Disneyland recently cancelled their Annual Passholder program and we still haven’t heard about their new “membership offerings” yet. Many seemed to be caught off guard by the change, but we kind of expected changes as Disneyland is more of a “locals” park than Walt Disney World and many people had annual passes. If guests had those already they wouldn’t be shelling out the money for tickets like Disney wants and needs them too. Plus, it would make the demand for Park Pass Reservations extremely high.
Now analysts at UBS have said that an estimated 1 million people held annual passes and that made up about 50% of Disneyland’s attendance.
The pent up demand for locals and AP holders to return is very high and the parks can only hold so many guests. We still don’t know when Disneyland will even reopen.
According to TEA/AECOM Disneyland on average brings in about 51,000 visitors a day while Disney California Adventure pulls in about 27,000. So it’s a money game. If there are about a million passholders out there and only room for about 78,000 a day (not considering capacity limits of 25% of full capacity) it would take days/weeks to meet demand and they wouldn’t make much money on ticket sales.
Annual Passes were extended to reflect the closure of the park, so they haven’t been making money on them for months and wouldn’t make more money with renewals for months. Disney needs the cash from hotel guests and daily ticket sales.
Yeah it’s just business, but I can understand why guests who’ve supported the park for years might be a bit upset over losing their APs. It seems like the new programs will not offer the same access that the AP program did. I do expect Walt Disney World cancel or change the AP program after Disneyland changes theirs.
It’s not as big of an issue at Walt Disney World, since more ticketed guests visit those parks, but Disney is going to want all the money they can get and this gives them the perfect opportunity to make the change and blame the pandemic.
Only time will tell how it’s all changed, but I think the days of people just paying one price to go as often as they like are over.
What do you think? Comment and let us know!
Source: OC Register,
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