Ok so I understand that Disney might make less money off an AP but my opinion is that if that is the case then why discount passes for Florida residents and have different tiers. I live in Illinois and was going to buy annual passes for my family of 5 and make 5 trips in 2022/2023. Every time we would be staying on property and eating every meal in the bubble. So my point is quit offering discounted AP for Florida if they are actually concerned about how much AP spend because a Florida AP and someone traveling in are two very different customers.
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They have stopped all but one of the FL APs. The only one remaining is the one with the most block out dates (all weekends?).
I understand but why not just sell 1 pass and not give Florida a discount if you are really worried about how much each spends in the parks.
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I think giving Florida residents DOES offer them a financial benefit different from other guests who use APs.
Part of it is a matter of convenience. If the price point is low enough, Florida residents are more likely to fork over the money for the pass without necessarily intending to go all that often (or actually going). And the fact that FL residents generally can’t go during the busiest times (weekends, holidays, etc), means when they ARE going it is filling in capacity with people who are likely to, if nothing else, pay for some food while they are there.
Across the course of a year, I suspect the FL generates a decent amount of profit.
BUT, if FL residents were not allowed to buy a discounted AP, I suspect those same residents would be less inclined to buy it at all…and they certainly aren’t likely to buy themselves day tickets. As such, they don’t make anything that way.
ETA: Oh, also, a lot of FL residents show up regularly for the F&W festival (and other festivals) for food and drink that they wouldn’t otherwise.
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I think this is true. Couple that w/ all the other park choices in the area w/ cheaper APs and better deals/discounts etc. Disney has all the zip codes of AP holders and know where they live. They would know how much they actually use their APs. It would be interesting to see that data. I’ve lived all over FL in my life and this is the closest I’ve been to WDW. When I lived 3-7 hrs (drive) away we always stayed overnight in a Disney resort. Disney has that data too, I know a lot of families in the panhandle that go once a month for the weekend. I think Disney will lose more money to guests staying off site in cheaper lodging than the cost of an AP. More ppl are choosing to stay off site b/c WDW doesn’t offer any benefits anymore to stay on site. Let’s not forget AL and GA residents that have a fairly easy drive down and will buy an AP. GA residents are often included in FL resort deals (ads on TV) which means Disney is aware of that groups use of the parks.
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They are stopping the sale of day tickets too on many dates… That’s what makes me think this isn’t a profit issue.
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They kind of have to, since park reservations are completely filled for many days near the holidays.
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They are stopping sales of tickets on dates that the Pirate and Sorcerer passes are blocked (plus these passes are clocked additional dates).
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Adding to what @mikejs78 said:
They are stopping the sale of day, including multi-day tickets, if they include dates with no APR availability. Example: a 3-day pass is good for any 3 of 5 days in a row, but if any one of the 5 has no APR, then you are told to pick a different start date. Good article to explain:
Yes, I noted that earlier and the fact that 2 out of the 3 APs could not be used on those dates.
So true. But IMHO, they also know a ton more about their customer’s behavior and buying patterns than we give them credit for. If I don’t use my Disney mobile app on the cell phone very often, I frequently get an email notification once I do reuse it warning me that they have detected an unrecognized logon and that I ought to change my password if it wasn’t me who signed on to my account. And thanks to my techie son’s advice, who develops Android apps in his corporate day job, I’ve learned that sometimes I can obtain new ADR and resort availability by cleaning my computer’s Disney cookies and cache, or not signing on to MDE. Sort of like how new ADR reservations show up when you change the search criteria from a party of 2 to a party of 4. I’d dearly love to be that proverbial mouse in the corner of the room during one of Josh D’Amaro’s staff meeting as they talk about us, er ah, I mean … discuss their customer data. 
It is understandable that Disney incentivizes people in their regional area. But with the pent up demand to go to WDW that they enjoy right now, they may have been a tad bit too successful. And quite honestly, those same regional discounts can be a real disincentive going to WDW for those of us who don’t live close by because we end up paying Disney’s “MSRP” prices. Sorry for the rant.
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I didn’t hear ranting at all 
As a local and AP holder I’m a little perturbed that if I want 10% off at the FW festival I have to go on a Tuesday. I can b/c I’m retired, but most local APs aren’t going to take off work for 10% 
Don’t forget that Tuesdays are the best day to visit the Festival of the Holidays for Annual Passholders! Passholders get 10% off food and drinks (non-alcoholic) as long as it’s a Tuesday , they use cashless payments, and they have their Annual Pass and government-issued ID.
What? I’m not following. It’s an annual pass, like for a 365 day period. One that always has those dates blocked out. Part of determining the value is figuring out how many active days there are. So that’s already been considered. Whether I buy the AP now and don’t have access to the Dec 2021 dates, or buy in January and don’t have access to the Dec 2022 dates is effectively the same thing.
No, you’re following perfectly. I think that was Brayden’s point as to why it didn’t seem like a reasonable explanation.
oh, ok. Makes sense.
Saw this today and remembered this discussion about AP sales being paused. I think Disney paused them to avoid a lawsuit like this (or even just disgruntled AP holders who can’t make a park reservation, with or without a lawsuit):
A Magic Keyholder became so frustrated with the lack of reservation availability that she filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court. The following Causes of Action (reasons to sue) were given:
- Violations of the Consumers Legal Remedies Act (Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1750 et seq.)
- Violations of the False Advertising Law (Cal. Bus. & Prof Code §§ 17500 et seq.)
- Violations of the Unfair Competition Law (Cal. Bus. & Prof Code §§ 17200 et seq.)
- Breach of Contract
- Negligent Misrepresentation
- Concealment/Non-Disclosure
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I mean I honestly cannot blame her.
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From what I read they’re trying to make it a class action.
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That should be easy to do.
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I remember how hard it was to get an AP park res after WDW first reopened. I had to plan way out in advance and hope the dates worked when they came around. I remember being frustrated and we did buy military tickets to be able to get into the parks too since we were not able to get an AP park res; which made me really angry. I had an AP that I paid for but had to buy regular tickets if I wanted to get in, so I can understand this person’s frustration.
When they paused sales again, I never saw or experienced any issues w/ getting a park res.
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