Magic Key Renewals

[DLgal]

The entire end of August is gone which shows that all those Enchant and Imagine keys are holding reservations for then. The dates after August are open because people who bought keys in the first few days can't book dates after their expiration.

And this is going to cause the same problem that landed Disney in a lawsuit. People will renew, and reservations will be impossible to come by for several weeks, because they are already snagged. I really, really hope Disney has a plan for this, or that the "bucket" has been severely limited for current passholders who can renew out 90 days, to account for the influx of renewals that is coming.

 

[haileymarie92]

I can’t imagine that they will make any huge changes, as there are some people (like me) who have a Magic Key that still isn’t active yet (we activate in sept). So I can’t imagine they’ll make large changes and have to continue working two different systems for a year or more.

 

[PirateBrigade]

My prediction is next Friday, 4pm PT.

100% — it’s going to be bad, and they want to bury it.

 

[DLgal]

I can’t imagine that they will make any huge changes, as there are some people (like me) who have a Magic Key that still isn’t active yet (we activate in sept). So I can’t imagine they’ll make large changes and have to continue working two different systems for a year or more.

I agree there won't likely be any operational changes to the program, but it is possible that they simply eliminate certain keys from existence going forward, such that current key holders will slowly end up phased out.

My 2 biggest fears:

Eliminating free parking from at least one key

Raising the price an insane amount

 

[beachdreamr1229]

I'm still in the weird boat of people hoping they just go to a system where you can buy 10, 20, 50, or 100 days of visiting per year at a discount to use with the reservation system. I know, I know...you all hate me. But I'm not seeing any other ways to get around the reservation system with a pass and I really can't see the system being dropped when it's so useful to them for staffing.

I'm actually really curious what they'll decide to do. I am not in the renewal boat because the keys I wanted weren't available when I was ready to buy, but I enjoy watching how the changes play out. Best of luck to all of you renewing that it works out for you.

 

[DLgal]

I'm still in the weird boat of people hoping they just go to a system where you can buy 10, 20, 50, or 100 days of visiting per year at a discount to use with the reservation system. I know, I know...you all hate me. But I'm not seeing any other ways to get around the reservation system with a pass and I really can't see the system being dropped when it's so useful to them for staffing.

I'm actually really curious what they'll decide to do. I am not in the renewal boat because the keys I wanted weren't available when I was ready to buy, but I enjoy watching how the changes play out. Best of luck to all of you renewing that it works out for you.

But how would that solve the reservation system issue? If you think about it, a magic key IS basically a pre purchase of "some number of days" at a discount. But if everyone still has to make reservations, what's the benefit to choosing 10 days vs 100 days if the days you want to go, you can't get?

Interestingly, we have a new water park opening here today. They sold a limited number of seasonal passes. They are using a reservation system. There were all kinds of restrictions on passholders (could only have 5 reservations at a time, only 2 weekend days reserved at a time, etc). They JUST announced that passholders will no longer need to have reservations, after numerous complaints from passholders about availability. It seems like every other local park gets how stupid it is to do that to people who bought passes.

 

[dieumeye]

I agree there won't likely be any operational changes to the program, but it is possible that they simply eliminate certain keys from existence going forward, such that current key holders will slowly end up phased out.

My 2 biggest fears:

Eliminating free parking from at least one key

Raising the price an insane amount

I have to believe that any pass that includes (theoretical) access any day of the year must include parking.

Parking is interesting because it’s incredibly expensive for frequent visitors. Someone who visits once per week and parks at the Disney lots would end up paying $1560 to park for the year. That’s more than the cost of the Dream Key. They are literally charging more for the parking lot than they are for the theme parks!

This is why I don’t see as much value in the “lower cost“ keys. I know a lot of people were excited that the Imagine Key was only $400. But It doesn’t include parking, so if you visit 13 times, you are paying double the cost. $400 for the parks and another $400 for parking! I get that this might work for people who don’t visit as much, or who have other arrangements for getting to the park, but it’s obviously something everyone needs to consider.

That only the Dream Key includes free parking, and the Believe has the 50% off deal, does make me nervous that at some point they might eliminate the parking benefit as a way to artificially increase the cost of the passes for the most frequent visitors. But if they do that, it would be a huge FU to that certain segment of visitors. That’s why I have to believe there’s always going to be a pass that includes parking. I spend a lot when I visit parks, I really don’t need to be gouged for another $30 every single visit!

 

[DLgal]

I have to believe that any pass that includes (theoretical) access any day of the year must include parking.

Parking is interesting because it’s incredibly expensive for frequent visitors. Someone who visits once per week and parks at the Disney lots would end up paying $1560 to park for the year. That’s more than the cost of the Dream Key. They are literally charging more for the parking lot than they are for the theme parks!

This is why I don’t see as much value in the “lower cost“ keys. I know a lot of people were excited that the Imagine Key was only $400. But It doesn’t include parking, so if you visit 13 times, you are paying double the cost. $400 for the parks and another $400 for parking! I get that this might work for people who don’t visit as much, or who have other arrangements for getting to the park, but it’s obviously something everyone needs to consider.

That only the Dream Key includes free parking, and the Believe has the 50% off deal, does make me nervous that at some point they might eliminate the parking benefit as a way to artificially increase the cost of the passes for the most frequent visitors. But if they do that, it would be a huge FU to that certain segment of visitors. That’s why I have to believe there’s always going to be a pass that includes parking. I spend a lot when I visit parks, I really don’t need to be gouged for another $30 every single visit!

Agree completely. I save all my parking receipts. I'm up to (I think) 40 since September 2. That's $1200 in JUST parking fees.

We have already decided as a family that if they eliminate parking from the passes, we are done. We will just use the so cal ticket offers in combination with our military discount hoppers to visit maybe once a month. Disney will lose a TON of money from us if they do that. I don't even want to add up how much we have spent at the parks this year combined with our 4 Dream key purchases, but it became a 5 digit number several months ago.

 

[jujubiee4]

I agree there won't likely be any operational changes to the program, but it is possible that they simply eliminate certain keys from existence going forward, such that current key holders will slowly end up phased out.

My 2 biggest fears:

Eliminating free parking from at least one key

Raising the price an insane amount

I'm just waiting for this to happen.

 

[Snap Crackle Pop]

I wonder if they will get rid of the payment plan and that you have to buy it outright..
I'm going to be really bummed if they get rid of free parking.

 

[twodogs]

How would folks feel about an a la carte type of pass? That is, you pay for the pass, then you can add parking for a flat yearly fee, add G+ for a flat yearly fee (like they did with FP+ for pass holders), maybe hold more reservations or reserve earlier for a fee, etc? Yes, the overall price would likely go up (even if they don’t offer an a la carte option, I think prices will increase for passes overall next renewal), but then you could add the things that matter to you, without them flatly increasing the pricing across the board for all pass holders.

For me as an out of state visitor, I would not want to pay a premium for a pass that includes parking since we stay onsite and don’t need parking. But I would pay a premium to be able to reserve my park days further in advance or to reserve more days at a time or to be able to not be blocked out on weekends. The local pass holder may have more flexibility than I do (since I have to fly in etc), so those things I just mentioned that I would pay more for, they may not need. I would like to see this type of flexibility in what I am purchasing for my pass. But I’m not holding my breath since Disney will do whatever increases the profits for the shareholders…

 

[gelatoni fan]

How would folks feel about an a la carte type of pass? That is, you pay for the pass, then you can add parking for a flat yearly fee, add G+ for a flat yearly fee (like they did with FP+ for pass holders), maybe hold more reservations or reserve earlier for a fee, etc? Yes, the overall price would likely go up (even if they don’t offer an a la carte option, I think prices will increase for passes overall next renewal), but then you could add the things that matter to you, without them flatly increasing the pricing across the board for all pass holders.

For me as an out of state visitor, I would not want to pay a premium for a pass that includes parking since we stay onsite and don’t need parking. But I would pay a premium to be able to reserve my park days further in advance or to reserve more days at a time or to be able to not be blocked out on weekends. The local pass holder may have more flexibility than I do (since I have to fly in etc), so those things I just mentioned that I would pay more for, they may not need. I would like to see this type of flexibility in what I am purchasing for my pass. But I’m not holding my breath since Disney will do whatever increases the profits for the shareholders…

The problem with the reservation system is that the best dates will always fill up whenever the pool of people with the earliest reservation window get them. You could see that happening when Fastpass+ in WDW made it so you basically had to book a Disney resort far in advance to get a Fastpass to Flight of Passage and in Hong Kong every single time they adjust the reservation window. It's completely unworkable for me unless they have a much shorter reservation window and more reservations per pass (ex. nobody can book any reservations till 30 days out and Keys have 10 or more reservations).

I don't mind having an a la carte pass but it depends on their offering. I'd need Friday night through Sunday night but can give up weekdays. The main reason is fireworks often aren't on weekdays. I'd pay for annual photopass but could give up most other benefits. But now that Disney destroyed basically any goodwill I have for the company, I'm not willing to pay more than $300 for a pass that doesn't include either hard ticket events or other parks (WDW, Paris, Aulani pools/activities).

 

[whiteness]

I wonder if they will get rid of the payment plan and that you have to buy it outright..
I'm going to be really bummed if they get rid of free parking.

They will never get rid of the payment plan, since that encourages guests to pay Disney exorbitant amounts of money that would otherwise be beyond their means as painlessly as possible. From Disney's viewpoint, what's not to like?

 

[AndrewC]

How would folks feel about an a la carte type of pass? That is, you pay for the pass, then you can add parking for a flat yearly fee, add G+ for a flat yearly fee (like they did with FP+ for pass holders), maybe hold more reservations or reserve earlier for a fee, etc? Yes, the overall price would likely go up (even if they don’t offer an a la carte option, I think prices will increase for passes overall next renewal), but then you could add the things that matter to you, without them flatly increasing the pricing across the board for all pass holders.

For me as an out of state visitor, I would not want to pay a premium for a pass that includes parking since we stay onsite and don’t need parking. But I would pay a premium to be able to reserve my park days further in advance or to reserve more days at a time or to be able to not be blocked out on weekends. The local pass holder may have more flexibility than I do (since I have to fly in etc), so those things I just mentioned that I would pay more for, they may not need. I would like to see this type of flexibility in what I am purchasing for my pass. But I’m not holding my breath since Disney will do whatever increases the profits for the shareholders…

It drive me insane that the parking doesn’t count for hotel parking! If I fly in and rent a car for three days I shouldn’t have to pay hotel parking at the DLH when I have the most expensive pass

 

[AndrewC]

They will never get rid of the payment plan, since that encourages guests to pay Disney exorbitant amounts of money that would otherwise be beyond their means as painlessly as possible. From Disney's viewpoint, what's not to like?

Capacity issues. If Disney wants to continue to sell the pass but try and cut down on the amount that get it, make people pay $1200 up front…

 

[whiteness]

Capacity issues. If Disney wants to continue to sell the pass but try and cut down on the amount that get it, make people pay $1200 up front…

And why, exactly, would that be better for Disney than simply raising the price for everyone? True, being able to make monthly payments raises the pain threshold for passholders, so they can "afford" a more expensive pass than they otherwise could. But not infinitely more expensive.

Disney just needs to keep raising the price until they balance supply and demand. That will occur at a higher price if they allow folks to make payments, but it will still occur. The result being that Disney makes more money per head. And that's exactly what Chapek and the shareholders want.

 

[AndrewC]

And why, exactly, would that be better for Disney than simply raising the price for everyone? True, being able to make monthly payments raises the pain threshold for passholders, so they can "afford" a more expensive pass than they otherwise could. But not infinitely more expensive.

Disney just needs to keep raising the price until they balance supply and demand. That will occur at a higher price if they allow folks to make payments, but it will still occur. The result being that Disney makes more money per head. And that's exactly what Chapek and the shareholders want.

They could increase the price, but that could get bad press. I would imagine Disney would like to avoid a bunch of headlines saying their top pass with no blackouts was $2,500/person or something.

Removing the payment plan could be spun as “Disney is simplifying the pass experience. Purchase online with one easy payment and enjoy a year of Disney magic!” Etc.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

And why, exactly, would that be better for Disney than simply raising the price for everyone? True, being able to make monthly payments raises the pain threshold for passholders, so they can "afford" a more expensive pass than they otherwise could. But not infinitely more expensive.

Disney just needs to keep raising the price until they balance supply and demand. That will occur at a higher price if they allow folks to make payments, but it will still occur. The result being that Disney makes more money per head. And that's exactly what Chapek and the shareholders want.

Probably depends on how many people do end up paying in full and how many end up failing to make payments. It is a hassle to collect/expense, so if you want payment plans to stick around encourage everyone to keep making their payments on time! The expense of tracking down late payments/failure to pay is exactly the kind of cost savings Chapek seems like to go after.

 

[whiteness]

They could increase the price, but that could get bad press. I would imagine Disney would like to avoid a bunch of headlines saying their top pass with no blackouts was $2,500/person or something.

Removing the payment plan could be spun as “Disney is simplifying the pass experience. Purchase online with one easy payment and enjoy a year of Disney magic!” Etc.

Disney doesn't care about "Bad Press" anymore. Not when it comes to squeezing us for every last penny while giving us as little as possible in return. They have been very upfront and in your face about that for a while, now. And we still keep right on paying.

 

[whiteness]

Probably depends on how many people do end up paying in full and how many end up failing to make payments. It is a hassle to collect/expense, so if you want payment plans to stick around encourage everyone to keep making their payments on time! The expense of tracking down late payments/failure to pay is exactly the kind of cost savings Chapek seems like to go after.

They don't need to collect. They just cut off your access, and they are done with you. You've effectively paid an initiation fee (the cost of a ticket) plus a monthly subscription. Not ideal for Disney, but even worse for you, because now you won't be able to be a passholder again. And, maybe, you will be flat out banned from the park.

Maybe a certain percentage of passholders would be willing to go that route, but I'm guessing not a very high percentage. Probably Disney assumes the same. As long as they make more money overall, why should they care?