Will Disney's new DCA-only annual pass hurt USH

[Park Man]

Just saw on the news this morning that Disney is offering a California Adventure-only annual pass for $330 through Costco. I think this might just be a death blow to USH. They are on rocky footing with their annual pass base due to all the price hikes and pass changes over the last year. I think Disney is taking advantage of this and closing in for the kill. California Adventure is a much fuller experience than USH. I think Universal is in real trouble.

 

[Alexshow.]

I actually think that it is much more as a weak move on Disney's part, and that it shouldn't have an effect on Universal..

 

[Ryan]

Nah, it's a foolhardy move that Disney is making in the myopic thought that GotG will drive people to buy a DCA-only pass. 


Once Disney starts the promotions for both Fantasmic and Guardians, that pass won't see the light of day. Universal should be more worried about the resort in full, not this pass.

 

[Red Carpet]

I think the pass would need to be cheaper to be a real threat. $330 seems expensive compared to Universal's $119 season pass. Even if you compare it to Universal's Gold pass, it is still $40 more expensive and does not include parking like the Gold pass does.

 

[Park Man]

If you were buying passes for a family of 4 and there were only annual passes for one park in the budget, would you choose the Gold pass for USH or the DCA-only pass? For me, it would be the DCA-only pass, easily. DCA just has so much more to offer than USH. It's just a better value for that reason alone, even if you do have to pay for parking.


And that's not even taking into consideration how much jerking around USH has done to their AP base, and how relatively well Disney treats their pass holders. I think Universal has alienated their pass holders to the point where Disney can just pick them up cheep - so to speak.

 

[smoaT]

I think it's a no brainer. DCA for $330? hell yeah... it has so much to offer than Uni. And I am a huge Uni fan. 

 

[Red Carpet]

I think the most fair comparison would be comparing the the $330 Costco DCA only pass to Universal's Costco passes at $110 and $159. These are the passes someone going into Costco will see.

 

[Ryan]

If you were buying passes for a family of 4 and there were only annual passes for one park in the budget, would you choose the Gold pass for USH or the DCA-only pass? For me, it would be the DCA-only pass, easily. DCA just has so much more to offer than USH. It's just a better value for that reason alone, even if you do have to pay for parking.


And that's not even taking into consideration how much jerking around USH has done to their AP base, and how relatively well Disney treats their pass holders. I think Universal has alienated their pass holders to the point where Disney can just pick them up cheep - so to speak.

The problem isn't about a base comparison: it's about what the consumer will actually do. It's hard to see why some would buy a DCA-only pass with all those blackout dates when they could buy an AP for both parks for around the same price with mostly the same dates. 


USH won't be measured against DCA -- they'll be measured against DLR.