Disney World’s Park Pass Reservations: We’re In Orbit!
If you’ve followed the Walt Disney World news roller coaster the last few days, you know Disney Park Pass debuted this morning, allowing guests with resort reservations and tickets to book theme park entry. Anyone familiar with Disney ‘drop days’ knew to expect the unexpected, and that has been doubly so here.
Walt Disney World has released no shortage of details, but it has felt very nebulous. Getting up this morning, even knowing the ins and outs of what’s been announced, I was anxious. It’s like we’ve been studying for the final exam about American History knowing it might cover some overlapping European History–but then it ends up being a test exclusively about the French Revolution.
Of course, that’s assuming we even are able to take the test. The test was scheduled to start at 7 am, but surprise! It could actually start at 4:36 am without you, and the door to the exam room might end up breaking at 6:55 am. Once the door is repaired at 8:48 am, you may or may not be able to take the test. Tough luck. That’s the story of Walt Disney World IT and drop days in nutshell, or tortured analogy, as the case may be.
To continue that tortured analogy, this morning it turned out that we didn’t even know where the exam was being held. Maybe it was behind the gates of a very pink castle. Perhaps it was in orbit with Space Mountain, in the mines where the Seven Dwarfs work, or even inside Stitch’s belly. WHO KNOWS?!
Any one of those could be the hidden entrance, you just need to know the secret knock to enter the testing location.
Also, the exam did not start early. It started at least an hour and a half late–and has not even started yet for some people!
In any case, here’s the story of our experience, plus the “secret knock” that worked to gain us access to the Disney Park Pass system so we could book reservations for Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot…
Not trusting that the Disney Park Pass system would go live at 7 am (we are all too familiar with the surprise 4:37 am drops of Free Dining), we were up bright and early this morning at 5 am, checking off and on periodically.
Depending upon what we tried, we were greeted by a (very pink) Cinderella Castle with a “just a moment” message, Seven Dwarfs with “we’re working on it,” or the classic Stitch Ate the Page.
We had Advance Dining Reservations for the modified character dining experience at Topolino’s Terrace this morning at 7:30 am, so we continued this process while on the drive over to Disney’s Riviera Resort, and then in the parking lot while waiting for our ADR time.
At 7:10 am, we still had zero success–and it was becoming clear we were in for a ‘long haul’ with the process, so we updated our How to Make Park Pass Reservations for Disney World guide and headed up to the rooftop restaurant.
Throughout breakfast, we periodically checked our phones and social media to see how things were going and it was clear the consensus was “NOT GOOD, BOB.”
We finished breakfast at around 8:45 am, headed down to Voyageurs’ Lounge (where I’m still sitting as I type this), and began trying all of our best hacks to get the process to work.
I’ll spare you a full run-down of our failures, and instead go through what worked in case you’re still experiencing similar frustrations.
To start, use private browsing or incognito mode on your desktop browser. Instead of going directly to DisneyWorld.com, click here. This will, hopefully, take you to the DisneyWorld.com page for Frontera Cocina (and not Space Mountain).
If that works, go through the motions of searching for availability and click a time. You’re not actually booking anything, so the dates/party size don’t really matter. You’re just doing this to get the My Disney Experience login pop-up without a redirect to that page.
Think of Frontera Cocina (or any Disney Springs restaurant, for that matter) as the “secret entrance” to Magic Kingdom reservations.
Once you get logged in, open a new tab and check here.
This is the link for creating your party, which bypasses the first step (and another phase of waiting). You’ll probably have a wait at this screen, but it should work after the countdown finishes. Very strong emphasis on should.
For what it’s worth, we never had luck on anything loading after the pink castle screen–but have had success with the Space Mountain screen. If you’ve been stuck on the Cinderella Castle screen for more than a few minutes, you might want to try again–or try in another browser.
From there, the process should be pretty self-explanatory and smooth. Here are step by step screenshots of what you should see:
Additionally, we would strong recommend that you go into My Plans after completing this process and double-checking that all of your reservations appear there.
As always, taking screenshots is a good course of action, just in case My Disney Experience “poofs” any of your reservations. We’ve heard reports of that happening already, so it’s best to be safe. Even though Disney IT is a shining exemplar of reliability and beacon of–HAHAHAHA, sorry couldn’t finish that sentence.
Ultimately, that’s the process and how it worked for us. Right now, I’m feeling a bit like I’ve just completed Jedi Training Academy: Trials of the Temple, but for adult Walt Disney World vacation planners. (In other words, Jedi Training Academy: Trials of the Tourist!) Your mileage may vary and you might experience success (or many failures) via this route or others. Judging by the 575+ comments on our How to Book Disney Park Pass Reservations Guide, a lot of you have already had success. We’ll be back later today to report on more of our experiences being back at Walt Disney World!
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
Have you had success booking Disney Park Pass reservations? What worked/didn’t work for you? What do you think about the Disney Park Pass reservation system? Still having any troubles? Will you be attempting to visit Walt Disney World this summer or fall, or are you waiting until after September 2021 when this (presumably) goes away? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? 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!
I made intermittent attempts on Chrome, Edge, and Explorer on my PC and on my Iphone for nearly 7 hours. Saw many screens with Stitch, the Millennium Falcon, and the dreaded Pepto Pink Castle. Kinda began to think this was not worth the hassle. Then came across this post and saw your advice to try incognito in Chrome. I did it and it worked in about 2 minutes. Got all my park reservations for trip starting July 23. THANK YOU!! You’re a genius!
Trying to book however it will only let us make 1 reservation and after that it shows “one or more parks are currently not available”. We have a 7 night reservation with 14 day parkhopper tickets all linked so this shouldn’t be causing the problem.
Anyone facing the same issues or a solution?
Same thing is happening to me. I can, eventually, get back to the booking screen, but get the same message. Waiting for the next Bricker hack to get it resolved.
I’m an annual passholder with a resort reservation in January. I was only able to make three park reservations before it told me I don’t have the tickets for any more. Verified my AP end date and I should have been good. Ironically enough, my husband (same pass, same expiration) was able to book park reservations for all days. I’ve been on hold with ticket office for 3 hrs trying to find out what’s going on. I can see an ugly Passholder class action lawsuit in the future.
I had been attempting this (and every other method that I saw posted) for over 6 hours. Finally someone suggested using another device. I got a separate laptop, used a chrome browser and opened an incognito tab to go directly to the Park Pass reservations page. It opened the Millennium Falcon loading screen but only took about 10 minutes and then it prompted me to sign in. From there, it was only a few minutes to select the park passes. I hope this helps someone because I was so frustrated and about to cancel the whole trip.
We woke up at 3:48 on the West Coast, and after 45 minutes of attempts, I gave up and went back to sleep. I woke up again at 6:55 PST and after logging in to My Plans (which seemed to work easily this time) followed to prompt on the page for Park Pass and got the Space Mountain countdown loop…I stayed on that page for about 15 minutes, and was in!
I made four reservations for July 19-25 easily, and the reservations show up in my plans.
I used an Incognito Window on Chrome…
I was only able to reserve 3 days for an 8 day stay in September because of a continuing glitch with AP holders. After an hour of calling the main line, the operator told me to call the IT line. I called for almost 2 hours before I actually got in the system and stopped getting a busy signal. 1 1/2 hours later I got a guy who said this is an ongoing issue, and he’ll send an email to someone in upper management about my glitch with the reservation issue. I said that (1) I can’t get back in the system and (2) last I saw September is completely booked. He said there is nothing he can do about that. At this point I would cancel it all, but we’re renting DVC points and can’t get our money back. I expected this to be a cluster, but this is just unbelievable.
I’m curious where you’re seeing that September is full? I also wasn’t able to book all my dates, but when I look at this calendar EVERYTHING still seems green?
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/availability-calendar/?segments=tickets,resort,passholder&defaultSegment=tickets (you have to select “Disney Resort Guest” b/c the other two categories can’t book yet.
I’m crossing my fingers for both of us (and everyone else) that this calendar is accurate and there’s still room everywhere — which I’d imagine there would be since only people who already had tickets could even book today.
I think Disney is just trying to make us angry at this point. Jumping through all this and not being able to get on a system even 5 hours after it opens is ridiculous. I have resort and tickets reservations still for end of July (which I still can’t change even though all stars is closed) and they don’t even send an email that I should do this new reservation system. The lack of communication is so ridiculous at this point. I dont know how they think it’s fair to people. Not everyone sits on their website or blogs to find out about this info.
I was able to get in to make my reservations for our Halloween trip in a short wait of only 2.5 hours lots of castles and space mountain waiting as well. But it did work eventually so that’s good. Thanks for the tips- does anyone know when they will be taking reservations for 2021 again?
I believe that June 28 is the date the system will open up for everyone to make new ticket and resort reservations for 2021. Right now you can book off-site (Disney Springs, Swan & Dolphin) resort reservations for 2021 through the hotels’ own sites and link them in MDE.
I just want to say a big thanks to Tom for all the research, testing, updates and HARD WORK you do for us. I wish I had a trip to WDW planned because it sounds so fun. I’m holding out for my Disneyland tickets for November 8 -13 purchased through Get Away Today can still be used. Fingers crossed. Any updates you post about DL and DCA are much appreciated!
you guys rock! this worked! Thank you!!!!!
Disney should have just assigned parks today and let folks change if needed. With no other reservations possible yet, I really don’t care which parks on any day of my stay. If they had done that, I think they would have had about 1/100th of the folks online today.
Thanks Tom,
I started at 8:30 AM playing multiple screens in regular and incognito like those ladies in Vegas playing the slots.
I was reading blog comments trying all sorts of hacks and in 2+ hours finally got through. We have two weeks at the end of August for my wife’s birthday (it was a long delivery) and was able to easily make park res for the first 7 days before the res screen disappeared.
I checked My Plans and the 7 days were there so that was good but I started seeing screens like no availability in any of the parks from here to eternity.
I knew this had to be wrong. I remembered what you wrote and logically NONE of these parks should even reach their capacity level.
I continued working the screens and then your new POST came in and thanks to your third link “check here” I went right in and made our final 7 reservations.
I now have the afternoon open.
You are the man.
Hey Tom, so thankful for your info! We were able to get in and book for our October trip! The problem is we are trying to book for our December 2020 trip- we have rented dvc points and it’s linked to our app. However since we are AP and our passes expire on Dec 5th, it won’t let us book pur December dates bc they are after that point, and it says we don’t have tickets . I’m not sure how to get around this, bc I don’t think we can renew our passes now when the expire in December? Also Disney is suppose to add an additional free month for APs which would cover December but the website says that won’t post until October?? So my worry is are they making us wait until October to book our December trip Park days? I doubt anything will be available if we wait that long! Any advice??
One member of my party is in the same boat as well! So frustrating. I had to make park reservations for the rest of our party with the hopes that Disney will be able to add her in later.
Thanks a ton for the help! I’m in and reserved!
I need to get this type of information for Disneyland. I have reservations beginning Aug 31st. Thanks
LOL the “NOT GOOD, BOB” reference is not lost on me and I say this all the time (“Hi honey how was your workout today?” “NOT GREAT BOB”…”when will dinner be ready?” “NOT GREAT BOB!” – it is multi talented)
My resort reservation was booked using rented DVC points. I wonder if that is why I am having trouble getting into a park. Though, my reservation is linked in My Disney Experience…Very Frustrating!!!!!
Hey – we have three trips book between now and Sept 2021 – it only let us reserve 9 days… is that the limit or should I call? (DVC and AP)
I hit the same limit — and we’re in the same boat (DVC and AP) — I thought the limit was supposed to be 14 days? Hmm.
I’ve got 3 trips too, total of 20 nights and 24 days worth of various tickets. It wouldn’t let me book more than 11 park days and then said I’d reached my “park pass limit”. No idea what the limit is supposed to be.
These tips don’t work either. Still just takes me to screens with the castle or the Millenium Falcon. Even going straight to the dining reservations I can’t get in and get these screens. Using multiple devices and browsers as well. It’s been almost 5 hours and I am beyond frustrated. If anyone else has any tips I would love to hear them!!
I feel your pain! Woke up at 3:50 am on the west coast to get park passes for our Oct DVC trip. ( A rebook from cancelled May trip). After a ton of frustration, multiple failures with “no availability” and a multitude of patience… I may now hate the Millennium Falcon … I finally got to the pass system and it WORKED! I was able to secure a park for everyday! Keep trying!
Same here Laura, overall the tips aren’t working for us, it’s just the Falcon and castle. After three hours of trying we did get in long enough to grab one day at HS for our six day Sept trip before the system booted us out and deleted our vacation package. It came back an hour later. It’s now coming up on six hours of trying and nothing but a ship and castle to show for it.
Try using chrome browser and open an incognito tab, go directly to park pass reservation system page. This only took about 10 min for me, compared to the almost 7 hours of waiting I had already endured lol
I fail to comprehend how a company the size, scale, and scope of Disney, could have such frequent and widespread IT failures, especially on customer-facing systems where sales, reservations, corporate image, and reputation are at risk.
My career in IT engineering, administration, programming/development, and systems analysis, spans more than 30 years; the last 20 are at senior and management levels with hands-on at the highest escalation tiers. This includes years in the systems and networking levels of internet service providers (ISP), datacenters, and healthcare. I’m among the ones people call in emergencies when nobody else can fix it… so I am well qualified to speak in terms of large and mission-critical systems.
In all my career, if any of the systems under my responsibility performed as badly as MDE and the Disney World website, I would have been fired.
My husband and I have a theory that it’s a strategy of Disney to bring you down to make normal stuff feel amazing. For example, everyone is in despair today over not being able to get park reservations. Then they finally get reservations after hours of trying and feel this amazing relief and euphoria over something that should have been pretty straightforward. Disney does this about a lot of stuff. We visit Disneyland multiple times a year and at least once per trip we notice something like this happening. It’s kind of like the military tearing you down in order to build you back up and get your loyalty. Disney uses this same strategy and we all, myself included, have pledged our loyalty to Disney.