Disneyland to cancel AP program

[TamiTaylor]

They are canceling their Annual Pass program.

www.themeparkprofessor.com/2021/01/disneyland-to-cancel-their-annual-pass-program/?fbclid=IwAR0_yOZGwVXaRDQUf-TQH_POqAciuTygxM_pB5NUZ0PO-rmh_e9mpu7Co9o

[gretchenindisguise]

Wow. This kind of shocks and saddens me. We have been AP holders off and on for 7 years. I'll miss it.

[luv2rn4fun]

Jan 14, 2021 19:28:03 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

Wow. This kind of shocks and saddens me. We have been AP holders off and on for 7 years. I'll miss it.

Same here. We’ve had passes the last 4 years now and would go 10-14 times per year. It was our escape and fun days. My parents have passes too (they actually buy ours for birthdays and Christmas) so it was a nice way for them to spend time with the boys.

I talked to my stepmom yesterday and she said we will just use the money towards days at Disneyland until they bring it back. We might only be able to go 2-3 times now but it will be special. I saw someone mention that they should do a 6 ticket “membership” for $350 for the locals. Hoping they do something along those lines. Yes, they get more money from full price ticket holders but there are literally tens of thousands of APs...and those people spend a great fortune in the parks.

[bugandbibs]

I think they will be moving towards a more flex pass type of system or buying a set number of days at a discount. Cancelling all APs is probably just a way to clean sweep the program and start it all over without as much pushback.

[Deleted]

I read that they realized they basically oversold passes, and that when they finally are allowed to reopen and will likely have occupancy restrictions, there’d be no way to accommodate all their AP holders, and a lot of people would be angry.

The AP system came out of wanting to increase attendance on weekdays and other slow times, so they marketed it toward locals. Now a lot of locals and non-locals are AP holders, and they realized there was basically no price so high that people wouldn’t pay it. So they’re going to try a new model that will still allow regular people to be able to visit.

[luv2rn4fun]

Jan 18, 2021 16:57:20 GMT -5 bugandbibs said:

I think they will be moving towards a more flex pass type of system or buying a set number of days at a discount. Cancelling all APs is probably just a way to clean sweep the program and start it all over without as much pushback.

I am hoping this is what they will do. Something along the lines of the SoCal 3 day pass they do in the Spring but with more days allowed. We usually go 10-14 times annually but that would have been harder now that DS1 is in Kindergarten and we had the lowest pass (weekdays and never allowed during school breaks).

[ellipses84]

I’m still so shocked by this. I wonder if it’s to try to keep numbers down but increase revenue in a post Covid world... I’ve never done it but had thought about picking 1 year to do it and take the kids a ton. I also know a lot of people who were grandfathered into lower AP rates. We usually get the SoCal pass and I have another hookup for tix when family comes to visit (which always lines up with blackout dates and why we never got AP). I actually didn’t buy the SoCal pass this year but I, and other friends in SoCal, miss it so much and can’t wait to go back!

[jewel]

Jan 27, 2021 17:54:43 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

I’m still so shocked by this. I wonder if it’s to try to keep numbers down but increase revenue in a post Covid world... I’ve never done it but had thought about picking 1 year to do it and take the kids a ton. I also know a lot of people who were grandfathered into lower AP rates. We usually get the SoCal pass and I have another hookup for tix when family comes to visit (which always lines up with blackout dates and why we never got AP). I actually didn’t buy the SoCal pass this year but I, and other friends in SoCal, miss it so much and can’t wait to go back!

We did this for 2020 🤦‍♀️

We live in Northern Ca and usually go once a year. We gave APs to the kids for Christmas 2019 and actually bought/started them at the end of Jan 2020. We went as a family for one trip, and I took just my oldest for a short trip in March, with plans to go at least 6 trips in 2020. Sooo...that was a bummer.

My guess is that they cancelled them for 2 main reasons:
- they took the chance to cancel out all of the grandfathered plans and revamp without as much push back. I have a feeling they’re moving towards more of a reservation system for most or all passes.
- When Disney finally reopens, I think they’ll make more money by selling individual tickets than they’ll lose by refunding APs. I don’t think they’ll have any issue booking to whatever capacity they’re allowed, and without having to reserve spots for AP holders, they can sell out each day at a significantly higher total. For ex - we’re getting 10 months refunded from our passes and won’t pay much less than that to get a 5 day pass once they reopen, plus we won’t have any AP discounts in the park.

[ellipses84]

jewel What a bummer! At least you got one trip in. We took a family vacation to Vegas last January including my stepson who is an adult and lives halfway across the country. We are so glad we did that early in the year! Everything else we planned was canceled.

[sonrisa]

That’s a shame for everyone who had one but they definitely over sold passes.

We went once on a day when passes were allowed and vowed never to do that again. It isn’t worth paying to visit and then be completely swamped everywhere. Such a waste. And it was still rated a ‘’low crowd’ day. In contrast, we’ve visited on a fairly ‘high crowd’ no passes days and while it wasn’t great, it wasn’t nearly as bad. (We have gone on moderate crowd, no passes days and those were fine).

[jewel]

We just got our refund. We activated our passes at the end of Jan 2020 and went for 5 days. Then I took my oldest for a quick 2 day trip in March, and they shut down 2 weeks later.

I got all of my money back, except for $192. I’d rather have my pass, but $192 for a family trip for 5 days and a 2 day trip is a screamin deal.

[luv2rn4fun]

Feb 2, 2021 23:47:18 GMT -5 jewel said:

We just got our refund. We activated our passes at the end of Jan 2020 and went for 5 days. Then I took my oldest for a quick 2 day trip in March, and they shut down 2 weeks later.

I got all of my money back, except for $192. I’d rather have my pass, but $192 for a family trip for 5 days and a 2 day trip is a screamin deal.

Wow, that’s awesome! We had the lowest pass and ended up getting $270 back per pass. Our first day was Dec 12th and we ended up going 4 times (so essentially paid $129 for the 4 days). Totally wish we still had our passes too.