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When the COVID-19 virus exploded in March 2020, the entire world was practically forced to shut down, and people were told to stay indoors to be safe. The Walt Disney Company, like many businesses, was forced into a position it had never found itself in before. They had to shut down every theme park—Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort, Disneyland Paris, Shanghai Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, and Hong Kong Disneyland.
While Walt Disney World Resort was only closed for a few months, nearly all the other theme parks were closed for a year. Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disney, and Shanghai Disney particularly struggled with reopening. Those resorts would reopen, but then be forced to close again when there was a spike in COVID cases.
Credit: Disney
When the theme parks finally did reopen, things were a lot different than they were before the pandemic. There were a ton of new health and safety regulations in place, including mask requirements, social distancing, and eating only in designated spots. However, the biggest change came in the form of theme park reservations.
Unlike in the past, guests wanting to visit the parks would have to make a reservation and pick which theme park they were going to visit. For a long time, park hopping was also not allowed. The theme park reservation system helped Disney control the number of people in the parks, since there were strict capacity limits in place.
Credit: Disney
Related: Disney Parks Attendance Dipped, but Is Post-COVID Really To Blame?
Thankfully, the world is in a much better place now, and COVID is largely in the rearview mirror. Disney theme parks are almost completely back to where they were prior to the pandemic. Social distancing and mask mandates are a thing of the past, but reservations are still required at some of the parks.
While things are looking good, one Disney Resort was hit with a major fine for changes made during the pandemic.
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Related: Live In California and Love Disney? At This Point, It’s Cheaper to Visit Disneyland Paris
According to the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention, the Disneyland Paris Resort must pay €400,000 for restricting Annual Passholders access to the parks. That translates to roughly $428,000 USD.
The agents of the DDPP of Seine-et-Marne highlighted inadequate communication, in the presence of quotas restricting access to the “Disneyland Paris” parks for “annual pass” holders. These facts contravene the provisions of the Consumer Code relating to deceptive commercial practices. As part of a plea bargain, Disney will have to pay a fine of €400,000.
Disneyland Paris Resort Annual Passholders struggled to book theme park reservations at both Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios Park.
Credit: Disneyland Paris
Related: Are Disney’s Magic Key Holders Over It?
This is very similar to the trouble Disney got into with Disneyland Magic Key Holders and theme park reservations.
During the pandemic closure, Disneyland ended its popular Annual Pass Program and replaced it with the Magic Key Pass Program. Guests who purchased the top-tier Dream Key were told that the key did not have any blackout dates. However, when Dream Key Holders went to make reservations, they found themselves unable to book weeks in advance because there were no reservations for Magic Key Holders left at either Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure.
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A class-action lawsuit was filed against Disney for creating artificial blackout dates when they only allowed for a limited number of Magic Key reservations. What Magic Key Holders found particularly frustrating was that there would be no Magic Key reservations available, but there would be a ton of availability for those who purchased date-based tickets to Disneyland Resort.
In the end, Disney settled the class-action lawsuit and agreed to pay $9.5 million to Dream Key Holders. They also removed the Dream Key and replaced it with the Inspire Key, which does have some blackout dates. There are no Disneyland Resort Magic Keys for sale that do not have blackout dates.
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This is also not the only fine that Disneyland Paris has been hit with this year.
On May 17, the same department that issued the €400,000 fine also fined Euro Disney S.A.S. €1.3 million. Euro Disney S.A.S. is the subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company in charge of Disneyland Paris. The fine was due to a “delay in paying invoices” to the Disney park suppliers, which went back to 2020.
Do you think a €400,000 fine is big enough for Disneyland Paris? Should Disney be forced to pay Annual Passholders as it did with Magic Key Holders? Let us know in the comments!
