Lawsuit over Disneyland's Magic Key Passport

[bcla]

I know this was probably suited for the Disneyland board, but this has some interesting details that relate to how Disney sets up its corporate structure. This was originally filed in California superior court because the plaintiff and Disneyland are located in California, but it was shifted to federal court because this is actually more of an interstate matter since Disney Parks & Resorts has it headquarters set up in Florida.

https://www.latimes.com/business/st...ual-pass-program-lawsuit-class-action-request​

A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court alleges Walt Disney Co. deceived buyers of a new annual pass who thought they would get unlimited access to the park but instead say they were blocked out in favor of daily-pass buyers.​

​

The lawsuit by Jenale Nielsen of Santa Clara County, who is described as a longtime Disney customer, claims that Walt Disney Parks and Resorts sold her a Dream Key pass for $1,399 with the understanding that no dates would be blocked out to enter the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim. The Dream Key is the most expensive of the passes Disney introduced in August under a new annual pass program dubbed Magic Key.​

​

Soon after buying the pass, Nielsen says she found that she couldn’t make a reservation to visit the park on any weekend in November, according to the suit. When she checked the Disneyland reservation website, she saw that the park was open for reservations for single- and multiple-day ticket buyers, who are charged up to $224 per visit.​

​

She is asking the court to certify the complaint as a class-action suit on behalf of the 3,600 people who have purchased Dream Key passes.​

Of course the previous Annual Passports were discontinued, where they required no reservations and one basically could go each and every day. It sounds like the lawsuit is about how they've kept pass holders from visiting in order to sell more daily and multi-day tickets. I read about someone who was so hardcore that he visited Disneyland every day for more than 7 straight years. He started off when he was unemployed living off of a DoD pension, but even when employed again he would go there every night after work just for a few hours. What stopped him was when they closed and he went into a depression and didn't come back. And with Magic Key he probably couldn't have afforded to buy tickets for every day that he couldn't get a reservation.

https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/orange-county/coronavirus/2021/03/11/jeff-reitz-disneyland

 

[neverlandsky]

The current park reservation system is awful. At this rate we'll never make it back to DL because our schedule is only made 2 to 3 weeks in advance and it's all booked. Last time we went to DL was in 2011, where we showed up and bought four 1 day park hopper tickets at the gate. Those days are long gone. Supposedly Genie+ at DL is having major issues as well with rumored lawsuit to follow.

 

[MillauFr]

Disney is in a tough situation. They really botched the pricing on the annual passes. Turns out $1,400 is not nearly enough to charge for them. The price should have been closer to $3 or $4k. Of course if they charged that much people would have accused them of price gouging.

 

[GreatLakes]

Disney shouldn't decide who can and can't enter the park based on the type of ticket they have. If you have a single day, AP (and not in a blackout), a ticket as part of a hotel stay, or anything else if there is capacity the first person that asks should get it. I don't think Disney should be allowed to say we have capacity but only these types of tickets can get in. I'm not talking about tickets that aren't supposed to be valid on that day.

For that reason I hope the plant if wins this one.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Disney is in a tough situation. They really botched the pricing on the annual passes. Turns out $1,400 is not nearly enough to charge for them. The price should have been closer to $3 or $4k. Of course if they charged that much people would have accused them of price gouging.

I think the issue with this one (and I was reading about it earlier) is that the person purchased a no blackout annual pass only to be blacked out and it wasn't a blackout because the reservations were taken up by any combination of tickets but blackout for annual passes that were purchased without that being part of it. If you had other types of tickets you weren't blacked out. I would be upset too if I purchased something that said no blackout but then was purposefully blacked out.

I don't think Disney would be in the wrong if it was just about there were no reservations available in general.

Cost of the annual pass is really just a distractor to the topic.

 

[VandVsmama]

I hope that the plaintiff wins their lawsuit.

 

[disneychrista]

Disney cancelled the annual pass and then just essentially brought it back. So of course previous AP holders are going to expect the same access now that they are "Key" holders. I don't think they were deceived though, as passes, regardless of type, have never been guaranteed park entrance.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Disney cancelled the annual pass and then just essentially brought it back. So of course previous AP holders are going to expect the same access now that they are "Key" holders. I don't think they were deceived though, as passes, regardless of type, have never been guaranteed park entrance.

She's not alleging she should be given access regardless. What Disney is doing here (at least allegedly) is purposefully blocking out the no-blockout APs. According to the lawsuit if you had a single day ticket or a multi-day ticket you were able to make a reservation but people with a no-blockout AP were not able to.

In the past with no reservation system in place everyone had equal access. No ticket was ever guaranteed access because the park could become at capacity. According to the lawsuit however with the reservation in place a no-blockout AP is not in fact one. It can and is blocking access to the park because you can't get into the park without a reservation. The issue is connected to the reservation system not an issue of her just showing up too late and the parks being at capacity.

 

[TheDad00]

Don’t offer annual passes. Problem solved

 

[disneychrista]

She's not alleging she should be given access regardless. What Disney is doing here (at least allegedly) is purposefully blocking out the no-blockout APs. According to the lawsuit if you had a single day ticket or a multi-day ticket you were able to make a reservation but people with a no-blockout AP were not able to.

In the past with no reservation system in place everyone had equal access. No ticket was ever guaranteed access because the park could become at capacity. According to the lawsuit however with the reservation in place a no-blockout AP is not in fact one. It can and is blocking access to the park because you can't get into the park without a reservation. The issue is connected to the reservation system not an issue of her just showing up too late and the parks being at capacity.

Yes I understand that. As someone who only visits the parks every 5 years or so, I am glad that Disney has separate blocks of reservations for Key holders and day pass holders.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yes I understand that. As someone who only visits the parks every 5 years or so, I am glad that Disney has separate blocks of reservations for Key holders and day pass holders.

I can understand your viewpoint but that's really neither here nor there how you feel about separate buckets (not saying this rudely just that it's not pertinent to the lawsuit). It's about whether Disney is in the wrong here or not with how they structured, sold, and implemented their product. The lawsuit may not go anywhere but I can see why one was filed.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Don’t offer annual passes. Problem solved

For DLR they probably shouldn't have given it's such a locals park.

**Right now only 1 of the 3 are available to purchase

 

[MillauFr]

Don’t offer annual passes. Problem solved

That is probably the solution that will solve this problem. Only single day tickets should be sold. And those tickets should use a variable pricing model so they are never sold out.

 

[MillauFr]

Disney shouldn't decide who can and can't enter the park based on the type of ticket they have.

Disney is a private corporation and should have the freedom to restrict entrance to their park. We don't need the government sticking its nose into this and regulating Disney.

 

[georgina]

Sure they are a private corporation but they are not delivering the product they sold. The government does regulate fraudulent business practices.

 

[disneychrista]

Sure they are a private corporation but they are not delivering the product they sold. The government does regulate fraudulent business practices.

It is not fraudulent though. No pass guarantees admission. All passes have language to this effect.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

It is not fraudulent though. No pass guarantees admission. All passes have language to this effect.

No Disneyland ticket (original ticket books, or passports) has ever guaranteed entry. Once capacity is reached, you don't get in, regardless of what type of admission you may have already purchased.

 

[bcla]

Disney is a private corporation and should have the freedom to restrict entrance to their park. We don't need the government sticking its nose into this and regulating Disney.

But in this case someone paid for a service and claims that the service wasn't delivered as promised. This wouldn't necessarily be the same as regulation but of whether anyone is owed monetary damages if the product wasn't providing what was sold, which was a no blockout experience on a reservation available basis.

 

[MillauFr]

But in this case someone paid for a service and claims that the service wasn't delivered as promised. This wouldn't necessarily be the same as regulation but of whether anyone is owed monetary damages if the product wasn't providing what was sold, which was a no blockout experience on a reservation available basis.

It was clearly spelled out in the terms and conditions. Annual pass holders were never guaranteed admission

 

[bcla]

No Disneyland ticket (original ticket books, or passports) has ever guaranteed entry. Once capacity is reached, you don't get in, regardless of what type of admission you may have already purchased.

There was never any preference depending on ticket or pass type though. About the only thing I heard had an absolute preference was a reservation at Club 33.