where during Covid my job has been to help my clients pivot their business to eCommerce and mobile first, so I am excited to experience all the new tech experiences at Disneyland.
I guess maybe I have a different outlook as being able to keep up with and adapt to the rapidly changing tech and internet industry is part of my job The changes that Disney is making excite me, as I get to experience what a high end company can do when they have the huge resources that Disney have.
I am not resistant to change, I embrace it. To just get to Disneyland cost me over $2000, thats just flights and hotel, so the pay per ride system is not really a big expense to me.
This new change is the natural ebb and flow of the customer lifecycle.
For every family that has been going to Disneyland for the last 20 to 30 years that is priced out, there will be the new family that starts going to Disneyland.
Having been at the front of helping business survive Covid over the last 18 months, the way to survive is get rid of the fuzzy feel good and just concentrate on making money any way how. Yes I know this will anger many here on the Dis but thats the way it is now.
Disney don't care WHO is in the parks as long as people ARE in the parks.
Disney don't care that your family has been going to the parks for the last 20 to 30 years and now feel slighted that things have changed and its not YOUR Disney parks experience any more.
They will move forward and change things and its up to you whether you stay stuck in the past and resist the change and not go to the parks or whether you embrace the change, and enjoy the new Disney Parks experience.
I'm sure if you go back through the years on Dis, you will find the same types of discussions when Maxpass started, when Galaxys Edge was announced, when Carsland was announced, when Disney changed to making restaurant reservations through the website and App, when the dining packages with the exclusive viewing areas for Fantasmic and World of Colour were first announced.
Its all a cycle. People get used to THEIR way of experiencing Disney Parks, Disney as a company move forward with technology and new ideas, people complain and say they are done with Disney, the new changes become normal and accepted, and the cycle starts again, >>>>People get used to THEIR way of experiencing Disney Parks........