Disney World Makes Multiple Changes to Park Pass Reservations
Walt Disney World has revealed changes to the Park Pass reservation system intended to enhance and streamline the booking process for all ticket tickets, with new rules now having taken effect. This post runs through details of the updates and shares commentary about their practical impact.
Walt Disney World has updated the user interface for making Disney Park Pass reservations across all ticket types. This means that everyone–theme park ticket holders, on-site resort guests, and Annual Passholders–will all use the same system and booking flow going forward. (As of August 24, Disney is still implementing and tweaking these changes.)
Currently, multi-day ticket holders and Walt Disney World APs each use a different system. This means that these Park Pass reservations have to be booked separately, and pull from different “buckets” of reservations. Going forward, guests may book reservations for all ticket and AP types in a single transaction.
In that single transaction, the upper limit of tickets that can have Disney Park Passes reserved in a single transaction has increased to 30, up significantly from the current number of 12. This probably won’t impact many of you, but it’ll definitely be useful for family reunions and other group bookings, like youth sports teams.
Note that if you’ve already made reservations, you won’t have your bookings cancelled. Existing Disney Park Passes have migrated to the new reservation system without any actions by the guest. (With that said, you might want to double-check your Park Passes to make sure this occurred.)
That’s just the start of the changes. Another big one comes to Disney Park Pass modifications, which were not previously a thing. In the past, you had to cancel and rebook, hoping that the availability you saw on the Park Pass calendar was actually there in the system.
Going forward, guests now have the modify option for their Disney Park Pass reservations. This new feature is available for some or all members of your party.
In practical terms, let’s say that Sarah and I made reservations for Magic Kingdom, which is now fully booked. She still wants to go to there, but I feel compelled to visit Hollywood Studios to see if Olaf is wearing a seasonal scarf and potentially cover that hard-hitting news. Now we’ll be able to modify the Disney Park Pass to reroute me to DHS without her losing the Magic Kingdom reservation.
(Important note: Olaf is not wearing a seasonal scarf. Stupid Halloween-hating snowman.)
As of August 24, this modify feature is still a work in progress with Walt Disney World continuing to tweak the feature to ensure proper functionality for everyone.
Right now, the main issue impacts Annual Passholders with resort reservations. Per the screenshot above, there are two different ways for this group to book Park Passes. The first one works correctly and offers the modify button. However, it counts against your AP allocation.
The second button also works, but does not offer the modify button (yet). This means that APs who book via this route will still have to cancel and rebook reservations. This route does not count against your AP allocation of reservations, so this is the preferred way to book.
Walt Disney World has already fixed this same issue for regular resort guests, so here’s hoping the same happens for Annual Passholders!
Additionally, the Disney Park Passes are tied to a specific ticket and not guest profiles in My Disney Experience.
This has a few implications. First, guests can have multiple admission types for whatever reason and choose the ticket to which they want to assign the park reservation. This is probably very niche, but this should theoretically eliminate some of the ‘ticket priority problems’ some people have experienced. (If you don’t know what this means, it almost certainly doesn’t impact you.)
Second, guests may change the email connected to the Disney Park Pass reservation. This means that guests can choose a different email than that of their My Disney Experience account.
I’m not entirely sure what upside this offers, but it sounds similar to how things work at Disneyland. The downside, at least from my perspective, is that Disneyland sends out an email for every single reservation. (I guess one upside might be that some people want this, and to have the reservation appear in their primary email–which may not be affiliated with MDX?)
Finally, disconnecting reservations from guest profiles and to tickets means that upgrading from standalone tickets to vacation packages results in “immediate cancellation” of all Disney Park Pass reservations made on the previously-booked ticket. New Park Pass reservations will be required, as the confirmation number changes with the upgrade process.
It’ll be interesting to see how or whether this actually happens. Personally, I hope it’s not actually automatic. If a modified confirmation number triggers an instant cancellation, I could see this occurring unintentionally. I don’t have any foundation for this fear–it’s not really a “fear,” that’s a slight exaggeration. Nevertheless, with how glitchy Disney’s systems can be, I’d prefer erring on the side of the system having excess ‘zombie’ reservations rather than purging active ones. Maybe there’s a good basis for this change, though.
With the changes and “enhancements” (some real, some deserving of the air quotes) out of the way, let’s turn to what is remaining the same.
First, the reservations are disconnected from My Disney Experience in more ways than one. You still will need to make Disney Park Passes via DisneyWorld.com. The button continues to exist in the app, but it’ll keep kicking you to the website to make bookings.
Second and most importantly, there will still be distinct buckets of reservations for Annual Passholders and everyone else.
At present, there are three buckets displayed on the Disney Park Pass calendar: Theme Park Tickets, Select Resort Guests, and Annual Passholders. Technically, the first two have already been combined internally and AP availability is further broken down by tier.
All of this will remain the same, meaning that reservation availability could be better or worse for regular ticket holders than APs. It’s the process that is being streamlined, not availability.
There’s been some speculation that this would/will change due to the Magic Key lawsuit. That could be true eventually, but it’s not happening now. (Personally, I highly doubt Disney will voluntarily do this–it undercuts what they’ve wanted to accomplish with AP reservations since even prior to the closure. If Disney has its way, reservations for Annual Passholders are here to stay.)
To my knowledge, that’s everything. Some specifics still aren’t entirely clear from the announcement and contradictory clarifying info (in particular, what happens when upgrading tickets to vacation packages), but we should know for certain how all of this will work once the dust settles on the changes.
Some of these changes are iterative improvements that enhance the Disney Park Pass system for some people. Others are relatively insignificant, or pose their own potential problems. It’ll be interesting to see how it all shakes out in practice. We’ll be watching and will let you know if/when issues arise!
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
What do you think of these changes and enhancements to the Disney Park Pass reservation policies and protocol at Walt Disney World? Happy or unhappy about any of these updates in particular? Think the biggest “upgrade” of all would be doing away with Park Pass entirely, or are you a fan of the certainty the system presents? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? 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!
Will my existing tickets and reservations migrate no matter where I am staying? Doing a split stay between Swolphin and Contemporary. I have had to relink my Swan reservation back to MDE a few times because it drops off, something I learned to check from many other Swolphin customers. We haven’t been back in 13 years and I honestly feel like I have spent a semester in college on a course for how to do WDW, it’s SO different now!
Nobody used Covid, to completely revamp their systems and make them less guest friendly, better than Disney. I get they will always have their “die hards”, but I just shake my head when I hear friends talking about planning a trip there. So much money, so many people, so many restrictions. IMO Disney is coasting almost entirely on nostalgia. Kids, who grew up with the Disney Channel / went to DL or WDW with their parents, are now trying to recreate those experiences with their kids. Those kids are going to think Disney is super lame when they grow up and start comparing it to other theme parks / places you can go.
Your first sentence hit it in the head. And I cannot understand why they didn’t undo or do things more incrementally. They killed the goose in one fell swoop it seems.
Park reservations are likely never going away as long as Genie+ or the ILLs are being sold. This is the only way that Disney can guarantee the guests who make reservations for a particular park will have first dibs to the rides in the park where they made their reservations. For this same reason, I believe that the 2:00 park hopping rule is here to stay. What needs to go, however, is the rule that you have to step foot in the park where you made a reservation before you can visit another park. This rule discriminates against the disabled who physically find it difficult to move from park to park. This rule does nothing to improve staffing levels, and it’s ridiculous to require people to walk through a turnstile just so they can turn right around and walk back out to visit another park.
I’ve accepted that park reservations are here to stay for everyone. But I’m not ready to accept the current version of Park Hopping. The 2 pm rule needs to go! They could even keep the requirement that you tap into your reserved park before going elsewhere so they can have some idea about staffing, but making someone who has paid the upgrade fee wait until 2 pm when maybe they just wanted to do Flight of Passage and the safari and then bounce seems unnecessary.
I don’t find making park reservations any more restrictive than FastPass+ was, in fact I find it less restrictive. With FastPass+ you had to know your plans 60 days out and make your first three ride reservations (and hope you could get ones you want). Just my opinion, but this removed the spontaneity people are lamenting losing with the park pass reservation system. It was particularly irksome at parks with tiered fast passes and you were forced to book things you didn’t want to do so you could work through your first three passes in order to book more. I’ve never had a problem getting the park I want and have been able to make changes, but I probably plan more in advance than a pass holder would, so I get that. Tangentially, I’ve had an easier time booking Slinky Dog Dash with Genie+ than I ever had with FastPass+ 60 days out.
Does this affect my trip next week???
No, if you already made park reservations and don’t change them it doesn’t affect you at all. It will be different (and thus to most people, slightly worse) the next time you make reservations, but for those of us still holding some unexpired tickets in reserve it will be better to pick which ticket to assign to the reservation.
(Keeping them for a random 1-2 day visit, myself.)
What makes me upset is how you come to WDW and buy tickets ahead of time and can’t get into the park. The hotel rooms suck and they did nothing to accommodate. How hotels resorts don’t have microwaves. Even resorts not located on WDW have microwave. Staff is rude not friendly at all. You on vacation with family and friends and can’t enjoy yourself because people on business come and want it quiet all day and evening. Florida became the worst to visit. I wish I can get my money back for two days I lost because of WDW screw up. And that’s a ticket for 2 adults 1 child for two days I lost.
How do we get Disney to listen to us and get rid of this horrible reservation system? It’s bad enough I can’t get to new rides unless I pay extra, but this just compounds things. It’s now WORK, and I come to Disney ON VACATION, not to go to WORK
Guest can’t complain that they can’t get a reservation and at the same time complain the parks are too crowded. Park Res is here to stay, too bad you can’t make it work for you.
Remove the park reservations and bring back the park hopping. It should of never been changed. Bring the magic back. Prices are too high for everything. I understand prices have to go up but now it sounds like the magical place on earth is only for the rich. Where is the pixie dust!
Tom, not related to this post but what does “enhanced dining” mean for Narccoossies? Characters or what? Would be nice to have one place for adults without characters. Thanks in advance
If you are park hopping, can you go to any park at 2p no matter if it is sold out on the calendar?
Yes, that is correct.
Almost certainly, but I have to hedge this answer. Technically, you are supposed to call (407) 560-5000 to confirm that the park you want to hop to has enough “room” for you. But I haven’t read about anyone being turned away. It might be worth a call, though, if you’re there during Christmas or another super congested time.
« but I feel compelled to visit Hollywood Studios to see if Olaf is wearing a seasonal scarf and potentially cover that hard-hitting news »
We know we can always count on you for the important things!
Seriously, thanks for explaining all the details of the changes and let’s hope the « modify » option comes to Genie+ next!
Olaf likes warm hugs, not scarves. 😉 And I like this idea that the Modify button is being testing in production on the park reservations and hopefully adapted for Genie+ soon. Fingers crossed.
If an unused ticket with existing park reservations is transferred to a different person (assuming this is possible?), does this mean that the new person will be able to attend the parks that the former person had reservations for?
Huminuhhuminuhhuminuh …….. my eyes are spinning in my head
AP holder and miss the ability to jump on a plane tomorrow to be at Disney. The last 2 years have made planning so complex and necessary, that it’s lost it’s fun. I miss that so much.
I’m fortunate enough that the added fees of lightning lane and other increases don’t affect me much but while it helps people like me, it takes away from the families that saved up for years.
While this new park reservation plan levels out the playing field, there are still way too many options that remove the fairness for everyone with tickets.
You just scared the crap out of me with that Oct 31 MK not avail for Park reservations picture!!! Ran out and got them for my group! (7 ticket holders, 2 annual passes; all staying on resort though, so no issue). I’ll wait for the lovely system update tomorrow to make the rest of them all together for the group.
I am totally a victim of the ‘ticket priority’ screw up; multiple times. We are the proud owners of 10 day never expires tickets with 5 days still on them (and like 7 water park visits). We bought new 10 day date reserved single park tickets and even though we tapped in on that ticket start day – the system used our never expires tickets. It tried to use them a few years back when we had Annual passes too, but they were able to fix that.
This time the system ate them so bad we now have complimentary park hopper (which the old never expires weren’t). The water park tickets are actually unlinked from the tickets and are on our accounts until we use them all.
MK has been selling out on MNSSHP days because the park closes at six. I don’t understand why anyone would rush out to make reservations for a park that closes early, especially on a Monday. We will be at HHN at Universal, so this is meaningless to us.
Had the same thing. 10 day never expire tickets with some days left (and water parks, kids still have 8 of those left even with parks used)
We bought 6 day tickets for a trip and on my second day (seriously) it took one of my never expire tickets instead. We spend WAY TOO long at customer service with a cast member who did not understand. They gave me a 1 day never expire.
Same happens to my humans on a diff trip and they fixed it the same way quickly.
Really hope the assigning tickets works.
I made reservations for a park that closes early because the MK is packed on other days during party season, and Tom’s report from that day made it sound more like a 0.5 than a 1/10 (if that were possible).
I hurried because I didn’t read the entire article first (last minute changes make people panic) and HS just really needs Early Entry to make that work.
Tom, I actually asked you a question in the GOTG article which kind of relates to this. I just realized that my Epcot day was Saturday and am now thinking it would be better to switch it to Monday . Making Saturday an AK day instead. I assume Epcot by default is better on weekdays?
That being said – this new system could make the adjustment easier
Who cares. Get rid of the ridiculous park hopping restrictions and that is something to really improve the guest experience.
Thanks Tom for your reporting 🙂
Blah, blah, blah. My opinion stands. Just not worth the effort to experience what used to be a great place, which is now in a straight jacket.
Spot on LJ! Can the whole park pass system and park hopping restriction, among many other things. Too many darn hoops to jump through to just go have a good time…………………… Its ridiculous at this point.
Agree 1,000,000%……….WDW has lost it’s way…………..It’s not a good experience any longer compared to what it used to be…………All the cutbacks (paid magic bands, no ME, paid FP+, no EMH, no housekeeping) PLUS all the crappy rules instituted (Park Pass, Genie+) actually make it a place i want to avoid, not attend
I guess the good thing for Disney is there are plenty of suckers in the pipeline for Disney to offset the pool of Disney fans that have gone for decades that is drying up due to the diminishing experience and the skyrocketing costs.
Get used to it, cuz It’s a Bob World After All.
I’m going in November 2022 does this mean I have make new park reservations?
No, you will not need to make new reservations.
5th paragraph:
Note that if you’ve already made reservations for after August 23, you won’t have your bookings cancelled. Existing Disney Park Passes will migrate to the new reservation system without any actions by the guest.
Enjoy your trip!