Disneyland Ends AP Program & Cancels Annual Passes
Disney announced it will be ending the current Annual Passholder program for Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, cancelling all outstanding APs and issuing refunds. In this post, we’ll share details about the termination, commentary on why it’s happening, and more. (Updated January 27, 2021.)
Here’s the statement issued by Ken Potrock, President of Disneyland Resort:
“For nearly four decades, our Annual Passport program has been an important part of connecting with some of our most valued Guests. We are incredibly honored and grateful for that legacy, and the memories and magical moments you have helped us create over the years.
It’s because you’ve played such an important part in the history of the Disneyland Resort that I personally wanted to share this news with you. In the next several days, we will begin the process of issuing appropriate refunds for eligible Disneyland Resort Annual Passports and sunsetting the current Annual Passport program due to the continued uncertainty of the pandemic and limitations and expected restrictions around the reopening of our theme parks.
I know that sunsetting the Annual Passport program will be disappointing to many of our Passholders who are just as anxious as we are to reopen our gates and welcome Guests back when the time is right. But we are also very excited about what’s ahead.
We plan to use this time while we remain closed to develop new membership offerings that will utilize consumer insights to deliver choice, flexibility and value for our biggest fans. Once we have more information to share about future membership offerings, our Passholders will be the first to hear from us as we embark on this next chapter.”
January 27, 2021 Update: While Disneyland has not yet revealed what the “new membership offerings” will entail, they have revealed a new title for those who held active APs when the parks closed: Disneyland Resort Legacy Passholders.
Disneyland Legacy Passholders can purchase exclusive merchandise, special food and beverage offerings, and save 30% on select merchandise at select Downtown Disney District and Buena Vista Street locations through February 25, 2021 on Mondays through Thursdays. Disney is also teasing that this is just the start for Disneyland Legacy Passholders, and they are “working on adding more magic during this limited time!”
This is pretty much just a rebranding, but it’s a smart one. For many Disney fans, status is everything, and being a “Legacy Passholder” instead of an “ex-AP” will make them feel better. It would be incredibly savvy for Disneyland to continue this approach with the new membership programs, allowing anyone who maintains continuity between the programs to have some honorary distinction.
It sounds silly, but we know some fans who keep renewing D23 specifically to maintain their “Charter Member” status and others who are proud to be part of the Disney+ “Founders Circle.” Having a status that essentially amounts to being an OG member helps many people “prove” their fandom bona fides. It’s like street cred, but for us Disney dorks.
Additionally, Disneyland encourages fans stay connected with their Annual Passholders Facebook page for future communications and digital content about special opportunities to come, until new membership offerings are announced. That’s also an advisable move if you don’t always receive emails from Disneyland. (Our batting average with that is about .500!)
Disneyland has also announced that pro rata refunds will be issued for those with valid Annual Passports, who are entitled to one. Disney indicates that refunds will be processed as diligently and as quickly as possible, but that has not been the case for Walt Disney World APs despite a similar process.
Confirmation emails will be sent to the email address associated with the Annual Passport once any applicable pro rata refund for such AP has been processed. If the applicable pro rata refund is unable to be returned to the purchasing credit card, a check will be mailed to the billing address provided at the time of sale/renewal of the Passport.
Visit Disneyland.com/PassportRefund for more information, including refund calculations for various types of APs and blockout calendars to assist you in crunching the numbers. We’ve already done enough math for one week, so you’re on your own there.
This is undoubtedly going to be disappointing and upsetting news for many Disneyland fans and Californians who have become accustomed to visiting the parks at their leisure. It’s also totally unsurprising and, frankly, necessary. That’s going to be an unpopular opinion amongst a sea of what we predict will be irate reactions, but it’s true.
Before we delve into our analysis as to why this had to happen (something we predicted and touched upon months ago), we’ll offer another, perhaps reassuring prediction: Disneyland Annual Passes are not gone forever–they will return.
Our guess is that Disneyland will bring APs back at some point in 2022. That’s purely speculative and depends upon a ton of unknowns right now. Basically, our expectation is that Annual Passes will be back in some form as soon as Disneyland and DCA can operate at full capacity.
In normal times, Disneyland is dependent upon locals during the off-season–the SoCal resident ticket deal is insufficient on its own. Although Disney has tried to make Disneyland Resort a standalone vacation destination (and moved it in that direction since the debut of Cars Land), it is still reliant upon Californians and not tourists for most of the year. While those same locals cause attendance problems, Disneyland cannot subsist on travelers like Walt Disney World.
For those keeping score at home, we predicted The End of Disneyland as a “Local’s Park” years before Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opened. Admittedly, that got as much wrong as it did right. While Disney would love for that to be true–and it feels that way during peak travel seasons–it’s still not the case for the vast majority of the calendar, which is why some sort of Annual Passholder program is necessary when back to full capacity.
With that said, for all of the reasons identified in the aforementioned post, it’s likely that significant “reforms” will be instituted with the relaunch of Disneyland’s Annual Passholder program. Having the chance to reboot the entire program in the image of the Disney Flex Pass (which is essentially the framework for the Park Pass reservation system at Walt Disney World) should help address the crowd woes that have arisen at Disneyland in the last several years.
Most of you understandably don’t follow Tokyo Disney Resort Annual Pass news, but what Disneyland is doing now is very similar to what happened in Japan when those parks reopened.
The only difference is that Tokyo Disney Resort did not end its AP program before reopening, instead doing an AP lottery process first that regularly crashed their website and shut out the vast majority of Annual Passholders we know there. That was an unmitigated disaster, so OLC moved to across-the-board cancellations. (We’re still in the process of getting refunds on those APs, but obviously that’s a bit different.)
The AP program had to be temporarily cancelled in Japan because there’s a huge fanbase of Annual Passholders in nearby Tokyo, the most populous city in the world, and only two theme parks to absorb those crowds. In the current era of physical distancing and limited attendance, retaining the AP program was simply not feasible.
That description of Tokyo Disney Resort should sound familiar to Disneyland fans. California’s and Tokyo’s parks have much more in common with one another than Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Like Tokyo, Disneyland has a fervent fanbase of local Annual Passholders in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, and only two parks to absorb those guests.
The main difference here is that Disneyland Resort is skipping the “unmitigated disaster” step, learning from Tokyo’s mistakes, and skipping straight to the program cancellation and refunds. It may not be the popular approach, but it’s the correct one.
Suffice to say, maintaining the current Annual Passholder program at Disneyland would not be feasible with physical distancing and limited attendance. Fans are undoubtedly going to be upset about this, but those same people would likewise be mad when they couldn’t book a reservation more than once every other month. It’s literally either a matter of being furious and/or disappointed now or later. There was never a third option.
We know that because Walt Disney World Annual Passholders were livid when they no longer had unlimited access to the parks. People lost it when the Disney Park Pass system debuted and they could only (at first) make 3 reservations over the course of a month (roughly). Things are much better now in Florida, but they’d be much worse in California because there’s a larger and more local AP base. Those problems would exist for as long as physical distancing and attendance caps are in place, leading to many disgruntled fans.
Ultimately, this is obviously not a change we would want to see happen in a perfect world, but nothing about right now screams “ideal circumstances.” We’re glad Disney has realized it’s necessary and unavoidable, and is making the move. It’s better to rip the Band-Aid off now, rather than waiting for Disneyland and Disney California Adventure to reopen, giving fans false hope before seeing it doesn’t work, and trying to process refunds and cancellations then plus a deluge of disgruntled customer complaints, while also dealing with new bookings and actual operations.
Ending the Annual Passholder program now should give Disneyland a few months to deal with cancellations, complaints, refunds, and so forth, and a fresh slate once the parks are ready for operations again. So the silver lining, at least, is that this inevitable bad news at least has good timing. As covered in the last update to our When Will Disneyland Reopen? predictions, we’re still optimistic the parks will reopen before Summer 2021.
If you’re preparing for a Disneyland trip, check out our other planning posts, including how to save money on Disneyland tickets, our Disney packing tips, tips for booking a hotel (off-site or on-site), where to dine, and a number of other things, check out our comprehensive Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What are your thoughts on this? Do you agree with our assessment that Disneyland’s Annual Pass program is not viable in an era of physical distancing and reduced attendance? Or, do you disagree and think Disneyland could’ve found a way to make it work? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments
We got the Flex pass + Maxpass exactly a month before Disneyland closed. We went twice before it closed. I knew this was coming and was concerned that we would be out all the money we had already put toward the passes. We did the monthly payments so we paid the downpayment+the February payment 4 days later+March. However, if my math is correct, given the formula Disney gave, we should come out okay. We’ll see when the refund comes I guess. Disney is far from perfect but, they do seem to do right by their guests in the end. We would happily get the Flex pass again or discounted So. Cal. resident tickets in 2022.
Does anyone know how the renewal for the premier pass works for WDW? Until receiving Potrock’s email, we were told by WDW we could not renew our two world pass at any level at WDW. At least with this news, maybe we can now buy a WDW AP although we are very disappointed but not surprised by the cancellation. SoCal is a mess right now but vaccines are very slowly rolling out this week so hoping Disneyland can open soon!
there’s probably a significantly higher likelihood of DL reinstituting APs or a similar new program in the near future than there is WDW ever replacing ME and EMH with anything remotely similar.
When I read Ken Potrock’s name, I always think of Fred Flintstone’s boss. Ken was not too bad as President of DVC before he was moved on to DLR. I hope he might be successful at DLR, too. It’s going to be hard to come back after being shut down for a year or more.
Among other problems, they’re going to have a huge maintenance issue with rides that haven’t operated in over a year. And they’ve probably lost some of the people who knew how to fix them, making the problems even worse. And even for the rides that are functioning, it’s going to take quite a while to train new cast members to operate them. I remember going on Spaceship Earth when they were obviously breaking in someone new a few years ago, and close to half the vehicles were leaving empty. It’s not immediately obvious how you match people up smoothly, especially when visitors don’t behave uniformly.
I’m starting to respect Disneyland more than Merlin in the UK (not a high bar, I’ll admit) and even WDW. The recent cuts at WDW have been basically plan-destroying (I’m likely not going to stay on site there if at all without the perks) and this was the best option to do.
For a probable reason why they’ve done this… See Merlin. Our prebook system was horrendous from the start, and when they eventually took the old passes off sale, they didn’t do anything to existing passes, leaving us with exactly the same problem, just slowly tapering off over a year.
A well done and informative article, thank you.
Ending the AP program is a disappointment, for sure, but as you pointed out, it does make sense, especially doing it now to avoid false-hope for people down the road. My wife and are are/were DLAP holders but were of the rare breed since we’re in New England and we’re not local. Since we were visiting California a couple of time a year, it made sense to have the AP’s, but now it makes sense to not have them and overall, this cancelation doesn’t impact US in the short term. Let’s hope they revamp things for the better and eliminate the issues of teh last.
The Flex Pass was definitely a step in the right direction, and rebuilding the program from the ground up in that style is a great opportunity–it should really be long-term positive for everyone.
Well, when WDW reopened on July 11th the Annual Passholders were given special perks, such as virtual guaranteeing of getting a Park Pass using the pass system and great hotel discounts. It would seem appropriate for Disneyland to do the same when they reopen.
I hope whatever they do they include parking. Making a 4 day ticket look attractive isn’t a deal when you need to add $100 to park
Hi Tom,
As always, thank you Tom for your insightful
& informative articles. We appreciate your feedback.
Being a Disneyland Annual Passholder since 1992 and with everything that has happened, I am not surprised. In fact, we we’re expecting that to happen. Are we disappointed? Certainly, but as you mentioned, we too don’t believe Annual Passes will be gone forever. It had to be done during these difficult times. Now, we eagerly await information regarding the new “memberships” and their perspective price points, whatever that will be in the future.
If I had to guess, the “membership” will be an “opportunity” for past APs to purchase discounted tickets, a la the SoCal resident deals.
Disney is savvy, so I’m sure they’ll spin it as something exclusive (maybe include a free button or something) as Disneyland fans eat up anything that makes them feel special.
It will be interesting to see how they handle the refunds on the Premier Passes as you can still use the pass at WDW. My original expiration date was to be 7/23/20 and it currently shows an expiration of 2/8/21.
Well, my Premiere originally expired 7/18/2020, and now expires 2/3/2021. But the days from 7/19/2020 to 2/3/2021 are part of the extension, which they were giving us for free. In your case, it would be from 7/24/2020 to 2/8/2021. Since the extension is for free, there is no money to refund, since none was collected. Therefore, you would get refunded from 3/14/2020 to 7/23/2020, or the number of days from right at the shutdown to your original expiration date (which in my case is 7/18/2020). It’s REALLY disappointing after what we were told we would get earlier, with the open ended extension until the California parks reopen, and then that final extension. I really feel like I’m Charlie Brown, and Lucy just yanked away that football.
I always appreciate your balanced and thoughtful approach. My gut reaction when I saw the news (and I’m not an AP holder) was “things are never going to be the same ever again!” It feels like it’s been a year of unimaginable loss and this feels like just another loss. But understanding the why and seeing the silver lining of a potentially less crowded Disneyland is helpful.
As you said, Tom, this seemed pretty inevitable ever since Tokyo had to pull the plug on their AP program. I’m glad they learned the lesson from Tokyo and skipped the disaster part here. I’m also glad they announced it now, when there’s still no hope of reopening for months to come, instead of waiting and doing this as part of their reopening process. People will be disappointed, but better to have disappointed customers than angry ones.
Some day, once there’s excess capacity to fill in the parks, APs or something like them will obviously be back.
Wondering if they’ll focus more on those APs where you have a few days unblocked and the rest you had to book in advance. Or you book ALL days in advance at least for the first year? I’m sure most locals won’t like that option but if they are going to do a massive reset of APs that makes the most sense. And limited capacity gives them an excuse.
My guess is something like the Flex Pass, which is like the Park Pass system at Walt Disney World.
No way would it require booking the entire year in advance. That would be bad for both guests *and* Disney, since they don’t have attendance projections that far in advance. Dynamic is better for all involved.
So what about Club 33? Not that anyone reading this can afford it, just wondering…
I want a refund on my diamond pass!! (corny joke) We know you’re being facetious Mrnico
FYI: Club members’ premier passes are cancelled too, though members are not receiving refunds. Members with premier passes will continue to have access to DLR (when it reopens) until an appropriate replacement is developed.
Has anyone heard if they are offering refunds for normal tickets? I know they typically don’t but with no opening in site, I am feeling more and more uncomfortable having a large balance in our unused tickets that we might not be able to “upgrade” to current tickets anytime soon.
I have a single-day ticket that I was going to use in March. Then June. Then October. Then it disappeared from the “My Tickets” within “My Disney Experience.” I was told that when the park reopened, the ticket would reappear and with an adjusted deadline (it expired December). So I imagine that’s the plan!
I live in New York and was supposed to have my first Disneyland trip April of 2020, which obviously didn’t happen, with the villains party ticket. I sat on them for MONTHS before I finally got someone to refund them for me. It was a fight and they definitely tried to get me to keep it with the “never loses its value” line, but I got it. Doesn’t hurt to try!
I think this makes sense. If they open at a reduced capacity and passholders can’t get reservations on days they would otherwise be entitled to (as happened in Florida) it would be a mess.
We were still deciding whether to get a refund or extend ours – guess that decision has been made for us. The website is still really unclear on how they will calculate refunds (and also curious about refunding MaxPass …)
I agree 100% that this needed to happen, but perhaps I’m not as optimistic as you that any version of the AP will return at some point in 2022 or beyond. From Ken’s message, he seems to be indicating that the program is going to be entirely replaced, not just overhauled, and since there are few details about this new “membership” program, I have to assume I’m probably not going to like the offering. (What? Like a Costco membership where I pay an annual fee to get discounted tickets? Hard pass.) As with many So Cal residents, the draw of the AP was the ability to go to the parks any time I wanted. I could go after work, or even skip work entirely, play a little hooky, or get bored on a Sunday and just decide to mosey over. I could spend the entire day trying to ride every ride in the resort, or I could just go for a couple hours and enjoy a Naughty Sauce or three lakeside at Lamplight, or I could just go specifically to pick something up from Elias & Co for a Christmas gift and nothing else (which I have done!). My concern is that whatever they replace the AP with, it won’t allow me this freedom, and if I do want to go visit the parks, I have to anticipate and block out my dates far in advance like…well, like a tourist. Again, I completely agree that under limited capacity conditions an AP makes absolutely no economic sense, and I’ll be glad to accept my refund. But in the days (which are hopefully by 2022, or even sooner!) when we return to some form of full-capacity normalcy, deciding not to offer the extraordinary value, both in time and savings, of an AP to us locals who drive a huge chunk of the DLR business seems like a horrible decision. I just hope you’re right and I’m wrong!
IKR. I hope they bring it back once again once it is around Full Capacity for it was the only way I could have afforded to go. Too bad Disney is no longer what Walt Disney planned when he helped build the parks. Making it affordable for even lower income people to enjoy. If they would have just done it affordable but you have to plan when you want to come and if it is at Capacity for that day you would have to choose another day instead. I bet if they would have made more money since people who save money on Tickets will put the other money on Shopping and Dining rather than just paying tickets and eating outside of Disney like people do now.
Do as many other California businesses are doing…move to Texas! We’ll welcome you with open arms!
Umm … no thanks
Your point is well taken. Disney likely would never do this due to the entertainment industry in Hollywood, but so many other businesses are making that exact geographical move for many reasons!
The only thing that surprises me is that Disney isn’t offering some kind of program, even at a massively inflated price. They might not sell many passes at $2000/year, but they’d sell some. But maybe that’s not a look they want. I expect Socal Resident discounts will be available. Interesting that Paris avoided this so far, by the way.
We don’t know that they AREN’T planning on offering such a pass. But there’s no point in making any such announcements when they truly have no clue when they will be able to reopen. Better to let the AP cancellation disappointment sink in on its own, instead of making it even worse with an “…unless you’re willing to spend $2k” clause.
DL Paris avoided this for the same reason WDW did; its local fanbase is not large enough to overwhelm it.
They already have one that’s $2,000 per year it’s called the Premier Pass and it’s for the parks in both California and Florida.
@Todd: not anymore, Premier Passes are discontinued as well. Anyone who had a premier pass now just has a WDW AP that will get you merch discounts at Downtown Disney for a couple more months.
I am all for this! It was way too crowded and made a trip to Disneyland more of a headache than it should be. I think they should sell “memberships” that allow a certain amount of days to be used each month or you buy so many days for the whole year. They could also bring back no expiration tickets that allow you to buy 10 days for a discounted rate…like the good ‘ol Walt Disney World tickets. I still regret not buying some of those no expiration WDW tickets before they disappeared!
I feel the same way! So excited for Disneyland to reopen but was dreading trying to figure out how with the pent up demand from locals. Now it feels like I’ll have a fighting chance.
Trying to make lemonades out of lemons…with getting priced out of Disneyworld after 2021 increases it looks like there might be a sweet spot for visiting Disneyland after it reopens but before APs return?
We have other reasons to try and get back to SoCal and I feel like there will be a period where weekdays there might be a pretty amazing experience…
Drew, that’s what I am hoping. I get the locals who are disappointed, but as a tourist visitor to DLR, I love the idea that there will be fewer locals crowding in for their 20th ride on RotR that year when we’re trying to get in our first. I’m looking to take a trip in that window you mentioned, when life is mostly normal, but no AP program yet.
If I had to guess at this point, I’d peg September as the sweet spot (assuming an opening between late April and July).
That would be after initial pent-up demand from locals is mostly exhausted and California’s summer tourist season ends, but before the Halloween and Christmas holiday seasons start in full force.