Disneyland Cancels Annual Passes & What That Means For Us

There’s really no way around it. . . . . . the length of time between disappointing announcements seems to be getting shorter and shorter nowadays. Maybe it’s just a sign of the times, but man it seems like every time a Disney related headline comes across our feed another part of the magic is fading away. This past week was no exception. After learning that Disney’s Magical Express was coming to an end, as were Extra Magic Hours, Disney fans were treated to the little bit of news that Disneyland would be ending their Annual Pass program.

Now, here at 2 Foolish Mortals we are not authorities on Disneyland in California. Having not yet visited ourselves, we don’t feel like we are the appropriate source of information regarding specifics of the happenings over at Disneyland. [At least not currently. . . . but who knows!] That said, we’re bringing up the topic of Disneyland ending their Annual Pass program because it’s raised a lot of questions for Passholders at Walt Disney World. Mainly. . . could we be next? Being Walt Disney World Annual Passholders ourselves, we understand where the concerns and questions are coming from, because we have them too. In fact, that’s why we’re having this conversation here today.

Let’s start at the beginning. . . .

For those who may not already be aware, it was recently announced by Ken Potrock [President, Disneyland Resort] that the Annual Passport program for Disneyland is coming to an end. The announcement includes some hints about “new membership offerings” that will be debuted in the future as a way to replace the Annual Passport program that has been in place for nearly 40 years. The announcement also included information about some benefits that will stay in place until a future program is announced and how to learn more about getting your refund, which will be issued to everyone who has an Annual Passport.

Naturally, this news did not go over well.

Frankly, we’re not surprised that Disneyland Annual Passport holders would be upset at this announcement. Ending anything that has been in place for the past 40 years is obviously going to make some waves. [Not to mention the long list of other reasons that Disneyland fans might be upset.] However, we’re not surprised that it came to this either. After all, the park has been shut down for nearly a year and there’s currently no end to the closure in sight. More on this in a bit. . . .

Despite initially seeming unrelated, Passholders over at Walt Disney World felt the shockwaves of Disneyland’s decision to end their Annual Passport program. Why? Because if you can eliminate a program that is utilized by a large percentage of your visitors, why would eliminating a program only utilized by a small percentage be off the table? Great question! Of course, we don’t necessarily think it’s that simple. Not only are there differences in the programs and how they are structured, but there is a big difference between Disneyland and Walt Disney World right now that we mentioned briefly a moment ago; one is currently operational, the other is not.

Look, there’s no denying that a bigger discussion could definitely be had about the motivations Disneyland had for clearing the slate with the Annual Passport program. We can’t deny that the park being closed for nearly 12 months with no signs of when they might be able to open back up again doesn’t play a role in this either. In fact, this brings us to the point that our collective opinion about this Annual Passport situation centers around; there seems like too much unknown to keep stringing people along.

All other previously tossed around desires to change Disneyland’s Annual Passport program aside, clearing the slate and refunding the funds [that at this point have been tied up since the park closed] just seems like good business. After all, one of the biggest complaints people [like ourselves] had throughout all the cancellations of 2020 was getting credits rather than refunds. With no end to the closure or restrictions in sight and no idea what reopening will look like capacity wise, there is a lot of unknown [aside from the pending logistical nightmare of keeping track of everything] for how things would be handled moving forward. . . . Annual Passport holder or not. The most basic way to solve that problem? Clear the slate and start fresh.

Bringing things back to Walt Disney World, things in Florida are functioning very differently than they are over in California. Though capacity has been limited and restrictions are in place, Walt Disney World has been open since July of 2020, allowing them to bring in some amount of revenue and get a leg up on figuring out how to manage crowds moving forward. This could be one of the reasons that we haven’t seen any new Annual Passes at Walt Disney World being sold as of yet; they are figuring out how to manage crowds and don’t want to sell more passes than they can reasonably accommodate.

Taking everything we’ve talked about today into consideration, we’re not allowing ourselves to get too consumed with concern about this situation. Like we’ve said before, it’s very easy to get swept up in negativity. . . . especially right now when we all so desperately want to snap our fingers and have things go back to normal. It’s not easy, but it’s in times like now and situations like these when we have to take a breath. What exactly Disneyland cancelling their Annual Pass program means for those of us Walt Disney World Annual Passholders. . . . . . none of us knows at the moment. The only thing any of us can do is speculate.