Disneyland's new annual pass - the Magic Key - will go on sale August 25, with prices ranging from $399 to $1,399.
Magic Key will offer four tiers of access, but all of them will work like the Disney Flex pass from the old annual pass system. Magic Key holders (as Disney is calling those guests) will need to make advance reservations to use their passes, and the number of reservations available on each day will be limited.
Disneyland is planning to continue its advance reservation requirement for all guests "for the foreseeable future," and Magic Key holders will draw from a separate allocation of available reservations than Disneyland's day-ticket holders - much like annual passholders at the Walt Disney World resort now do. Disneyland officials said that they are counting on the reservation system to manage crowd levels in the parks, which had become uncomfortable at times for many guests under the old AP system.
Each Magic Key holder will be allowed to book reservations up to 90 days in advance, and Magic Key holders may hold a defined number of reservations during those 90 days.
Here are the four tiers of Disneyland's new Magic Key pass:
Dream Key - $1,399: Hold up to six reservations at once. Discounts: 20% off select merchandise and 15% off select food and beverage. Free parking. Available all days of the year.
Believe Key - $949: Hold up to six reservations. Discounts: 10% off select merchandise, food and beverage, plus 50% off parking. Available 317 days. Blocked days include December 18, 2021 - January 2, 2022 and April 9 - 17, plus Saturdays in July. See Disneyland's website for complete blockout calendars.
Enchant Key - $649: Hold up to four reservations. Discounts: 10% off select merchandise, food and beverage. Available 218 days. Blocks include above, plus weekends in October and summer from June 10 - August 14.
Imagine Key - $399: Hold up to two reservations. Discounts: 10% off select merchandise, food and beverage. Available 147 weekdays. Blocks include dates above, as well as entirely from June 3- August 24, 2022. This one is available only to southern California residents.
Monthly payment plans will be available to California residents for all tiers, after a $179 down payment. That makes the monthly payments $102, $65, $40, and $19, respectively. Magic Key will be available for sale August 25 no earlier than 10am on Disneyland's website. Park visitors who wish to upgrade to Magic Key may do so via the Disneyland app.
You can cancel a reservation without penalty up until the night before, however, if a Key holder no shows three times in a 90 day period, their ability to make new reservations will be suspended for 30 days.
In addition to the discounts listed above, Magic Key holders will have access to the rebranded Magic Key Terrace at the Golden Vine Winery at Disney California Adventure, plus access to special Key holder events, savings at participating Downtown Disney locations, and special offers from Disney partners, including savings on Disney D23 Gold memberships. Disneyland also will offer a Magic Key holder month, with details to come. Key holders who buy in the first 66 days also will get a welcome packet mailed to their home. (And yes, that does include the new Magic Key bumper magnet.)
The Magic Key tier prices reflect a slight drop from the $419 - $1,449 range of Disneyland's old annual passes. However, only the old $649 Flex pass required advance reservations under that system. The Flex pass also used a 30-day window and allowed two simultaneous reservations. The old $1,449 Signature Plus pass also included Disney's Maxpass, of which there is no mention in the Magic Key program. When asked, a Disneyland representative repeated that the Maxpass program remains suspended for the time being and that the resort will share updates at a later date.
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And if you're not holding out for a Magic Key pass, Disneyland now is offering California residents deeply discounted tickets to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. And our authorized partner has even bigger discounts available on its Disneyland tickets page. Other discounts are available to non-Californians, as well.
Locals will only be happy with this if reservations are available within a day or two of day-of-visit. As of this moment on August 3, both parks are shown available tomorrow, the day after, and the upcoming weekend. If that hold true once this new AP program begins, then it’s a good deal. But if the AP allotment of reservations are gone for several days in advance, then there will be issues.
I’m fine with reservations in advance. I live an hour away from the resort and don’t required to go on a weekly basis. Now, I wonder if I can use my SoCal 3 day pass I was going to use on the 26th of August towards the Magic Key.
I'm very surprised this is as similar to the old AP program as it is. To me, it seems like they rolled back the prices a couple years, added the constraints of the Flex pass to every tier, renamed the whole thing, and called it a day. I guess that's simpler and less likely to cause outrage, but also more likely to result in issues than something a little more restrictive would be. I'm still holding off on Disney for a bit longer, but provided the Magic Keys don't completely wreck the park experience, I might consider grabbing one toward the end of the year.
As an out of state guest I remember on my last trip being asked “Are you an annual pass holder?” at shops and restaurants, so that the CM knew whether I was due a discount or not. By now having to ask “Are you a magic key holder?” a lot of out of state guests will be stumped and have to ask about it. Annual pass holder is self explanatory, magic key holder isn’t. A minor thing, maybe, but it will confuse those “not in the know” for sure.
I was predicting that the top level pass would not require reservations as a way to justify the high price tag. I am surprised the top tier $1399 Dream Key still requires reservations. I don't see many people buying it.
@stevenz
I’m pretty sure if someone gets ask that, they’ll know if they are one or not. Anyone who will buy it will know what’s a magic key holder. Heck, many don’t even know that Disneyland had year long passes.
Interesting to make a comparison from around here.
Efteling changed the way annual passes work as well, without changing names ('Abonement')
Reservations work by priority level.
- Resort guests need no reservations (they are allowed simple walk on access for the days of their stay + 1 = day of arrival + every day after overnight)
- Day ticket buyers then have priority reservation tier. (In one way or another, some algorithm will be in use..)
- 'Abonement' holders have 2 choices , first choice is advance reservation, as 2nd grade tier for all allowable day entrances.
- Then, there is last minute choice for 'Abonement' holders, which appies only for same day entrance or the day after. Typically, those are allocations for any other reservations that would have been cancelled 'up to 24 hours beforehand'. In most cases, when checking 'the day after', only evening access time slots appear. When checking (morning time) same day last minute, here and there, earlier time slots popp up. Clearly an effect of the 24 hour cancellation time system.
Noteworthy is that the system does not work with "whole day" periods but with time slots for entry throughout the day. Just checked it on the passholders page : There are actually 9 different time slots throughout the day. Seven fall within the "day ticket" frame , 2 fall within the new "evening ticket" frame. The evening ticket is a new option for day ticket buyers , with access after 6 pm only. (Attractions open until 10 pm, Aquanura show after 10 pm and selected restaurants & merchandise shops open later, which leads to last visitors leaving around 11 pm) The Evening Ticket is new "since corona", at a 60% price rate compated to day ticket.)
The pass system itself (payments) did not change. The car park year pass is a separate option. (Add it to the 'Abonement' or not at free choice >> many local 'Abonement' holders go to the park on foot, by bike or public transport busses... It could be true that 50% of the locals living around the park, do have a 'Abonement' It's SO common, that in the past, I often saw young joggers in the park in the late hours, something you would never meet in another theme park anywhere in the world.. haha.. due to the physical size of the park which still offers ample free walking space if 35000-40000 guests are in.)
When having a car park pass, the resort parkings open up as well for the pass holder, but only AFTER having accessed the park. (Re-parking granted, first parking at a resort however not allowed, the parking entry machine would post "Sorry, No Park Visit")
The actual system is still bound to corona capacity restrictions. Visitors get no insight in how much the restriction is, at moment of their reservation.
The Netherlands actually coulour "Red Zone" (corona alarm coulour) and several parts of the country "dark red", a category never seen before (Same in Spain) and although quite some restrictions are lifted, the Netherlands resort RIGHT NOW under the worst Covid zones in Europe.
From today, border control on vaccination passes are installed. Kind of political schizophrenia, because it would be a 1000 times more logic that all OTHER countries restrict people coming from the Netherlands, instead of the other way around... but that has always been the (ALAS) historical extreme arrogance from 'The Netherlands', they always position themselves as 'best-in-the-world', even or especially when some s***(*sorry) has a clear origin in their own country. (Narcotics import and production, high level organised business scam, international black-money protection shemes, prostitution related crime.. etc etc etc, add now simple corona related matters...) "Arrogance-schizophenia" is the fixed political Dutch model.
Anyway, the pass holders system at Efteling theme park has not changed in name and price, but a mountain of restrictions have been loaded on it, reflected legally in nothing else then the simple remark that 'Covid restrictions are in place'. Visitation by pass holders has probably more then halved. No numbers are available for review.
Greetings
The pass system is great like I got discount on a travel backpack I bought from a shop there. It will definitely attract more people towards them.
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Here is my analysis column for the Orange County Register: Will Magic Key be a Disneyland fan's wish come true?