A dedicated annual pass entrance under consideration for Disneyland and Disney California Adventure could speed passholders into the Anaheim theme parks or create a bottleneck of die-hard fans clamoring to get through the gates.
Disneyland is considering creating a dedicated entrance for annual passholders, according to passholder surveys conducted by Disney.
SEE ALSO: Why Disneyland killed its annual pass program
Disneyland, Disney California Adventure and other California theme parks are unlikely to return to full operation until spring or summer under COVID-19 health and safety reopening guidelines issued by the state.
Disneyland has been surveying passholders by email to determine the most popular option combinations and price points for the new membership program that will replace the former annual pass program.
The surveys, along with extensive qualitative research, will offer consumer insights to help inform the development of future Disneyland membership offerings designed to deliver choice, flexibility and value, according to Disney officials.
SEE ALSO: Disneyland seizes opportunity to reboot annual pass program
The Disneyland surveys presented a wide range of annual pass price points — each with or without a dedicated passholder entrance option.
MiceChat, a Disney fan website, asked readers their opinions on a dedicated AP entrance. The results were fairly evenly split. About 51% of the more than 4,000 MiceChat respondents said a dedicated entrance for passholders was a good idea.
“Since day ticket holders frequently clog up the lines in the mornings as their photos are taken, it would be much quicker to let passholders simply scan and enter through their own gates,” MiceChat wrote. “Since Disney can quickly move staff or open/close gates as needed, it doesn’t really cost Disney anything to add this feature.”
SEE ALSO: Disneyland considers eliminating monthly payments for annual passes
The DAPS Magic fan site collected eight different membership packages from the Disneyland passholder surveys. Disneyland cast a wide net with the surveys to determine which options and prices resonate with passholders.
The dedicated entrances to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure just for passholders were not available with every membership presented in the surveys. The dedicated passholder entrance was offered with several lower-priced passes, but not with some of the higher-priced options.
Which raises the question: Would a dedicated passholder entrance be a perk or penalty?
Disneyland officials won’t say how many people have annual passes, but theme park industry observers have estimated the number to be 1 million. Annual passholders comprise an estimated 50% of Disneyland resort attendance, according to UBS financial analysts.
SEE ALSO: Disneyland considers new annual passes and tickets for afternoon and evenings
A dedicated passholder entrance would be a perk if it provided quicker access — like a FastPass line to get into the parks. An exclusive AP entrance could also be available only to passholders in the highest-priced annual pass tiers.
But a dedicated AP entrance would be a penalty if passholders were required to use it when shorter lines were available. AP lines could grow long very quickly if only a few turnstiles at each park were dedicated to passholders who represent one out of every two visitors. The same goes if passholders with lower priced annual passes were required to use a single AP entrance at each park.
It remains to be seen if the dedicated AP entrance under consideration in the surveys would be for all passholders or just the lowest- or highest-priced tiers.
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