Who the more valuable customer was only Disneyland knows, but those passholders certainly crowded the park, even when capacity was at its maximum, and so the potential of visiting without all those people is certainly an attractive proposition.
While the AP program certainly had its bright spots, with Southern California’s huge population the fact is that while we don’t know exactly how many APs were out there, there were a lot. and while the passes got more expensive every year, the fact is that pass holders also spent, on average, less than people that we’re making special trips.