As of today, the Disneyland Southern California Annual Pass is no longer available for purchase. It was removed from the Disneyland website this morning.
This popular pass was priced at $469 (plus tax) and allowed passholders admission for around 215 days each year. The main blockout dates were holidays, Saturdays, all of July, Fridays in June, and half of August. Note that the SoCal Select Pass, which permits admission for around 170 days each year, is still available at $339. The key difference is that the SoCal Select Pass adds Sundays and most of June to the blockout dates of the SoCal Pass.
This move is not surprising, and indeed was expected to come sooner or later, as Disneyland will be hosting massive crowds once Galaxy’s Edge opens in 2019. This is one step in an effort to reduce crowding in Disneyland, especially on weekends, when millions of locals are expected to descend on the area to be among the first to visit the newest land. The crowds will be even worse since Galaxy’s Edge will open in Disneyland before it opens in Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World, so for a few months it will be the destination for Star Wars fans.
This is not the first time that Disney has discontinued the SoCal Annual Pass. In 2014 it was discontinued due to crowds expected for the Diamond Celebration of Disneyland’s 60th Anniversary. After the Diamond Celebration concluded, the pass became available again in 2016.
That’s shocking!
Good. If there’s anything worse than tourists, it’s locals.
Can Florida be far behind?
WDW has quite a few AP options. Over the years, they have added and subtracted different pass options. So no…they aren’t “behind” at all.
No. Demographics between DL & WDW are totally different. On a typical day at DL, passholders can account for nearly 75% of guests in the park. At WDW, it’s only like 25% passholders.