It's fair to say that most of the headlines surrounding Disney and lawsuits are currently focused on Walt Disney World’s battle with Ron DeSantis in Florida. However, the company has also been dealing with a pair of additional lawsuits -- one on each coast -- regarding its Annual Pass program and its reservation system. But now, the theme park giant can put one of those suits in the rearview, though not without writing a pretty massive check, as Disneyland has now settled its Magic Key lawsuit to the tune of $9.5 million.
Details of a settlement over Disneyland’s Magic Key annual pass system have been released (via Scott Gustin), and they reveal that the theme park will be paying out $9.5 million to over 100,000 class action members. When it’s all said and done, each member of the suit will be seeing a little less than $70, which isn’t a lot individually but is still a pretty significant amount coming from the House of Mouse.
The lawsuit was filed by two owners of the location's Dream Key, an Annual Pass that gave them access to the park without any blockout dates. The problem, according to the suit, was that due to the park's reservation system, which was capable of hitting capacity, they essentially were blockout dates, as they would be unable to use their pass if there were no more reservations available. Meanwhile, reservations for standard tickets were done on a different calendar and, frequently, reservations would still be available for them while Magick Key reservations were full.
The lawsuit eventually reached class-action status, which -- among other things -- reveals that there were over 100,000 owners of the pass. Following the lawsuit, the Dream Key was made unavailable for sale, and there is no longer any annual pass that doesn’t include any blockout dates. The Inspire Key, which is the current top-end pass, makes the park unavailable during the Christmas and New Year's period. The terms of service for the Magic Key have also been changed to require arbitration to deal with any disputes.
The settlement here is also potentially interesting because it could be a precursor to another lawsuit in Florida. Following the initial California suit, a nearly identical lawsuit was filed in there regarding Disney World's Annual Pass program and its reservation system. The company's attempts to have that suit thrown out have failed, so one certainly wonders if we could see something similar happen there. The FL lawsuit isn't currently a class action, though that could certainly change.
Disney World has announced that starting in January it will be ending its reservation system, though not for Annual Pass holders, at least not yet. Disneyland has thus far made no similar announcement. Tickets for 2024 recently went on sale at Disneyland so it appears that at least for the foreseeable future, both ticket holders and Magic Key owners will be continuing to deal with the reservation system in the aftermath of this pricey lawsuit.
