Disney World Park Pass Update: AP Availability & Fresh Frustrations
Walt Disney World’s Park Pass theme park reservation system has been live for Annual Passholders for over 24 hours, so we thought it’d be worthwhile to check the status of AP availability now that the first wave of bookings has subsided. In this post, we’ll cover how the rollout went, some policy surprises, and answer to concerns that “we were wrong” again.
Disney’s Park Pass went live shortly before 6 am Eastern yesterday, which is an hour before it was supposed to go live. As you might recall, last week the system went live for resort guests nearly 2 hours late. Neither are particularly surprising for Walt Disney World veterans–it’s more startling when Disney opens reservations precisely on time.
Of the two approaches, quietly opening early is the unequivocally superior approach. It’s what almost always happens on Free Dining drop day, sometimes as early as 4 am. This offers a “release valve” on demand–rather than letting a ‘crowd’ build up to overwhelm the system at a more reasonable hour. It’s the same idea as Disney’s Hollywood Studios opening the turnstiles before published park opening for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance…
We were bracing ourselves for the worst with Disney Park Pass yesterday, as our assumption was/is that far more Annual Passholders were accessing it yesterday than resort guests last week. Of course, it would’ve been logical for Disney IT to iron out any problems and scale up its backend systems in light of last week…but we didn’t have complete faith that would happen.
To our surprise, it was totally smooth sailing. We were able to access the Disney Park Pass reservation system without issue or delay throughout the morning. Not once did Stitch consume the website nor did the dreaded Pepto-Pink Castle make an appearance. Kudos, Disney IT.
In terms of glitches, we heard of a few but experienced none firsthand. A few reports were actually glitches working to the advantage of guests, with some Annual Passholders able to book more than 3 reservations. However, it would appear that every single problem we addressed in our Disney Park Pass Problems & Fixes has now been resolved on Disney’s end.
There are no doubt still individualized errors (there always are with My Disney Experience) that you’ll need to call and have Walt Disney World address. If so, brace yourself for a long wait on hold. Not only are many Cast Members still on furlough, but the release of 2021 vacation packages, plus guests trying cancel or modify trips (which isn’t possible online right now), plus Annual Passholders trying to call their APs, plus complaints over [fill in grievance] are resulting in longer than normal wait times no matter which number you call.
One complaint, which is not a glitch is that Annual Passholders aren’t allowed to book 3 reservations if they already have Disney Park Pass reservations through a Walt Disney World resort stay. We’re not totally sure why anyone expected to be able to double dip in this way given the verbiage of DisneyWorld.com.
Here’s the official language from Walt Disney World’s Annual Pass “Know Before You Go” page: All Annual Passholders are eligible to make Theme Park reservations for up to 3 days at a time, or Annual Passholders staying at select Disney Resort or other select hotels with valid Theme Park admission are eligible to make Theme Park reservations for each day of their stay(s).
Note the use of “or” there rather than “and.” A strong argument can be made that double-dipping should be allowed as a matter of policy. After all, resort reservations entitle you to one type of reservations, whereas APs entitle you to another. If you pay for both a resort stay and an Annual Pass–two separate purchases–why aren’t you entitled to both?
Nevertheless, that’s not currently the policy and is one of several reasons Annual Passholders are frustrated. (Most other complaints are addressed in our Annual Pass News: Reservations, Previews, Extensions & Refunds info post.)
Another new Annual Passholder grievance is Disney Park Pass availability. Above is a look at current options for July and August is below. As you can see, options are pretty scarce for July and early August.
The entire first week is fully booked, plus weekends thereafter. Once again, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is the fastest-booking park. We previously addressed this phenomenon in our We Were Wrong About Disney Park Pass earlier this week.
Now, this might lead you to conclude we were also wrong with our Dawn of a Temporary Disney Era: Low Crowds prediction. After all, if the parks are fully booked for part of the first full month of operations, that suggests there’s more than just a “couple weeks” worth of pent-up demand.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Here’s a current look at the availability calendar for resort guests:
As you can see, there are some dates the first full week that are fully booked (mostly Disney’s Hollywood Studios), but at least one park remains available every single day (in most cases, multiple parks).
Once you get to July 19, every single date is fully available for Walt Disney World resort guests. This is a visual illustration of why we weren’t wrong again–at least, not yet.
Walt Disney World is using three different buckets for Park Pass reservation availability, and right now, we have no idea how capacity is allocated. It could very well be the case that it’s evenly distributed, and there’s more demand among Annual Passholders. It’s also possible half of capacity is set aside for resort guests with the remaining half split among APs and off-site ticketholders.
In short, it’s impossible to draw any conclusions about post-reopening crowds by dates from the Annual Passholder bucket being fully booked. (It’d be like saying Disney’s Hollywood Studios is the most popular park at Walt Disney World because it’s selling out. No, it’s just the one with the lowest supply.)
We also don’t know if Disney Park Pass capacity can flow from one bucket to another.
Stated in a way that makes more sense, it’s not clear if Walt Disney World will release capacity from the resort guest bucket to the Annual Passholder and day-guest buckets the night before (or a few days in advance) if not fully booked by resort guests.
If capacity can’t flow from bucket to bucket, that’s going to be incredibly concerning for Annual Passholders without hotel reservations.
In practice, it’ll essentially mean you need to book your Disney Park Pass reservations several weeks in advance, and might be limited to visiting a few times per month (potentially less if you can’t do weekdays). That’s a far cry from the access advertised at the time of purchase.
This would give further credence to the growing chorus of Annual Passholder complaints that they are not receiving the full value of their passes, and that the 30-day bonus extension is inadequate recovery. (At this point, anyone who has an AP above Gold should simply cancel and buy a new Annual Pass at a lower tier.)
While Walt Disney World understandably needs to prioritize on-site resort guests, it would be wise not to alienate Annual Passholders at a time when the parks are going to lean heavily on locals and diehard fans in the next couple of years. (In fairness, Walt Disney World is doing a fairly exemplary job of alienating everyone in new and unique ways–it’s hardly exclusive to APs.)
Throughout the closure and reopening process, we’ve tried to strike a balance. Walt Disney World is in an unenviable position faced with an array of “least worst” choices and no-win scenarios. This is while short-staffed and with many people working from home. Accordingly, we’ve stressed patience and understanding from readers–it’s a tough time amidst an ongoing pandemic. I don’t think any of us would want to be in the shoes of Disney leadership right now.
However, it’s also fair to say that many of the problems are of Walt Disney World’s own creation. The IT problems are nothing new (it has been the same story for the last decade!). The outrage stemming from the ‘planning industrial complex’ is monster of their own making. Walt Disney World’s standard practice of releasing flowery communications that are light on substance doesn’t pass muster at a time when transparency is craved. We could go on.
Ultimately, this is a long-winded way of saying our feelings here are conflicted. The status of our coast-to-coast Premier Passport is really up in the air, which is frustrating, but we also mostly understand why given the circumstances. Our personal perspective is that we’re going to roll with the punches and exercise patience to the greatest extent possible. That’s mostly because there’s already so much to be upset or worried about in the real world, and compounding that with anger about escapism is just too much for us. The emphasis there is definitely on what’s right for us–we don’t blame anyone else for reacting much differently.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Were you able to book the Disney Park Pass reservation dates you wanted? Concerned about the limited availability for Annual Passholders, or think this is fair? Will you be cancelling your AP, or continuing? Frustrating and fed up, or are you likewise rolling with the punches? Do you agree or disagree with our commentary? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Very disappointed that you can not park hop. When you go often, you move through the parks pretty quickly. I do mornings one park, evenings at another and I have days I visit all four! The more I read the more I’m disappointed. They should be lowering prices with all these restrictions.
I have an AP & my husband has his 2020 tickets. I was able to make reservations for November for 3 days for both of us but when I tried to make some for our 4th day, I received an ok for him but it showed a problem for my ticket. I would like to have reservations for our 4th & 5th days but not sure what the problem is. I did finally get through on the phone line but could only wait on hold for 2 hours. Thanks for your suggestions.
Great post and comments. I’m a gold AP and booked 2 nights for my daughters birthday in early August, granting us 3 park reservations.
I’m hopefully : anxiously waiting for the Passholder preview and still no sign of it.
I called my hotel I’m staying at to see if I booked another night if I could snag a 4th park pass for the one park we couldn’t book and she said that we would have to use our first 3 reservations then take the chance to get a booking. Is this true? It sounds like some people here with bookings have more than 3 days reserved and more than 1 trip booked with multiple park reservations? Thank you in advance, Mel
I am awaiting a refund for my annual pass for the months they were closed. Anyone hear anything about when that will happen and how much the refund will be? I was told they made a note on my annual pass and they would know that week…That was about 5 weeks ago.
I am a just a lowly ticket holder, but I was able to book my 3 day pass just now, Sunday evening, with no issue. I’m pleasantly surprised.
Unfortunately, Covid19 is coming back in Florida right now. We’re just going to be cautious, follow the rules, wear our masks and hope things go well.
I am willing to bet that APs were allocated as many, if not more, APs than resort guests, and the reason more dates are sold out for APs than for resort guests is demand rather than supply. An AP is “pot committed”–they have already paid for their tickets, in many cases which must be used this year. Resort guests either have refundable packages or separate tickets that they have until Sept. 2021 to use, so those that don’t really really want to go have already cancelled. Also, many passholders (especially the ones that don’t also have a resort reservation) are florida locals for whom a trip to the parks is much “lower stakes” Covid-wise (they don’t have to fly in and risk getting sick on a plane, and if they feel the crowds are too much, they can just leave and try again another day or not go at all and they are not out of pocket any more cash).
What that leaves is a situation where the remaining resort guests are the nutjob Disney-obsessed like me who are going to Disney come hell or high water, and frankly, I don’t think there are that many of us. In contrast, every Florida local with an AP wants to book their three park passes “just in case” before their AP for the year runs out.
I only see tickets avail for dates after Jan 2021. Am I wrong?
Yes, that is true. They are only selling new 2021 tickets at this time. Additionally 2020 tickets will be available “later this summer” if at all.
Hi Tonja 🙂 I have 1 ticket available that I bought in November. I called Disney yesterday 6/29(another 2 hour wait lol). Got them at 6:29pm. I honestly bought this ticket from someone else in November. It is apparently a “comp ticket” that apparently never expires. Anyone interested in buying it I would be happy to sell. Canceled my 3 annual passes. I’m between the Tampa/Orlando areas and would be happy to wait and check the ticket with whomever (in a public place) before finalizing sale.
Bought park tickets today via Disney World website, when making park reservations I noticed that the times we confirmed changed after confirmation. Example, it says Magic Kingdom 10am- whatever time, click it, click confirm then on the next page it shows 11am- whatever time. It did this for all parks on all days. I wonder if we’ll end up having to go in an hour after everyone else?!
Mine was doing this as well on some days. So frustrating. I canvelled and tried again, but it did the same.
Any idea if you already have park tickets for two days for four people–is it possible to extend that to more days and include more people or am I limited to what I already have?
If 2021, yes. If 2020, not right now, but possibly “later this summer” per the Disney website.
The park pass systems is totally fouled up. You can’t make a reservaton with a mix of APs and tickets. You you expect the family to go together….forget it. availability is different between tickets and APs. when they canceled a family of four, reservations must be resubmitted on different days due to the new rules, and if you want to add a party to the family…NO TICKETS are available till an unknown date. Disney failed all families and the AP holders.
As cast members mentioned, the dark side of orlando is looking more appealing.
Tom, after reading all these nightmare posts about reservations, I have got to tell you that I just finished booking tickets for Oct for my party of 14 with absolutely NO problems what so ever. I had already registered my tickets and although I could only do 12 max at a time, was able to add the other 2 immediately after and this could not have gone any smoother. I’m sorry that others are having such problems, I did it on my laptop and NO ISSUES! I’m thrilled. Please try not to freak out everyone, because I was just a little anxious about this process!!
I haven’t had any problems either. We are APs (haven’t activated them yet) and have 6 day tickets for a trip coming up in a month. I was able to book all of our park passes for that upcoming trip, plus two more trips at the end of the year. We are staying on site part of the time and off part of the time. I was able to make reservations for all of the days we are onsite, plus 3 of the days we are onsite.
Additionally for one of our trips other family will be joining us. Bought them 4 day tickets this morning and made reservations for those 4 days without issue.
Incidentally we were possibly going to miss out on two days with our family because we had reached our pass limit, so I simply booked a one night stay at Pop Century (may or may not even use the room), and was able to make park passes for the last two days.
Yes, the system was rough Monday morning, but it eventually worked fine for me. I don’t think this phenomenon is unique to Disney IT, you even see this occasionally happen to Amazon on big sale days. Heck, even Microsoft will have occasional down times. Maybe it’s my expectations being lower, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised the system has worked so well.
I do feel for those that can’t get it to work for them though, and I do think AP availablity needs to be increased (from the look of things they may have too much availability devoted to resort guests and ticket holders)
I’m a DVC member and have resort reservation in Aug. 3 of the 4 of us in our party have tix but my daughter had not yet purchased hers before ticket sales were suspended (the frustrations of an adult daughter who procratinate’s mother) Made park reservations for 3 that have tix. Does anyone know how to get a ticket for the 4th person in my party? Need to get her park pass to coincide w ours.
Tickets should be available on the Disney World website today, I was able to purchase them.
I only see tickets avail for dates after Jan 2021. Am I wrong?
I forgot that they are doing 2020 and 2021 separately! Last I heard I think 2020 tickets will be available “later this summer” but I don’t think they said when. Which is kind of weird because 2020 comes before 2021…
Correct – 2020 tickets are not available for purchase now, no exceptions–only 2021 are. I understand this may seem confusing, but remember that Disney is trying to limit park capacity, and capacity will be lowest initially and then will grow and–if Covid rates go down, will have a much higher park capacity in 2021. So it makes sense that Disney is restricting ticket sales for dates closer in time rather than further out.
I have a “Comp ticket” that I purchased from someone that U’d be happy to sell. I left a reply above. I think that might be you as well, but in case you didn’t see it.
My family and I were planning on visiting in November 2020. Our original trip was on March 18th, 2020 which was then modified to June 2020. After having both canceled, and losing the free dining promotion, we tentatively decided to move the dates again to November. However, It just wasn’t shaping up to be the trip we were hoping for and we finally canceled for good. Here is what is interesting: Just for fun, I booked park reservations for the dates of our stay to try out the new Park Pass Reservation system. It took me a few days to get a hold of Disney to cancel the trip and when I finally canceled, I noticed that my park reservations are still scheduled. Of course, I will cancel them but it is odd that the system will allow people to hold reservations without having a ticket, a resort stay or an annual pass. It seems like this is going to mess up their capacity calculations as people cancel trips in the upcoming months. Maybe Disney isn’t worried about it. If it is just a few people, it isn’t a big deal. However, I think there are probably many people like us that were hoping to make a fall/winter trip work but as Disney cancels more and more experiences (and COVID cases continue to rise), they may end up canceling their trip. I am interested to see how the whole thing works out.
Hi Tom, there’s one thing I haven’t seen addressed much which has brought up some concerns for me. I am out of state (Pennsylvania, so it’s definitely a trip) and have a platinum pass since it’s my only AP option. With the 117 day extension that the parks were closed, my pass now expires in January. I booked a trip for February for Princess weekend – but because my pass expires before February I can’t make park reservations. I know this is normally a very busy weekend so it makes me a little nervous to not be able to reserve, especially when I already have race registration and a resort booked. I would even be happy to pay to renew my pass now to have it good til January 2022 if I was allowed to, but we are only allowed to renew 1 month in advance so at this rate I will not be able to make park reservations until December 2020.
Have you heard anything about this issue or are we just kind of SOL and have to gamble that we’ll be able to get reservations that late in the game?
The problem is if as an AP you booked February now the way the current rules are set up you wouldn’t be able to make any park reservations between now and then thus making your AP useless. If you’re that worried about it maybe you could have someone else in your household book a resort / ticket package for your group tomorrow when they go on sale for 2021. If you did that you could continue to visit the parks for the rest of the year (3 days at a time of course) then just renew your AP for your next trip after the February trip. Just an idea.
Andrew, I am able to make park reservations as long as I have a resort reservation for more than 3 days – I am out of state so I don’t need to book other days without a resort reservation. I don’t really want to pay for park tickets for February when I’m already planning to renew my AP.
You’re correct If you always stay on resort it looks like you could have multiple reservations at once. The separate purchase of tickets was Just an idea. After all I don’t know how often you visit and what accommodations you book given you are so far away, these scenarios could play out a thousand different ways. Regardless maybe they’ll let you renew early under current circumstances. I’m sure with so many people cancelling they’ll be happy to have someone renewing. Good luck!
Go ahead a buy tickets and then apply the price of the tickets to your AP. Disney lets you do that if you haven’t used any of the days. It’s basically the only work around for both this and free dining.
Does anyone have any idea what is happening with park passes for 2020? Since our reservations are in October, we planned to buy our admission passes in late June/early July to reserve our Fast Passes. Our DVC resort reservation is at AK – Jambo House so at this time, we don’t know where we will be staying or if we will be able to purchase tickets. Is there even a hint of a rumor if or when park tickets will be available to purchase this year?
I believe if you already have Resort reservations you should be able to call Customer service and buy tickets. I’m not certain of that but I feel like I read that somewhere.
Scratch my last reply that actually only applies to resort stays booked for 2021. Id still call tomorrow though because I think a lot of abilities will open up tomorrow.
We are in exactly the same situation. We have 3 weeks booked in October/November which includes offsite and onsite stay. We always buy our tickets closer to travel to spread some of the cost (from UK) and then upgrade to annual passes once there so we get two trips out of it. Our last AP’s exp January this year.
We did try ringing and were told sorry no new tickets for 2020. No encouragement offered that maybe there will be any released later in the year. It was just a flat NO!
We are however pinning to the hope that as it all dies down the next batch they look to is those with resort reservations without tickets and offer tickets for at least the duration of stay?!
I’m a silver Passholder and feel that they don’t really care about the Passholder at all. They are limiting our access to the parks, no credits what’s so ever, 3- day reservation at a time is not right, when others will have more day bookings, not right. They are not even unblocking dates even thought we could not go for three months, Universal has, also no park hopping, Universal allows it, so I may just become a universal Passholder and cancel Walt Disney all together. Also Universal is allowing faceshields, not Disney.
Disney, You Need to Do Better
Universal are only allowing face shields to a very low number of people with medical conditions that make them unable to wear masks. However the shields are not allowed on several rides, only masks. So it they cannot wear a mask they cannot ride they ride. What I read last was that they were advising people who couldn’t use a mask not to come. The only shields allowed are by visiting guest services first.
Just curious as to what you meant by this: “The outrage stemming from the ‘planning industrial complex’ is monster of their own making. ” I don’t quite understand. Thanks.
“In fairness, Walt Disney World is doing a fairly exemplary job of alienating everyone in new and unique ways—it’s hardly exclusive to APs.”
Thank you for all your updates. We have had to temporarily cancel our first ever disneyland/southern California vacation. All of your reports help me get a feel for what we will accept/settle for when things do start opening and getting back to normal (fingers crossed for next year). We may just have to sneak a short trip in around the holidays to disney world if flights are cheap and discounts are plenty. 🙂
My family has Platinum Plus APs and we’ve had them since 2003. I’m really trying to be patient and not entitled, and I understand that with COVID things must be different, but I genuinely feel like a one month extension is not fair compensation for what we have lost. I wrote a polite note to guest relations and the response was a terse offer to cancel the passes. I did not come away from the exchange with the feeling that they noted or cared about my issue. I realize it’s the First Worldiest of First World Problems, but I am still a little sad about it.
I don’t know why they are opening all this stuff when people still can’t change their reservations for less than a month from now bc everyone else is on the phones. Every time I call the wait is either 3 hours or we have closed the lines. Disney should be reaching to people who are still booked at all stars. Fix the immediate problems first Disney. I know people want to book stuff for later in the year, but they should prioritize based on date! DTB is my only resource on info these days!!!
I agree with you…. family of 6 all Platinum Plus Annual pass-holders 10 mins away from Disney. We’ve been super patient and understanding as this is difficult for everyone. I am however excessively frustrated with not being able to ever speak to anyone, and we literally can’t get a reservation for anytime before Aug 18. These passes cost over $1000 per person and we’ve lost all perks of the passes. Why won’t they open APs when there’s plenty of day guest or resort guest availability? We’d have to book a resort reservation or buy day tickets to go today. That’s just silly. I don’t honestly know what to do at this point, cancel completely and wait a year or so or hang in there and see what happens. Just frustrated.
I liked the accompanying photos of fountains when you were writing about pass allocations flowing between buckets. Plus, fountains are always calming. 🙂
@Tom – have a completely different perspective than the “double dipping” implied negative perspective that is posted on here around the current AP constraints.
Let’s say you have an AP and a resort reservation with park reservation for February. What Disney has done has effectively added, in this example, an 8 month BLOCK OUT on an Annual Pass until the resort reservation takes place. That totally devalues the AP and significantly changes the reason why one would even purchase an AP.
The workarounds are not very feasible:
1 – always have to book a resort to go to the park or
2 – cancel you park reservations associated with your Resort reservation and RISK making a park reservation closer to the resort stay, hoping for availability. That’s unnecessary added vacation planning stress gambling a Disney vacation costing thousands of dollars.
So yes, as an AP holder, I expect access to the park – I have no issues with making a Park reservation and limiting the number or reservations given there will be those who abuse the system. However, I didn’t buy an “Annual” Pass to be blocked from using it for 8 months.
When I’m a resort guest, I expect the perk of being able to make a park reservation, still leveraging my AP without any negative implications.
I 100% agree with this!! I have a September hotel booked with family and wanted to go for 3 days in in August but now will be unable to unless I book a room in Disney. Totally unfair. No way I’m cancelling 8 days worth of passes with my family at risk of not being able to get into the same park as them for our vacation. And if the days in August we want to go aren’t booked up, they’re just losing business by doing it this way.
I completely agree with TAS and Brigitte. Disney is essentially blocking use of the AP now if you have a vacation at a later date. This is not the purpose or intent of an Annual Pass. With this being the case, none of us are getting what we paid for and that should absolutely be looked at more closely.
Additionally, I think it would be much more appropriate and more well received if they were to allow APs to be dormant until first re-use at which time the clock starts again for the amount of time remaining on the pass. I would not even expect an extension for the closure period should they do that as we would still have access for the full year for which we paid.
I completely agree with all of you – and Gina’s idea on APs being dormant!! I’ve been saying that over and over to my spouse. I’m on hold right now to cancel the rest of our passes. they aren’t going to give us any value. We are platinum out of state – makes me so very very sad to cancel them, but unfortunately it’s a waste of our money/pass for us the remaining time. Like everyone who loves as we do – I hope things get better and we can get back to the magic in the future. oh how I miss it :0(