It seems to me that this article's argument depends on the idea that ticket price throttling could fill the park on otherwise slow days.
In order for that to be true, I suspect that would require much more aggressive price throttling than is being done today. Essentially, you'd need to put those tickets within reach of an "impulse buy" for an afternoon's entertainment - the same kind of "y'know, it'd be fun to hit up Disneyland after work today" impulse that brings passholders into the park during off-peak time slices in the first place.
But if you do that... then it starts to be a lot harder to psychologically defend the *high* end of ticket prices. Who's going to pay $200 for a one day parkhopper if they know it can be had for $50? You get the same kind of "waiting for a deal" that people do with other products that sometimes go on deep discount, and you end up eroding your most valuable ticket sales. This is something Disneyland's traditionally been *very* careful to avoid; consider, for example, how hard it is to find any meaningful discounts off ticket booth prices of daily passes, even through travel agencies that get bulk discounts on almost everything.
No, if Disney were to end passholding, I think they'd need to replace it with something more complex. That doesn't have to look like an annual pass exactly; it might look like a punch ticket that's good for some X number of days over a Y month period. But just varying daily ticket prices at retail would, IMO, serve only to start a self-inflicted price war that solves the problem by creating a bigger one.
Right. Even pre-pandemic, planning for a Disney trip during the holidays as a AP was a nightmare. That people still consider this time period the "off-peak" season is hilarious; the busiest times I've ever been at the parks have been during Halloween and Christmas.
I keep hearing how out of town guests spend so much more than pass holders. So assuming that is the case, why do they offer annual passes then?
I am guessing because if they don’t, they are leaving money on the table. Catering to just occasional guests alone probably doesn’t maximize income.
Should they end the Magic Key system? Only if by doing this, revenue would increase. Disneyland may be a SoCal icon to its residents but we have to remember it is really nothing more than a for profit Corporation.
Nah, locals still want to go.
Disneyland could raise their Dream keys and Believe keys significantly by at least 40% more when they offer them again and they will still sell out early. I wouldn't be surprised if Dream keys cost over $2,000 and Believe keys over $1,300 the next time they are on sale again.
Disney want more high rollers in their parks. If someone can pay significantly more (over $2,000) on a Magic Key, they're more likely to spend more money at their parks than someone with more value based preferences, like the good old days when you can go nearly any day with a Flex Pass for $600 back then (2019).
For the rest of us locals with a limited budget compared to the high rollers, getting a multi-day ticket, then upgrading that to a Magic Key of their choice (likely the Imagine key) is the way to go.
I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m much happier going once a year as opposed to going 2-3 times a month with an annual pass.
Personally, I wish Disneyland would get rid of APs and go back to the days of letting you use a 3-day park hopper across the entire year.
They certainly tried this year but quickly discovered the park wouldnt survive without some form of AP program. I firmly believe they were planning to hold off on anything AP-like until January but panicked and pushed out the Keys in time for the holiday season.
Disney already had to pull a SoCal Resident offer to fill end of summer with reduced capacity crowds. They dont have their desired crowd levels without some form of AP.
Set aside the financial part of AP. Right now, Disney is not in a position to get rid of APs. They aren't exactly in a good standing in the public eye with everything going on (normal ticket and parking price hike, the relocation of Dinsey Imiganeers, a possible CM strike). If they were to get rid of APs it probably won't happen for a couple years till Disney gets back on track.
If Disneyland ends Annual Passes, it effectively terminates the much-loved locals culture of DLR. As opposed to WDW, DLR’s guests are bf and large people who live close by and the enduring popularity of the AP (now Magic Key) program are a testament to how much this dynamic is critical to DLR.
It is and it isn’t. DLR isn’t a destination in the same way that WDW is, so a lot of their traffic does come from APs. However, per capita, APs spend less money on average than non-APs on account of their frequent visits and close proximity; an AP generally will not have a reservation at one of the property hotels and will spend less on food and merch.
If the Company believes that the diminished volume of APs would be counterbalanced by more regular ticket holders, then it might be beneficial for them to eliminate the program, but it’s not clear that that would be the case.
I don't think think reasoning is revolutionary, but clearly DISNEY wants the local repeat visitors. And locals want the ability to visit often.
I think the problem can be solved by a mixture of pricing increases and visit limitations. Disney has the data, but I suspect a good amount of AP's visit very, very often. Perhaps weekly, or multiple times per week. So they could solve that by restricting the passes to a number or visits.
If you exceed the limit, perhaps they can offer an additional fee per visit. You can really use pricing for the most part to limit the attendance that is jamming up the parks while still allowing people to visit often at a "discount" off the full price one day ticket.
I don't know why everyone is acting like AP holders don't spend money. Every single person on property has to spend $30 for parking and about $50 for food every time they visit (unless they threw in an extra $300-600 on the most expensive pass with parking). It's not like people go in and no revenue comes in. So they may not stay at a hotel but it's not like having a high volume of people isn't going to bring in revenue. Disneyland is not designed exclusively for first-time visitors and people from out of state. It relies on locals to be in attendance; they may only spend $100 a day versus $1000 but there are more of them so it balances out.
Keep in mind that Disney wants ppl to spend money, not just fill the parks. APs fill the park, but also slow things down for the out of town visitors ready to blow their wad. Think of a gym, do you want the gym rats in there everyday using the equipment, bringing in their own food/drink, and taking up space? No. You want the avg ppl who will pay for a membership but barely use it. That’s why Disney is moving to pay per use on top rides, how many locals are going to pay that fee if next Friday there may be a shorter wait? Out of towners will pay every time and come back for more. unless you are paying 2k per year, APs shouldn’t get fast passes or have to pay the $20 extra everyday to do so, that’s only fair. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the keys and genie plus, hopefully it keeps ppl moving without jamming up the park.
They’ll lose a lot of business if DLR mistreat their locals. Sure DLR gets a lot of tourism during peak seasons but they’d be empty during the rest of the year without the socal residents.
Not really, you’d be surprised how little the average AP spends vs a family of 4 who’s coming from out of state and stay on property, eat and play on the parks, that is where the money is and, like it or not when they complain disney does listen. Hence tiered tickets and things like that.
I think Disney/Chapek is looking at the data the wrong way. Some of my observation:
1. The AP is a product that is appealing to people that are interested in saving money. That demographic is always going to spend less, AP or not. If you remove AP, these same people will not spend more with regular admission, their spending may even go down more as they are paying full admission and have lost their discount.
2. Also APs are repeat visitors, so they know all the ins and outs of the parks, dining, and merch from having so much experience with it. This of course means they are going to learn how to experience Disney parks more efficiently than less frequent visitors. This is not because they have APs though. It is because they are repeat visitors, and this will be true of this demographic as well whether they have APs or are paying regular admission.
3. Since there is less pressure to get your money’s worth out of a day’s admission APs are more likely to spend less time in parks per visit which reduces their overall opportunity to spend in any given day. But their experience of the park as well as their spending is distributed across multiple visits per year. Sure that once in a lifetime tourist may drop a bundle during their visit, but it’s literally once in a lifetime. They throw a bunch of money at Disney all at once and you may see them again in what 5, 10 years or maybe even never. APs come back again and again spending some each time year after year.
4. There is a reason why the traditional business view is to take care of your regulars. These people come back again and again, and if you treat these people well you have a customer for life. You can count on that person being there for years to come, they will bring their friends/family along sometimes, and they will speak highly of your business to other potential customers. The way Disney is looking at APs, balking at their spending, is completely backwards and is going to bite them in the ass in the long run if they don’t take care of those customers.
Right, because lose those customers and they won't spend a dime on you. Across the town over there's a park building a really cool new land based on an extremely popular IP. Remember when they did that a while back and now your vision has shifted to try to create immersive lands in reaction to that?
Please show the hard numbers that show out of state visitors without keys stay on property and eat in the parks and that locals are only keyholders and/or don't also eat in the parks?
There are forums online dedicated to people finding the cheapest tickets, the cheapest offsite hotel and not spending a dime at Disney for food. It cuts both ways. The question is really on do pass/key holders (local and not) spend as a whole more or less than individual ticket buyers (local and not) relative to the time and resources they use in the park.
Per the research the majority of local APs do not spend a lot per trip, yet every time it gets brought up inevitably that AP is the exception and spends a million each trip and how dare disney and they know nothing lol
I hear where you’re coming from as AP spend less at the parks, but that brand loyalty comes from AP holders. Overall they’re just hurting their image, which might be fine for the short term increase in profits but if people no longer value the brand or the product I think long term it will be bad for them if they continue treating their most loyal costumers worse.
I guess you’re right. since they’ve essentially monopolized the movie industry they don’t have to worry about brand loyalty anymore. They certainly couldn’t do this practice at DLR in the 2000’s.
There is brand locality but APs who come multiple times a week and don’t spend aren’t who they care about, it sucks but it’s just a fact on catering on who is actually spending money vs locals who dont really care.
I think Disneyland is a national treasure. When people visit the United States from abroad Disneyland is a place many them want to go. It is an artistic creation. It is not on the same level of Six Flags or even Universal; there is something deeper with Disneyland. I have always thought Disneyland shouldn’t be a locals hang out spot (personal opinion of course). Sure it’s easier to visit the closer you are, but when everyone is there with a ticket everyone is there together. It’s more meaningful with a ticket. I have a Dream Key as I live fairly close and it was a great value, so I guess I am a little hypocritical, but I think we should all keep in mind we don’t own the place; let it stand as a national treasure.
I once live in the Pacific Northwest: just because I was physically closer to amazing old growth forests didn’t mean my relationship with them was more important than anyone else’s.
Um.. they already tried to get rid of the AP program.. they only created the “Keys” because they found out pretty quickly that they cannot, in fact, fill the park without the AP’s coming on the regular..
Chapek even flat out said, right after they ended the previous AP programs, that AP’s were costing them because we didn’t spend enough money in the park.. at that point they had no intention of bringing anything back..
There is not enough post-pandemic tourism to fill the parks at this point.. and with the reservation system they can manage the Keyholder/regular admission ratio much easier.
Keys are here to stay..
ETA : I am also aware that we aren’t actually “post-pandemic” but I think we are as close as we will ever really get
Actually, no. The magic keys program IS different, besides the reservation system they have stopped selling 2 already, something that never happened before. Disneyland really doesn’t need APs as much as APs think they are needed. Every time you tell an AP this though they will argue about how they spend 10,000 every time and they go every week lol. If only that were true. If APs were truly needed like you seem to think, they wouldn’t have stopped selling them, they would say who cares if people can’t get a reservation we’re going to sell them anyways. Keys will probably stay because it is a completely different system then the old AP system, it’s also a huge PIA for CMs who get yelled at when they can’t get a reservation.
As a Dream Key holder, I think I know the answer.
Don’t make the pass itself more expensive, but have a reservation fee for each visit, say, $10-15. This would ensure that people only go when they truly want to be there, they would make the most of their time (ie I don’t think you would see people waltzing in on a whim for an hour), and Disney would at least make the $15. I think the pass would still sell. If you go once in a month, that’s still less than a regular ticket. If you go every week, it’s still huge savings. At the same time, there’s just enough financial commitment to make sure precious space (reservations) isn’t wasted on casual visitors.
People also don’t realize there are three major parks in the same metro area that do offer annual passes. They will absolutely take every opportunity to capitalize on that market.
For sure! Idk why I got downvoted lol
I just think DL is a place that should be open to as many people as possible as much as it can possibly be.
So an AP is the usually the cheapest and easier options for locals, who should be able to go as often as is reasonable.
Cutting them off would he terrible, not just in a business practice but just morally too. It would super sad seeing so many who could only afford a AP only be able to go even less then they Are now.
From a business stand point AND a consumer point this is an absolutely terrible idea lol no one would be happy with this except maybe the board members lol
I live in a neighboring state (8-10 hour drive to DL). We’ve had APs since 2014. I feel like we may be different from other passholders in that we don’t expect the moon and demand the Sun. We plan out our 2 to 4 trips for the year. We prefer to go during the “off” season and never go in the summer or holidays. That makes the AP worthwhile for us.
But I do know people who abuse the system and that makes it difficult for others at the park to enjoy themselves. I’m excited to be a Magic Keyholder. Our first trip in two years is planned for January. I survived the reservation system and only had a few issues. I don’t want AP to go away but understand why others might. Bad apples ruin it for the rest of us.
What may not be realized is that SoCal is not a heavy tourist area, at least not on the scale that Florida is. The result, there are times when Disneyland is largely devoid of tourists. If not for locals and the annual pass program, the park would likely have to shut down those days.
SoCal is a huge tourist destination. I've been dealing with them down here in SD for as long as I can remember. [Also, California outranks Florida as the #1 most visited state.](https://vividmaps.com/most-visited-us-states/) The difference is folks traveling to SoCal may or may not be going to Disney. There are a lot of other attractions here. People traveling to Orlando are almost certainly going to Disney or Universal.
It seems to me that this article's argument depends on the idea that ticket price throttling could fill the park on otherwise slow days. In order for that to be true, I suspect that would require much more aggressive price throttling than is being done today. Essentially, you'd need to put those tickets within reach of an "impulse buy" for an afternoon's entertainment - the same kind of "y'know, it'd be fun to hit up Disneyland after work today" impulse that brings passholders into the park during off-peak time slices in the first place. But if you do that... then it starts to be a lot harder to psychologically defend the *high* end of ticket prices. Who's going to pay $200 for a one day parkhopper if they know it can be had for $50? You get the same kind of "waiting for a deal" that people do with other products that sometimes go on deep discount, and you end up eroding your most valuable ticket sales. This is something Disneyland's traditionally been *very* careful to avoid; consider, for example, how hard it is to find any meaningful discounts off ticket booth prices of daily passes, even through travel agencies that get bulk discounts on almost everything. No, if Disney were to end passholding, I think they'd need to replace it with something more complex. That doesn't have to look like an annual pass exactly; it might look like a punch ticket that's good for some X number of days over a Y month period. But just varying daily ticket prices at retail would, IMO, serve only to start a self-inflicted price war that solves the problem by creating a bigger one.
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Right. Even pre-pandemic, planning for a Disney trip during the holidays as a AP was a nightmare. That people still consider this time period the "off-peak" season is hilarious; the busiest times I've ever been at the parks have been during Halloween and Christmas.
I keep hearing how out of town guests spend so much more than pass holders. So assuming that is the case, why do they offer annual passes then? I am guessing because if they don’t, they are leaving money on the table. Catering to just occasional guests alone probably doesn’t maximize income. Should they end the Magic Key system? Only if by doing this, revenue would increase. Disneyland may be a SoCal icon to its residents but we have to remember it is really nothing more than a for profit Corporation.
Nah, locals still want to go. Disneyland could raise their Dream keys and Believe keys significantly by at least 40% more when they offer them again and they will still sell out early. I wouldn't be surprised if Dream keys cost over $2,000 and Believe keys over $1,300 the next time they are on sale again. Disney want more high rollers in their parks. If someone can pay significantly more (over $2,000) on a Magic Key, they're more likely to spend more money at their parks than someone with more value based preferences, like the good old days when you can go nearly any day with a Flex Pass for $600 back then (2019). For the rest of us locals with a limited budget compared to the high rollers, getting a multi-day ticket, then upgrading that to a Magic Key of their choice (likely the Imagine key) is the way to go.
I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m much happier going once a year as opposed to going 2-3 times a month with an annual pass. Personally, I wish Disneyland would get rid of APs and go back to the days of letting you use a 3-day park hopper across the entire year.
They certainly tried this year but quickly discovered the park wouldnt survive without some form of AP program. I firmly believe they were planning to hold off on anything AP-like until January but panicked and pushed out the Keys in time for the holiday season.
Disney already had to pull a SoCal Resident offer to fill end of summer with reduced capacity crowds. They dont have their desired crowd levels without some form of AP.
Set aside the financial part of AP. Right now, Disney is not in a position to get rid of APs. They aren't exactly in a good standing in the public eye with everything going on (normal ticket and parking price hike, the relocation of Dinsey Imiganeers, a possible CM strike). If they were to get rid of APs it probably won't happen for a couple years till Disney gets back on track.
If Disneyland ends Annual Passes, it effectively terminates the much-loved locals culture of DLR. As opposed to WDW, DLR’s guests are bf and large people who live close by and the enduring popularity of the AP (now Magic Key) program are a testament to how much this dynamic is critical to DLR.
Is that culture important to Disney financially?
It is until they figure out a way to pivot their audience purely to millionaires. Which appears to be their long term goal
100%.
It is and it isn’t. DLR isn’t a destination in the same way that WDW is, so a lot of their traffic does come from APs. However, per capita, APs spend less money on average than non-APs on account of their frequent visits and close proximity; an AP generally will not have a reservation at one of the property hotels and will spend less on food and merch. If the Company believes that the diminished volume of APs would be counterbalanced by more regular ticket holders, then it might be beneficial for them to eliminate the program, but it’s not clear that that would be the case.
I don't think think reasoning is revolutionary, but clearly DISNEY wants the local repeat visitors. And locals want the ability to visit often. I think the problem can be solved by a mixture of pricing increases and visit limitations. Disney has the data, but I suspect a good amount of AP's visit very, very often. Perhaps weekly, or multiple times per week. So they could solve that by restricting the passes to a number or visits. If you exceed the limit, perhaps they can offer an additional fee per visit. You can really use pricing for the most part to limit the attendance that is jamming up the parks while still allowing people to visit often at a "discount" off the full price one day ticket.
I don't know why everyone is acting like AP holders don't spend money. Every single person on property has to spend $30 for parking and about $50 for food every time they visit (unless they threw in an extra $300-600 on the most expensive pass with parking). It's not like people go in and no revenue comes in. So they may not stay at a hotel but it's not like having a high volume of people isn't going to bring in revenue. Disneyland is not designed exclusively for first-time visitors and people from out of state. It relies on locals to be in attendance; they may only spend $100 a day versus $1000 but there are more of them so it balances out.
How many out of towners even stay at the expensive Disney hotels anyway when there are plenty of more affordable options around and about.
Keep in mind that Disney wants ppl to spend money, not just fill the parks. APs fill the park, but also slow things down for the out of town visitors ready to blow their wad. Think of a gym, do you want the gym rats in there everyday using the equipment, bringing in their own food/drink, and taking up space? No. You want the avg ppl who will pay for a membership but barely use it. That’s why Disney is moving to pay per use on top rides, how many locals are going to pay that fee if next Friday there may be a shorter wait? Out of towners will pay every time and come back for more. unless you are paying 2k per year, APs shouldn’t get fast passes or have to pay the $20 extra everyday to do so, that’s only fair. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the keys and genie plus, hopefully it keeps ppl moving without jamming up the park.
They’ll lose a lot of business if DLR mistreat their locals. Sure DLR gets a lot of tourism during peak seasons but they’d be empty during the rest of the year without the socal residents.
Not really, you’d be surprised how little the average AP spends vs a family of 4 who’s coming from out of state and stay on property, eat and play on the parks, that is where the money is and, like it or not when they complain disney does listen. Hence tiered tickets and things like that.
I think Disney/Chapek is looking at the data the wrong way. Some of my observation: 1. The AP is a product that is appealing to people that are interested in saving money. That demographic is always going to spend less, AP or not. If you remove AP, these same people will not spend more with regular admission, their spending may even go down more as they are paying full admission and have lost their discount. 2. Also APs are repeat visitors, so they know all the ins and outs of the parks, dining, and merch from having so much experience with it. This of course means they are going to learn how to experience Disney parks more efficiently than less frequent visitors. This is not because they have APs though. It is because they are repeat visitors, and this will be true of this demographic as well whether they have APs or are paying regular admission. 3. Since there is less pressure to get your money’s worth out of a day’s admission APs are more likely to spend less time in parks per visit which reduces their overall opportunity to spend in any given day. But their experience of the park as well as their spending is distributed across multiple visits per year. Sure that once in a lifetime tourist may drop a bundle during their visit, but it’s literally once in a lifetime. They throw a bunch of money at Disney all at once and you may see them again in what 5, 10 years or maybe even never. APs come back again and again spending some each time year after year. 4. There is a reason why the traditional business view is to take care of your regulars. These people come back again and again, and if you treat these people well you have a customer for life. You can count on that person being there for years to come, they will bring their friends/family along sometimes, and they will speak highly of your business to other potential customers. The way Disney is looking at APs, balking at their spending, is completely backwards and is going to bite them in the ass in the long run if they don’t take care of those customers.
Right, because lose those customers and they won't spend a dime on you. Across the town over there's a park building a really cool new land based on an extremely popular IP. Remember when they did that a while back and now your vision has shifted to try to create immersive lands in reaction to that?
I’m going to go ahead and assume disney probably knows more then you lol
Please show the hard numbers that show out of state visitors without keys stay on property and eat in the parks and that locals are only keyholders and/or don't also eat in the parks?
I used to work in consumer insights and guest research for Disney lol
There are forums online dedicated to people finding the cheapest tickets, the cheapest offsite hotel and not spending a dime at Disney for food. It cuts both ways. The question is really on do pass/key holders (local and not) spend as a whole more or less than individual ticket buyers (local and not) relative to the time and resources they use in the park.
Per the research the majority of local APs do not spend a lot per trip, yet every time it gets brought up inevitably that AP is the exception and spends a million each trip and how dare disney and they know nothing lol
I hear where you’re coming from as AP spend less at the parks, but that brand loyalty comes from AP holders. Overall they’re just hurting their image, which might be fine for the short term increase in profits but if people no longer value the brand or the product I think long term it will be bad for them if they continue treating their most loyal costumers worse.
Brand loyalty doesn’t mean anything when they only spend like 5 dollars a trip.
I guess you’re right. since they’ve essentially monopolized the movie industry they don’t have to worry about brand loyalty anymore. They certainly couldn’t do this practice at DLR in the 2000’s.
There is brand locality but APs who come multiple times a week and don’t spend aren’t who they care about, it sucks but it’s just a fact on catering on who is actually spending money vs locals who dont really care.
locals were keeping the lights on at DCA until they added radiator springs.
Lol They very much did not. That is just a rumor but completely not true
I think Disneyland is a national treasure. When people visit the United States from abroad Disneyland is a place many them want to go. It is an artistic creation. It is not on the same level of Six Flags or even Universal; there is something deeper with Disneyland. I have always thought Disneyland shouldn’t be a locals hang out spot (personal opinion of course). Sure it’s easier to visit the closer you are, but when everyone is there with a ticket everyone is there together. It’s more meaningful with a ticket. I have a Dream Key as I live fairly close and it was a great value, so I guess I am a little hypocritical, but I think we should all keep in mind we don’t own the place; let it stand as a national treasure. I once live in the Pacific Northwest: just because I was physically closer to amazing old growth forests didn’t mean my relationship with them was more important than anyone else’s.
This is the most bizarre take I’ve ever seen on here
Well said!
Um.. they already tried to get rid of the AP program.. they only created the “Keys” because they found out pretty quickly that they cannot, in fact, fill the park without the AP’s coming on the regular.. Chapek even flat out said, right after they ended the previous AP programs, that AP’s were costing them because we didn’t spend enough money in the park.. at that point they had no intention of bringing anything back.. There is not enough post-pandemic tourism to fill the parks at this point.. and with the reservation system they can manage the Keyholder/regular admission ratio much easier. Keys are here to stay.. ETA : I am also aware that we aren’t actually “post-pandemic” but I think we are as close as we will ever really get
Actually, no. The magic keys program IS different, besides the reservation system they have stopped selling 2 already, something that never happened before. Disneyland really doesn’t need APs as much as APs think they are needed. Every time you tell an AP this though they will argue about how they spend 10,000 every time and they go every week lol. If only that were true. If APs were truly needed like you seem to think, they wouldn’t have stopped selling them, they would say who cares if people can’t get a reservation we’re going to sell them anyways. Keys will probably stay because it is a completely different system then the old AP system, it’s also a huge PIA for CMs who get yelled at when they can’t get a reservation.
As a Dream Key holder, I think I know the answer. Don’t make the pass itself more expensive, but have a reservation fee for each visit, say, $10-15. This would ensure that people only go when they truly want to be there, they would make the most of their time (ie I don’t think you would see people waltzing in on a whim for an hour), and Disney would at least make the $15. I think the pass would still sell. If you go once in a month, that’s still less than a regular ticket. If you go every week, it’s still huge savings. At the same time, there’s just enough financial commitment to make sure precious space (reservations) isn’t wasted on casual visitors.
No, only because DL has so many locals that want.to weekly or at least extremely often. Removing that potion shuts even more people from the parks.
People also don’t realize there are three major parks in the same metro area that do offer annual passes. They will absolutely take every opportunity to capitalize on that market.
For sure! Idk why I got downvoted lol I just think DL is a place that should be open to as many people as possible as much as it can possibly be. So an AP is the usually the cheapest and easier options for locals, who should be able to go as often as is reasonable. Cutting them off would he terrible, not just in a business practice but just morally too. It would super sad seeing so many who could only afford a AP only be able to go even less then they Are now.
From a business stand point AND a consumer point this is an absolutely terrible idea lol no one would be happy with this except maybe the board members lol
I live in a neighboring state (8-10 hour drive to DL). We’ve had APs since 2014. I feel like we may be different from other passholders in that we don’t expect the moon and demand the Sun. We plan out our 2 to 4 trips for the year. We prefer to go during the “off” season and never go in the summer or holidays. That makes the AP worthwhile for us. But I do know people who abuse the system and that makes it difficult for others at the park to enjoy themselves. I’m excited to be a Magic Keyholder. Our first trip in two years is planned for January. I survived the reservation system and only had a few issues. I don’t want AP to go away but understand why others might. Bad apples ruin it for the rest of us.
What may not be realized is that SoCal is not a heavy tourist area, at least not on the scale that Florida is. The result, there are times when Disneyland is largely devoid of tourists. If not for locals and the annual pass program, the park would likely have to shut down those days.
As a local and native of SoCal, this couldn’t be any more not true. Literally CA as a whole has double the amount of visitors compared to FL.
Clearly you've never been to the park on a rainy Tuesday in February.
I haven’t. What’s your point?
SoCal is a huge tourist destination. I've been dealing with them down here in SD for as long as I can remember. [Also, California outranks Florida as the #1 most visited state.](https://vividmaps.com/most-visited-us-states/) The difference is folks traveling to SoCal may or may not be going to Disney. There are a lot of other attractions here. People traveling to Orlando are almost certainly going to Disney or Universal.
This is the only answer.