Disneyland stops selling annual passes after lawsuit.
Disneyland Annual Magic Key Pass Sales Halted Following Class Action Settlement
Earlier this week, sales of the Disneyland Annual Magic Key pass were abruptly halted. This decision came after a $9.5 million class action settlement over alleged “deceptive” blockout dates that prevented guests from entering Disneyland or California Adventures in Anaheim, California.
The top-priced Inspire Key annual pass, which costs $1,599 per year, is currently unavailable for purchase. The Believe Key, priced at $1,099, the Enchant Key at $699, and the Imagine Key at $449 can only be renewed during the month before expiration, as stated on the Disneyland website.
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The sales pause for passes follows a federal class action lawsuit settled on September 11th against the California-based theme park. The lawsuit claimed that purchasers of the $1,399 Dream Key in 2021 were unable to make theme park reservations at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, despite the promise of “no blockout dates.”
As a result of the lawsuit, each of the over 100,000 Dream Keyholders will receive $67.41 by November or December. This amount represents about five percent of the total cost of the pass, according to a recent story by the Orange County Register.
Disney officials claim that the decision to pause Magic Key pass sales was made prior to the resolution of the class action suit. However, they have not provided any information regarding the reason for the sales pause.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the park temporarily discontinued its original annual pass program. In August of the following year, they introduced the new Magic Key replacement. These tiered passes quickly sold out within a few months, leading to the filing of the class action lawsuit in November 2021.
The $1,399 Dream Key was ultimately replaced by the newer $1,599 Inspire Key. Despite the price increase, the Inspire Key still had blockout dates during the two weeks between Christmas and New Year’s.
According to Disney Park officials, the Inspire Key became the fourth and final Magic Key tier to sell out this year. The new annual pass program now explicitly outlines the terms and conditions regarding blackout dates.
According to these terms, Disneyland allocates reservations among annual passholders and daily ticket purchasers, meaning only a portion of the park’s capacity is available to pass holders.
“A pass, therefore, does not guarantee park entry, even on dates when a pass is not blocked out and even when a theme park is not at capacity,” the terms and conditions state.
Additionally, Disneyland determines the number of reservations available to passholders.
“On any given date, park reservations may still be available for theme park tickets even though park reservations allocated to the passes are fully reserved,” the new Magic Key pass terms and conditions explain.
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