Disneyland’s annual passholder program is over.
According Ken Potrock, the president of Disneyland, the California theme park decided to “sunset” the annual passholder program, which should have significant ramifications on how Disney lovers spend their time in the park. (You know, when it finally opens again.)
Potrock sent a letter to Disney’s annual pass holders, informing them that, after nearly forty years, the program is being canceled “due to the continuing uncertainty of the pandemic and the expected limitations and restrictions around the reopening of our theme parks. “. In the coming days, your team will begin the process of distributing partial refunds to people who have prepaid for an entire year or have an unused balance on a monthly plan, although it is unclear exactly how long this process will take.
“Holders of the annual passport who held active passports on March 14, 2020 will continue to receive applicable discounts, based on the type of passport, on goods and food and drinks at selected locations in the Downtown Disney District and Buena Vista Street, until new membership offers are announced, ”Potrock said. These new membership offerings are still in the early stages of development, but are designed to “use consumer insights to offer options, flexibility and value to our biggest fans”.
Disneyland has been closed for months due to the pandemic, and with cases in the Los Angeles area remaining out of control and incredibly dangerous numbers, it doesn’t look like the park will open its gates anytime soon. This long closure hit Disney where it hurts the most – its financial results – and it is clear that executives are looking to get as much money back as possible once the park finally reopens. And what better way to do that than to get a big discount for people who, in a pre-pandemic world, have made visiting the park a regular part of their lives? In this respect, Disneyland is very different from Walt Disney World: regular Disneylanders in SoCal basically used the park as a social space. Now that they will have to pay the full price to enter every time, one can imagine that a significant part of them will not be attending the park as often as they used to – especially considering that the pandemic has negatively affected so many people financially.
According to LaughingPlace, the Premier passport will be canceled after March 31, 2021, but Premier Pass holders will be able to renew their passes as a Walt Disney World Resort Annual Pass April 30, 2021.
Interesting posts from around the web: