Passholders Petition for Alternative to Extended Annual Passes - Inside the Magic

Though everyone is still waiting for Disneyland Resort to reopen its theme parks, or even just word about when the theme parks will reopen, Annual Passholders are already very worried about what the park going is going to look like for them when it does reopen.

From what Walt Disney World Resort has implemented into their system, the Disney Park Pass Reservation System will seemingly have issues if it is brought over to Disneyland.  Disneyland has marginally more Annual Passholders than Disney World with its nearly a million Annual Passholders. How Disneyland will handle Annual Passes is still unknown, but we do know that they will be affected in some capacity.

Disney Park Pass Reservation System

The Walt Disney World Park Pass Reservation System is something that is expected to be used for Disneyland as well to limit capacity. This new Disney Park Pass system allows for Guests to reserve one park per day with no park hopping allowed and is required in order to visit the parks. Annual Passholders are allowed to hold three reservations at a time or for the length of their stay at a Disney Resort hotel. With four theme parks and less Annual Passholders, this system has worked well for Disney World, all things considered.

Disney Park Pass at Disneyland

Unfortunately, with only two theme parks and way more Annual Passholders, many believe that this may be a flawed system for Disneyland. In the past few months, there have been different ideas from Annual Passholders on how Disneyland could accommodate them. Some want partial refunds like Walt Disney World has given if an Annual Passholder requested it. Others have requested more incentives like the AP Magic Perks for Annual Passholders in order to get their money’s worth out of what they paid for in the Annual Pass.

Petition For Disneyland Annual Pass Extension Alternative

One Annual Passholder has come up with an alternative option to all of this.  The idea is that the Annual Pass Extension does not start until the Annual Passholder’s first visit back to the parks.  For the petition, they are looking for 1,500 signatures on Change.org and a lot of Annual Passholders are getting behind it with already received over 1,000 signatures.  Below is a detail description of what the petition is for.

“Disneyland should not count the extension for Annual Passes the first day the park re-opens. We propose that Disneyland should start the extension on the first day that a passholder enters the park, once it reopens, rather than beginning the extension on the same day for everyone. 

We would continue to pay for our passes (those of us who make monthly payments) once the park opens, however, the idea is that the extension would begin once someone enters the park for the first time once it reopens. This way, if there is limited capacity, those who have paid in full or even have top tier passes do not miss out on what they paid for (ex: no blockout dates, no reservations, full access for the entirety of the 12-month pass period, etc.) 

This is considering that the parks may open too soon for comfort for some of us, amidst this global pandemic. Therefore, we as consumers are not spending money on a pass when we may not feel comfortable returning to Disneyland parks yet. Or, those who do wish to visit the park once it re-opens won’t have the reservation-period counted against them on their pass if they are unable to make one due to limited capacity and the new reservation-based system. This will also avoid many of us losing the down payment that we’ve already made for the passes we currently hold, rather than cancelling now and renewing again at a later time.”  

For more information on how Annual Pass extensions are being handled at Disneyland Resort, visit the official website here and scroll to the Annual Passports section.