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View Full Version : Wouldn't A Global Park AP Be Cool?



horizons1
04-09-2002, 10:17 AM
I think Disney should come up with a GLOBAL Park Hopper Annual Pass. Good in California, Florida, France and Japan. I know the French and Japanese parks are not Disney-owned but they can still work something out.

mad4mky
04-09-2002, 10:23 AM
Yes...it would be GREAT.

We wished we could have used our Disneyland AP while at DL Paris. :( Alas, we knew we couldn't.

And, although we are first time AP'ers this year...we have been to WDW twice, and we would probably have gotten AP's earlier had we been able to use them at all Disneyland Parks.

In a perferct world...

Uncle Dick
04-09-2002, 11:18 AM
Originally posted by horizons1
I think Disney should come up with a GLOBAL Park Hopper Annual Pass. Good in California, Florida, France and Japan. I know the French and Japanese parks are not Disney-owned but they can still work something out.
While such an AP would rank high on the "coolness" scale, I don't see how practical it would be. Unless it was just a tad more expensive than the standard DLR AP, I don't think most people visit all four resorts enough to justify the expense. An AP that worked for all Disney parks in the U.S. might be interesting as many people visit both resorts multiple times a year.

Techie7
04-09-2002, 12:16 PM
Originally posted by Uncle Dick

I don't think most people visit all four resorts enough to justify the expense.

People may visit more if they "don't have to pay for each one" :D because they had an AP.

Why did you go to all four resorts this MONTH?
"Because they were there and I have a GLOBAL AP :) "

Iceman
04-09-2002, 12:55 PM
This would have to be a fairly expensive ticket to buy, but some people would do it. There are those who travel a lot on business and so have the chance to visit Disney parks at all four corners, there are those who would buy it just for the Florida/California combination, and there are those who would buy it just as a status item. Heck, I think they could invent a "Platinum Annual Pass" that has no more benefits than any other but charge twice as much, and some people would buy it...

Iceman
04-09-2002, 12:56 PM
Oh, and I forgot to mention that I've read about some Disney award winners (like the one hundred millionth visitor and stuff like that) who got lifetime passes good at any Disney park in the world.

9oldmen
04-09-2002, 01:09 PM
Didn't Six Flags have some kind of deal where you could buy one pass to get into all of their U.S. parks?

dcadon
04-09-2002, 02:06 PM
yeah, six flags season passes are good at all six flags parks, Enchanted Village/Wild Waves, The Great Escape and Wyandot Lake, according to the back of the pass.

-Don
Bi-coastal Disney Passholder

cstephens
04-09-2002, 02:54 PM
I think the cost of such an AP would be seriously prohibitive except for the very rich. I don't think enough people would buy such an AP to make it worthwhile to come up with a program. Continental U.S. is one thing. Most people can't go continent-hopping on the spur of the moment.

Last year, Sea World San Diego offered a platinum pass that allows admission to the other 2 Sea World parks as well as other Anheiser-Busch parks in the U.S. Because of that, my husband and I and a friend did take advantage of the free admission to other parks and made a long weekend trip to San Antonio to visit the Sea World there, but I wouldn't do the same for a Disney park. If I'm going somewhere that requires being on an airplane for more than a few hours, I'm going to want to stay for a little while at least.




/cs

DisneylandKid
04-09-2002, 03:50 PM
Originally posted by horizons1
I think Disney should come up with a GLOBAL Park Hopper Annual Pass. Good in California, Florida, France and Japan. I know the French and Japanese parks are not Disney-owned but they can still work something out.
Disneyland Paris is Disney-owned I'm pretty sure.

Lani
04-09-2002, 04:01 PM
Originally posted by DisneylandKid
Disneyland Paris is Disney-owned I'm pretty sure. The Paris parks are owned and run by a company called Euro Disney S.C.A.. Public shareholders own 43.6%, Walt Disney Company owns a 39.1%, and Saudi Prince al-Waleed bin Talal owns a 17% stake in Euro Disney (he is the one that basically bailed them out a few years ago). Euro Disney pays royalty and management fees to Walt Disney Co.

Morrigoon
04-09-2002, 05:34 PM
Well, let's see.. what's a premium Florida AP up to these days? $500 or close to it? Living in the west, i wouldn't buy that. But would I spend $550 for a Global AP? Maybe once every couple of years, sure.

You don't have to be rich to be able to use one, there are some people in the world who just have the right benefits with their work - think of all the airline employees! Anyone who has flight privileges could make use of it. I think it'd be cool. Not every year, perhaps, but every third year or so, if I had the funds.

For that matter, even without flight privs you could do it. Winter flights to Paris can get under $400.... last time I went it cost me $330 off the internet - without an airline discount!

It would increase the chances of me going to Florida, that's for sure.

Iceman
04-09-2002, 05:38 PM
That would be the beauty of this global annual pass: I think it would actually get some people to visit other Disney parks who wouldn't normally. Believe it or not, I still have friends who went to Disneyland twenty years ago and think they have no reason to visit Disney World.

And as to getting one every few years, they could make the renewal price attractive enough to entice many people to get it every year. I am sure (actually I'm not sure...) that Disney accountants and marketing folks have run the economic analysis on something like this, so there must be something we're not thinking of...

AVP
04-09-2002, 07:52 PM
I would love to have a Global AP. I currently hold APs for Disneyland, Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris. (I think my DLP pass expires in a few days though, and then I'll just have the two)

If we do make it to Paris again this fall, as planned, and then Tokyo in January, as I am trying to convince Tony we should, I'll have all 4 in one year. Yep, that's my Disney-dweeb dream - to visit all 10 Disney parks in one year.

AVP

Ace
04-09-2002, 08:39 PM
$550? right... Disney would probably charge upwards of $1000 for this, because they know people would actually use it...

cstephens
04-09-2002, 09:39 PM
Originally posted by Morrigoon
Well, let's see.. what's a premium Florida AP up to these days? $500 or close to it? Living in the west, i wouldn't buy that. But would I spend $550 for a Global AP? Maybe once every couple of years, sure.

You don't have to be rich to be able to use one, there are some people in the world who just have the right benefits with their work - think of all the airline employees! Anyone who has flight privileges could make use of it. I think it'd be cool. Not every year, perhaps, but every third year or so, if I had the funds.

Perhaps you just picked a number out of the air, but I can't believe that a global AP would cost just $50 more than the WDW AP. I would expect a global AP to be in the $800 arena or even up to 4 digits, given the current number of Disney parks and more on the way.

As for airline employees, that would be presuming that such airline employees are Disney-philes and that either their routes take them to one of the locations where there is a Disney park or they chose to use their off-time to go to such a location.

And, not knowing that much about the other parks, if not all of the parks are completely Disney-owned, there's no way the other partners would allow free admission. Disney would have to compensate some how.

And then there's the problem of having each park be able to scan a global AP or have some mechanism or plan for accepting it.

There's no reason for Disney to do it. It wouldn't generate the income to make it worthwhile.




/cs

HeeHeeHeeHoHoHo
04-09-2002, 10:47 PM
The last post regarding infrastructure was right on - doesn't walt disney world use a sophisticated scanner that reads the distant between bones in your fingers and green lights their AP holders in? Our resort uses a cheap UPC type bar code system - and when I went to DLP - they had a credit card type ticket media with a magnetic strip.

It would seem very cost prohibitive to link these systems for the purposes of accepting global APs.

Nigel2
04-10-2002, 09:13 PM
Also don't forget only flex passes at WDW are plastic, the WDW AP is paper for some odd reason.

Morrigoon
04-11-2002, 12:09 AM
Yes, i did pull that number out of..... the air.

I love DLP's ticket system.. almost like the subway, hee hee.

As for the airline employee thing: the majors employ tens of thousands (or more) people each there is a VERY good chance given normal ratios, that a fairly large number of them are Disneyphiles. Your airline needn't fly to that city, unless you want to go every week, we get deals on eachother's airlines too. Yes, I think they make up a huge portion of the easily-mobile population - the one Disney would have to consider in planning a global AP.

Nigel2
04-11-2002, 12:13 AM
I am not sure if I would say it would be profitable or not, it would have a small rise in regular visitors from other places (since it would have to cost over 500 dollars). But with a high price it would probably not get a ton of families. Then a few other things like making the pass compatable with all systems and so forth... odds are it would not be in their best interests.

Iceman
04-11-2002, 12:52 PM
I would think a Global AP would be worth it just from a marketing perspective. It would get Disney a lot of media attention, and they could really spread the word that they have four full resort destinations around the world. I can't tell you how many of my friends still think that "Euro Disney" is about to go bankrupt!

The technical issues with the different pass media at the different parks is extremely minor. Maybe your pass would be issued in the media of your "home park", and when you visit other parks you would have to go to guest services for one of their cards. Or perhaps the time is overdue for Disney to standardize park admission media to save costs worldwide...