The Current Disneyland Annual Pass Program Has Been Cancelled

[Iceman93]

Worse than I expected, too, but in the other direction. There's a reason they call it the "standby" line. I always thought they should take ANYONE from the FP line, and if that line is empty then they should allow standbys to enter until people come up in the FP line again.

 

[montreid]

I wouldn’t mind an “after 4pm” pass. But, only if they don’t bring FP back. I used to head out to park in the afternoons/evenings when I was in college, and it was great when you still had a chance to ride some of the rides. After the introduction of FP, there just wasn’t a chance. You had to get there bright and early in the morning for Space Mountain, Racers, etc.

BTW, I know a lot of people love FP, but I wasn’t a big fan. It got you on some rides fast, but lines for non-FP holders were getting to be hours. Without FP, I remember when 45 minutes sounded like a long line. But it moved fast! But anyway, I digress...

Disney can simply manipulate this by reducing the number of FP per hour in the evening. They already do to some extent as a lot of people simply leave before the night is completed. some have the common courtesy to cancel their passes and allow recirculating them. That is a primary reason why a lot of standby lines go quite faster after 10pm except the usual thrill suspects.

 

[DontSpamMe]

Saw an article where Chapek said in the quarterly meeting that the previous annual pass program was essentially too good of a value and the price spent per guest was inconsistent.

This is pretty much what I've been saying about my value of Disneyland as a pay as I go guest vs the annual pass holders that go whenever they want crowd. I ended up with flex passes and loved it. Excited that this appears to be the future of the annual pass program.

 

[Jaykw]

Saw an article where Chapek said in the quarterly meeting that the previous annual pass program was essentially too good of a value and the price spent per guest was inconsistent.

This is pretty much what I've been saying about my value of Disneyland as a pay as I go guest vs the annual pass holders that go whenever they want crowd. I ended up with flex passes and loved it. Excited that this appears to be the future of the annual pass program.

I loved having AP. Going to be pretty disappointed if it truly winds up turning into a pay-as-I-go model.

 

[HairyChest]

The unlimited visits annual pass will definitely be more expensive then the signature pass from before however to balance it out and make it look good for Disney they will have a lower priced pass for people willing to only go, say, once or twice a week. Like when they brought out the flex pass, I actually saved money AND got to go more of the dates I wanted before they had the flex pass. So there could be some good opportunities for those who don’t need to go so often.

 

[Epicnemesis]

Yea, I really felt like I got good value out of my flex pass. No blackouts and could easily find my 2 trips a month. My concern is them messing with the price or the blackout calendar for it. I really hope it is unchanged.

 

[Kender]

Yea, I really felt like I got good value out of my flex pass. No blackouts and could easily find my 2 trips a month. My concern is them messing with the price or the blackout calendar for it. I really hope it is unchanged.

The Flex did have some blocked days. Last couple weeks of the year. It was basically the Sig with reservations required for certain days, though.

 

[Epicnemesis]

The Flex did have some blocked days. Last couple weeks of the year. It was basically the Sig with reservations required for certain days, though.

Haha I default to those as blackout dates in my brain ever since I had the naïveté to go on the 29th one year. Never again.

 

[AndrewC]

Yea, I really felt like I got good value out of my flex pass. No blackouts and could easily find my 2 trips a month. My concern is them messing with the price or the blackout calendar for it. I really hope it is unchanged.

The Flex was amazing for me. Paid $700 for it with MaxPass, did 7 days in the park with it on my initial visit, then the world shut down a few months later and I got like a $460 refund. Ended up being like $34/day in the parks WITH MaxPass!

Obviously I would have rather flown down for a couple more visits in that year, but absolute cost wise it was a huge win for me. It would have been just over $700 for my initial visit with normal multi days tickets (which was why I decided to buy the FlexPass even though I live in WA; why not at that cost.)

 

[JWelch62]

Being just an hour south of DLR we took many trips, typically staying overnight in one of the resort hotels. We had the Signature AP and always made it work. I'm going to reserve judgement until I see the details, but we liked being able to go on a whim. I hope there is some number of days allowed where no reservation is required. (That was mentioned in the survey that I took)

 

[tippity]

Saw an article where Chapek said in the quarterly meeting that the previous annual pass program was essentially too good of a value and the price spent per guest was inconsistent.

This is pretty much what I've been saying about my value of Disneyland as a pay as I go guest vs the annual pass holders that go whenever they want crowd. I ended up with flex passes and loved it. Excited that this appears to be the future of the annual pass program.

I just listened to the Disney Dish podcast that discussed Disney's quarterly earnings call:
https://disneydish.bandcamp.com/track/disney-dish-ep-321-why-abc-initially-said-no-to-zorro
According to Len Testa, Bob Chapek mentioned a "loyalty program" or "frequent visitor program" . There was no mention of AP's returning. It sounds like everyone will be a day guest, with limited discounts.

 

[cruisehopeful]

We're primarily a decide to go at the last minute family. Making reservations will obviously change that a lot. I'll still be visiting (with planning), but I am now wondering where we could go last minute instead of DL.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I saw yesterday that the date of legacy passholder got pushed out again. I know this happens often, but it does point to there being no plans for an AP soon. Along with what @tippity posted, it doesn't sound good for APs.

 

[Epicnemesis]

Read into it what you will, but I think there is no way that the AP is cancelled permanently.

There is too much money in it when capacity (and demand) gets close to normal.

 

[Bigmace]

Read into it what you will, but I think there is no way that the AP is cancelled permanently.

There is too much money in it when capacity (and demand) gets close to normal.

Oh they will come back. Just expect to pay a whole lot more for them.

 

[frechley]

We're primarily a decide to go at the last minute family. Making reservations will obviously change that a lot. I'll still be visiting (with planning), but I am now wondering where we could go last minute instead of DL.

I was thinking about this a few days ago too. If DL isn't reaching capacity all the time, then going on a whim will still be possible a lot of the time. The issue now is just the extremely limited capacity. After capacity is increased to normal, then impulse trips should be game again.

 

[DLgal]

I just listened to the Disney Dish podcast that discussed Disney's quarterly earnings call:
https://disneydish.bandcamp.com/track/disney-dish-ep-321-why-abc-initially-said-no-to-zorro
According to Len Testa, Bob Chapek mentioned a "loyalty program" or "frequent visitor program" . There was no mention of AP's returning. It sounds like everyone will be a day guest, with limited discounts.

That's just the bloggers presenting their own interpretations. Disney got rid of the AP in name only, but it will absolutely NOT be replaced by a discount only program. The surveys earlier in the year about potential a potential new program mentioned "pass" over and over again, as a way to differentiate it from a day ticket or multi day ticket. They will bring back a pass that allows more frequent access, but my guess is rather than being an "annual" pass, it will be a "monthly fee" membership program that you can terminate at will. I suspect the monthly program will allow a set number of visits per month for a flat rate, and you will pay more for perks like parking, Maxpass, Photopass, etc.

This is why they eliminated the "annual" from the name. It's most definitely NOT going to be what Len Testa pontificated about in his recent podcast.

 

[Epicnemesis]

Oh they will come back. Just expect to pay a whole lot more for them.

Call me naive but I don’t think we will. I think we see similar prices with limits on reservations/frequency of attendance.

I think Disney has work to do to win over a good chunk of pass holders. I was at knotts over the weekend and saw a whole lot of people, myself included in Disney gear. Pass holder refugees. 100-200 for an annual pass to hold us over while we wait for the new AP program. If that program is a shakedown, I could see a lot of people just sticking to the lesser experience.

My Aunt was at Disneyland on Monday and had a horrible experience. Said the magic was gone and it felt like Disney was saying “give us your money and get out.” Said other guests were complaining of the same. I’m in no rush to see this version of Disneyland.

 

[DLgal]

Call me naive but I don’t think we will. I think we see similar prices with limits on reservations/frequency of attendance.

I think Disney has work to do to win over a good chunk of pass holders. I was at knotts over the weekend and saw a whole lot of people, myself included in Disney gear. Pass holder refugees. 100-200 for an annual pass to hold us over while we wait for the new AP program. If that program is a shakedown, I could see a lot of people just sticking to the lesser experience.

My Aunt was at Disneyland on Monday and had a horrible experience. Said the magic was gone and it felt like Disney was saying “give us your money and get out.” Said other guests were complaining of the same. I’m in no rush to see this version of Disneyland.

Yep. And Josh D'Amaro was at Knott's last week. You know he saw some of those Disney shirted people.

You can't be Disneyland and have parks like Knott's and Universal BOTH offering low cost AP's and then just say "too bad, so sad, pay full price or don't come."

I agree that if they offer a new pass, it will be comparable in price to the Signature/Signature Plus level passes. The Southern CA level passes will never come back. I expect prices of between $1200-1500 per. If we turn that into a monthly fee "program", I'm saying $100-150 per month, the high end being a pass that includes parking, Maxpass, and Photopass.

They'd do well to offer a pass like that and guarantee monthly visits where people will spend more money once in the parks, than to abandon the entire concept and rely on people to just buy day tickets a few times a year.

Our family spent $335 last Saturday on food, drinks, and merch. That was on top of the $600 we spent on park hoppers for the 4 of us. We won't be doing that every month with the way the tickets are now. As it stands, we won't be back until July.

 

[brentm77]

NM