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Disney Parks Lawsuit About Park Reservations Moves Forward

disneyland-lawsuit
Credit: DisneyTips

Disneyland faces some serious backlash and now a lawsuit (which is confirmed moving forward as of May 10, 2022) on behalf of ‘Dream Key Passholders’ who received contradicting information regarding their usage dates.

magic-key

Credit: Disney

Disneyland’s Magic Key program is an annual Passholder program in which there are certain levels of membership defined by blackout dates and benefits for each level. The most affordable pass with the highest amount of blockout dates, the Imagine Key, is sold only to Southern California residents and starts at $399 for the year. This pass is then followed by the Enchant Key Pass, the Dream Key Pass, and finally, the Dream Key pass, which is the most expensive Park pass and advertises no blockout dates, so holders of this pass are able to visit on any day of the year.

Well…Disney Parks has run into some trouble after Dream Key Passholders have learned that there is a limited amount of Park Pass reservations available to the Dream Key Passholders after being advertised as having no blockout dates. The contradiction is that regular tickets are still available, even when the Magic Key Passholder reservations are entirely booked. Therefore it’s not an issue that the Park is fully booked, but that Passholder who pay to have no blockout dates cannot make a reservation if all of the Magic Key reservations have been filled.

passholder

Credit: Disney

The lawsuit addresses that this violates the Magic Key contract and is also considered false advertising.

There are six causes of action in the Lawsuit, including: a violation of the consumers’ legal remedies act, violations of the false advertising law, violations of the unfair competition law, breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, and concealment/non-disclosure.

Although four of these causes have been dismissed by the Central District of California, the causes ‘breach of contract’ and ‘violations of the consumers’ legal remedies act’ are still moving forward as a full-fledged lawsuit against Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, with an attempt to make this case a class-action lawsuit for 5 million dollars.

Credit: Disney

“The court finds that plaintiff has adequately pled facts supporting how a reasonable consumer may be deceived by the advertisement, which states ‘no blockout dates.’” the judge wrote in his ruling. “Plaintiff argues that ordinary consumers generally understand blockout dates to be ‘dates when tickets, credits, passes or rewards cannot be used.”
Disney denies all complaints, stating that the terms and conditions were clear. However, they admit to blockout dates not being defined as clearly but expected these terms to be reasonably understood, that Dream Key holders are able to visit either Disneyland or California Adventure when either Park offers reservations.

About Laurelle McVicker