Magic Key Back on Sale on 11/6 at 9am PT

[LAS2AMS]

When they this pass's break even point is X amount of visits, are they basing it on a one day park hopper ticket?

I base it on the tickets I would otherwise buy. That’s usually the 3d SoCal passes, which have been about $100/day for weekends, but that obviously requires three visits within a certain time period. Also no guarantees that deal will be offered for awhile.

Parking and other discounts come into play, within reason, since the AP will see you spending more on dining at Disney etc.

But for sure my break even point on the Inspire pass would exceed 15 days, which is more that I would spend in DL.

 

[KimberMama]

I base it on the tickets I would otherwise buy. That’s usually the 3d SoCal passes, which have been about $100/day for weekends, but that obviously requires three visits within a certain time period. Also no guarantees that deal will be offered for awhile.

Parking and other discounts come into play, within reason, since the AP will see you spending more on dining at Disney etc.

But for sure my break even point on the Inspire pass would exceed 15 days, which is more that I would spend in DL.

We usually go multiple days during the holidays, which are more expensive days, but your point about considering the price of the 3 day SoCal ticket makes a lot of sense, because we did buy those in 2022 and 2023 (but the one day one park version). The absolute truth is that when we don’t have passes, we don’t go as often and we spend less money overall unless we do a hotel vacation. In that sense, a Magic Key can’t break even. It’s just a choice to prepay for our Disney days and also to decide that is how we are going to spend our time.

 

[kikismom]

Is there a thread for Magic Key questions? I tried looking but am not finding anything. I'm looking mainly to see what hotels in the area offer a discount for MK holders.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Is there a thread for Magic Key questions? I tried looking but am not finding anything. I'm looking mainly to see what hotels in the area offer a discount for MK holders.

I don't know if there is a thread about this topic specifically. To get you started, here are the hotels that I can think of that have Magic Key discounts: Hojo, Candy Cane Inn, Desert Palms, Fairfield Inn, and Westin Anaheim.

 

[amyg1975]

I don't know if there is a thread about this topic specifically. To get you started, here are the hotels that I can think of that have Magic Key discounts: Hojo, Candy Cane Inn, Desert Palms, Fairfield Inn, and Westin Anaheim.

Camelot and Tropicana as well.

 

[LAS2AMS]

We usually go multiple days during the holidays, which are more expensive days, but your point about considering the price of the 3 day SoCal ticket makes a lot of sense, because we did buy those in 2022 and 2023 (but the one day one park version). The absolute truth is that when we don’t have passes, we don’t go as often and we spend less money overall unless we do a hotel vacation. In that sense, a Magic Key can’t break even. It’s just a choice to prepay for our Disney days and also to decide that is how we are going to spend our time.

I agree completely. I was saying from a value proposition, it would take the average person 15-20 days to break even (depending on discounts available and their spending habits) on the Inspire pass. I know there are plenty of people who spend 100+ days in the park, but realistically, for the average adult, 20 days at DL is *a lot.*. I would love to spend 20+ days at DL, don’t get me wrong… but there’s only 365 days in the year.

I wouldn’t be surprised if a large chunk of the Inspire base buys the tickets for convenience (limited by availability of course).

 

[DizMe]

I wouldn’t be surprised if a large chunk of the Inspire base buys the tickets for convenience (limited by availability of course).

This is true for me. However, it's also a bit more nuanced than that. I'll start by saying that I'm not a local and almost always fly down from Sacramento.

A lot of the urge to own an Inspire pass for me is the feeling that if the opportunity or need arises, I can go to DLR. I'm retired and have friends and family near DL. I always have a ton of points on SW so the flight isn't a cost, though getting to/from the airport and parking is. It's just a great feeling to be able to make an impromptu trip. I originally got the Inspire pass because it wasn't that expensive and gave me so much flexibility. That's all changed now, but I still like being able to go almost anytime and my DH buys the pass for me because he's a good guy that way, plus it gives him his own break at home

There's just a wonderful feeling in having an Inspire pass. Someday, I probably won't be able to go like I do now. Until then, I'd say it's the best thing for my mental health and still worth it!

 

[KimberMama]

A lot of the urge to own an Inspire pass for me is the feeling that if the opportunity or need arises, I can go to DLR.

There's just a wonderful feeling in having an Inspire pass. Someday, I probably won't be able to go like I do now. Until then, I'd say it's the best thing for my mental health and still worth it!

I agree with this. Theoretically, I could also buy a one day ticket any time the opportunity or need arises, but I know I would limit myself. Pre C19 we had Signature Plus passes, so we could even go on Christmas Eve (and we did more than once) and during the days that are currently blocked out for Inspire Keys. We didn’t renew at the end of 2018 because our kids had started college and the rumor was that SW:GE was going to make DL crazy busy (ha!). Going back to our first passes in 1995, we had zero block out dates, and whenever we did buy annual passes that is what we bought. From 2000 - 2018 we had zero block out annual passes 15 of those years.

In 2017 and 2018 we went to the parks at least 30 times per year, probably more like 35 - 40. We went 2-3 Saturdays per month, on weekday birthdays and special days, and for a 3-4 day hotel trip. This is what we did as a family and for most of our leisure aside from racing. I sure we spent a ton of money, but we were frugal overall in the parks, rarely doing table service and on hot days just having a snack in the park before grabbing a late lunch at In N Out. We brought water bottles. So the money was mostly spent on the teens’ pin hobby. We don’t live close, it’s about 1 hour and 15 minutes from our driveway until we’re parking at Toy Story, assuming no traffic and short lines at the parking lot. Then it was bus and security (opposite now), and getting through the gates. Time in the parks and then reverse it all. I don’t have the same health or stamina (and I was already ill then) now.

I wouldn’t trade those years for anything, the time and the money were both well spent (we actually started in 2016 but went more often in 2017 and 2018). So many people say their teens drift away as they approach adulthood, and of course they do, but we found a way we all enjoyed to spend time together and keep a connection.

I saved money all year for the GCH vacation we had to cancel, so I was able to buy our MKs outright and not have a monthly payment impact the budget.

 

[brent02139]

I was at the park last week when the key sale went live, overheard cast members who said the key pass wasn't selling well.

It's funny how much info you can get from listening to CM talking about benefits or how to request days off and etc.

 

[mel2014]

I was at the park last week when the key sale went live, overheard cast members who said the key pass wasn't selling well.

It's funny how much info you can get from listening to CM talking about benefits or how to request days off and etc.

I can totally believe this -- the last time passes went on sale, they were there and then gone again very quickly. This time, I got ads in my Facebook feed, messages in the app, direct emails, etc. all pushing the fact that the passes were on sale again. I was concerned they wouldn't be available again by yesterday, which was the last day of our planned 3-day visit, when there were no passholder reservations available (California Adventure finally popped up as available after midnight Sunday to Monday, but since we wanted to pay with gift cards, we held off on upgrading until we were leaving for the day Monday rather than upgrading in the app)

Fortunately that wasn't an issue and we ended up upgrading two of our four 3-day hopper tickets to Believe Keys. My daughter and I are planning several quick weekend trips for next year, but for my son, we just couldn't make the math work to break even (He doesn't want to go without friends or other family and with school and summer plans he's likely to come just once next year) and my husband is happy going every year or two. The Enchant Key is particularly unattractive to anyone with school-age kids with the Saturday, holiday and summer exclusions and there's a big jump to Believe.

I was happy we were able to use the Sam's Club discounted Disney gift cards to upgrade, which took some of the sting out of the high price.

 

[brightlined]

I can totally believe this -- the last time passes went on sale, they were there and then gone again very quickly.

This isn't true - when they went on sale in March, the Imagine Key sold out that day, the rest were still available until they were pulled from sale in early June.

What's happening now really isn't a surprise - we were already close to them being able to leave them up for sale permanently.

 

[mel2014]

This isn't true - when they went on sale in March, the Imagine Key sold out that day, the rest were still available until they were pulled from sale in early June.

What's happening now really isn't a surprise - we were already close to them being able to leave them up for sale permanently.

Thanks for the correction, I guess my memory was flawed -- maybe I was thinking about the January sale, not March-June? Either way, it seems that demand is petering out. There's nothing really big that's been announced for 2025 at this point in detail --rides, entertainment, 70th anniversary celebrations, so I can understand why people might be "meh" on buying a new pass. The Paint the Night teaser doesn't really have enough specificity to draw people in.

 

[KimberMama]

I’m hoping they are still on sale on November 18th. The young adult kid who said he didn’t want a MK because he doesn’t have time, and only wanted a one day park hopper ticket, changed his mind today, and now wants an Enchant Key. I don’t think there’s a way to change it before the day he uses the ticket and there aren’t any MK reservations for that day anyway, so fingers crossed!

 

[LKing]

Thanks for the correction, I guess my memory was flawed -- maybe I was thinking about the January sale, not March-June?

Personally, I think the January sale was pulled because of the issue at the ticket booth. The line was several hours long and they weren't prepared to handle that.

 

[kikismom]

I'm new to all of this and have a question for the people who've had these for a while. How far in advance do the keys normally book up for like spring break and Memorial day? I'm a little worried about getting the dates I'm hoping to get this spring.

 

[LAS2AMS]

This isn't true - when they went on sale in March, the Imagine Key sold out that day, the rest were still available until they were pulled from sale in early June.

What's happening now really isn't a surprise - we were already close to them being able to leave them up for sale permanently.

I work in entertainment and too often reports on ticket sales of live entertainment are wrong. An “insider” will claim that Gen X SuperStsr’s tour is poor selling and on the verge of cancellation… and all the big guys - NY Post, TMZ, etc. - will pick-up on the story… even though it’s total BS.

Magic Keys went on sale 6 days ago and per reports, queues reached 2-3 hours the first day and continued at about an hour for most of the next day. And yet just a couple days at that, CM are saying ticket sales are slow? I don’t buy it. The people who track Magic Key sales… provably aren’t in the parks most days.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Disney keeps pausing sales, since when they resume it generates tons of free advertising - and probably encourages a ton of FOMO sales it otherwise wouldn’t get.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Keys are sold out…..

 

[brightlined]

I feel like we're going to have to start splitting the difference between "sold out" and "not for sale".

There's absolutely no way they sold these out.

 

[KimberMama]

I feel like we're going to have to start splitting the difference between "sold out" and "not for sale".

There's absolutely no way they sold these out.

Maybe we can just use Disney’s verbiage, which is that sales are “paused”.

 

[AstroBlasters]

I feel like we're going to have to start splitting the difference between "sold out" and "not for sale".

There's absolutely no way they sold these out.

There is absolutely no way that anyone outside of Disney management would know, but we do know that people can not buy them any more.