Magic Key Sales to Resume on 1/10/24!

[Foxhound3857]

It has started in WDW this week. There has never been any talk of that coming to DL/DCA. (Except perhaps wishful thinking on some people's part or confusion by those who didn't realize it only applied to WDW.)

Why wouldn't it come to DL/DCA at some point though, if it's going to become standard fare at WDW?

 

[Lisa24jks]

Why wouldn't it come to DL/DCA at some point though, if it's going to become standard fare at WDW?

I wouldn't say never say never, but DLR is a totally different beast than WDW. DLR is much more of a "locals" park than WDW, which is more of a "tourists" park. Both parks have locals and passholders, but there is a far bigger number of them at DLR than WDW. Which means people coming after work, or coming to the parks several times a week, or coming only for like an hour or two hours and not spending the entire day. So Disney is forcing the California locals and passholders to plan better so they can staff around the numbers. Less locals/passholders in Florida, so less spontaneous visitors.

I'm sure others have explained it more eloquently than that, but usually if something is at WDW but not DLR, or vice versa, it's often explained by the mix of visitors being so different at each park. (It's also why WDW doesn't change their Haunted Mansion and DLR does.) So while I would never count out changes to the reservation system at DLR as Disney is always throwing curveballs, there hasn't been anything on the horizon about it.

 

[dina444444]

WDW started allowing passholders to visit daily after 2pm without a reservation except for MK on Saturday and Sunday almost a year ago. We haven’t had any changes to our passholder program since the relaunch. The only change we had was the move of park hopping from 1pm to 11am a while ago, WDW hadn’t changed their park hopping situation until this week when they did away with the 2pm restriction. So the 2 resorts do operate differently in that way.

 

[Foxhound3857]

Oh well, the reservation system is annoying, but it's not hard to plan around. I just typically avoid busy days, Mondays especially.

 

[DonMacGregor]

I'm on my way to go upgrade my ticket to an imagine key. Wish me luck guys!

How did that go? I see that Imagine Keys are still available for purchase, so I'm assuming all went well?

 

[starry_solo]

Wait, there's a free magic Key magnet available at DLR? Where? Lol. We aren't renewing our MK when it expires in a few weeks.

 

[ardanxela]

How did that go? I see that Imagine Keys are still available for purchase, so I'm assuming all went well?

Hopefully they were able to purchase as I see that the queue has closed now for new purchases.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

So they are selling less Magical Keys this year right?

How did we go from passes selling out months later if never for the two highest to within 28 hours and they are out.

That or demand is up 10 fold

 

[Foxhound3857]

So they are selling less Magical Keys this year right?

How did we go from passes selling out months later if never for the two highest to within 28 hours and they are out.

That or demand is up 10 fold

False demand most likely. They apparently took all three of the upper tiers off the market at the exact same moment, which likely means they're not out of them but don't want to sell anymore.

Why they didn't take the Imagine Key off the market too, if that's the case, eludes me.

 

[ardanxela]

I'm thinking I may hold off on using my Magic Key for another year. Haunted Mansion will be closed for refurbishment for who knows how long. I've read until possibly as late as October. I'm anxiously awaiting the opening of Tiana's Bayou Adventure and the last update I saw on that was it opening in late 2024. I would imagine when the Magic Keys go on sale again, there will be a price increase like this time. Maybe this was the year for me to buy but not to use. I'll have to ponder some more.

 

[brightlined]

False demand most likely. They apparently took all three of the upper tiers off the market at the exact same moment, which likely means they're not out of them but don't want to sell anymore.

Why they didn't take the Imagine Key off the market too, if that's the case, eludes me.

The Imagine Key covers the most-available space they have and the space they most want to fill - the days that people generally don't buy day tickets for. No weekends, no holidays.

Statistically speaking, I think the other three passes are basically a push - the pricing covers what they want out of each, so it doesn't matter how many of each type of Key they sell. At this point, it's the combined total number of those passes that matters on the ledger. I think that's what they needed the first couple of years to figure out - how to price them and adjust the benefits to balance them out.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

I'm thinking I may hold off on using my Magic Key for another year. Haunted Mansion will be closed for refurbishment for who knows how long. I've read until possibly as late as October. I'm anxiously awaiting the opening of Tiana's Bayou Adventure and the last update I saw on that was it opening in late 2024. I would imagine when the Magic Keys go on sale again, there will be a price increase like this time. Maybe this was the year for me to buy but not to use. I'll have to ponder some more.

As someone who went last night, I understand 100%

Ops right now are not the best and with so many rides down or going down plus Pirates on Genie Plus...lines aren't going to be as kind this year as last year

 

[brightlined]

Wait, there's a free magic Key magnet available at DLR? Where? Lol. We aren't renewing our MK when it expires in a few weeks.

It was in the MK portal, but I don't see it there now.

From another site: "If you missed out on the previously-released party favor magnet from the Magic Key Dance Party you can pick it up between January 9th and January 18th. This is available at the following locations, while supplies last: Disneyana in Disneyland Park and Studio Store in Disney California Adventure."

 

[brightlined]

So they are selling less Magical Keys this year right?

How did we go from passes selling out months later if never for the two highest to within 28 hours and they are out.

That or demand is up 10 fold

I would bet that they're maintaining a certain number, and that yesterday covered the people who let theirs expire over the last eight months. Whether there were more or fewer sold last year just depends on how many spots opened after the previous on-sale. If they think they can sell more weekend day tickets now than before, that would also incentivize them to pull back on the number of Inspire Keys, for example.

I can't rule out that they lowered the number of total passes. The fact that they didn't sell APs until six months after the park reopened in 2021 just proved that they'd rather sell day tickets than APs - I think they'd eliminate the program entirely if they could afford to. But there's just a ton of space that they can't fill with day tickets.

 

[brightlined]

I'm sure others have explained it more eloquently than that, but usually if something is at WDW but not DLR, or vice versa, it's often explained by the mix of visitors being so different at each park. (It's also why WDW doesn't change their Haunted Mansion and DLR does.) So while I would never count out changes to the reservation system at DLR as Disney is always throwing curveballs, there hasn't been anything on the horizon about it.

As someone who's been more often a WDW passholder over the years, it's been hard not to step in and respond when people see WDW doing something and wonder why DLR isn't, to the point where I almost want to write a pinned post and leave it in this forum. (I talked a little about that kind of thing in the Day Ticket thread - the idea that WDW "got rid of park reservations" almost qualifies as misinformation.)

The thing I'll add to what you're saying: WDW took a much harder beating over the last five years - they have an insane amount of available park capacity outside of the holidays.

WDW operates more like Vegas - boatload of hotel rooms, boatload of park capacity - fill it by any means possible. The deluxe resorts have a huge amount of convention space, for example, to try and pull that audience in. But, for example, they were hurt by the decline in the foreign tour groups (ie, Brazilian) that would bring in tons of people. On top of that, a lot of people aren't going to Orlando for political reasons now, some because of Desantis, some because Disney is "woke" now. WDW already got rid of the unpopular resort parking fee that was a disincentivizer (getting rid of that was, quietly, a hotel cost reduction, too) - and we're starting to see more and more discount deals for resorts. They're way more desperate for people to show up.

During the same time period, I think things have been pretty consistent for DLR - it's been mostly insulated. The fact that they're limiting APs this severely just supports that.

 

[LKing]

Wait, there's a free magic Key magnet available at DLR? Where? Lol. We aren't renewing our MK when it expires in a few weeks.

Disneyana in Disneyland and Studio Store in DCA. Magic Key on Instagram has up to date info.

 

[jumpman23j]

I unfortunately wasn’t able to secure an imagine key for my family. I’m a little bummed out about Disney. I do have my tickets for the day after the Super Bowl. So there’s that. Maybe I’ll give Universal my money instead and check out Super Nintendo World.

 

[Foxhound3857]

I unfortunately wasn’t able to secure an imagine key for my family. I’m a little bummed out about Disney. I do have my tickets for the day after the Super Bowl. So there’s that. Maybe I’ll give Universal my money instead and check out Super Nintendo World.

If I wasn't able to get my key I was prepared to drop $300 on a Gold Membership for Universal Studios, as I am a diehard fan of Harry Potter. Sorry you couldn't get yours. =(

 

[jumpman23j]

If I wasn't able to get my key I was prepared to drop $300 on a Gold Membership for Universal Studios, as I am a diehard fan of Harry Potter. Sorry you couldn't get yours. =(

It's okay, we all were a little bummed today. It's so hard to get the whole family ready to go early when you have little ones. By the time I made it, a cast member told me they had sold out already. It just wasn't meant to be. Someday I will secure my first magic key/ap since pre Covid. I'm looking forward to my Disneyland Trip next month and possibly getting Universal passes so I can finally check out Super Nintendo World. I just wish Disney made it easier for people to upgrade through the app without having to go down to Disneyland to activate the tickets before upgrading to a magic key.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

I unfortunately wasn’t able to secure an imagine key for my family. I’m a little bummed out about Disney. I do have my tickets for the day after the Super Bowl. So there’s that. Maybe I’ll give Universal my money instead and check out Super Nintendo World.

As a Universal AP holder, it's a wonderful little park. If you get to Universal in the morning you can walk on most rides right now because Nintendoland is soaking up the crowds

Only thing USH is missing is more events they only have HHN, Grinchmas and they have Deatheaters walking around Harry Potter area in the summer nights. But the cheap AP's pay for themselves in like 2-3 visits and even the highest one has the amazing perk's of One express pass (fast pass) after 3 PM every day and a free ticket to HHN (valued at around 70+ bucks)