Disneyland "membership" program

[lightbikes 73]

So Bob Chapek said the quiet part out loud according to an item on one of the Disney news boards.  Apparently the replacement for Annual Passes at Disneyland will be a "park loyalty" or "frequent visitor program".  As many on these boards have commented in the past we know it's all about how much is being spent in the parks and evidently the Disneyland Annal Passholders weren't spending enough and the Annual Pass program wasn't returning enough money to the shareholders. 

I have been increasingly irritated over the past 6-7 years about how Annual Passholders (and DVC Members) were continually having our so-called perks eroded and reduced and this item just pointed out to me that again, it's the bean counters, not the guest experience that always wins the day with the Disney management.  

I expect that we shall see this program introduced at WDW as a way of increase the returns from there as well.  

So depressing. 

 

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Not a surprise at all. DL has much bigger percentage of local regular guests than WDW, and I know if I could just "pop by" the parks any ol' time, I probably would spend a fraction of what we do when we're there for 2-3 weeks once a year.  The time we spent 6 weeks there (with APs) our biggest daily expense was our campsite. We did eat out in the parks/DS, but not nearly as much as we normally would, and we bought hardly any "stuff." 

FWIW (which might not be much) I have seen some of the typically-somewhat-correct-at-guessing bloggers saying that they expect that now that WDW has increased capacity limits, they do expect some version of the AP to return to WDW before long. What it looks like (if it happens) remains to be seen.  I'm sure whatever is it or isn't, you can count on it being more expensive. I also won't be surprised if we end up with blackout dates of some sort for all - not just resident passes. If people "from away" spend more money, might as well capitalize on that during the most expensive times of the year...

[Grumpy and Grandma 740]

1 hour ago, BradyBzLyn...Mo said:

Not a surprise at all. DL has much bigger percentage of local regular guests than WDW, 

For sure. It's been that way since it opened. When we were stationed in San Diego we went to the park regularly, but didn't spend much on food or "trinkets".

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

13 minutes ago, Grumpy and Grandma said:

When we were stationed in San Diego we went to the park regularly, but didn't spend much on food or "trinkets".

Makes sense.  The more we go, the longer we're there, the less we spend on stuff.

These days aside from meals, we mostly buy popcorn and dole whips in the parks. lol

And if I want a new t-shirt or sweatshirt (because I've finally blown a hole through one of the eleventy I already have), we head to the Character Warehouse outlets.