By Robert Niles: Can't get enough Disneyland Paris news today? Then let's look at the French resort's new annual pass structure, which takes effect next month.
The crew over at E92 breaks down the new pass structure, which takes effect on March 29. The old system offered three annual pass tiers:
Classic: 200 days for €135 (US$143)
Fantasy: 320 days for €179 (US$189)
Dream: 365 days for €223 (US$236)
While the new system offers four levels:
Discovery: 150 days for €139 (US$147)
Magic Flex: 300 days for €189 (US$200)
Magic Plus: 350 days for €249 (US$264)
Infinity: 365 days for €399 (US$422)
The lowest price tier under each system does not include parking, and the price to add it goes up from €30 to €40.
A few thoughts: First, it's not hard to see the price increase embedded in this new structure. To keep the same number of days as an existing annual pass, a Disneyland Paris fan would need to upgrade to a more expensive pass. Second, Paris is seemingly trying to do the same that Anaheim did with its 2015 annual pass overhaul — to use a big price increase on an unrestricted pass to encourage passholders to "downgrade" to a tier that costs only a little more than the current top-level pass, but that blocks them from the two most popular weeks of the year.
Disneyland in California did this with the Signature and Signature Plus passes replacing its former Premier tier, and it worked splendidly. This past Christmas week was the first in years when Disneyland did not have to close its gates to new visitors during the day. (Of course, as soon as the AP blockouts lifted after New Year's Day, the crowds returned, and Disneyland did end up having to close its gates temporarily.)
Third... these prices! As a Disneyland annual passholder, I haven't paid $422 for an unrestricted AP at Disneyland in nearly 10 years. That $200 for a Magic Flex passport at Disneyland Paris wouldn't buy me even the lowest-level AP at Disneyland today. Heck, a two-day, one-park-per-day ticket to the Disneyland Resort now costs $199. With Disneyland Paris offering 40% hotel discounts to Magic Flex and Magic Plus passholders, I would take a long look at buying one of those passes for my next Disneyland Paris visit, even if I were just going for a bare-minimum two-day trip, just to get the hotel deal.
The Infinity pass includes a 50% hotel discount, as well as unlimited use of PhotoPass. Disney added the free PhotoPass benefit to its Signature and Signature Plus passes at Disneyland, but DLP also is adding free Premium parking to its Infinity pass, too. We'll see if that upgrade makes its way into the Signature Plus benefits the next time Disneyland raises its AP prices. The Signature and Signature Plus tiers were spared in Disneyland's most recent ticket and AP price increases.
Disneyland Paris' attendance has been hurting, along with tourism throughout the Paris region, so a price increase wouldn't seem like the obvious move to make here. But if the main purpose of this change is to redistribute crowds through the year — as Disneyland did with its AP changes — then Disneyland Paris might be positioning itself with this overhaul to better handle an expected influx of visitors for its 25th anniversary, which kicks off next month. With tourism to Paris beginning to recover, as well, Disneyland Paris management apparently believes that a price increase now won't hurt attendance to the point where it keeps the resort from coming out money ahead.
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