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Disneyland Facing Backlog In Refund Requests For Disney Annual Passes

ANAHEIM (CBSLA) - Governor Newsom has said that California theme parks won't be able to reopen anytime soon - and that has many annual Disneyland pass-holders now asking for refunds.

Catherine Mathews of Rancho Cucamonga bought four annual passes to Disneyland in June of 2019. She says she was originally told it would take 8 to 10 weeks to get her prorated refund.

"Last week I called and a lady told me I was in a queue and when my name comes up something will happen," she said. "Nothing has happened."

Orange County resident Travis Griffith would take his son to Disneyland almost every week since 2015 until the pandemic shut the park down in March.

His 3 annual passes expired in September, but when he called last month for his refund, he says he was told a small team was working on refunds, and he would have to wait another 2 to 3 months.

Griffith is owed about $1,800.

"But it doesn't matter if it's 1,800 bucks, or someone making payments who is owed 200 bucks," he said. "People need their money right now, and it's not fair to keep it when they know people are struggling."

David Koenig has written six books about Disneyland and is a columnist for micechat.com. In the site's Facebook group, there are dozens of comments from frustrated annual pass-holders still waiting on refunds.

"From what I understand there has been few, if any direct communication between Disney proactively to its 1 million annual pass holders telling them exactly what it's plans are," Koenig said, adding that the current difficulties were unlikely to sour some of Disneyland's most loyal fans.

"This frustration with the one they love is nothing new, so I am sure this will blow over for most people once Disneyland can finally open its gates," he said.

A spokesperson told us this is an unprecedented time and they are processing refunds, but it takes time because everyone is due a different amount based on when their pass expired and which pass they have.

They said customers service will be reaching out to both of the people we interviewed to get them their refunds.

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