Disney has made it hard for Annual Passholders to get access to the park or glean value in favor of daily guests. That plan is backfiring.
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Disney Moved to Swap Customers
On Disney’s 2020 Q3 earnings call, the executive team made it clear that daily guests and visitors to the resort that do not have an Annual Pass are more valuable to the company.
In subsequent posts I have noted that this thinking makes sense when considering two factors: 1) Capacity Controls that limit the number of visitors to the park (they have to choose which customers to accept) and 2) Revenue per visit on a unit basis but not including total absolute spending.
In a prior post, I mentioned that Disney executives were rather open about choosing one-time guests over Annual Passholders. Disney CEO, Bob Chepak’s logic is simple:
“We just replace local and annual passholders with some of the falloff that we’ve necessarily seen from the long-distance travelers. I will say that our research indicates that — and our bookings indicate that, you know, we should be in good shape once consumer confidence sort of returns.”
Later, he added this:
“All I’ll follow up on the parks question is that, as you know, different guests, depending on where they’re coming from, have different relative values in terms of their contribution as a guest to the park. And typically, someone who travels and stays for five 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, you know, merchandise and food and beverage. So, the way I would look at it is that it’s just as that constituency changes a little bit, so do our overall margins change. But it’s not because of price reductions or anything like that.”
Every business has this struggle. Take, for example, a local coffee shop. Their regular customers that stop by every morning for a cup of coffee spend less money per visit than one-time guests. They are given discounts, frequent visitor punch cards, and are less likely to bring a group of others with them. But it’s, of course, not as simple as choosing to exclude your most frequent guests and only accept one-time guests who spend more on a per-visit basis but less annually.
The Plan Backfired
As disclosed last week, Disney is having trouble filling the parks even to its lowered capacity. The plan was to swap consistent but lower-margin customers for inconsistent but higher margin customers.
Disney is finding out the hard way that the customers that come to Disney no matter what and pay thousands per person for annual passes are also the ones most likely to visit when others will delay trips. One-time guests haven’t shown up to the park as expected, opting instead to cancel trips. Still, Disney persists in their plan to limit access for Annual Passholders in favor of declining infrequent guests.
Will Disney Change Its Mind
As a business person, I can understand Disney’s strategy. After all, they have a limited number of guests they can permit entry to the parks so ideally, those that are permitted should be higher daily value. However, some Annual Passholders – aka easy money – have cancelled their passes (as Disney stated in their earnings call.)
With fewer high-value guests maintaining their reservations, Disney will be foolish not to fill the parks to its reduced capacity. Some Orlando-based Annual Passholders would go to Epcot just for dinner but without the ability to gain entry to the parks, Disney forgoes that revenue in favor of guests who are not materializing.
The parks will be forced to recant their abuse of Annual Passholders or lose an even greater number of them and the consistent, no-work revenue that comes with them. It’s possible that they maintain the current course but they pass up revenue opportunities the longer this remains the policy.
Conclusion
Disney’s guest gamble hasn’t paid off the way CEO Chepak had hoped. Instead of leaning into the guests who have been loyal and consistent, he opted for less reliable but higher revenue-per-visit guests that have failed to keep their reservations. Maintaining this policy will lead to lower revenue for the company in both the near and long term and could cause the company more harm than good. Losing reliable revenue for the benefit of short term gain is always a high-risk game to play, but when the plan doesn’t work, it will take far more effort and future incentives to get those disenfranchised back on Disney’s side.
What do you think? Should Disney reverse course? Will the gamble play out better in the future?
The interesting question an analyst would ask is how are they allocating visitor acquisition costs between pass holders and one time guests. With total visitors down I have to imagine they are fiddling with this metric.
Disney is letting greed over annual passholder loyalty.
My annual pass expired and they offered no help except that I can pay in full and not being able to go when I want is stupid which I am not. Disney lost a paying customer
We not only have been annual pass holders for years but we own 5 DVC’s and now we are considering dumping everything for other venues who will appreciate our family. Disney is losing much more than money. They are losing the loyal support of quite a few of once Disney loyalists with their showing such disdain for annual pass holders and DVC families.
Disney has lost our repeat business that’s for sure.
Paid for two annual passes in January.
Due to covid we can’t go to Disneyland (still closed) and while they offered and did stop payments for those on a payment plant, their offer for partial refunds to people who paid in full is bullshit. We’ve been told that we have to wait for the park to re-open before they’re willing to process our refund, which at this point who knows when that will be.
Thankfully I’m not in need of the $ but I know others that lost their jobs and could really use the refund now and not whenever the park re-opens.
Their shitty policies regarding pass holders is causing them to lose goodwill from their most loyal of customers, that spend thousands on a yearly basis, not a smart move.
I think it’s safe to assume that even with a brand as strong as Disney that it’s much more profitable to retain customers than it is to aquire new ones.
My husband has always said that the amount of passholders here in California out number the ones in Florida…..the revenue made off of the returning passholders throughout the year versus one-time visitors are much higher
To Mike Callahan : Can you pass those 5 DVC’s to me ? I am a annual passholder and a Florida resident who would love to be able to stay at a Disney World hotel resort
As a long time Annual Pass holder to all the major parks, Disney, Universal, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, the only one I plan on renewing is Universal. Being retired I don’t want to make planes weeks or months in advance, I want to go when I want. I admit some trips are just to ride a ride but most are very expensive dinner trips, sometimes several a week. With restaurants and shops closed there is no reason for me to go. Of the hundred plus trips to theme parks per year we now only go to Universal because we don’t need a reservation.
We have have APH for 4 years now. Annual Pass Holders are the bread and butter for Disney. If they lose us and our money we spend there each time we go, it WILL hurt everyone!
I agree Disney doesn’t really tract every spending passholder discount offers on all their vendors they would see in the long term we spend more and they lost a family of 9 annual passholder s
Disney should get rid of Kathleen Kennedy, use George Lucas’ scripts they bought, redesign Galaxy Edge to be Tatoonine, use old style Stroomtrooperds (not those crappy new ones), and most importantly apologize to the pass holders and reinstate a more fair policy.
As a pass holder, I am sickened by CEO Chepak’s abuse to the pass holders that loyalty means nothing and money and greed is apparently everything in his opinion. Considering not renewing, going elsewhere is my thought. Shame on him thinking pass holders are not the added revenue for this company.
The decline of annual pass holder support is horrendous. Considering we are loyal fans and have put our time and money into all things Disney, only to get a slap in the face from Disney is disheartening and unwelcome. Seriously Disney, get your act together or we are buying Universal annual passes next go round.
Being 3 miles away from Disneyland and DCA, it is frustrating to have a Signature plus pass ($1400+)with 0 blackout dates basically now potentially holding a Flex pass ($600ish). If they do use the reservation system here it will be an extremely poor decision. We have upwards of a million pass holders here and initially tourists won’t be making trips here until the state as a whole see a significant drop in cases. I understand the game and get Disney’s thought, but when they start to sell tickets and passes here again, maybe they should limit the amount of passes that csn be purchased. New passes would only be available as old passholders don’t renew.
I’m an annual pass holder. I opted to wait and see. I saw it’s ok. Kinda depressing with no entertainment. I’ve next to WDW. We’d get board and run over all the time. That was our value. But now that’s over i have to plan and sometimes those plans are blocked. Plus the 3 reservations at a time are BS. I plan with friends all year who stay at resorts. I might be out of luck and only be able to hang 3 of the 5 days they stay. Also i spend plenty in the parks as an APH. Christmas i shop in the parks for the whole family, i eat and snack EVERY TIME i go. I’ve been now twice 1-AK and 1-Epcot. After that i was blocked out. I have one more reservation in September. But I’m not renewing that’s for sure. I’m just letting them run the course. In Nov and Dec there should be plenty of opportunity to go before both holidays. I know Disney is like any business and has to have a plan to survive, but they made some wrong moves.
Stock schuld be $80
Can you pass those 5 DVC’s to me ? Iam a annual passholder and a Florida resident who would love to be able to stay at a Disney World hotel resort
As an annual pass holder, I can tell you they will also lose a lot when many of us do not renew.
Annual passholders give disney revenue whether they come or dont, they pay upfront or monthly to come to the parks year after year as consistent patrons. No they may not rent their overpriced hotel or come everyday 7 days in a row but many come a couple of times a week, week after week. Disney is stomping on their most loyal customers, and shame on them! Every thay isn’t blocked on their pass type they should be able to sign in for a reservation, i did not renew my annual, it list its value! Shame on you disney for kicking your most local fan base
We canceled ours opted out now and won’t be renewing. What is point of having it if we can’t use it. If hours return, fireworks return. Just maybe so will we.
I am an annual passholger AND out of state customer. I’m not cancelling my pass, but not renewing. So, my 3-4 extended vacations, spent totally on property, will be spent somewhere else.
You are right I am doing the same way I have been going yearly over 30 yrs I guess they don’t care anymore that is what is destroying most businesses in America to get 3 $ more per visit they give up steady customer’s
This broke my heart. I am a die hard Disney parks person. I want to be there as much as possible when my schedule allows. This is why I have a season pass. Then they go and say I am less important to them than the people who are one time visitors. Do they know how much money I spend in Disney? Just before the shut down I took 6 people on the keys to the kingdom tour, bought 3 of the 6 tickets for the 2 days we were there and numerous other expenses. On top of my $204 a month for our 3 passes. If they want kill any chance of me ever coming back, tell them to keep it up. In one year I will be renewing my vows with my husband and we WERE considering doing that at Disney. If they do not change their ways. I will find somewhere else.
Sorry to hear this Dawn, they cartsinly are struggling with what to do/say during this unprecedented time. Hopefully they will figure things out before too many people start turning to other parks and other avenues of rntertainment, rather than spending money on a company which seems to have started a steady decline in customer service.
We will never renew our annual passes after seeing how we were treated. How about the mistake of deducting the payments when the park was closed????? Thanks so much for that debacle!!! You need to start working on your strategy to get us back – Disney is not a necessity in our lives as much as we enjoyed it. Your greed and rush to put AP’s at the back of the line is foolish and pathetic and will not be forgotten. Back to the great outdoors and REAL Florida parks!!!!
You are right .We spend a lot more than the single day customers do.+some of us hold over 200000 shares of stock. Just wait till the next stock holder meeting ? We got rid of Michael Esiner who will be next Robert Chapel he is doing a very poor job !!!!!!!!!! Time for him to gooooooooo.
As a 30 year Passholder, I am considering dropping Disney. As a business owner, my regular customers are my foundation and all others are just additional revenue. Lose your foundation and you will crumble
Disney lost our family of 5. We were already considering not renewing our passes (Oct renewal) back in January due to the crowds. Too many people with bad attitudes. Too many people with tshirts saying “most expensive day ever”. Too many grumpy out-of-towners. Disney helped us make our decision with the August deadline. Now, it’s time to “How to do Florida”.
Im so glad you have a voice of us AP’s! Im a single mom of 2 and I spend valuable money on annual passes and much more in the park. My TEEN girls are begging to visit. But, it’s not a possibility with having to plan weeks/month in advance. In 2 weeks for the 1st time in TWELVE years we are going to Universal. You know why? B/c right now Fla residents can buy a 2 park pass and go svsryday until Dec 24! This saddens me. We LOVE everyrthing Disney and I feel like now… they don’t want us
They are strategic about things. The one time visitors will be back after a vaccine is commonly available. Till then they will bleed some more… but they won’t backtrack because they’ll have to flip flop again in a year or two when they realize the money left on the table if they give more to pass holders.
Many have already canceled their AP by the August deadline.
And by “give more” you mean allowing them to enter the parks?
Nobody is suggesting “giving more”
The government already said vaccine will only last 3 months at the most and the government said 50% of the population will not even touch the vaccine. So. Good luck with that.
A annual pass is a contract. It is trust the holder puts in the company. Disney should honor the contracts it has with pass holders. My last family visits to Disney, Universal and Bush Gardens were substandard. We are done with Orlando forever. Too many other venues that are not primarily concerned with extracting money for nothing. Disney has been corrupted by pedo’s and communists for decades. It is not “Truth, Justice and the American way” but globalism and destruction of family values.
No thanks! Hope they all go bankrupt and move back where they came from.
Umm, this is the opposite of Communism. This is a money grab, which is Capitalism and unless you have some reputable source to back up your “pedo” accusation you just come across as unhinged on that front.
For starters:
https://www.newsweek.com/abc-jeffrey-epstein-story-amy-robach-prince-andrew-1469893
https://twitter.com/AnOpenSecret/status/1001614348681347074
I’d post more links but historically if someone is interested in digging further into this they’d find the truth themselves. Otherwise, its more of a “I see what you’ve got but I am going to stay stubborn to what I believe.”
As for capitalists vs communists, regardless of who rules in each system the fact is every politician is interested in making $$ but the communists push very hard to send a message/agenda.
We canceled our passes. We ate dinner, visited resorts and bought merch frequently. No point keeping passes if everything is gone and cannot get in. They are fools.
Just based on your comment, you’re probably a Trump supporter who is a Capitalist. Disney is literally and proudly run by capitalist Trump supporters. Not so fun on the consumer side, is it?
AOC? Is that you?
I stopped visiting Disney years ago. It is a great experience but not worth the excessive price anymore. They don’t pay employees well and they’ve skimped on maintenance to pay huge exec bonuses.
My kids dont even think Disney is thatMitch fun anyway. We took then in 2017 and we will never go again. That is actually pretty sad to me, as is Disney plus and the company ruining everything they touch.
This is a very accurate article to the one-time vs. annual pass holder debacle Disney is walking into.
Some OPs on this thread have personal political views which have nothing to do with this decision by Disney to shun annual passholders. they literally look dollar-for-dollar at the spreadsheet and saw that one time visitors were far more important than any will pass holders, therefore the annual passholders who regularly buy yearly passes will return.
I’ve been to Disney world twice since reopening, and will be back again in November and December. Although I do feel slighted, I do understand the reasoning behind it though, and I can also understand why it’s backfiring. They need to come up with an idea that allows annual pass holders to fill openings not being filled by resort guests. Maybe a three-day window where it locks non annual pass holders out. No one is going to decide 3 days to 7 days before a one-time visit to go to Orlando Florida and spend thousands of dollars to visit Disney world during a pandemic.
Just my opinion.
My wife absolutely loves Disney, we have been annual pass holders for 10 years. When the park closed, I along with several others had the monthly pass fee deducted from our account, they took it a week earlier when it was due. It took 3 weeks for Disney to admit the took the money and refund that amount. They did not refund the money taken from the week before. Oh we will add those days on at the end. We have annual passes to go when we feel like going, not when Disney says we can. We pay extra for the park hopper passes, that you can no longer use. A desperate money grab, we have canceled never again will we go to Disney.
My husband and I love love love Disneyland. You know, the one in LA! The original!! We have been pass holders for years. We spend a lot of money every visit! We always stay on property and have reserve seating at all shows. We enjoyed 5 trips in 2019. We average at least 4 trips a year with 2020 being the exception.
My point is, Disney can’t possibly know who spends and who doesn’t. OPEN UP ALREADY!!!!
Let people in who want to be there and have the best time of there life!!!
I guess it’s easy to discriminate against annual passholders who have already paid the premium price to get in the Parks. What’s easy for Disney because that money is already in their pockets
Except that people were able to cancel and get their money back. After seeing how they’re treating AP holders we canceled ours and will be refunded. So we took the money back out of their pockets and they’ll also lose the revenue they would have received from us had we gone back to the parks. Play stupid games…
Family of 6 annual pass holders. I even hold our company Christmas party at WDW hotels. LAST year for both. Screw me? SCREW YOU!!!
What a terrible situation we’re not annual pass holders but have been going to Disney World from the time our daughter was 7 now we take her,husband, & 2 grandchildren who have been going since 3 yrs old & 9 mos old. We had. June vac plan but had 2 reschedule to Feb. 2021. I only hope things will be back to normal I would hate to spend all the $ it’s costing and have 2 wear mask & no dining plan, it would be very expensive to feed 6 people.
I understand the anger of the annual pass holders I would think they would be offered 1st choice to enter. So so sad
Yes, please! Open up a theme park during a pandemic and force your already underpaid employees to work in miserable conditions without hazard pay while a bunch of childish adults enjoy their Disney “magic”. Also, as a former Cast Member, yes… passholders do spend the most money.
Found the troll!
Socialism isn’t here yet AOC. Work at will here in the states.
All things being equal, this strategy might work. But sometimes visitors are going to want the full Disney experience. That means parades, fireworks, character dining and character interactions, none of which are taking place right now.
{barf…}
As Disney changes only for Disney benefit. Customers will depart for different vacations. It not the only place to go. Cannot see the charities face to face. No hopper passes. Many other items removed. To exspensives for what you get. Been customer for many years. Not any more. Spend my vacation money were I can get more for my hard work. Disney will lose in the long run. Better get back to were you were fast.
capitializum?
This broke my heart. I am a die hard Disney parks person. I want to be there as much as possible when my schedule allows. This is why I have a season pass. Then they go and say I am less important to them than the people who are one time visitors. Do they know how much money I spend in Disney? Just before the shut down I took 6 people on the keys to the kingdom tour, bought 3 of the 6 tickets for the 2 days we were there and numerous other expenses. On top of my $204 a month for our 3 passes. If they want kill any chance of me ever coming back, tell them to keep it up. In one year I will be renewing my vows with my husband and we WERE considering doing that at Disney. If they do not change their ways. I will find somewhere else.
I’m an annual passholder, and when my pass expires, I will not renew. Cost for passes rose twice last year with no increase in value. Add in the consistent price increases for dining and resort rooms, and it doesn’t make sense anymore. I’m not local, but I visit at least two to three times per year. I usually stay on property and buy tickets to special events (the Halloween and Christmas parties, for example), but not only do I feel like my loyalty isn’t appreciated, I feel like Disney views me as a burden. I spend quite a bit of money at the parks each year, and I’ve encouraged and helped friends plan their trips. It’s disheartening to see how Disney is treating loyal guests.
My wife an I have been Passholders for 10 years. And we canceled our passes. Can’t see supporting a company, and pay the monthly dues when you’re not guaranteed to get in. Might as well burn my money. I understand their reasoning but I will never be back. It’s like buying a car. You spend all this money for a top-of-the-line car and you’re not getting half of what you paid for it. Because it’s breaking down
I’ve been wondering why USA pass holders aren’t treated like Shanghai, where the APs are being extended for the number of days lost between the park closure thru the END of the advanced reservation system. Don’t we deserve the same accommodation?
I live local and we’re the people who come to take a walk in the park, grab something to eat, and we also buy stuff. We’re being treated poorly. Some park days are prohibited specifically for APs. I didn’t cancel our passes, but if/when we renew, it’ll definitely be a cheaper ticket. There’s no entertainment value now, and we’ve been dissed by Chapek.
If you feel underappreciated as a paying passholder, it’s more sad to be an underpaid and underappreciated cast member.
I can’t speak to everyone’s situation, but my first job was as a server at IHOP. My perks were 50% off meals as long as I was working that shift. Many of my checks were for $0.00 due to the tips I claimed. Prior to COVID-19, cast members were paid $15/hour with an included free four-year degree from ASU, something the International House of Pancakes certainly didn’t offer me. Further, prior to COVID-19, the country had historically low levels of unemployment across all sectors (Women, Blacks, Whites, Asians, and Latinos) so prior to COVID if cast members felt they were underpaid, they had other options for employment.
As a previous cast member in Jan 2020, I can say for a fact that we were not paid $15 an hour. At best I’ve only heard of the typical $12 an hour (which isnt high in the Kissimmee/Orlando area) and a free 4 year degree to anywhere let alone ASU was nowhere in the picture when I was hired from 3 years ago til leaving for another job. Now, we were fighting for $15, yes, but we are not contractually able to achieve $15 til 2021 and that was BEFORE Covid. Now I doubt itll happen at all. I’m glad I left
You could get a different job that may take your feelings into account, AOC. Maybe Amazon?
I wish Walt were still here, he wanted a place where families could have great time together. I understand the business need for profit margin and maintaining that balance is very difficult. Hopefully, Disney will find a way.
People need to remember that Walt is dead, has been dead longer than most of us have been alive, and understand that things will change. Walt was a brilliant man with a wonderful vision, but it’s now modern capitializum.
capitializum?
Disney’s greed is proving to be shortsighted. I wish I was sympathetic but a quick look at the perpetual increase of entry prices over the last couple of decades shows that they only see dollar signs. Any remnant of Walt’s vision is gone.
I think it’s a mistake. We have been annual passholders for the last 10 years and we frequent the park four times a year for at least a week at a time. In that being said we spend money eating and buying presents for our grandkids and other things. If this continues I may consider not renewing my annual pass because of their inconsideration toward us the loyal customer.
As a passholder I can say with certainty that they are losing money from us, because we simply can’t get in to spend it!
I agree. You can’t get in, and with only 3 reservations, can’t plan around storms.
I understand why they are thinking the way they are, but it’s short sighted. When I lived in so cal, there were definitely times I’d go into the parks for a chowder bowl and a bread pudding or something, and when I moved away, I would go down on the weekends that they held special events. I think it would be better to limit tickets purchased entirely, and getting rid of buying tickets at the park for the time being, maybe even giving walkies to the entry and bag check, so if the park is at capacity they can let the bag check know to deny entry until enough people leave the park.
We cancelled our annual passes because we could not see a time in the foreseeable future when we would either feel safe going or feel comfortable (due to the heat) going. I’m now especially glad we are not adding to their revenue. It leaves me with a negative feeling towards Disney for not being more loyal to those who were loyal to them.
This article is 100% right. Disney is stepping over a dollar to make a dime. I can’t wait for the deep discounts to flood the market. If the second wave happens they’ll be furloughing everyone worse than the first time. At least they could have made money while things are open now. They egregiously trashed Annual Passholders.
This just shows how incompetent Chapel and his leadership team really are. Passholders comprise not just locals but also the most loyal fans of Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars. They are consistent bottom-line spenders not just at parks but across all lines. Disney is completely disrespecting their most loyal fans which will have a long lasting effect if not remedied quickly. You are right that passholders are the first to be at the parks but just showing up isn’t what matters, it’s how much they will spend. Now is the prime time to get passholders into the park. They can’t take vacations elsewhere and if still employed are aching to spend more at a place they love. Instead of welcoming them as part of the family, they are being told they’re not as important and the non-existent people that might show up to buy one day tickets. Disney is turning passholders away at the gate in favor of hoping that a one day guest might show up. This is complete idiocy and as a passholder myself I am disgusted at the current management.
I stopped buying the Disney Annual passes after i had the worst service ever imagine. I have a disable son and i am disable myself. There is no way I can rent wheelchairs for us, how are we going to push one another? Well that was the only suggestion i received from customer service. I just wanted them to provide me with a fast pass for us to be able to enter in 3 rides. Very rude cast members. Now I have seen day to day how Disney is pushing away over and over Annual Passholders, mostly Florida residents, that fill the Parks in low season attendant. The best Guests to show how happy we are to the whole world are the locals, every business to succee has a period where they count their losses if any. but not Disney, they think they are the best, well I think they are having their worst nightmare, “guests dont want to come to Disney” Disney must learn that if locals are not happy and they are treated like they don’t deserve more then the world will not come to see that.
You are right .We spend a lot more than the single day customers do.+some of us hold over 200000 shares of stock. Just wait till the next stock holder meeting ? We got rid of Michael Esiner who will be next Robert Chapel he is doing a very poor job !!!!!!!!!! Time for him to gooooooooo.
My wife and I have been annual pass holders since moving back to CF in 2007. We enjoyed going over for a dinner and a concert at Epcot and then heading over to MK for some fireworks. Going for a cooler walk through Animal Kingdom. This limitations on my paid for hopper pass is annoying that I am not getting what I paid for. Even the additional time at the end of my pass may not be enough when it time to renew
I’m a Platum Plus holder and so far this year I have been at Disney Orlando on New Year spring break July 20th and August 20 stayed for 5 days Plus at a resort. I had dinners a dining plan (when it was available) and still had dining without the plan. I have spent thousands in the parks. I don’t understand their thinking but they are wrong. Maybe I should think about Universal Studios I’ll bet they will want my hard earned money.
Being a Dl ap holder for years my husband and I drive about 400 miles to get to dl. We are not going to drive down for 1 day. I think for dl the best thing would be just tickets only until things get back to whatever normal will be. Its a smaller park and the reservation system is for a day. Its great for locals who go daily or weekly. I know I spend over a thousand dollars for our 4 day trips. Not including the hotel. Its our vacation and we only go 3 to 4 times a year.
I don’t understand why passholders are so butt hurt. This is a BUSINESS! It is not like Aunt Sue is not inviting you over for Thanksgiving dinner this year because she prefers her other neice. This is totally, 100% BUSINESS! Disney has investors that they have to make happy! Now, their initial plan might not be panning out for them and they may have to shift gears but they are trying to navigate this just like the rest of us. No passholders is/was/ever will be friends to the Disney entity. You are all a number. And I am saying all of this as a passholders. As it stands, I will not renew. Not because my “feelers” are hurt but because I just cannot go to Florida and walk around in that heat all day with a mask on. But I will get passes again once normalcy returns. Grow up, Peter Pan and realize that this is business and you are nothing more than a number!
As it turns out, it’s not just business, it’s bad business. If their plan was working, it would make sense. But to publicly acknowledge that it’s not and stay the course is stupidity.
While I’m no Disney apologist, there are a bunch of poorly argued conclusions in this article (not uncommon on a Sunday…). First of all, while the article you link to makes the claim that the reduced park hours are due to cancelations and Disney having “trouble filling the parks” it does nothing to actually demonstrate that’s the reason for reduced park hours. The largest contributor to the decision to reduce park hours is likely that guests are no longer allowed to visit more than one park per day. Of the 4 WDW parks, only the Magic Kingdom really offers enough stuff to do to fill a full day for most people. The others are doable in a half to two-thirds of a day at most (especially given that with the reduced crowds it takes less time to do everything you want to do at each park). People have reported that the last two hours at most parks have been practically dead (even if they were booked to capacity that day), and it doesn’t make sense for Disney to fully operate their parks for such a small number of people.
Also, while it’s true that Disney has been a little aggressive in its restrictions on AP holders, they still are making the right decision by focusing on higher-value guests, especially when they only can allow a limited number of guests into the parks every day. They want to ensure that those paying to stay on-site at their resorts are all but guaranteed entry to every park every day (even with the reduced capacity). Also, by practically guaranteeing access to on-site guests, they are incentivizing locals to make a staycation out of things if they really want to come instead of just coming for a short visit where they don’t spend as much (also even if the parks were more open to say, AP holders who wanted to pop in for dinner at Epcot, most Epcot restaurants are currently closed right now so there isn’t much traffic on that front anyways). The uptick in AP holders cancelling still represents a small percentage of AP holders, and I wouldn’t be surprised if many of them come back once things get back to normal. For the time being, however, AP holders unfortunately don’t generate as much revenue as on-site guests (and Disney already has their money for their APs regardless if they cancel or not) and if Disney is going to operate their parks with reduced capacity it makes sense for them to prioritize those willing to stay on-site (AP holder or not) over locals who just pop in for a bit and don’t spend that much while they are there.
Not all of us Annual Passholders just pop in for a quick visit. We live in another state and come 4 weeks a year at least and stay in Disney resorts. Yet they rewarded us by adding parking fees at our hotel. We certainly don’t feel valued anymore.
First let’s look at the visits to the park as of late. Attendance is an all time low and most visiting are AP holders. If Disney truly wants to make money again let’s look at some options they should choose.
1. Figure out a way to allow AP holders to visit more than one park a day. It can be easily managed through reservations. Maybe split upon 2 half days between 2 parks. No only would this appease a lot of pass holders as we would gain back a little that we are already paying Disney for. Second, reduce the rates of over priced rooms back to the original prices. Disney POP at 165.00 a night? Seriously? It was a 99.00 a night room and that is all it is worth.
Option 2 figure a way to allow AP to use their passes as attended. Start opening some water parks. Bring back trams. If you can space out a ride you can space out trams. Any think maybe some attending have quit because no one wants to walk the parks all day long then walk a mile or 2 to their cars! It’s a parking lot not Disney springs or city walk.
We have kept our AP’s because we enjoy Disney. Surely not what it has become with little to no shows, almost all dining and shops closed. We seriously left animal kingdom today because we were bored. We rode everything, ate and seen what little we could. 4 hours in a park that we used to spend all day in, spend quite a bit of money in. Disney needs to wake up and see why they are loosing money.
I had annual passes to both Disney World and Universal Orlando. When all this started, I realized I wouldn’t be able to go for a while but when the parks reopened each took an extremely different tack. As a result, I canceled my Disney pass and retained my Universal pass. I am not going to give my money to a company that simply does not seem to appreciate my patronage. Disney has been pushing the envelope for some time now (Fast Pass for Passholders only 30 days out, etc.) but this was the final straw for me.
We are AP and we have cancelled ours, if you really think about it Disney needs us we don’t need them.
Customer services is lacking BIG TIME as well. You stay on hold for over an hour to talk to representative who (instead of answering your questions) literally tells you: you are not our priority, so if you leave, we won’t be sorry. Very rude attitude, no clear information is given, promises that never to be fulfilled. So so so much frustrated with the way Disney is handling the crisis in every aspect. Switching my passes and likes to Universal after a decade being Disney’s annual pass holder.
I have a question for pass holders. When you make purchases, and stay at Disney hotels, do you show your season pass? I am curious if that is a way they have to track spending.
Also. You can call it just “business” to make these decisions, but is it right for a company to sell you one product and totally provide another less product? Is there language when you buy a pass that can choose to restrict access however they want?
Annual pass holders spend way more on merch and dining then one timers too. Chapek really does not seem to understand his consumers.
My husband and I are season passholders and we live in Texas. Buying a season pass makes sense economically when purchasing theme park tickets individually or even as a package. We book our own hotel off Disney property. We Uber to the park. Yes, Disney loses because I am not booking their hotels and transportation. On the other hand I wait to purchase my Disney merchandise until my trip to Disney. I take advantage of the 10% pass savings in everything from food to merchandise during my trip. We go 2-3 times a year for 3-7 days each time. I don’t think Disney is taking into account the pass holders that live out of state and do spend money at the park.
Definitely think sales would increase if they extended passholders 30% discount!
I let my family’s three platinum annual passes expire after 15 years.
My fiancee and I purchased our passes at the same time. I paid monthly and he paid all up front last year in May. Somehow my pass was pushed into 10/14 due date and his expired 8/12…. How does that make any sense!? He paid up front! We planned a trip and threatened to cancel. The passholders were done so wrong. Sadly, I may only be a once year guest now, save the money and travel elsewhere!
When they re-opened, I knew their guests would consist of locals/annual passholders and wealthy Disney fans (who are often passholders). What family who actually has to save up for a Disney trip (and pay airfare and hotel costs on top of the pricey park admission) is going to risk paying all that money, only to be turned away at the gate because someone in the family suddenly started running a fever? I can’t believe Disney didn’t see that coming.
They’re biting the hand that feeds them. They removed almost all the live entertainment (shows, parades, fireworks, and characters) and have nothing but rides. One-time visitors don’t want to pay for half the experience and still pay full price. APs are less likely to care about the entertainment cuts and would have gladly come to hang out at the park and fill the queues to get their Disney fix but they’ve been cut off due to capacity limits.
My family hasn’t been a passholder family for all that long, this is only our 2nd year. But based off this, how I can’t jump from one park to another, the HOURS I wasted on hold to get my refund right and the fact that I can’t just “load my van up and go to Disney for the day” really defeats the purpose of being a passholder.
We typically go 7-10 times a year, spend 3-4 nights at a Disney property for 2 of those times, we do the Halloween party and Christmas party and each time we go to a oark it’s a minimum of $100 spent.
Hearing this now just made my decision to not renew in 2021 that much easier
I have not been very happy with the way passholder are treated in a while. The parks were full of people obviously from other places & countries. They disregarded the rules & no one said anything. If we did that we were told that we could have out pass suspended & would not be allowed back. It was seeming more & more like they were trying to get us not to go. The people they valued were rude & ignored the fact that people were standing in line & would just butt. If you complained it was ignored. I have been considering getting Universal passes a lot! I had not done so because I love going to the food & wine festival! I think after my pass expires this time I will just get the Epcot after five & go with Universal for the rest. Maybe my patronage will be important to them!
As someone on the outside looking in, all this howling that Disney should open the parks to capacity to satisfy people who have been to Disney dozens of times before during an American abject failure at controlling the pandemic just makes me shake my head. If not that, it’s howling that frequent visitors should be prioritized over the kids who go once or twice in a lifetime. It’s “me” culture to the nth degree. It’s putrid. Just get your refund and check your privilege please.
We are out of state passholders. We have three 7+ night visits planned, the first one having already taken place this past July 2020, another one in October 2o2o, and then again in January 2021. I had fully intended on upgrading my 7 day park pass to an AP on our July visit, which at the time we were told APs were not being sold. We are also DVC members. So now I have to purchase another 7 day park pass for October, and again in January, which will cost me way more than an AP would have. We most likely would have gone again in the spring. Yes, Disney will make more money off of me if I have to keep buying 7 day park passes over a 12 month period, than they would off of my AP, but guess what, I’m pretty sure I”m cancelling my January vacation, won’t go again in the spring, and I’m also considering selling my DVC. Over the years we’ve spent thousands on food and merchandise on our vacations, so I’m not sure where Chapek thinks we are not as valuable as one time visitors. I think it might be finally time to visit Universal Orlando, which we’ve never done. It looks like they value our business way more than Disney does!
Disney choice was a poor one annual passholders make up a small percent of the total disney population. With school starting back up it will be hard for many of those 1 time trip people to make a visit to wdw that does not fall on a school break. Disney has a lot of passholders who live less than 2 hours that would be more tham welcome to make the trip a few times a month just to buy food or merch. I have sepnt close to $1000 just on merch and food since disney springs reopen. I have the platium plus which includes the water parks but those are closed, and because i am on the monthly payment plan all i got was 1 month ext even though the parks were closed for 4 months. I live about 6 hours away and i am a school bus driver so i go when schools are on break.
We got engaged and married at WDW, are DVC and annual pass holders. We live in PA and try to make at LEAST two 13 day trips per year. Due to this new policy we just cancelled our October trip because Disney doesn’t seem to understand loyalty. We are the ones that get up early for park openings, spend ours days hopping and spending in each park and eat out at expensive Disney restaurants every night. I guess we aren’t the preferred client.
Very disappointed about the way they are treating us (annual pass holder’s) we feel like a third class guests. Is the first time we feel like this with Disney World after been visiting for more than 40 years. The guests of 1 day tickets and hotel guests have priority over the guests that have been paying for years annual pases to visit the Parks, Disney have space in the Parks for them but not for us. If there is a spot left then we can go, the left overs for the annual pass holders. Honestly i never though Disney could be like this. I Do not recommend to any one to buy annual passes until the the situation returns to normal, which as everybody knows, will take time.