To say that Disneyland and Walt Disney World have faced problems with their annual pass systems since they returned after the pandemic closed would be an understatement. On both coasts, fans find various reasons for discontent, primarily the booking system, which can still limit the ability of the pass holder to enter the park even on the days of the pass validity. This led to a couple of lawsuits, but now Disney World has filed a response to the lawsuit in Florida.
Both Walt Disney World and Disneyland introduced a reservation system when they reopened during the global pandemic to manage the then-limited capacity of the parks. However, although now everything has “returned to normal”, at least in terms of capacity, the reservation system has remained. Disney argued that the reservation system was needed as a way to manage the capacity of the parks.
There have been numerous situations where annual season ticket holders at Disney World who have season tickets without closed dates still cannot get into the parks if there are no bookings available. This led to two women suing Disney World back in October.
In documents recently filed with the court, Disney World asked to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming that the resort took steps to help season ticket holders switch to the booking system, and gave everyone the opportunity to get a refund for their season tickets if they did not like the new system. . Florida Politics reports that part of Disney’s response reads…
Kelly and Paone did not indicate in their complaint everything that Walt Disney Parks and Resorts did for annual season ticket holders during the transition to the booking system, including, first of all, giving each season ticket holder the opportunity to opt out and receive a refund.
Disneyland Resort is considering an almost identical lawsuit in California. This lawsuit also concerned annual passes without closed dates, which were still limited by the lack of booking options. Another problem with both suits is that not in all cases all bookings are actually sold out. Both resorts keep reservations in different “baskets”, so it may turn out that reservations for annual season ticket holders may be sold out, while reservations for standard ticket holders are still available.
Since the lawsuits against the parks are so similar, it goes without saying that we should monitor Disney’s reaction to both to see how they can handle them. Disneyland made a similar motion to dismiss California’s lawsuit after it was filed, which was rejected by the judge, but that argument may be more appealing to the judge.
Since these lawsuits were filed, we have noticed that Disney parks have changed a bit in the booking system. It was announced that in the near future, owners of annual Disney World season tickets will be able to enter the parks without pre-booking in the afternoon. At Disneyland, the availability of jumps to the park, which is also causing controversy due to the booking system, has been increased so that guests can move between parks at 11 a.m., not at 1 p.m. There is still hope that the booking system at Disneyland or Disneyworld may completely cease to exist one day, but there are no clear signs of this yet.
