Disneyland Discontinues Sales of New Southern California APs Again

I hope it's a move in the right direction.

As far as passes go.....
I feel Disney needs to have the same payment options for all passes sold.
I'm sure many would love to have a monthly payment plan for a non-SoCal pass.

Personally, I prefer to pay in full at the time of purchase for an AP.

Geemo
 
^ we're not local so I haven't explored AP options a ton, but that's interesting that not all allow a monthly payment option. It's actually so transparent that's it's hilarious! "We know you don't care enough/have enough money to buy a higher tiered AP, but we figure at $31/month you'll think you might as well do it." I agree if they get rid of the monthly payment options that would be a big step to crowd control.
 
Honestly, the fastest way to reduce crowds would be to eliminate the payment plans, although personally I hope that never happens.
 


I hope it's a move in the right direction.

As far as passes go.....
I feel Disney needs to have the same payment options for all passes sold.
I'm sure many would love to have a monthly payment plan for a non-SoCal pass.

Personally, I prefer to pay in full at the time of purchase for an AP.

Geemo
All pass levels can get the monthly payments, but you must be a resident of California to do so.
 
Seriously doubt it will alleviate crowds. Best it will do is maintain the current level.

Well, with no weekend options for the Select SoCal plan, all it'll do is push more locals to get the Deluxe and go all year round, including on Saturdays now.
 
Honestly, the fastest way to reduce crowds would be to eliminate the payment plans, although personally I hope that never happens.

I doubt getting rid of the payment plans is enough. I believe they need to get rid of the unlimited annual passes all together and move to a points system. You would get an allotment of points but it wouldn't be unlimited.
 


I doubt getting rid of the payment plans is enough. I believe they need to get rid of the unlimited annual passes all together and move to a points system. You would get an allotment of points but it wouldn't be unlimited.
At this point they would have to do something really unpopular (which would be the point wouldn't it)

I say:
Get rid of all "local passes"
Get rid of all payment plans
Do not allow renewals for those that already have them.
With the new hotel, expand on site privileges including getting rid of Magic mornings in order to have EMH be more enjoyable at DL.

Then reevaluate
 
I wonder why they choice the Southern California pass and not the SoCal Select pass (the one I have).

The SoCal pass allows pass holders to go to the park on most Sundays. That is why Sundays are often the worst day of the week crowd wise.
 
Last edited:
Honestly, the fastest way to reduce crowds would be to eliminate the payment plans, although personally I hope that never happens.

I think it would cause at least a 20 or 30% drop in attendance and put a beating on Disney's corporate earnings. Theme parks was one of the few bright spots in Disney's latest earnings report. If Disney took away the monthly payment plan they would not be able to keep jacking up the annual pass prices. Nor would a significant portion of the current pass holders be able and/or willing to pay 1000+ dollars for a pass in one hit. But monthly, it is much easy to take.

But I would personally like it. The parks would be much more pleasant crowd wise if a big chunk of pass holders were priced out. And that would probably cause Disney to focus more on the customer experience, which it desperately needs in my opinion. But Disney is a corporation and they are going to do what makes them the most money at this time so I do not see them taking away the monthly pay option for long. But they may possibly do it one year prior to the opening of Galaxy's Edge to thin the heard out a bit. But the monthly payment plan would likely return after the initial novelty of Galaxy Edges wears off.
 
At this point they would have to do something really unpopular (which would be the point wouldn't it)

I say:
Get rid of all "local passes"
Get rid of all payment plans
Do not allow renewals for those that already have them.
With the new hotel, expand on site privileges including getting rid of Magic mornings in order to have EMH be more enjoyable at DL.

Then reevaluate
I would absolutely agree with all of these! The crowds have really gotten ridiculous this year especially! Something needs to change.

I think also, before the opening date for SWGE is announced, they need to halt new AP sales entirely. I think they did that when DCA opened, though it ended up being unnecessary.
 
When they stopped selling these before, they still let everyone who had one continue to renew them. If 80% or more of those people continue to renew, I just don't see how that will help much.
Ugh, missed that. That's a shame.
 
Does reducing attendance automatically reduce earnings? We live halfway across the country but we visit family in Anaheim about three times a year. But we almost always stay away from the park because the crowds are insane. When we do go, however, we eat at the restaurants and buy souvenirs. Often spend a night in a park hotel too. Don't the local crowds spend next to nothing besides the pass itself?
 
No, I can't speak for everyone, but when I go with AP holders, they spend quite a lot. Maybe not always on a hotel room, but for food, drinks, souvenirs. Where do people get the idea that the locals don't eat at the restaurants?
From Disney research

It's not that they don't eat at the restaurants and buy souvenirs it's that they spend less at restaurants and souvenirs.
 
From Disney research

It's not that they don't eat at the restaurants and buy souvenirs it's that they spend less at restaurants and souvenirs.

I'd love to see some links! Do they spend less per visit or per year? Because, yeah, when you know you can come back any time, you're not going to buy as many souvenirs. But you still have to eat!

ETA: It's OK, I'll do my own research. :earsboy:
 
Last edited:
I'd love to see some links! Do they spend less per visit or per year? Because, yeah, when you know you can come back any time, you're not going to buy as many souvenirs. But you still have to eat!

ETA: It's OK, I'll do my own research. :earsboy:

Honestly if you find something share your links :-) Disney just says these things but as far as I know most if not all of their survey data is not released to the public.

I will add that I don't think Disney cares what a family spends per year or month or decade but only what they spend per visit.
 
Likely due to the fact that the Select pass has already blocked out the key times needed to gain a bit more crowd control. It looks like the select pass has the summer, holidays, and weekends all year blocked out so it's a Mon-Fri pass during the less busy times. I wouldn't doubt that it will be a target for future pass reductions...
Mike


This ^^^ We've been socal select APs for many years. Basically they block the days we don't want to go anyways due to crowds. School holidays and weekends we are blocked which are super busy. I think the socal select passes helps act like an equalizer.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top