Magic Key Reservation Availability Is A Joke

[disneychrista]

They are, there’s another thread on it .

Thread 'Magic Key sales back on 1/22!'

Thursday at 1:23 PM

According to Scott Gustin, all 4 keys will be available on 1/22:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1879952941240766745

(Maybe they'll open up some MK availability for reservations in light of this? A GIRL CAN DREAM ANYWAY.)

• Lisa24jks
• Replies: 42
• Forum: Disneyland (California)

• 

Technically this isn't an announcement from Disney but Scott is usually spot on with his announcements.

 

[Lisa24jks]

Technically this isn't an announcement from Disney but Scott is usually spot on with his announcements.

It was also on the official Magic Key instagram account and Facebook account. I don't think it was on the official parks account yet though. But it's official official.

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

https://fb.watch/x9jU4tSoD4

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

It was also on the official Magic Key instagram account and Facebook account. I don't think it was on the official parks account yet though. But it's official official.

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

https://fb.watch/x9jU4tSoD4

I have already gotten an e-mail about it today direct from Disney, so they have the direct communications going out. Of course I have been a Magic Key holder since they first went on sale, so not sure why they are wasting their time on me.

 

[Lisa24jks]

I have already gotten an e-mail about it today direct from Disney, so they have the direct communications going out. Of course I have been a Magic Key holder since they first went on sale, so not sure why they are wasting their time on me.

I got it too, but was like... I just renewed on Monday but thanks. LOL. I guess they want me to know in case I want to buy one for family or friends, but nah, those suckers are on their own.

 

[ComeToSocialize]

Yes, I’m suggesting they should sell less MK.

You believe they have a targeted range of MK, and out the passes on sale when renewals and thus their base drops. I would dispute this - they put MK on sale for a length period early last year, then for a shorter period later in the year. I doubt they had that many people not renews. And park reservation availability became much tighter vs. similar prior periods.

I would bet the MK base is significantly higher than it was this time last year. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was more than it would be without the “controls” as FOMO itself has lead to many sales.

If they sell fewer MKs, then they will raise the price. I'm sure they've figured out the sweet spot of how many MKs they can sell where reservation availability is annoying but not causing too many people to cancel.

I really think a lot of these issues could be resolved by having stricter cancellation rules honestly. Availability always pops up night before or evening morning of. Disney's system forces people to book "just in case" then cancel if they decide not to go (or pop in when they probably wouldn't just because they don't want to get a strike). This booking just in case just further exacerbates the reservation capacity issues.

A stricter policy against booking and cancelling might free up capacity. A lot of work out classes do this where you have unlimited visits, but if you book and don't show, they charge you EXTRA. Not sure if Disney should go that far, but something to break the "book just in case" cycle would help.

 

[KimberMama]

I don't think Disney has an incentive to break the "book just in case cycle" as it frees up reservations last minute, which makes some MK holders happy. They don't need to charge extra for a no show, as they have a policy in place to punish MK holders with multiple no shows.

I book about 3 Saturdays per month "just in case", and so far I've only cancelled due to illness -- every other time we've chosen to go. As a previous Sig+ AP holders, we typically decided Friday night if we wanted to go on Saturday. Since we can't do that any longer, we now book out the reservations and change them as necessary. It's the only way to get close the spontaneity we used to have.

 

[Lisa24jks]

I don't think Disney has an incentive to break the "book just in case cycle" as it frees up reservations last minute, which makes some MK holders happy. They don't need to charge extra for a no show, as they have a policy in place to punish MK holders with multiple no shows.

Personally, I just wish they had something in place for non-local keyholders. Because while locals can sit in their house the night before and wait for others to cancel so they can reserve the next day, those of us who aren't locals... cannot. And yes, I know we're vastly outnumbered by the locals and Disney isn't going to cater to MY specific needs. But right now I'm trying to plan a February trip and I really wanted to go the 1st and 2nd, but no reservations. And I'm not going to book a hotel and drive all the way down there in the HOPES that reservations will free up.

But, yes, I know the world doesn't revolve around me. And normally I would have planned it further in advance, but the past month has been absolute chaos in my personal life. (Plus, I had to wait to renew my MK until Monday... because of all that chaos, so I couldn't make February "just in case" reservations even if I wanted to.) Ohhhhh well.

 

[KimberMama]

@Lisa24jks I can see how that is difficult, because you aren’t close enough to be absolutely spontaneous. If you stay on property, maybe you could get reservations through the hotel bucket?

For us, we’re local enough that we can make spontaneity work, although it’s not as easy as it was for 7-8 years ago, because current dog is still working on barking issues and can’t be left home all day. Oldest young adult kid usually works on Saturdays and we work it out that we leave super early and do rope drop while he takes the dog to daycare, and then we have to get back in time to pick up the dog before 5 (which means leaving DL between 2-2:30). But his weekends will be otherwise occupied several times a month February - June, so we have to figure out something else.

 

[LKing]

Personally, I just wish they had something in place for non-local keyholders. Because while locals can sit in their house the night before and wait for others to cancel so they can reserve the next day, those of us who aren't locals... cannot. And yes, I know we're vastly outnumbered by the locals and Disney isn't going to cater to MY specific needs. But right now I'm trying to plan a February trip and I really wanted to go the 1st and 2nd, but no reservations.

Feb 1 & 2 is the Run Disney weekend.

 

[Lisa24jks]

@Lisa24jks I can see how that is difficult, because you aren’t close enough to be absolutely spontaneous. If you stay on property, maybe you could get reservations through the hotel bucket?

on property is not in my budget, unfortunately. Especially because I get family rate at Hilton properties. If I stayed on property, that would be one visit per year and thus no reason to have a magic key. Ah well. I think we ALL want a little more flexibility with reservations regardless of our situations.

Feb 1 & 2 is the Run Disney weekend.

See, I’ve been so out of the loop due to personal chaos I completely forgot that! Think I’ll go with my alternate dates of February 15-16 then!

 

[LAS2AMS]

That $103 to $206 might be a single park ticket. It's an additional $65-75/ticket for a park hopper which is included for Magic Keys. We had the Enchant Key and dropped it because we live out of state and it was difficult to make our particular schedule work with the block out dates. I enjoyed it for the time we had it and really liked the discounts. I can't wait to retire and take advantage of the Magic Key savings.

Well I acknowledged the break even will differ from person to person. But the lion’s share of MK sales are SoCal residents. And right now, SoCal residents can purchase tickets for $67/day, in 3day increments good through mid-May. Park hopping adds $30/day… that’s almost 1/2 the cost of the ticket.

If you’re a local, park hopping makes sense only if you’re pressed for time or money is not an issue. Otherwise, purchasing six non-hopping days makes far more sense ($111 extra for six days vs. three hopping days).

My point is, when you calculate break even you should consider normal consumption and consider everything else value added. That is, when I make a decision to purchase the MK, I would consider each visit via mid-May at $67 and everything else value added (park hopping, late night visits after work, etc.)

Another way of looking at it… Cedar Fair parks like Knott’s offer a season dining package that allows two meals per visit (four hours apart) for $145. A lot of blogs point out that a slice of pizza is $19, so just one visit is $38. But the problem is, almost nobody is going to purchase a second slice for $19 - they’re going to get something on the way home. And a savy person would buy a meal voucher on the day of their visit for $15, which also includes a drink, making the break even of the pass 10+ visits.

My point is… don’t follow Alice down the rabbit hole in financial traps!

 

[AstroBlasters]

Personally, I just wish they had something in place for non-local keyholders. Because while locals can sit in their house the night before and wait for others to cancel so they can reserve the next day, those of us who aren't locals... cannot. And yes, I know we're vastly outnumbered by the locals and Disney isn't going to cater to MY specific needs. But right now I'm trying to plan a February trip and I really wanted to go the 1st and 2nd, but no reservations. And I'm not going to book a hotel and drive all the way down there in the HOPES that reservations will free up.

But, yes, I know the world doesn't revolve around me. And normally I would have planned it further in advance, but the past month has been absolute chaos in my personal life. (Plus, I had to wait to renew my MK until Monday... because of all that chaos, so I couldn't make February "just in case" reservations even if I wanted to.) Ohhhhh well.

If you stay in one of the in property hotels then you can book your MK theme park reservation through the hotel reservation in the app and there will be availability.

I’m looking right now and every day in Feb is available for both parks.

 

[Lisa24jks]

If you stay in one of the in property hotels then you can book your MK theme park reservation through the hotel reservation in the app and there will be availability.

I’m looking right now and every day in Feb is available for both parks.

I told another poster upthread that on-property is not in my budget, but thanks!

 

[AstroBlasters]

I told another poster upthread that on-property is not in my budget, but thanks!

It wasn’t in our budget until we bought into Disney Vacation club. Worth looking into if you go every year.

 

[Lisa24jks]

It wasn’t in our budget until we bought into Disney Vacation club. Worth looking into if you go every year.

Absolutely not in my budget either. I get a Hilton Friends & Family discount, which is the only reason I have a Magic Key. (Because it makes it more affordable to take multiple trips per year since I don't have to pay a fortune for a room.) Plus, DLR isn't my only travel destination so I gotta save money for other trips as well. Its just not feasible or reasonable to stay on property at DLR for me.

 

[KimberMama]

Well I acknowledged the break even will differ from person to person. But the lion’s share of MK sales are SoCal residents. And right now, SoCal residents can purchase tickets for $67/day, in 3day increments good through mid-May. Park hopping adds $30/day… that’s almost 1/2 the cost of the ticket.

If you’re a local, park hopping makes sense only if you’re pressed for time or money is not an issue. Otherwise, purchasing six non-hopping days makes far more sense ($111 extra for six days vs. three hopping days).

My point is, when you calculate break even you should consider normal consumption and consider everything else value added. That is, when I make a decision to purchase the MK, I would consider each visit via mid-May at $67 and everything else value added (park hopping, late night visits after work, etc.)

Another way of looking at it… Cedar Fair parks like Knott’s offer a season dining package that allows two meals per visit (four hours apart) for $145. A lot of blogs point out that a slice of pizza is $19, so just one visit is $38. But the problem is, almost nobody is going to purchase a second slice for $19 - they’re going to get something on the way home. And a savy person would buy a meal voucher on the day of their visit for $15, which also includes a drink, making the break even of the pass 10+ visits.

My point is… don’t follow Alice down the rabbit hole in financial traps!

We bought MKs to enjoy Disneyland during the holidays, and we bought the MKs before the Disney+ subscriber offer was available, so those tickets weren't an option for us at the time and as such I don't use them in my calculations. The current cheap SoCal offer doesn't cover holiday time, so again, not an option for what we wanted. I say we have more than broken even because I priced out tickets for the days we've been so far (inducing a 3 day ticket -- I'm not doing tricky math and pretending I would have had to buy 3 separate tickets).

I agree that during the time of the SoCal in 2025 offer MKs provide less dollar value per day. But I'm already past having gotten full value from my pass, so it doesn't matter to me. In 2025, the best value from the MK is going to come on weekends in summer and during holiday time. If a person only wants to go to the parks January through mid-May, the SoCal offer is the more economical choice for most people, up until the point they go so many days that the MK becomes the better choice. That will depend on which MKs they would choose.

We did Knott's APs with the meal plan one year, and yes we were there long enough to get two meals each time -- why would we pay for food on the way home when we could use the meal plan? We had teenagers at the time and the meal plan was a great value. But overall I don't care for Knott's or their food (other than the BBQ offerings), so we'll never do that again.

I disagree that it doesn't make sense for locals to park hop. I would even say it makes perfect sense to enjoy the attractions and food you prefer each time you go to the resort. Park hopping is so easy. When I go with my son we'll spend almost all of our time at DL, then hop to DCA to ride the Incredicoaster and for him to get a vegan hot dog (which DL doesn't offer anymore). In the past with APs we often hopped just to eat at Pacific Wharf Cafe (which I don't enjoy as much as Aunt Cass).

Anyway, I don't think MKs are a financial trap. We can afford them. We pay them in full when we buy them, we don't use the monthly payment plan (and we pay off the credit card fully each month). I'm a firm believer in not buying anything we can't afford to buy outright (even cars). We don't only want to go during the SoCal ticket offer months. And as DH has pointed out, there is more than just monetary value in MKs.

 

[Lisa24jks]

Heads up! A lot of previously unavailable dates for February just opened up for Inspire Key (not sure about other keys). I was able to get the second date in February I needed finally.

I'm guessing I was actually right about them opening up MK reservations with Magic Key sales happening now.

 

[LAS2AMS]

We’ll see. I followed last weekend, and Fri/ Sat/ Sun/ Mon didn’t dump availability on the day of. Mon surprised me - yes it was a day off for schools and many office workers, but the weather was absolutely terrible. Very high chilly winds coupled with very cold temps. Yet that didn’t cool the red hot crowds…

 

[dizneedoll]

I just bought my MK (Inspire) about 30 min ago and made park reservations for this weekend and the weekend of Feb 8. There was wide open availability.

 

[LAS2AMS]

I just bought my MK (Inspire) about 30 min ago and made park reservations for this weekend and the weekend of Feb 8. There was wide open availability.

Because they dumped a ton of availability. Maybe to help facilitate sales of MK? Even Valentine’s Day is available - and it’s been gone since late November, sans a few brief cameo appearances.