Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "you won't be going anymore right?" Absolutely, and considering the lack of crowds this Summer, others pretty much did the same for various reasons. My AP expired in December 2007 and I've only been twice in 2008, both times free because of a work thing. I was essentially getting paid to hang out at Disneyland. I'm not really interested in going to Disneyland right now, but I love reading about the old timers like John Hench and the way the park used to be, arguing about it on the Internet and all that nonsense. John Hench's Designing Disney is in the permanent collection of my bathroom library. But to actually go and spend the time and money, yeah, I've decided it wasn't worth it this year.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones Why is the subject of positive and negative opinions even brought up at all? I thought discussion forums were supposed to welcome a variety of thoughts and opinions, or else the forum becomes uninteresting. When someone posts a negative opinion do you check their post history and count up all the positives and negatives? I mean, does it matter? Do I have to praise Remember... Dreams Come True, the best thing to come out of Disneyland in the past decade, so I can talk about how lame this new promotion is? What's the prefered ratio of positive to negative posts? Do I post 2 positive comments to earn 1 negative comment or something? Please let me know.
Originally Posted By danyoung I'd guess the subject came up because the attitude of some is overwhelmingly negative, and it becomes tiresome. Note that I'm not naming names - y'all can figger it out for yourselves. But the opinion that there's too much negativity is just as valid as any other. As long as someone isn't trying to tell me that I can't say what I feel at any given time, I'm happy to hear all opinions, plus and minus. Amd jeff, sorry, the skirt has to go . . .
Originally Posted By jedijeff25 <<I thought discussion forums were supposed to welcome a variety of thoughts and opinions>> I never said no negative(some others opinions), just how about some love also(my opinion.) You made my point for me SJ....thanks. And Danyoung, it'll probably be cold by then anyways....maybe it's for the best.
Originally Posted By Tiggirl Has there been an official announcement by Disney about this? I've been unable to find anything confirming this... but then again my compuer is also being a bit of a pain this afternoon... ~Beth
Originally Posted By 999HAUNTS I'm afraid I just saw this thread for the first time today, and I'm pleased if this option comes to pass, but only pleased for the financial ease it will entail for myself. I am not pleased, however, on how many folks this will add to the AP base. The parks are much too crowded already, and having to shell out $400 at once was probably a good deterant. Now, every Tom, Dick and Harry will be buying passes. And wouldn't the ease of purchase cause the rates to increase yet again?
Originally Posted By fkurucz <<I am not pleased, however, on how many folks this will add to the AP base.>> I suspect this is being done to minimize AP base shrinkage.
Originally Posted By x Pirate_Princess x I don't know if this has been mentioned in the thread, but I just called 714-781-4400 and they said that the promotion won't start for a couple of weeks. 11-17-08 is what she told me, but said to call back to be sure it doesn't get pushed back yet. I called because i was trying to get it done online, and I didn't see the option.
Originally Posted By MomluvsDisney Darkbeer has indicated that the promotion wil start first for people renewing their AP's then for people purchasing for the first time. I was interested to see that you might be able to use your "free" birthday pass for 2009 towards the down on this.
Originally Posted By cwade Actually, the problem is with the $400 they were seeing a decrease in attendance (have you been to the park in the past couple of months, we were there on saturdays and many parts of both parks were almost deserted) It looks like they are finally realizing that the Annual Passholders are the people who will get them through these tough economic times coming up and with those times will be a decrease in the number of people willing to shell out $400 at once, so they know they have to offer other options. I know if this option wasn't around we wouldn't renew for a while (probably wait until our respective birthdays and use the free pass to apply towards upgrading, which yes it can be done according to Disney's website) Please be aware without doing things like this Disney could find attendance shrinking to the point of having to close on weekdays during the non peak times. I am not saying that it would definitely happen that way, but it is possible based on what is happening in the world today and in the near future. Now, I don't expect this downturn to last too long, but unfortunately it will be long enough to cause some problems for places like Disneyland and other tourist destinations.
Originally Posted By TinksBestFriend Closing the park on weekdays? What is the problem? It's been done. DL was closed in the offseason thru the mid seventys.
Originally Posted By Chasbo The problem with closing the park on weekdays is that it would be tough to sell that to guest arriving for a 5 day visit. "Welcome to the DLR, here are your 5 day park hoppers. Sorry, but you cannot use them until tomorrow since Disneyland is closed today". You can't have a "resort" that closes down one or two days a week.
Originally Posted By Darkbeer Chasbo, why not, if they keep ONE park open... In Florida, they are cutting back, closing most parks early, and only leaving one open in the evening. California is different than Florida, since a lot more locals are part of the attendance mix in Anaheim. But I think most locals would accept just one park on slow off-season weekdays, especially if they keep DCA open until 8 PM on days Disneyland would be closed.
Originally Posted By Chasbo I think most locals would probably accept it (I would), but my point is that I think it would hurt the whole "resort" angle that Disney is wanting to present to the non-locals. Since there are only 2 parks, having 1 shut down on certain days is a bigger issue than WDW where there are more options (although I am not super familiar with WDW so I could be misjudging that).
Originally Posted By bean "118 Darkbeer Mon 11/10/2008 1:40p Chasbo, why not, if they keep ONE park open... In Florida, they are cutting back, closing most parks early, and only leaving one open in the evening." there is a big diference between WDW and Disneyland resort. If three out of the four parks are closed early guests still have the oppurtunity to visit the fourth park as well as an almost 20 acres downtown Disney and several other entertainment venues offered thruout the dozen or so Disney hotels. WDW has much more to offer to keep the tourist entertained and on property. If you were to close one park in Anaheim that forces not only the locals but the tourist to ack themselves in one park. The candidate most likely would be Disneyland since it has higher capacity. Other than that there would be very little to keep tourist busy or give them the incentive to stay on property. many could actually use that oppurtunity to take the day off property to universal orlando or any of the other amusement parks. most vacationers to WDW are most likely to just stay on property and do other things including a day at a waterpark then back to the hotel to rest and dine
