How to Make Park Reservations for Disney World

ByTom Bricker
789 Comments

Park Pass is Walt Disney World’s advance theme park reservations system for booking entry to Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios. This is required in addition to buying tickets between now and January 18, 2024 in order to enter the parks. This how-to guide covers the steps for making Disney Park Pass reservations, offers troubleshooting advice, and more. (Updated March 20, 2022.)

For starters, the Disney Park Pass system is available on DisneyWorld.com–not the My Disney Experience app (although there is a link within the app to take you to the reservation website). To use this system, start by making sure your tickets and resort reservation are linked in My Disney Experience, and your family and friends list is properly populated.

Now in use for nearly two years, the Disney Park Pass system has been controversial and frustrating for many fans. So much so that one of the most common reader questions during that time is When Will Walt Disney World Stop Requiring Park Reservations? We speculate and attempt to answer that question in that post. Here, let’s continue on with the details of Disney Park Pass, and making advance online reservations for the theme parks at Walt Disney World!

Step 1: Link Your Admission to Your Disney Account

To get started, you’ll need valid park admission that’s linked to your Disney account.

  • First, you’ll need a Disney account, which is where your Walt Disney World plans are stored and managed. Create an account or sign in to your existing account.
  • Then, link your valid admission to your Disney account. All Guests in your party must also have valid park admission linked to their profile. Note: At this time, new ticket sales are temporarily paused, and sales will resume at a later date.
  • If you have a Disney Resort hotel reservation, be sure to link it to your Disney account as well.

Once your admission is linked to your account, you can begin to make a park reservation…

Step 2: Create Your Party

When you begin to make a reservation, you’ll be prompted to create your party from your Family & Friends list.

Simply select the family and friends you’d like to include, then hit the Continue button.

Don’t see someone in your travel party? Select “Add a Guest” to include them.

You may need to make more than one Disney Park Pass reservation for your party depending on your admission type. Please make sure your party consists of Annual Passholders or theme park ticket holders.

Staying in a Disney Resort or other select hotel with a package that includes tickets? Everyone in your party must also have a hotel reservation. If this varies, you will need to make separate Disney Park Pass reservations.

Step 3: Select a Date and Park

Choose the date and the theme park that you’d like to visit from the available reservations. Please note that dates and theme park selections are limited and subject to availability.

After creating your party in the Disney Park Pass system, you’ll be prompted to:

  • Select a Date: View a calendar and choose one of the available dates for your visit.
  • Select a Theme Park: Park hours will be displayed for your convenience.
  • Select a Time: This is the time that you can visit the park.

NOTE: Selecting a time is simply “confirming” the park hours, not an actual arrival window.

After selecting your date and park, you can confirm your reservation.

Step 4: Review and Confirm Your Plans

Carefully review and confirm your selected park and date.

If you need to make any changes, select “Back” to revise your selections.

Before confirming, you’ll need to agree to the Terms & Conditions, including the health certification and liability disclaimer waiver. (For this reason, it’s unlikely that travel agents will book Disney Park Pass reservations like they do/did for FastPass+ or ADRs.)

Then, select “Confirm” to complete your park reservation. Once confirmed, your reservation will appear in My Plans on My Disney Experience or DisneyWorld.com.

Want to make another park reservation? Select “Make Another Reservation” to continue planning. As a reminder, if you have a multi-day ticket, you will be required to make a park reservation for each date of your visit.

If you need to cancel a reservation, view your daily itinerary in My Plans, then select “Reservation Details”.

We’ve now used the Disney Park Pass system numerous times, and the process usually works pretty smoothly. Nevertheless, you might have issues getting DisneyWorld.com to work. In terms of troubleshooting, our #1 solution is always to use private browsing or incognito mode on your desktop browser to access DisneyWorld.com.

This won’t always resolve your problem, but usually it will. It’s at least worth a shot. In any case, hopefully that preemptively answers some reader questions we’d otherwise receive and saves some of you some headaches.

We’d recommend making reservations weeks or months in advance, rather than days ahead of time. While you’ll be fine most of the time booking Park Passes at the last minute, that’s not always the case.

Availability varies wildly depending upon demand. In the off-season, reservations are mostly a formality. By contrast, park reservations are already booking up (see above) about a month before peak dates in April 2022. Plan accordingly and err on the side of making reservations early just in case.

With that said, it’s never necessary to book reservations 2+ months in advance. Many Walt Disney World fans stress out over planning every little detail of their trips 6+ months in advance. While that’s understandable when it comes to Advance Dining Reservations and even resort bookings, the same diligence is not necessary with Disney Park Pass reservations.

The vast majority of guests simply do not plan that far in advance. Since Walt Disney World began requiring Park Pass reservations, there is only one date that filled up months in advance–October 1, 2021. That was the 50th Anniversary of Walt Disney World, and is quite obviously a “special case.” If you’re just visiting for some random week in July 2022, you need to start thinking about reservations in June…not April.

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 about the Disney Park Pass reservation system? Think these policies seem fair in light of the ongoing global pandemic and reduced capacity of the parks? Think that many days will sell out, or that most will be available on short notice? Will you be attempting to visit Walt Disney World this summer or fall, or are you waiting until when this (hopefully) 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!

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789 Comments

  1. Where exactly do we go? The Tickets page on Disneyworld.com or MyDisneyExperience? I know its not working, but still confused about where to find it when its up.

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  2. This is so ridiculous. They should have tiers based off your resort dates, instead of flooding the site & call center on one day.

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    2. i agree. that would have been a smarter approach. Do it week by week. WHy flood the entire system with people trying to reserve for months ahead.

    3. Agreed! I am supposed to go at the end of July and it’s super frustrating for people going a year from now trying to do this today! I wish they had done it in month chunks for a like a week, then opened it up.

    4. Amen, Patricia. We are going the literal opening date and I’m just a smidge irritated. Plus I have a toddler and a 4 year old trying to play with my devices that are loading for Disney. Haha don’t touch it!

    5. Boy Patricia, you hit the nail right on the head! That is exactly what I was thinking.
      They could have opened up today for those with reservation in July and every Monday after open up a new month’s of reservations until park reservations caught up with resort reservations. Disney has set this up to fail.

    6. I’m giving up. Tired and aggravated. If I don’t get my dates I’ll just cancel my trip completely. I hear Universal Studios is a ghost town. Maybe I’ll go there instead. lol

  4. So 7:46 am and still just a castle, WHEN I get to the mydisneyexperience page. They should have staggered the passes so that anyone going in the next month goes first then 2 days later the next months, etc…

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    1. This is a great idea! Sort of like the old dining and fastpass system…it was go-time for the people who were “next in line.”

  5. So do I go to my plans and the date or should the link be available under the Disney Park Pass System link? I have gotten this far, but only see the how to, not a link to book.

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    1. That’s what I see, too. On the app it says “using this convenient tool–coming soon. Check this page often for up-to-date details.”

    2. That is what I am seeing also. I used incognito browser to get into MDE but cannot find anywhere to actually make a reservation.

  6. They should have said 23/06, get the system working as a practice on 22/06, and then on 23/06 activate the ‘save’ button.

    That way, they won’t have any anxious people wanting to get on the system.

    I wonder how many anxious, stressed people are trying to hit the system, wondering they can get into the parks.
    Must be like trying to get front row tickets for a major event.

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  7. Either someone is trying to exploit this as a scam or they already knew that they were going to need to do immediate guest recovery this morning. But no, I did not get an email for a Disney gift card.

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  8. We have reservations for the opening date so it definitely feel more panicking to wonder if we’re going to be able to get in or not. :/

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  10. This is what happens when you go cheap on your IT budget. I do this for a living, and it’s really not that hard Disney…

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  11. So I just got a we’re almost in orbit screen with a wait time of 13 minutes. So maybe 8 am is when they are going to open up the reservation system

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    2. It just popped up for me. I have 2 browsers open and the google chrome one had that pop up. The internet explorer still has the normal screen.

    4. I was able to sign into my Disney experience and then it went to this screen. It keeps adding time on though. Now it says 5 minutes

    4. No, but I deserve one for getting up at 5:00 am during my first day of vacation to Mt. Rushmore! Ha!

    7. Yeah, I cannot tell what it is for either. It does not have any message with it. But I am good at spotting scams and it looks legit. Out of an abundance of caution though I would not click on anything in the email. I will just write down the giftcard number and see if it works. And I do not believe since this is happening right at this moment and other people are getting them that it is a coincidence. I am assuming they are compensating us in some way for this.

    8. Yes. I just got one. I think it might be because I had checked in and waived housekeeping prior to the reopening changes to housekeeping. At least it matches the amount I was expecting.

    9. No, and been on all night in case it launched early as we only have 7/11-7/16 res. It bounced me out and I got back in, but just says check back soon for updates.

    10. Oh, maybe that’s it. I have a vague recollection of waiving housekeeping. I am staying 6 nights, it is $50, does that make sense?

  13. At this point I think I would just be pleased by the alternate pics Tom mentioned…I would gladly take Stitch or the Seven Dwarfs!!

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  14. I am happy to have other people up with me haha after I read comments I got up, got coffee, washed face… now I’m ready to try again hahahaa xo good luck Disney fans. Is there a name for us? Also, I’m guessing just keep refreshing the ‘Disney Park Pass System’ page?

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    2. Good question! I’m on my plans but now I’m stuck on those cause the menu bar disappeared ‍♀️‍♀️

    3. im refreshing MyPlans and Park Reservations about every minute or so. LOL!

  15. Thanks for the update. Been staring at the pink castle for a half hour. Glad to hear it’s “normal.”

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  16. Good morning. Stich strikes again. 🙁 I’ve been on 40 minutes and nothing. I tried to call and “all circuits are busy.” My reservations are in October and November. Has anyone confirmed that these reservations only go through Sept. 2020 or is is 2021? Thanks!

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    1. Disney told me on the phone a couple days ago that it would go through September of 2021.

  17. Thanks for the update. Been staring at the pink castle for a half-hour. Glad to hear this is “normal.”

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  18. Well, 30 min later and i finally made it past the login page and into MyDisneyExperience. But as expected, it appears Disney STILL hasnt activated the park reservation system. A company like Disney should be better at this by now. Very disappointing.

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  20. Did everyone on here get an email? I am a dvc member with a reservation for Aug (resched from May) and have the Disney Discover tickets. I didnt get an email, now I am worried I wont be able to book when I finally am able to sign in.

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    2. We have resort reservations (rented DVC points) and linked tickets for Oct, and we did not receive an email.

    4. Beginning June 22, 2020, Disney Resort and other select hotel Guests with valid theme park admission can make reservations.
      Beginning June 26, 2020, Annual Passholders without a Resort stay can make reservations.
      Beginning June 28, 2020, existing ticket holders can make reservations.

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