Why Disneyland Retired Its Annual Pass Program
Over the pass couple of weeks, we’ve shared with you Disneyland’s decision to put the breaks on its Annual Passholder program. And though most locals where expecting Disney to hit pause due to nearly a year long closure as a result of COVID-19, they weren’t expecting it to go away completely but that is exactly what has happened!
A recent piece in the Orange County Register suggests that the demise of the program can be chalked up to do factors: A loyal fan base (estimated at 1 million passholders) and the state mandated 25% capacity limit once the them parks do reopen.
As the OC Register puts it, The prospect of a teeming horde of passholders looming outside Disneyland’s virtual gates represented a massive operational nightmare that threatened to overwhelm an advanced reservation online system planned for the Anaheim theme park.”
During an interview with reporters, Disneyland President Ken Potrock said of the decision, It’s sort of a new world that we’re going to have to deal with as we move forward under these restrictions.” He continued, “When you think about those restrictions and you think about the size of our annual pass program it’s simply not feasible for us to continue to operate the annual pass program the way that it’s been operating in the past.”
Photo: Disney
Under best estimates neither Disneyland nor Disney California Adventure are expected to reopen their attractions until late Spring or early Summer. As a result, the decision was made to cancel the membership program and unveil a new scheme at a later date. However, Disney officials aren’t saying much in the way of what the new passes will look like!
Potrock, in speaking to the press said that there was no choice put to “sunset” the current annual pass program. “Change is not easy. We get that. It’s frightening,” said Potrock. . “And by the way, it’s frightening for everybody involved here. But this is change that’s required. We don’t have any other options.”
“We have to look at the holistic attendance of the park and how we manage our way through that,” Potrock said. “When we do reopen we fully expect that we’re going to be opening in a very different and new way using a reservation system that’s going to help us manage our way through capacity constraints that are going to be placed on us.”
During an earnings call earlier in the year, new Disney CEO Bob Chapek was clear that travelers are a bigger money-earner for Disney than passholders. “Typically someone who travels and stays for five days to seven days is marginally more valuable to the business than someone who comes in on an annual pass and stays a day or two and consumes less merchandise and food and beverage,” The CEO said.
Martin Lewison, a theme park expert at Farmingdale State College in New York, said Disneyland has wanted to restructure its annual passholder program for years. “Disneyland used to be the best regional amusement park in the world, but years and years of heavy investment have created a resort so popular that it does not have the capacity to satisfy its insatiable demand,” Lewison told the OC Register over email. “Over time, with so many annual passes in circulation and with the park improving and renewing, the annual passholders have begun to crowd out other types of visitors, even as prices for annual passes have increased and more and more restrictions and blackout dates have been added.”
Since annual passes are essential a discount on theme park admissions at a certain point its no longer effective to offer passes when full price visitors are where Disney makes more money. Lewis added, “It may make sense to find other ways of showing appreciation to the most loyal and devoted fans. Disney has to decide on a balance.”
Dennis Speigel with International Theme Park Services had this to say about pass programs, “The season pass program has gotten out of control at all of the parks.” He continued, “You plant it and it just goes crazy and wild. I don’t think the industry has control over their season passholders.”
This is a story we’ll continue to follow closely. Readers are encouraged to keep checking in with us for further news and updates!
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Source: Orange County Register
