With the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic continuing from 2020 to 2021, Disneyland has made some significant changes this year, including canceling its annual pass program in January and introducing a new tiered ticket-pricing system when it reopened in April. Now, the California Disney park has announced new reservation-based annual passes as part of its Magic Key Program that kicks off on Aug. 25, 2021. Here's the new Magic Key pass pricing breakdown:
While the pandemic continues to throw us curveballs this year, with the recently opened Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure Park and a lot of pent-up excitement after its year-long closure, Disneyland is sure to start filling back up in the near future (especially with Halloween festivities returning in September). So it makes sense that the Southern California theme park would go with a reservation-based annual pass system to keep the crowds better regulated. That said, it's unclear just how easy or difficult it will be to secure reservations for the dates you want, even if they aren't blocked out for your specific Magic Key pass, as there's a lot of "pending availability" language in the fine print. One more detail to note is that you have to choose which theme park you'll start your day at (Disneyland or Disney's California Adventure), and you'll have to "cross over and switch between parks on the same day beginning at 1:00 PM, subject to capacity."
Since we can't compare the new annual pass system and the old annual pass system apples to apples, it's hard to say whether the Magic Key Program will be a better value, but it is interesting to note that the closest match to the new top tier pass, the Dream Key, was previously the Disney Signature Plus Passport at $1,449. So the new pass is less than that at $1,399. (The previous top tier was Disney Premier, which gave you access to both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, so we don't have a comparable pass there.)
As a hardcore Disneyland fan who has missed visiting the park due to COVID-19, I'm curious to see how the new annual pass program plays out — hopeful we can see cases drop enough for all Disney fans to safely return to our beloved home away from home.