In an effort to, effectively manage crowds visiting the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, managers of the theme park have opted to temporarily halt any new sales of its Southern California annual pass, which is actually one of its cheapest passes for locals.
As of Monday, the theme park ceased the selling of any new passes to the inhabitants of Southern California. At the time, a pass was priced at $469 each. According to Suzi Brown, a Disneyland representative, those who were already pass holders could have theirs renewed, but there would be no new passes sold until further notice.
She went on to add that even though their annual passes were highly popular with guests, the company was always seeking appropriate ways of balancing the wants of customers and their capacity to deliver so that all those who choose to visit Disneyland theme parks have an excellent experience.
This is actually not the first time that the Walt Disney Co. has proceeded with such actions. Back in 2014, the company also suspended the sale of Southern California Annual Passports in a bid to address the increased attendance numbers that resulted in long lines and visitor frustrations, particularly on Sundays. At the time of this suspension, each pass was sold at $359. It provided holders with access to Disneyland and the adjacent Disneyland California Adventure for a period 215 days out of the year. However, popular vacations seasons were not applicable.
When the pass was reintroduced back in 2016, it went for $459 at the front gate, and provided access to both parks for 227 days out of the year. The additional $100 was for the extra dozen days, which worked out to a 21% hike for each day.
One of the reasons behind the suspension of pass sales is to allow the company to make proper preparations for an expected increase of visitors once workers are through with the makeover that is currently going on of the California Adventure Park. The project was started in order to inject a host of other movie characters created by Pixar Pictures, which is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co.
The park is also expected to receive a bigger surge in crowns during 2019, which is when the construction project is set to be completed. The new park will include a 14-acre, Stars Wars inspired expansion, known as the Galaxy’s Edge.
The initial $1 billion project will have two main attractions, one being a ride that lets visitors to fly the well-known Millennium Falcon spaceship, and another that throws visitors into the middle of battle occurring between the First Order and the Resistance.
Executives from the company have also cited plans to overhaul various aspects of the Adventure Park with a range of characters from Marvel Entertainment, which is another one of its subsidiaries.
The project, together with the suspension of Southern California Annual passes, is one of the steps the company is taking to address the issue of overcrowding at its parks. Walt Disney Co. also adopted a new policy last year that involved charging higher prices on daily tickets on popular days and lower ones during low-demand days.