Tokyo Disney Resort is ending its annual passholder program. The news comes in the wake of the Tokyo Disney Resort reopening after being closed for months due to the pandemic. New procedures in place for reopening require for reservations and a lottery system for both day ticket guests and annual passholders to visit the parks. Apparently, the Oriental Land Company has decided that there needs to be a change.
On the Tokyo Disney Resort website, it was announced that annual passes and the monthly lottery system for them were both going away. The lottery system was instituted due to the strong demand by annual passholders to get into the parks. It is unknown at this time if annual passes will return to Tokyo Disney Resort at some point in the future making this a hard reset or if they will be gone for good.
With the ending of the current structure for annual passes, current passholders will be given refunds.
The following information was shared on the Tokyo Disney Resort website:
- Requests for refunds will be accepted starting October 23, 2020.
- Park admission lottery will no longer be held after the lottery for December 2020 Park admissions ends.
- The extension of validity which had been planned initially, will not be offered.
- The updated information regarding Annual Passports hereafter will be announced on the Tokyo Disney Resort Official Website by the end of March 2021.
The future of Tokyo Disney Resort’s annual pass program could very much be up in the air as the world continues to weather the storm of COVID-19. It is quite possible that the Oriental Land Company, which owns and operates Tokyo Disney Resort, will not make a final decision (or next decision) on the future of annual passes until this spring.
For those in the United States, this development at Tokyo Disney Resort does not necessarily mean that the same will happen in California or Florida. At this time, Florida has not had to use a lottery system for annual passholders wishing to visit the parks. Instead, the Disney Park Pass reservation system has been utilized quite successfully. It is expected that the system will be utilized as well in California when the Disneyland Resort reopens. What isn’t known is what the future will look like for the annual passholder program at Disneyland as it is currently under review.
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What do you think about Tokyo Disney Resort ending its annual pass program? Do you think it is an indication of what could happen in at the Disneyland Resort? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
