For the last couple of months, renewals and sales of annual passes for the Disneyland Resort have been put on hold due to a pending class action lawsuit brought about by one guest.
Earlier this year, Jenale Nielsen – individually and on behalf of other Dream Key holders – filed a class-action lawsuit against Disney stating that the “theme park misled and deceived its most loyal fans by artificially limiting capacity and restricting reservations” at Disneyland Park. They are claiming that the Magic Key Program has “no blockout dates” and yet, they were denied being able to go whenever they wanted because of a lack of available reservations. Six separate allegations were filed.
In allowing the case to move forward, United States District Court Judge David Carter reasoned that the “plaintiff argues that ordinary consumers generally understand blockout dates to be dates when tickets, credits, passes or rewards cannot be used.”
Nielsen claims that the term “no blockout dates” was not defined in the advertisement and she took it as whenever the park was open she could go. She also admitted that she understood that “park reservations are subject to availability and are not guaranteed for any specific date or park,” but “if park reservations were available and being offered to the public, Dream Key holders could use their passes to make a reservation for entry to the parks.”
Annual passholders were not happy about not having the ability to renew their expired or expiring passes as well as guests who wished to purchase a new pass.
Apparently, during the downtime, Disney has been reworking the annual passes and will introduce a revamped program this Thursday.
The new program will have some significant new changes including blackout dates for all tiers.
“Magic Key pass blockout dates are dates on which a pass type is not valid for park admission and applicable Magic Key holders may not make or hold any park reservations,” reads a statement on the Disneyland website. “Blockout dates will vary by pass type. Magic Key park reservations are limited in number and subject to the availability of park reservations allocated to Magic Key passes as determined by Disney, applicable Magic Key pass blockout dates, and theme park capacity. A Magic Key pass does not guarantee park entry, even on dates when a pass is not blocked out. Select a pass below to see which days currently have park reservations allocated to Magic Key passes available and which days are blockout dates for that specific pass type. To enter a theme park, both a park reservation and Magic Key pass valid for admission to the same park on the same date are required.”
Disney makes it very clear now that a pass “does not guarantee park entry, even on dates when a pass is not blocked out.”
They have also been accused of purposely limiting the number of annual pass reservations in relation to paying guests. “Magic Key park reservations are limited in number and subject to the availability of park reservations allocated to Magic Key passes as determined by Disney, applicable Magic Key pass blockout dates and theme park capacity.”
The new pass tiers from highest to lowest are the Inspire Key, Believe Key, Enchant Key, and the Imagine Key.
The Dream Key pass, the highest tier pass, will not only have a new name, now known as the Inspire Key but will include blackout dates. Holders of the Inspire Key will have access to the park, based on available reservations, every day except for December 21 – January 1. The pass will also cost $1,599, a $200 increase over the previous pass.
Other benefits include:
- Hold up to 6 theme park reservations at a time****
- 20% off the purchase of Disney Genie+ service (subject to limited availability) on days when you use your pass for park admission.* View important information about Disney Genie+ service
- Coming Soon – Unlimited Disney PhotoPass digital photo downloads***
- Up to 20% off select merchandiseϯ
- Up to 15% off select diningϯ
- Standard theme park parking included (excluding blockout dates, at the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure, Pixar Pals Parking Structure and Toy Story Parking Area)**
Believe Key – $1,099, benefits:
- Reservation-based admission to one or both theme parks most days of the year, subject to availability of park reservations allocated to Magic Key passes, applicable pass blockout dates, and the Magic Key Terms and Conditions
- Hold up to 6 theme park reservations at a time****
- 20% off the purchase of Disney Genie+ service (subject to limited availability) on days when you use your pass for park admission.* View important information about Disney Genie+ service
- Coming Soon – Unlimited Disney PhotoPass digital photo downloads***
- Up to 10% off select merchandiseϯ
- Up to 10% off select diningϯ
- 50% off standard theme park parking (excluding blockout dates, at the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure, Pixar Pals Parking Structure and Toy Story Parking Area)**
Enchant Key -$699, benefits:
- Reservation-based admission to one or both theme parks select days of the year, subject to availability of park reservations allocated to Magic Key passes, applicable pass blockout dates, and the Magic Key Terms and Conditions
- Hold up to 4 theme park reservations at a time****
- 20% off the purchase of Disney Genie+ service (subject to limited availability) on days when you use your pass for park admission.* View important information about Disney Genie+ service
- Up to 10% off select merchandiseϯ
- Up to 10% off select diningϯ
- 25% off standard theme park parking at the Toy Story Parking Area, excluding blockout dates**
Imagine Key – $449 – benefits
NOTE: This pass is only available for Southern California Residents living in zip codes 90000 to 93599
- Reservation-based admission to one or both theme parks select days of the year, subject to availability of park reservations allocated to Magic Key passes, applicable pass blockout dates, and the Magic Key Terms and Conditions
- Hold up to 2 theme park reservations at a time****
- 20% off the purchase of Disney Genie+ service (subject to limited availability) on days when you use your pass for park admission.* View important information about Disney Genie+ service
- Up to 10% off select merchandiseϯ
- Up to 10% off select diningϯ
- 25% off standard theme park parking at the Toy Story Parking Area, excluding blockout dates**
Disney states that the number of “passes and pass types available for renewal or purchase may be limited and passes or a pass type may not be available from time to time or at any given time.” They go on to remind guests that this program is a “reservation-based admission to one or both Disneyland Resort theme parks.”
As a result of this recent incident, under their extensively revised Terms & Conditions, Disney writes:
BINDING ARBITRATION AGREEMENT AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER:
YOU AND DISNEY (DEFINED FOR PURPOSES OF THIS BINDING ARBITRATION AGREEMENT AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER TO MEAN WALT DISNEY PARKS AND RESORTS U.S., INC. AND ALL OF ITS AFFILIATES) EACH AGREE THAT ANY DISPUTE OR CLAIM RELATING IN ANY WAY TO YOUR DISNEYLAND RESORT MAGIC KEY WILL BE RESOLVED BY BINDING ARBITRATION, WITH THE SOLE EXCEPTION OF CLAIMS THAT QUALIFY FOR SMALL CLAIMS COURT AS SET FORTH BELOW.
YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU AND DISNEY ARE EACH WAIVING THE RIGHT TO FILE A LAWSUIT (WITH THE SOLE EXCEPTION OF CLAIMS THAT QUALIFY FOR SMALL CLAIMS COURT AS SET FORTH BELOW) AND THE RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL. YOU AND DISNEY ALSO AGREE THAT ANY AND ALL DISPUTES MUST BE BROUGHT IN THE PARTIES’ INDIVIDUAL CAPACITIES. YOU AND DISNEY THEREFORE AGREE TO WAIVE ANY RIGHT TO LITIGATE OR ARBITRATE ANY CLAIMS AS A CLASS ACTION OR OTHER REPRESENTATIVE OR COLLECTIVE ACTION.
Passholders who are a no-show for three reservations in any 90-day window will be unable to make new park reservations for 30 days. Existing park reservations at that time will not be canceled. The 30-day period begins the day after the third no-show and will continue even if the pass is upgraded to another pass type or renewed during that time. A Magic Key holder who enters the designated park any time before closing on the day of the reservation is not considered a no-show. If the reservation is for both parks, only one park needs to be entered to avoid being a no-show. Magic Key holders who timely cancel a reservation are also not considered a no-show. At this time, cancellation of a reservation must be done by 11:59 PM Pacific Time on the day before the reserved date. The no-show policy is subject to change at Disney’s discretion without notice or liability.
As at Walt Disney World, guests may park hop but only after visiting the park their initial reservation is at and after a designated time Disney states that Magic Key holders who have a park reservation for both theme parks must enter the first park as designated in their park reservation, and may cross over and switch between parks on the same day beginning at 1:00 PM.
After 1:00 PM, Magic Key holders who have a park reservation for both parks and who have not entered any park yet may enter either park despite the first park that is designated in their park reservation. At this time, a park reservation is not required for the other park after visiting the first park; however, reservation requirements are subject to change. Please note that the ability to visit the other park will be subject to that park’s capacity limitations, operational hours, closures, and other restrictions, and is not guaranteed.
Disney also addresses the complaints in Jenale Nielsen’s lawsuit by saying, “once all park reservations made available to Magic Key holders for any date are reserved, Magic Key holders may not make reservations for that date using their pass unless and until reservations become available due to cancellations or Disney makes additional Magic Key reservations available, which Disney is not required to do, but may or may not do from time to time in its discretion. On any given date, park reservations may still be available for theme park tickets even though park reservations allocated to the Magic Key passes are fully reserved.
Magic Key holders, regardless of their pass type, are not entitled to any or all reservations Disney makes available to others, including theme park ticket purchasers, on any date, to all reservations up to park capacity on any date, or to any minimum number of reservations on any date. Even for dates that are not blocked out to a pass type, it may be difficult or not possible for Magic Key holders to get park reservations to visit on their preferred dates or preferred theme park, including popular dates like weekends or holiday periods.
Since Magic Key park reservations are available on a first-come, first-serve basis, it may also be difficult or not possible at times for Magic Key holders to get park reservations for certain dates in the near future. Park reservations are nontransferable and are not guaranteed for any specific dates or park, no matter the pass type. Other restrictions, such as number of park reservation holds per pass type, time during which a Magic Key holder may hold or make reservations, and Park Hopper and no-show rules, may apply, and may change from time to time in Disney’s discretion without notice or liability.”
All pass details can be found here.
“Disney (DIS) has been wrestling with capacity control measures as its parks have bounced back heavily from pandemic closures; revenue in the parks unit jumped 70% in the second quarter to pace a strong earnings report,” writes Jason Aycock, reporter at Seeking Alpha.
