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When Disneyland’s annual pass debuted in 1984, it only sold for $ 65. Things were different then: Splash Mountain didn’t exist yet. Star Tours either. And the park was closed most Mondays and Tuesdays except during the summer.
Over the next 37 years, the annual pass program has been extended, tweaked, and adjusted on several occasions, with varying levels and days blocked, as attendance skyrocketed and the Walt Disney Co. worked for continue the offer without reaching its capacity limit. often.
Then this week it ended. Ten months after Disneyland and the adjacent Disney California Adventure Park closed due to the still raging COVID-19 pandemic, Disney halted the program. Executives promise there will be alternative deals in the future, but they have yet to give details.
Once the pandemic is alleviated enough for Anaheim’s parks to reopen, theme park experts predict, the pass program will return in one form or another, with a further overhaul to address the stubborn overcrowding issue of the park. park and maximize profits.
What will happen to people who had annual passes?
People who paid for annual passes that lasted beyond the parks closure in March must receive automatic refunds for the days the parks were closed. Pass holders active after the parks close will continue to enjoy discounts on food and drink at the Downtown Disney restaurant and shopping district adjacent to Anaheim Parks and California Adventure’s Buena Vista Street.
Additionally, current pass holders will get a 30% discount on select merchandise at select stores Monday through Thursday through February 25.
Why would Disney end the program?
While Disney does not release attendance figures, a report by engineering firm AECOM estimates that in 2019, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park saw a combined total of 28.4 million visitors. The number of people with annual passes has long been estimated to be around one million.
The annual pass program was probably profitable, but pass holders tend to be residents of Southern California who visit frequently – as often as once a week or even daily – and spend less per visit. in food and souvenirs than tourists.
Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park appreciate low-spending visitors when they haven’t reached capacity, especially on low-demand days like mid-week or in the fall after the kids return to school . But now that the parks are regularly approaching or reaching capacity, Disney prefers the limited park space to be filled with high-spending out of town visitors, according to theme park experts.
“On a per visit basis, annual pass holders don’t make a lot of money for the park,” said John Gerner, a theme park expert and managing director of Leisure Business Advisors. “When they had excess capacity, it made sense. Now they don’t have that ability.
The end of the annual pass program now allows Disney executives to revamp the program to increase profits, he said.
For Disney, Gerner said, “It could be a blessing in disguise.”
Will the replacement of the annual pass program offer options for budget-conscious Disney fans?
To reduce overcrowding, Disney adopted a new pricing policy at Disneyland and other US theme parks in 2016, which reduced ticket prices for low demand days and increased them for more popular times. Known as dynamic pricing, such systems were already in use in places such as cinemas and sports arenas.
Three years later, Disneyland Resort introduced the Flex Pass, a lower-cost annual pass that allows park visitors to travel unrestricted most of the time Monday through Thursday, when demand is typically low. But on most weekends and during the high-demand summer months, Flex Pass holders should make reservations before showing up at the parks.
Theme park experts predict that future Disney programs will continue to rely on dynamic pricing to entice locals to visit on slow days, thus spreading crowds more evenly throughout the year.
“Whether we like it or not, aggressive pricing is coming into the industry,” said Dennis Speigel, Managing Director of International Theme Park Services.
In announcing the end of the annual pass program, Disneyland Resort President Ken Potrock hinted that the replacement will offer a variety of price points.
“I think we’re going to look at all of these different – I’ll use a marketing term – ‘buckets’ of consumers, figure out what they want and build a program around that so that we can affectively distribute traffic in a way. which allows us to optimize what we have and satisfy the greatest number of people the way they want to be satisfied, ”he said.
Will the replacement program be more expensive?
Disneyland’s annual pass program had six options. The highest tier: a $ 2,199 pass that offered access to Disney Parks in Anaheim and Orlando, Florida, without blocking any dates.
Industry experts predict that Disney will relaunch the annual pass program with even more options to try and cater to as many fans as possible, including those willing to pay top dollar for maximum flexibility.
Martin Lewison, professor of business management at Farmingdale State College in New York, noted that Disney parks have been steadily increasing prices for several years without seeing footfall decline. This suggests that they can charge even higher prices without losing demand, he said.
“When you increase prices and demand doesn’t decrease, that means you are leaving money on the table,” he said.
Once the pandemic is under control, he said, demand will be extremely high, giving Disney the green light to charge much more.
“Because people don’t travel, the vacation piggy bank is inflating and Disney wants to take its share of the piggy bank,” Lewison said.
Potrock said the shape of the replacement program will be guided by suggestions from guests, annual pass holders and fans, among others.
“These tips will help us create a program for the future. And that’s a big problem, ”he said. “We are building on a current program created with our new standard in mind.”
How quickly can Disney launch the replacement program?
The reopening of Disneyland and Disney California Adventure Park depends on the ability of Orange County residents to slow the spread of the coronavirus and the speed of vaccine distribution.
But even after COVID-19 vaccines have been widely distributed and the number of virus cases decreases, theme parks probably won’t launch an annual pass program right away, experts expect. sector. This is because day tickets generate more revenue per visit and help parks control the number of people entering.
If demand for the parks remains high after fighting the pandemic, Disney is likely to take advantage of this surge by postponing the launch of an annual pass program for as long as possible, Gerner said: “My instinct would be that even next year is probably questionable. “
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