Disney world ending their Annual Pass (Not)

No, say it ain't so! I'm SHOCKED the interwebs ain't always right, and factual, and stuff! ;)

Part of the problem with these bad news drops is it make the rumors seem more believable. Like six months, if I read a rumor DL was going to rip out a prized attraction I would have said, "that's bananas and not going to happen." I don't think the AP would have ran this story pre-Covid.

If I read on twitter, DL to rip out XYZ Opening Day Attraction.... I would probably panic before trying to verify it. And I would still worry, the inaccurate info is running wild, partially due to lack of solid info.
 
I just renewed our annual passes(last week), , but I am very worried about what will happen in the near future. As DL is mostly locals, and cancelled AP, then seems logical WDW, mostly tourists, would do something similar as they don't rely as heavily on APs. I am at least expecting to see a change, maybe more black out dates across the boards including for Platinum Passholders etc. I find the prospect quite depressing, especially coupled with the end of extra magic hours.
 
I just renewed our annual passes(last week), , but I am very worried about what will happen in the near future. As DL is mostly locals, and cancelled AP, then seems logical WDW, mostly tourists, would do something similar as they don't rely as heavily on APs. I am at least expecting to see a change, maybe more black out dates across the boards including for Platinum Passholders etc. I find the prospect quite depressing, especially coupled with the end of extra magic hours.

I think the big reason they are doing this at Disneyland is that there are too many annual passholders at DLR (especially for if/when they reopen with reduced capacity) and some have legacy perks that keep rolling over that they really want to get rid of

The "too many passholders" is not an issue at WDW so I don't think they would need to just sunset the program at WDW the same way they are doing so at Disneyland. Now, I could see pretty significant adjustments, such as a drastic increase to the platinum pass to push more people to passes that have more blackout dates and are focused on the slower times, etc.

Just looking at current pricing, a Platinum Florida Resident pass was $899 (and less than that if renewing). So even if you just average 2 days a month, that comes to ~$37/day ... pretty affordable all things considered. Even if they doubled it, that would still be a decent value if you are local and going several times a month

So jack that one up a bunch and push passholders to passes that move them away from the times out of state folks are most able to come (and pay high prices for) and they are good with that, I would think
 


Actually Disney World has more passes that are blocked especially for Floridians. I know several friends and myself who have used these. From the after 4 Epcot pass to Weekday pluses. So that kind of AP pass for Floridians already exists. Not to mention silver passes that they were really pushing 2019. Plus some of these passes are blocked during the summer months and week of Christmas and New Years.

So if you live in Florida you do not have to buy the $900 dollar Platinum. But the price is you get blocked during certain times
 
Actually Disney World has more passes that are blocked especially for Floridians. I know several friends and myself who have used these. From the after 4 Epcot pass to Weekday pluses. So that kind of AP pass for Floridians already exists. Not to mention silver passes that they were really pushing 2019. Plus some of these passes are blocked during the summer months and week of Christmas and New Years.

So if you live in Florida you do not have to buy the $900 dollar Platinum. But the price is you get blocked during certain times

Not sure if this was in response to my post, but in case it was, I didn't mean to imply that there weren't these types of passes at WDW, I think think they will make the price variance much greater than the current one to push more people to the non-paltinum options (I am sure they will all increase in price just the platinum a lot more )
 
I think at DL, the membership will be what it implies, a monthly membership, what benefits there will be are up for debate, but if successful, I could see it being changed at all parks, including Disney World. Disney could then tie the systems together in some form. The only exception would be Tokyo since they are not owned by Disney.
 


The Internet says 1982 but the Internet says a lot of things that are less than factual.
Yes, WDW Annual Pass was introduced in 1982 when Epcot opened.

The cost in 1982 was $100 (tax included), about $270 in today's dollars, but only included 2 theme parks.

By the time of Disney's Hollywood Studios opening in 1989, the price was $180 ($375 in inflation adjusted dollars).

By the time of Disney's Animal Kingdom opening in 1998, the price was $299 ($475).
 
Well, I just received my WDW AP renewal exchange certificates in the mail today, so that was a positive sign for the short term at least :)
 
Yes, WDW Annual Pass was introduced in 1982 when Epcot opened.

The cost in 1982 was $100 (tax included), about $270 in today's dollars, but only included 2 theme parks.

By the time of Disney's Hollywood Studios opening in 1989, the price was $180 ($375 in inflation adjusted dollars).

By the time of Disney's Animal Kingdom opening in 1998, the price was $299 ($475).
I would love to see the cost per attraction (include shows and other entertainment that doesn't cost extra) then (and adjusted for inflation) vs now. I don't have that ability, but I think it would be an interesting comparison to see value. I honestly can't speculate what the best value is, but I am curious.
 
Thank you for the link. I agree on the 2022 projections.

I just hope passholders aren’t priced out of the parks or blocked out from specific days across all passholder tiers. This was kind of alluded to by the recent Disneyland passholders surveys they sent out.

I get that they are losing money and they need to filter out the crowds that don’t spend big on hotels and merchandise right now. This whole reservation thing is crazy too. Unless you are quick, you likely won’t be able to get in on weekends when most everyone is out of work and school and looking to book reservations. Hollywood studios is a good example. We haven’t been able to get in their on a weekend for a while.
 
I agree, that is what I am afraid of as well. Seems like there will be more restrictions, even for the platinum passes as we are seen as taking up "spots that could have gone to more profitable guests".
 
I agree, that is what I am afraid of as well. Seems like there will be more restrictions, even for the platinum passes as we are seen as taking up "spots that could have gone to more profitable guests".

I don't think it is just that those spots could have gone to more profitable guests, but also that those "more profitable per day" guests are coming and complaining about the crowds - so I think the big thing they want is to really even out the crowds and have on those popular times (school breaks, etc) be largely people on vacation paying a lot per day they are there and then "push" the passholders to the days that the holiday vacationers aren't there

And looking at that survey it fits - seems like there could be reasonably priced passes but that limit you to the "slow" times (and maybe include a few "anytime passes") but if you want to come when the non-passhokdera are coming it will cost you
 
I just hope passholders aren’t priced out of the parks or blocked out from specific days across all passholder tiers. This was kind of alluded to by the recent Disneyland passholders surveys they sent out.

I get that they are losing money and they need to filter out the crowds that don’t spend big on hotels and merchandise right now. This whole reservation thing is crazy too. Unless you are quick, you likely won’t be able to get in on weekends when most everyone is out of work and school and looking to book reservations. Hollywood studios is a good example. We haven’t been able to get in their on a weekend for a while.

We're only the weekday AP tier. I have concerns that this reformulation of the tiers will limit our ability to go to a park on whim.
 
We're only the weekday AP tier. I have concerns that this reformulation of the tiers will limit our ability to go to a park on whim.
I wonder if our MagicBand keeps a running average total of how much we spent ... glad I bought that Dooney & Burke on my Disney Visa and subscribe to
Disney+, d23, DVC direct, Castaway Club, Starbucks Gold, Lego Club,
Tables in Wonderland
No Club 33 unfortunately...
“Whats on your band? “
 
I wonder if our MagicBand keeps a running average total of how much we spent ... glad I bought that Dooney & Burke on my Disney Visa and subscribe to
Disney+, d23, DVC direct, Castaway Club, Starbucks Gold, Lego Club,
Tables in Wonderland
No Club 33 unfortunately...
“Whats on your band? “
In response, I recently had a problem making reservation and called, put on hold, ... I felt they were checking my recent stays for some reason and they realized I spent a $$$ on recent holiday visit and were more willing to give me a small discount on the room. Weird that I have never felt this way before . I guess I passed the valuable guest test.
 
We're only the weekday AP tier. I have concerns that this reformulation of the tiers will limit our ability to go to a park on whim.

If the recent disneyland surveys are any indication of what it’s going to be like, I believe that the “going to the park on a whim” days are over. With a reservation system in place, they can control the crowds to ensure a good experience for segment of guests they deem as most profitable.

There are a few exceptions. My family of 4 has for platinum annual passes. We fly in from out of state 3-4 times again staying on property and spending a ton of money on Disney food and merchandise. One of those visits includes a 2 weeks stay on property. This is why an AP was valuable to us for long stays. I know there are a lot of families out there who are like us.

There is no easy solution that will please everyone. They are hemorrhaging money like crazy. I want them to stay healthy as a company so that they can continue to bring us the magic. If that means sacrificing a lititle in the short term. I have no problem with that I suppose. I just don’t like the feeling of being restricted.
 

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