Disneyland Halts All New Magic Key Sales w/ Renewal Info to Come; Plus New CA Resident Ticket Offer

[James33]

I mean, Disneyland operated without reservations for more than 60 years and outside of capacity closures a few times a year (like between Christmas and New Year’s for example) things were mostly fine.

Allowing free park hopping (as opposed to restricting it to 1pm) allowed crowds to naturally self correct and spread out better between the two parks.

Right now, a “sold out” day can be crowded or CRAZY CROWDED… the numbers obviously fluctuate.

Summer of 2019 was incredible for the consistently low crowds throughout the summer. Also, when I started going regularly in 2017 mid-week during the school year was almost always slow. Not now.

I remember even 30-40 years ago doing a lot of waiting for rides, even over an hour for some rides and no fast pass on a crowded day. I remember going in the summer and been extremely crowded, and we were in line most of the time. I much prefer even today to then. If you think it’s fine then, it’s fine now as well. If it’s crazy crowded today, it’s crazy crowded back then as well.

What is missing now is the low crowd days, yes. But it could just be the increased demand. If more people are coming during weekdays, is that really because of reservations or because people are making up for what they missed during pandemic? If they have gone on weekends instead, what crowds would that make on the weekends? Or will they just all be turned away at the gate?

There may have been periods when crowds were low for various reasons, such as when Galaxys Edge opening that scared many away from the crowds. Yes I loved that summer. I think I would get the same great experience today if the demand was the same now as then, even with reservations.

Though one negative part of reservations I didn‘t think about until now is that it now provides the general public a signal of whether the park is crowded by whether reservations are available. If reservations were readily available summer of 2019, that might actually cause some to decide to attend instead of staying away. The other is that by making annual pass holders make reservations, it might increase demand as well just by making them schedule trips that otherwise wouldn’t have happened. I mentioned that in my other post.

Parking hopping at 1pm is unfortunate, but does it really help spread out the crowd If it is removed? Maybe on days where one park is full and the other isn’t, I suppose, but on days where they‘re both full, it can cause a surge in one of the parks in the morning instead of balancing them, or people being turned away at the gate. That said, I do think they can make the time 10am and achieve similar results, as usually lines are up by then so the self-balancing from park hopping may actually happen.

 

[starlite_]

I mean, Disneyland operated without reservations for more than 60 years and outside of capacity closures a few times a year (like between Christmas and New Year’s for example) things were mostly fine.

Allowing free park hopping (as opposed to restricting it to 1pm) allowed crowds to naturally self correct and spread out better between the two parks.

Right now, a “sold out” day can be crowded or CRAZY CROWDED… the numbers obviously fluctuate.

Summer of 2019 was incredible for the consistently low crowds throughout the summer. Also, when I started going regularly in 2017 mid-week during the school year was almost always slow. Not now.

My best friend was turned away at the gates after driving more than 3 hrs because of capacity. I much prefer having guaranteed entrance thanks to reservations than wasting a day like that.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

My best friend was turned away at the gates after driving more than 3 hrs because of capacity. I much prefer having guaranteed entrance thanks to reservations than wasting a day like that.

Curious what day that was if you remember. It’s very uncommon, like maybe one or two days out of 365.

 

[starlite_]

Curious what day that was if you remember. It’s very uncommon, like maybe one or two days out of 365.

I can't remember the specific date, it was quite a few years ago but it was probably in December (not during the actual holiday dates) And I've driven by the parks quite a few times when they had the at capacity sign so it was definitely not a one-of-a-kind incident.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I can't remember the specific date, it was quite a few years ago but it was probably in December (not during the actual holiday dates) And I've driven by the parks quite a few times when they had the at capacity sign so it was definitely not a one-of-a-kind incident.

Yeah Christmas time has always been nuts. It really is rare though in the big picture.

For the record I don’t have a big beef with reservations in general but I don’t like all the different “buckets” (different availability for all the different Magic Keys, different for park hoppers or single day tickets, etc). It makes it extremely hard to plan visits with friends and family.

 

[DLgal]

I’m surprised they don’t just unify the buckets a week or a few days before the date so that all remaining reservations get the maximum audience.

I am too. It doesn't make sense. We literally made our reservation last Sunday about 30 minutes before we left the house. Rolled right into the parking structure around 11:30 and were confronted with sandwich boards at the security checkpoint that said "no reservations available."

And then the parks were just low average in terms of crowds.

 

[gelatoni fan]

Though one negative part of reservations I didn‘t think about until now is that it now provides the general public a signal of whether the park is crowded by whether reservations are available. If reservations were readily available summer of 2019, that might actually cause some to decide to attend instead of staying away. The other is that by making annual pass holders make reservations, it might increase demand as well just by making them schedule trips that otherwise wouldn’t have happened. I mentioned that in my other post.

Parking hopping at 1pm is unfortunate, but does it really help spread out the crowd If it is removed? Maybe on days where one park is full and the other isn’t, I suppose, but on days where they‘re both full, it can cause a surge in one of the parks in the morning instead of balancing them, or people being turned away at the gate. That said, I do think they can make the time 10am and achieve similar results, as usually lines are up by then so the self-balancing from park hopping may actually happen.

The reservation system is completely broken. There was a day I was with some friends hanging out in the Grand Californian and we ended up not wanting to go into the parks. I had to rush to California Adventure just before and walk right back out to not get the "no show". I've also been wasting a lot of time trying to get reservations for next week and still don't have Monday or Tuesday reservations despite flying down on Sunday. I don't know how many times I could have gone with friends who likely would have bought food in the parks but I ended up leaving the parks to eat with them. It was actually quite frustrating a couple weeks ago that my friend had to wait till I was done with World of Color so we could go out to eat rather than her coming in to watch with me.

Crowds weren't really crazy in the morning in the before times. Now, it creates long lines at 1PM and then a sudden spike which is really obvious with the food booths at California Adventure during special events. It also can take a lot of enjoyment out of a day. I've been at rope drop when 1/2 the rides I'd want to do in that park were down and I was stuck. Or I'd have to pick between activities like rope dropping Web Slingers and seeing the Mickey & Friends cavalcade whereas without that 1PM rule, it'd be possible to do both.

 

[CoachBeard]

Having a magic key has made it impossible to coordinate a day with a friend of mine who is going to purchase a single day ticket. It seems like the reservation calendars are different for magic key vs single day and we’ve yet to be able to find a day we’re both available AND has open reservations for both ticket types. so frustrating.

 

[Vala]

Or I'd have to pick between activities like rope dropping Web Slingers and seeing the Mickey & Friends cavalcade whereas without that 1PM rule, it'd be possible to do both.

When Scarlet Witch started appearing she was doing one set after park hopping time, and the line for that was often enough cut off before people came in even.

I heard tons of people complain, and most were told "she may or may not come out again", but they were refused any idea of location and time - for the record she did a couple of times, mostly in a completely different area though which we only figured out because we saw a couple of fans in costume go running.

I ended up in line at that "official" last set for friends who had booked the mornings in Disneyland for 2 days so they could actually meet Scarlet Witch.

 

[James33]

Yeah Christmas time has always been nuts. It really is rare though in the big picture.

For the record I don’t have a big beef with reservations in general but I don’t like all the different “buckets” (different availability for all the different Magic Keys, different for park hoppers or single day tickets, etc). It makes it extremely hard to plan visits with friends and family.

All the Magic Keys share the same bucket, I believe. The different calendars just show different blockout days. But yeah I don’t understand why they need to have different buckets for Single Day and Park Hoppers. And doesn’t hotel get their own bucket? Your point stands. I would rather they remove buckets, but I know they don’t want Key Holders to crowd out the others. If they can rebalance the reservations more often as the day approaches, that might help.

I would like to see a feature where you can waitlist for a date and park, and the system will automatically switch your reservation when it becomes available. This will save a lot of effort in trying to fish for reservations and avoid the whole cancelling first only to see it become unavailable when you try to reserve. It will also help coordinate with friends and family.

Then to build on that, allow for a list of dates where if any becomes available, switch to that available date. I might want to go during any spring break day and don’t care which one.

 

[DodgerGirl]

I think the Magic Keys were simply a failure which is why Disneyland decided to do away with them but what I think Disneyland will do in the future is invent a new system that will save people time and money when they go to Disneyland in the future and when this new system debuts Disneyland will have deals for all California residents and how this new system would work is people who have reservations will go into the park and there will be a board like what Family Feud has during the Fast Money round and people will show their ticket by putting it in a slot and if a family can get in a chime will sound but if the family fails to get in after they put their ticket in late a loud buzzer will sound along with the words "ACCESS DENIED TRY AGAIN LATER NEXT WEEK" and this new system would work miracles for Disneyland if it actually were made. I also think now that summer is around the corner and with 4th Of July next month Disneyland will lower the prices of tickets but once Labor Day comes in September the prices of Disneyland tickets will be raised again and will continue through Halloween and Christmas and once New Year's Eve comes Disneyland will lower it's ticket prices for 2023. My dad heard about this on the radio and he agrees with me that there are other places that cost much lower for families than Disneyland. But I think Disneyland will get low attendance due to these shocking surprises

 

[gelatoni fan]

All the Magic Keys share the same bucket, I believe. The different calendars just show different blockout days. But yeah I don’t understand why they need to have different buckets for Single Day and Park Hoppers. And doesn’t hotel get their own bucket? Your point stands. I would rather they remove buckets, but I know they don’t want Key Holders to crowd out the others. If they can rebalance the reservations more often as the day approaches, that might help.

I would like to see a feature where you can waitlist for a date and park, and the system will automatically switch your reservation when it becomes available. This will save a lot of effort in trying to fish for reservations and avoid the whole cancelling first only to see it become unavailable when you try to reserve. It will also help coordinate with friends and family.

Then to build on that, allow for a list of dates where if any becomes available, switch to that available date. I might want to go during any spring break day and don’t care which one.

Keys don't share the same bucket. I have an Enchant Key but people I go with have Believe Keys and it's possible for one person to be able to book a day and another not be able to book the same day.

Hong Kong has very successfully balanced capacity and satisfaction by constantly tweaking the number of reservations and reservation window. The most painful was right after the first reopening when passes had 1 reservation and the window was 7 days. As soon as the initial reopening demand burned out, the window was increased to 14 days and passes had unlimited reservations. As the window increased more, an 8 or 9 reservation limit was put in depending on pass type. But practically, if you made sure to check for reservations right when they dropped for the very few extremely special days (castle grand opening, special orchestra show, etc), you'd never not be able to go. The limits were more of a minor chore of logging in every couple of weeks to grab all your dates. The reservation window is now till September and no days are blocked out for any pass type.

On the topic of when Disneyland may bring back Magic Keys, Disneyland had some summer discount tickets last year and then in August when Magic Keys were announced, people got burned by not being able to upgrade those tickets. I would not be surprised if Disney is trying to pull the same stunt here. They may also be waiting till after the Christmas season. That way, they won't have that crazy situation during Halloween and Christmas last year and also have sufficient data on how many people chose to not renew Magic Keys so they can tweak pricing/benefits.

 

[bambialways4ever]

I mean, Disneyland operated without reservations for more than 60 years and outside of capacity closures a few times a year (like between Christmas and New Year’s for example) things were mostly fine.

Allowing free park hopping (as opposed to restricting it to 1pm) allowed crowds to naturally self correct and spread out better between the two parks.

Right now, a “sold out” day can be crowded or CRAZY CROWDED… the numbers obviously fluctuate.

Summer of 2019 was incredible for the consistently low crowds throughout the summer. Also, when I started going regularly in 2017 mid-week during the school year was almost always slow. Not now.

Comparing anything to right now is silly.

Revenge travel is still in full swing, this past 12 months has been anything but normal. This line of thought is irrelevant because it's not the reservation system creating this change, it's the post pandemic uptick in travel.

 

[James33]

Keys don't share the same bucket. I have an Enchant Key but people I go with have Believe Keys and it's possible for one person to be able to book a day and another not be able to book the same day.

Maybe at one time they were different buckets, but if you look at the availability calendar now, the Enchant Key non-blockout days have the exact availability, both dates and parks, as Imagine and Dream Keys. Even if there are slight differences, they seem to be due to the slight delay in one calendar being updated versus another. If you refresh a few times they become the same within a minute. One person being able to get a reservation while another cannot could just be due to the only reservation being snatched up, and the calendar not refreshing for the other key right away.

Hong Kong has very successfully balanced capacity and satisfaction by constantly tweaking the number of reservations and reservation window. The most painful was right after the first reopening when passes had 1 reservation and the window was 7 days. As soon as the initial reopening demand burned out, the window was increased to 14 days and passes had unlimited reservations. As the window increased more, an 8 or 9 reservation limit was put in depending on pass type. But practically, if you made sure to check for reservations right when they dropped for the very few extremely special days (castle grand opening, special orchestra show, etc), you'd never not be able to go. The limits were more of a minor chore of logging in every couple of weeks to grab all your dates. The reservation window is now till September and no days are blocked out for any pass type.

I do agree Disneyland can do a better job balancing capacity and tweaking the numbers. However, Hong Kong may just have a different demand as Anaheim. If we had half the demand and there are few unavailable days, people may also think this current reservation system is great. Take next week, for example. All buckets have no availability, and no balancing can address that. As of now I’ve been able to get all the days I want with some commitment and persistence, but if that changes I will start grumbling as well.

On the topic of when Disneyland may bring back Magic Keys, Disneyland had some summer discount tickets last year and then in August when Magic Keys were announced, people got burned by not being able to upgrade those tickets. I would not be surprised if Disney is trying to pull the same stunt here. They may also be waiting till after the Christmas season. That way, they won't have that crazy situation during Halloween and Christmas last year and also have sufficient data on how many people chose to not renew Magic Keys so they can tweak pricing/benefits.

That’s one reason I didn’t go for it last year. If they’re pulling the same stunt, bough, there’s no reason to discontinue the Magic Keys as they can just add that condition like last year. What I’m more afraid of is that they’re planning to up the price and reduce benefits further. This is what they say:

“This summer, we will offer current Magic Key holders – who are in the renewal window – an opportunity to renew into one of several passes available in the program. We will share details about renewals at a later date.”

The “share details about renewals at a later date” is particularly concerning, because if they are only upping the price but leaving everything else the same, there’s really no reason for details at a later date. It would just be “opportunity to renew their Magic Key starting this summer”. It not like passholders have never renewed passes before, so sounds like they’re about to introduce yet another set of products.

 

[gelatoni fan]

I do agree Disneyland can do a better job balancing capacity and tweaking the numbers. However, Hong Kong may just have a different demand as Anaheim. If we had half the demand and there are few unavailable days, people may also think this current reservation system is great. Take next week, for example. All buckets have no availability, and no balancing can address that. As of now I’ve been able to get all the days I want with some commitment and persistence, but if that changes I will start grumbling as well.

Right now, Magic Key reservations are gone for some days in August but there may be many Enchant Key holders who are currently holding reservations for next week so they couldn't book the August dates when they went live. If those days weren't available to book yet, such Keyholders would not have to mass refresh the page all summer because they could just get a reservation when it goes live. A shorter reservation window also leads to fewer speculative bookings because people are more confident in their plans closer to the date. This opens up reservation availability and prevents the current "run on the bank" scenario with reservations.

A related issue to the reservation window is that Disney doesn't have the full entertainment schedule out when the reservation windows start. People make reservations only to find out later that Disney cut park hours short on days they booked due to hard ticket events. This leads to a bad customer experience and if you wanted to change your date to avoid these events, the date you'd want to change to may already be fully booked.

In terms of addressing situations like next week, the biggest problem is that Disney is artificially limiting Keyholder access. You have to remember that when Disney says there's no reservations available, it's just because they don't want to make them available, not because they can't.

 

[James33]

Right now, Magic Key reservations are gone for some days in August but there may be many Enchant Key holders who are currently holding reservations for next week so they couldn't book the August dates when they went live. If those days weren't available to book yet, such Keyholders would not have to mass refresh the page all summer because they could just get a reservation when it goes live. A shorter reservation window also leads to fewer speculative bookings because people are more confident in their plans closer to the date. This opens up reservation availability and prevents the current "run on the bank" scenario with reservations.

I see. I think what you’re pointing out is that there are more restrictions in Enchant Key, which is true. There are further restrictions on the same bucket for lesser passes as expected, which is extra blockout dates, and fewer reservations. I don’t think there’s a difference in reservation window, as I see that on both Dream Key and Enchant Key reservation calendar, the current last available is 9/2. On days where none of the passes are blocked out, we find the same availability for which parks are available, which means they’re drawing from the same bucket. Someone taking the reservation from Enchant Key will also remove the reservation from Dream Key, and when a reservation becomes available, it becomes available to all higher Keys as well.

A related issue to the reservation window is that Disney doesn't have the full entertainment schedule out when the reservation windows start. People make reservations only to find out later that Disney cut park hours short on days they booked due to hard ticket events. This leads to a bad customer experience and if you wanted to change your date to avoid these events, the date you'd want to change to may already be fully booked.

Yeah, it’s one of the downsides of having high demand. It wouldn’t be a problem if reservations are available for most days and there are days to switch to or away from, but Disneyland just has so much demand right now with families looking for fun things to do again, making it hard to switch dates.

In terms of addressing situations like next week, the biggest problem is that Disney is artificially limiting Keyholder access. You have to remember that when Disney says there's no reservations available, it's just because they don't want to make them available, not because they can't.

I don’t think this is targeting Keyholders. I think it’s an attempt to balance different types of guests, and admittedly it has lots of room for improvement. From my personal experience, I started with the SoCal 3 day pass in April to go when my kids were on spring break, and I had to reserve from the Park Hopper bucket. It was frustrating because all Keyholder calendars were wide open for all days I wanted, single park was more limited, but there were no park hopper reservations for those days. If they were trying to limit Keyholders only, I wouldn’t expect that to have happened.

And looking at the rest of June, the availability for Dream Key looks as good, if not better, than regular tickets for the next month or two. Single park reservations look the worst. In July, the Dream Key is worse, but that’s probably from Dream Key holders using up their 6 reservations on weekends just to use them. I expect the just released CA 3-day pass to start filling that soon for the other calendars. If Disney just had a single bucket, all these ticket holders parking their reservations on weekends would prevent out of town guests from reserving and planning their trip, and when many of the Dream Key holders cancel the ”just in case” reservations the week or day before, it’s too late for those out of town guests to come. So I can definitely see the reason for Disney wanting to do bucketing. I do think they can do a better job rebalancing, but as frustrating as it is for Keyholders sometimes, it can be even more frustrating for single park or park hopper guests. When there’s no availability, it’s actually worse for non-Keyholders because Keyholders tend to move their reservations around more often as they usually don’t *have* to go on any particular day, so chances of catching a cancellation are higher on those calendars, especially as the date approaches.

 

[gelatoni fan]

I see. I think what you’re pointing out is that there are more restrictions in Enchant Key, which is true. There are further restrictions on the same bucket for lesser passes as expected, which is extra blockout dates, and fewer reservations. I don’t think there’s a difference in reservation window, as I see that on both Dream Key and Enchant Key reservation calendar, the current last available is 9/2. On days where none of the passes are blocked out, we find the same availability for which parks are available, which means they’re drawing from the same bucket. Someone taking the reservation from Enchant Key will also remove the reservation from Dream Key, and when a reservation becomes available, it becomes available to all higher Keys as well.

The main point isn't so much that Enchant Keys have more restrictions. The problem is that with a reservation window so long, you're going to encounter a lot of situations where after you free up your reservation by going into the park, the next date you want to book is already gone. A shorter reservation window would mean those dates aren't even open for reservations yet so you have a fair chance of getting them without constantly stalking the calendar. I was last in the parks in April and have checked the calendar multiple times a day for the past few weeks to try to get reservations for next week and still don't have reservations for tomorrow. A 30 day reservation window would have meant I could have just logged in once each day to secure my reservations for next week and I would actually be starting in my preferred park. After next week, I'll have to stalk the calendar again to get August dates because the reservation window is simply too long. It's not an issue that can be solved by me having a higher level of pass because I still can't secure 4 days in August if I have 4 reservations tied up for this upcoming week.

Yeah, it’s one of the downsides of having high demand. It wouldn’t be a problem if reservations are available for most days and there are days to switch to or away from, but Disneyland just has so much demand right now with families looking for fun things to do again, making it hard to switch dates.

A shorter reservation window aligned with the entertainment schedule also solves this issue irrespective of demand. Up until mid May, I wanted to start in Disneyland for most dates next week due to the timing of Mickey's Cavalcade which as of April was at noon. Then, they changed the time so that the first cavalcade is at 1:15 and then on May 22 put Rescue Rangers Chip & Dale in DCA so now I'd want to start at DCA instead. If I had all the information at the time of booking, I wouldn't have to change my dates because I'd make the correct selection at the beginning. Disney chose to create a system where guests are forced to make reservations before they have all the necessary information. Lower demand could help the situation but Disney can completely address this situation just by putting entertainment schedules up before reservations are booked.

I don’t think this is targeting Keyholders. I think it’s an attempt to balance different types of guests, and admittedly it has lots of room for improvement. From my personal experience, I started with the SoCal 3 day pass in April to go when my kids were on spring break, and I had to reserve from the Park Hopper bucket. It was frustrating because all Keyholder calendars were wide open for all days I wanted, single park was more limited, but there were no park hopper reservations for those days. If they were trying to limit Keyholders only, I wouldn’t expect that to have happened.

And looking at the rest of June, the availability for Dream Key looks as good, if not better, than regular tickets for the next month or two. Single park reservations look the worst. In July, the Dream Key is worse, but that’s probably from Dream Key holders using up their 6 reservations on weekends just to use them. I expect the just released CA 3-day pass to start filling that soon for the other calendars. If Disney just had a single bucket, all these ticket holders parking their reservations on weekends would prevent out of town guests from reserving and planning their trip, and when many of the Dream Key holders cancel the ”just in case” reservations the week or day before, it’s too late for those out of town guests to come. So I can definitely see the reason for Disney wanting to do bucketing. I do think they can do a better job rebalancing, but as frustrating as it is for Keyholders sometimes, it can be even more frustrating for single park or park hopper guests. When there’s no availability, it’s actually worse for non-Keyholders because Keyholders tend to move their reservations around more often as they usually don’t *have* to go on any particular day, so chances of catching a cancellation are higher on those calendars, especially as the date approaches.

You've also brought up a situation that Hong Kong Disneyland does a lot better. A passholder can make a reservation for a certain number of people depending on the government restrictions at the time. So when government said groups can be a maximum of 4 people, a Platinum passholder could bring 3 guests as soon as the Platinum reservation window opened up and those guests didn't have to worry about the reservation window or availability of their ticket or pass type. Either Disney is incapable of doing something in California that they can do in Hong Kong or they intentionally designed a less consumer friendly system in California.

I agree that at some point earlier this year, Disneyland shifted the balance more towards Keyholders whereas the most anti-Keyholder times were Halloween and Christmas last year. I was mostly trying to highlight that the amount of reservations available to any entry media type is artificially suppressed in an opaque way so certain groups of people are not able to make reservations to enter the park even though no government regulations prohibit Disney from allowing those people to enter.

 

[smartlabelprint]

I don’t want to write a big lengthy reply, but I just want to say that I agree with all of the reasons everyone is giving about the current Disney experience being a let down. We went for 3 days earlier this month and I had every intention of getting Magic Keys for me and one of my daughters. After 3 days in the parks, I didn’t feel excited about upgrading to a MK. The $ wasn’t a factor at all. It was the fact that the experience just isn’t the same as it used to be. We’ve had annual passes off and on over the last 10 years. Multiple trips every year. Typically staying at GCH. I loved everything about it! This time I was trying to talk myself into upgrading, and that’s when I realized how I felt had changed. I used to be so excited about my trip, couldn’t wait to come back. Always having my next trip planned. I realized I didn’t really care when we came back again, and that’s when I decided to skip on the MK’s. We’ll be back at some point, but not like we used to be. We are fortunate, and the money isn’t an issue. I happily paid for MaxPass in the past. I thought it was a great value. I left my trip feeling a little disgusted at the greediness and cash grabs. Genie+ is a disappointment. How it is affecting the standby lines is the biggest issue I have with it. Tickets are expensive, you are paying a premium price, and for the price, customers have the right to expect a great experience. And not just for customers like me, but also customers like my friends, who we traveled with that were on a tighter budget. Ok, I guess I wrote a lengthy reply afterall!

This was us. I wasn’t as disappointed as I expected after reading these boards. But I have no desire to go back.

 

[James33]

A 30 day reservation window would have meant I could have just logged in once each day to secure my reservations for next week and I would actually be starting in my preferred park.

I wouldn’t mind a reduced 30 day window at all If it was reduced for everyone, as that’s how it was during the Flex pass days. However, I don’t know if reducing the window will give the effect you’re thinking. All the reservations that would have been in the next two months would now be focused in the current 30 days, so reservations will be even more scarce in the available window, and you probably will need to camp out at 7am 30 days before to try get the reservations.

If we reduce the number of reservations to 2, some may not be able to reserve enough days for a long vacation. I suppose one may suggest maybe those guests should just get regular tickets and aren’t a fit for Magic Keys, but I don’t think those guests would be happy.

Lower demand could help the situation but Disney can completely address this situation just by putting entertainment schedules up before reservations are booked.

Agree that a shorter window would address this, assuming they always announce over 30 days.

You've also brought up a situation that Hong Kong Disneyland does a lot better. A passholder can make a reservation for a certain number of people depending on the government restrictions at the time. So when government said groups can be a maximum of 4 people, a Platinum passholder could bring 3 guests as soon as the Platinum reservation window opened up and those guests didn't have to worry about the reservation window or availability of their ticket or pass type. Either Disney is incapable of doing something in California that they can do in Hong Kong or they intentionally designed a less consumer friendly system in California.

Interesting, as I’m unfamiliar with how HK Disneyland reservation works. It does seem help balance and coordinate between people wanting to visit the park together, so I like it. If it works like how I think it should, it automatically adjusts the reservations in buckets for these situations.

 

[James33]

I left my trip feeling a little disgusted at the greediness and cash grabs. Genie+ is a disappointment. How it is affecting the standby lines is the biggest issue I have with it. Tickets are expensive, you are paying a premium price, and for the price, customers have the right to expect a great experience. And not just for customers like me, but also customers like my friends, who we traveled with that were on a tighter budget.

I agree with being disgusted with the cash grab moves from Chapek.

The Genie+ being a disappointment I’m not as sure about. By limiting to one time per ride, it spreads out the distribution, which helps someone out of town wanting to ride everything. Not so good if you don’t like some of those rides though, so it’s a trade off. I will say since Genie+, the distribution don’t run out as early, as in you don’t need to pull a ticket at 10am for a 4pm return for Space. I would think this benefits out of town folks who get Genie+, and locals wouldn’t get them, at least as often, since there’s no annual option. I used a few Disney veteran tricks when my brothers family visited, and they said it was the best time they’ve ever had at Disneyland, being able to ride just about all the rides, and some twice, in a single day.