It’s easy to see why Disneyland was forced to end its annual pass program amid the extended closure of the coronavirus pandemic, when you realize that an estimated one in two visitors to the Anaheim theme park was a pass holder.
With an estimated 1 million pass holders, there would have been an impossibly long virtual queue of die-hard fans anxiously waiting to make reservations online for Disneyland’s reopening day.
Annual pass holders account for an estimated 50% of the number of visitors to Disneyland resorts, according to UBS financial analysts.
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Disneyland and Disney California Adventure are unlikely to be fully operational again until spring or summer under the COVID-19 health and safety reopening guidelines issued by the state.
Disneyland amazed fans with the discontinuation of the annual pass-holder program and the announcement that a new membership program will be unveiled at a later date.
Disneyland officials won’t say how many people have annual passes, but amusement park industry observers estimate the number at 1 million.
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A million people is hard to imagine. Songs like that usually only appear for victory parades, mass protests, free concerts and the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
One million pass holders have never flocked to Disneyland. But the problems would be enormous if even a fraction of those fans wanted to be there when the park reopens after the closure of COVID-19.
According to the Themed Entertainment Association / AECOM, Disneyland reached 18.7 million visitors in 2019. Disney California Adventure attracted 9.9 million visitors the same year, according to TEA / AECOM.
Together, Disneyland and DCA attract an estimated 28.6 million visitors per year, according to TEA / AECOM. Pass holders make up 14.3 million of those visits each year, based on UBS estimates.
Disneyland attracts an estimated 51,000 visitors per day, while Disney California Adventure attracts an additional 27,000 visitors per day, according to TEA / AECOM. According to TEA / AECOM, Disney’s two Anaheim parks attract approximately 78,000 visitors per day.
At that rate, it would take Disneyland nearly 20 days to allow each pass holder to enter the park once. DCA would take nearly twice as long. And that’s without allowing a single daily ticket buyer or Disney hotel guest into the parks.
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COVID-19 health and safety guidelines issued by California will limit Disneyland and DCA’s presence to a 25% capacity limit when the parks reopen. That extends the time it would take to get each pass holder to the parks just once, from days to months: nearly three months for Disneyland and about five months for DCA.
TEA / AECOM’s attendance numbers do not represent park capacity, but they do illustrate the enormous challenge of accommodating 1 million pass holders Disneyland presents.
Disneyland pass holders expect relatively barrier-free access to the park, depending on the restrictions attached to their annual passes. No Disneyland annual pass limits pass holders to just a few visits per year – and that’s Disneyland’s problem. You cannot offer pass holders access to the park and then deny them access. Disneyland had only one option: End the annual pass system as we know it and start over with a new membership program.