Does WDW still want/ need local AP holders

[Hummingbird]

Agreed with a few other post.

I actually spend MORE money in the parks because I have an AP than I would if I had to buy a day ticket.
I always get a pastry & coffee for breakfast on every trip. I also have a quick service lunch and then a table service dinner. Every trip to the parks. I also buy my grandson a toy of some sort and myself a pair of ears (I collect them) on every single trip. And back before Covid we would go to Epcot just for dinner at a table service about once a week. Without an AP I wouldn't go so many days and be able to spend so much money. If I had to purchase a day ticket I would pack a lunch and maybe only buy a snack.

But to the original question of the thread..

I'm not sure I guess. Because of all of the changes and getting rid of perks it really seems like they have no use for us anymore.

 

[Liquidice]

LOL after the earnings call today it is clear Disney doesn't want APs or Magic Keyholders, whatever you want to call them at Disneyland ...

Chapek said Disneyland revenue was impacted by "unfavorable attendance mix" - in other words, they have too many Magic Keyholders coming to the parks and not enough people buying tickets.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1557461299038195712

Based on their earnings call - they also reported that demand still outstrips supply on a regular basis - so it doesn't sound like there will be sales of new APs at WDW anytime soon.

Christine "its good for some people's waistlines" McCarthy said that "[If]...you had lightened demand, you could loosen up some of those to bring more people in the park and just enjoy the park and spend money while they're there. And also as it related to demand, we have not yet seen a demand abate at all..." referring to annual pass sale restrictions.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1557473324334256131

Interestingly, it does sound like if demand on the ticket side went down (lets say because of a recession or god forbid another pandemic that limits travel) - Disney would be willing to increase sales of APs to in Christine's words "bring more people in the park". So I think that does confirm that Disney believes APs successfully help to keep demand high when demand for ticketed guests is lower.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

". So I think that does confirm that Disney believes APs successfully help to keep demand high when demand for ticketed guests is lower.

personally I believe that means that they are happy to limit passes to where they are currently at, if demand diminishes, then supply naturally goes up, I didn’t take that as they would offer more passes. More like there would be more passes if there wasn’t as high a demand. I think Disney is limiting down APs for now, and I think that trend will continue over time, obviously they are not going to slam the door on that

The part that I found interesting is that she said if demand was lower, then they would be able to “just enjoy the park”, which tells me they aren’t entertaining people just hanging in the park currently because of the overall demand

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

No. Disney does not want to encourage local passholders at WDW. Mr Chapek said he thinks [local] people come in on an annual pass and treat the parks as their personal playground [instead of as a world class destination resort]. So there’s the answer.

 

[mello]

May be a dumb question but do locals spend a lot of money at disney? Maybe a snack or two. Do locals spent disney prices for meals that probably could be had for 1/2 the price off site?

Way back went, we had season passes to dorney park. Barely spent a dime in the park. Pack a lunch, drove about an hour, spent the day and drove home. Or am I unusually cheap?

We're local and we spend a lot at parks, when we go, which isn't very often, really, which makes it a special occasion for many of us too - birthdays, etc., with expensive meals, presents, souvenirs. We sometimes go to MNSSHP or MVMCP and buy all the special merchandise. We even stay onsite for long weekends once in awhile. You'd be surprised how much Disney merchandise locals buy and wear around. I've taught high school here and you'd all likely be really surprised how many of the teens wear Mickey Mouse shirts and stuff to school all the time. That's something I know isn't super normal in other areas of the country / world. On any given Friday night Disney Springs is half full of locals. We go down there to eat about once a month. So they're getting PLENTY of money out of us, yes.

 

[Shellyred8]

Does anyone know what type of passes all of the "bloggers/vloggers" have? Does Disney have a separate pass they sell to them?

 

[CinderEmma94]

Does anyone know what type of passes all of the "bloggers/vloggers" have? Does Disney have a separate pass they sell to them?

AFAIK (I’m not a blogger/vlogger) they are just like anyone else. If they have a pass, they bought it themselves, with their money, and had to buy what was available to them (which is the same as anyone off the street). When Disney does media events, media are offered a comp ticket for the day to attend the event. That’s my understanding anyway.

 

[Liquidice]

Does anyone know what type of passes all of the "bloggers/vloggers" have? Does Disney have a separate pass they sell to them?

CinderEmma94 is right.

I'm not a blogger/vlogger either, but know a few of them that do vlog and they usually have a Sorcerer or Incredipass. No special pass for vloggers. In some cases, if its a company like allears.net or the DIS, the company might pay for the pass for the person.

Most blogger/vloggers have had their pass for a long time though and always renew since they need it for their job.

 

[DVC Sue]

Disney sure doesn’t seem to want local pass holders!

 

[randumb0]

Disney sure doesn’t seem to want local pass holders!

I'm not sure what you mean. The weekday pass is available and caters to locals

 

[Jrb1979]

I'm not sure what you mean. The weekday pass is available and caters to locals

That's when they want locals coming. They don't want the unfavorables on weekends

 

[Tbone183]

They should discontinue the AP.

Would discourage every local and their mother becoming a vlogger getting in the way of the real guests.

Only the big boys who do it seriously would continue ala the dis

 

[iuki]

Wouldn’t AP’s drop off as well, I think every sector would suffer equally, outside of DVC, which is locked in. There is no avoiding a recession, and a company can’t just shift to a “new” demographic to avoid it. People always tend to bring up that Disney will need them when the purse strings tighten, but I’ve never once heard that AP holders/ locals saved Disney during the down times. If anything an AP sounds like a luxury a lot would be giving up first during a recession. local AP holders are less profitable for disney, i don’t think you can even argue that point any longer

IMO, during a recession, people do ”stay-cations” because airfare adds to the costs of vacations. Therefore, locals would pick up the slack in attendance.

 

[Aluminum Falcon]

IMO, during a recession, people do ”stay-cations” because airfare adds to the costs of vacations. Therefore, locals would pick up the slack in attendance.

It’s not a bad thought, I just don’t see people doing much more then they’d typically do in their own backyard. I’m from Ma and we vacation down the cape every year, but what we spend is dismal compared to out of state tourists, and I can’t see that changing even in a downturn.

 

[BaybeeYoda]

AP holder and DVC member here. We only go 1 or 2 times a year, stay on site, go for 7-14 days at a time. This year is likely only 14 days so we don’t know whether to renew our pass. I only have 3 days left to decide. $3250 is a big chunk o change.

We decided to AP it last year bc we were going twice with 2 two week trips, making the AP more economical. 25 days on an AP past year. This year… 14 days…. Is is worth $813pp? Decisions, decisions.

We economize. Imo that’s why you even buy an AP pass.

So perhaps Disney is targeting me…. We are cheap. Life is $$. One kid m in $40k/yr private school. So maybe we don’t do Disney this year and save $3250 AP pass, $3k DVC membership dues (400pts), $1500 flight tickets, $3k spending $$.

That’s $10k right there. Can be reinvested in private school instead.

Maybe I’m the type of person they are trying to discourage. We aren’t made of money and post pandemic, we decided the city public schools weren’t working for our eldest child who is 12yrs old.

So maybe they want ppl like me, the ones who can afford Disney but not without pain, to get rid of our AP’s….

 

[figmentfinesse]

AP holder and DVC member here. We only go 1 or 2 times a year, stay on site, go for 7-14 days at a time. This year is likely only 14 days so we don’t know whether to renew our pass. I only have 3 days left to decide. $3250 is a big chunk o change.

We decided to AP it last year bc we were going twice with 2 two week trips, making the AP more economical. 25 days on an AP past year. This year… 14 days…. Is is worth $813pp? Decisions, decisions.

We economize. Imo that’s why you even buy an AP pass.

So perhaps Disney is targeting me…. We are cheap. Life is $$. One kid m in $40k/yr private school. So maybe we don’t do Disney this year and save $3250 AP pass, $3k DVC membership dues (400pts), $1500 flight tickets, $3k spending $$.

That’s $10k right there. Can be reinvested in private school instead.

Maybe I’m the type of person they are trying to discourage. We aren’t made of money and post pandemic, we decided the city public schools weren’t working for our eldest child who is 12yrs old.

So maybe they want ppl like me, the ones who can afford Disney but not without pain, to get rid of our AP’s….

If it’s 14 park days, I would definitely renew. Even if just 10, since you have sorcerer it still makes sense when you factor in the merch and dining discount. Furthermore, if you don’t renew you could be boxed out when you actually need one. That would blow, especially since you’re DVC.

I’m not saying that you should have to make decisions like that, but if it were me, that’s what I would do. My out of state Incredipass made much less sense this year (39 uses vs 20) but I will keep renewing because I don’t want to be boxed out.

 

[The Jackal]

AFAIK (I’m not a blogger/vlogger) they are just like anyone else. If they have a pass, they bought it themselves, with their money, and had to buy what was available to them (which is the same as anyone off the street). When Disney does media events, media are offered a comp ticket for the day to attend the event. That’s my understanding anyway.

I believe there is one thing in your AP agreement. Disney has the right to cancel your AP, if you use it to make money for yourself. I believe they did this to a few merchandise resellers. I understand that the bloggers and vloggers kinda save Disney money from producing their own videos. I think if Disney did this to bloggers it would give them a lot of negative press. Most bloggers have a AP. They do get invites to special events.

 

[CalOilerGurl]

Yes they still us AP holders. I was there for two weeks this summer and spent alot. We spend a lot at sit down meals and signature meals. If they get rid of the AP I will take my money to Universal and eat offsite...while staying in my dvc room.

We are strongly considering this - staying in our DVC room but spending our time at Universal who will actually take our money for a AP...

 

[BaybeeYoda]

We are strongly considering this - staying in our DVC room but spending our time at Universal who will actually take our money for a AP...

I heard staying at a universal hotel provides special privileges and the price of the rooms are equivalent to our deluxe rooms??

 

[RoseGold]

Does anyone know what type of passes all of the "bloggers/vloggers" have? Does Disney have a separate pass they sell to them?

Disney gives them all kinds of free stuff. I'm not worried about what passes they are going to get, they will be fine.