Park Pass Reservations Introduced for Disney World Access!
Walt Disney World has introduced the “Disney Park Pass” system, which will be the method of booking Advance Theme Park Reservations. In this post, we’ll cover what you need to know for reserving access, reservation windows, and how to make online plans to enter Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios.
The release of Disney Park Pass to make advance theme park reservations should come as a huge relief for anyone who is a Walt Disney World planner. There have been a lot of complaints about Walt Disney World’s lack of communications since the Know Before You Go Resort & Restaurant Info pages nearly two weeks ago.
With Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Animal Kingdom reopening on July 11, and Epcot plus Disney’s Hollywood Studios resuming operations on July 15, 2020, the new Disney Park Pass system is coming less than a month in advance. For many tourists preparing for their summer vacations, this is significantly shorter notice from Walt Disney World than normal…
New vacation package and ticket sales are still on hold (and still no update since Walt Disney World Cancelled All Reservations—Free Dining, Restaurants, FastPass+ & Dining Plan). It’s likely that Disney IT is still scrambling behind the scenes to make this all work, but at least we now have some clarity.
Here’s what we know about Disney Park Pass, which will be rolling out for advance theme park entry reservations…
During the reopening period, Walt Disney World will be using the Park Pass system to manage and limit attendance, all guests with a ticket or Annual Pass will be required to make a reservation in advance for each park entry, using the New Park Reservations Tool on DisneyWorld.com (this is the important link for booking Disney Park Pass).
Here are a few important details to know about this new system:
- You’ll need a My Disney Experience account, as this is where your Walt Disney World Resort plans are stored and managed.
- You’ll also need a valid theme park ticket or Annual Pass that’s linked to your My Disney Experience account.
- If you have a Disney Resort hotel reservation, be sure to link it to your My Disney Experience account beforehand, as well.
Once you’ve logged into your My Disney Experience account and linked your ticket, you’ll have access to a calendar of available reservation dates for each theme park.
If you have a multi-day ticket, you will be required to make a park reservation for each date of your visit. Families and friends can link their tickets together and look to arrange theme park entries at the same time.
Booking Dates for Park Reservations
The Disney Park Pass system will be available soon to select guests. Booking dates vary based on your plans, with each opening at 7 am Eastern on their respective dates.
- Beginning June 22, 2020, Walt Disney World resort hotel and other select partner 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.
Park reservations will be available through September 26, 2021, based on your Walt Disney World resort hotel stay and ticket eligibility or ticket eligibility window.
As for which hotels will qualify as “partner” resorts, our guess is the list will be the same as Extra Magic Hours or expanded FastPass+ access: Disney Springs Resort Area Hotels, Bonnet Creek Resorts, Swan & Dolphin, and Shades of Green Resort. (We might be missing one or two–you get the idea.)
If you have a room-only reservation at a Disney Resort or other select hotel for a stay in 2021, please call the Walt Disney World Reservation Center or call your travel agent beginning on June 24 to upgrade to a vacation package with tickets–and then make your theme park reservations.
Park reservations are limited in number and subject to availability. Availability can change until the reservation is finalized. At this time, guests will be able to select one park per day; Park Hopping (visiting more than one park per day) will be temporarily unavailable upon the reopening of Walt Disney World’s theme parks due to attendance limitations.
Guests with existing tickets that include the Park Hopper Option or Park Hopper Plus Option have options available to them for ticket modifications and cancellations, and can visit DisneyWorld.com/Updates for more information. Walt Disney World hopes to bring back the ability to visit more than one park per day soon and will continue to offer these add-ons for 2021 ticket purchases.
For Existing Ticket Holders and Annual Passholders: Beginning this week, Walt Disney World will reach out to existing ticket holders and Annual Passholders with more information on when they will be able to check availability to make their park reservations. Disney will open the Disney Park Pass system to these guests in phases, beginning with those with future Disney Resort and other select hotel stays.
Later this summer, Walt Disney World will resume sales of 2020 tickets and Disney Resort hotel arrivals, based on availability of park reservations, while continuing to provide guests with existing tickets and Annual Passholders the opportunity to make park reservations for 2020 dates.
Planning a New Trip for Next Year: By June 28, all guests will be able to purchase new Disney Resort hotel packages and theme park tickets and make their park reservations for arrivals starting in 2021 as Walt Disney World’s phased reopening continues.
Guests will be able to view park reservation availability on DisneyWorld.com prior to purchasing their tickets.
In 2021, Walt Disney World will unveil an innovative new offering as part of the My Disney Experience app that will bring features of a MagicBand to your smart devices, building on the app’s existing digital key feature.
With this new offering on the horizon, Walt Disney World will be retiring complimentary MagicBand distribution to Disney Resort hotel guests for new reservations with arrivals beginning January 1, 2021. (MagicBands will still be available to purchase at a discount, via the MagicBand Upgrade Program.) This seems like a minor bombshell buried in the announcement.
Finally, for some predictions about Disney Park Pass. By and large, we do not anticipate organic demand for park entry reservations exceeding supply. Even with a fraction of the normal park capacity, we’d be shocked if Walt Disney World is running out of registration availability on a regular basis.
As we recently discussed in greater depth here, this feels eerily similar to the debut of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Many fans really freaked out, worried that they’d need to arrive at the park hours before park opening just for a chance to enter the new land. Some vowed to avoid Disney’s Hollywood Studios entirely during their trips.
Then Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opened at Walt Disney World, and the virtual queue for land entry was only used for a grand total of like 2 hours ever. The mechanics behind this system (registering in advance v. day-of) are different, but the idea is the same.
As for why we expect this to be a repeat of the opening months of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, look no further than the chorus of cancellation comments, and then consider the current state of the economy, unemployment, travel restrictions, temporary health rules, and more—all of which will further depress demand.
While there’s a lot of interest in Walt Disney World among diehard fans, the vast majority of the general public is not interested in traveling from out of state to visit a theme park right now. (In any case, people cannot even book new trips right now.)
Locals are a different story. The first couple weeks the parks reopen will likely see a modest amount of pent-up demand, which will outweigh any ‘early-bird’ advantage it offers. If any dates do ‘sell out’ of advance theme park reservations, it’ll likely be opening days for each of the parks, as there’s a strong desire among bloggers, vloggers, and just Disney-obsessed locals to be first.
If recent precedent at Disney Springs, Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure, and SeaWorld Orlando is any indication, the first day each of the Walt Disney World theme parks will be far busier than the second day. Following that, weekdays will see relatively low crowds with spikes on weekends. Resort guests will change the equation slightly, but at this point, Walt Disney World will have a fraction of its normal hotels operating, so that shouldn’t make a huge difference.
It also wouldn’t be surprising if Disney’s online system crashes on June 22, 26, and 28. While Disney has gotten better about virtual queues with its online systems, they still have “hiccups” from time to time…
In general, our expectation is that demand will usually be well below even reduced capacity throughout the rest of the year. If you’re thinking about a Walt Disney World trip, we’d recommend taking a wait and see approach to judge how things go with the July and August guinea pigs, making tentative plans for the end of September or beginning of October.
We’ve long recommended visiting in the last week of September, which is one of our three favorite weeks of the year. This year, October should be better than normal crowd-wise, as conventions, events, and school breaks that pumped up attendance in recent years might be cancelled. (We’d still avoid the week of October 12, 2020.) October also has better weather, making masks more tolerable–and the chances of hurricanes are lower than September.
If you’re looking for more specific predictions and recommendations with regard to crowds, see our Dawn of a Temporary Disney Era – Crowds & Discounts post for specific recommendations about when to visit and when to avoid. Our How Bad Will Crowds Be at Walt Disney World After Reopening? post from a few months covers why we think crowds will naturally be low for the remainder of the year.
Beyond all of that, Walt Disney World not even selling tickets and new hotel reservations again until a nebulous time “later this summer” suggests that they’re focusing on locals, Annual Passholders, and Disney Vacation Club for the remainder of the year. Even once people can book new vacations, it’s unlikely that many will be doing so for the fall or holiday season, as there’s typically a 5-6 month lag between booking a trip and actually traveling.
Ultimately, it’s just nice to finally have some clarity on how the Disney Park Pass will work to make advance theme park reservations. We know many of you have been (understandably) stressed out about this, and while it doesn’t provide every single answer or complete certainty, it’s a huge step in the right direction.
Hopefully next week everyone is able to get the theme park reservations they’re after, and with that out of the way, we have even more certainty about how Walt Disney World will operate for the next several months in this era of temporary abnormal. We’ll keep you posted on new developments, and update this post accordingly if/when we learn more.
If you have questions about the closure, including policy changes and what we know thus far, please consult our Walt Disney World Reopening FAQ & Info, which should answer most inquiries. See our other WDW Closure & Reopening Updates for the latest news. If you’re planning a Walt Disney World trip, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know.
YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you received an email from Walt Disney World about the Disney Park Pass system for making advance theme park reservations? Worried about availability for your travel dates? Do you have plans to visit Walt Disney World this summer or fall, or will you hold off until 2021 or beyond? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Other thoughts or concerns? 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!
Still wondering about whether they’ll start up monthly payments again soon for those with APs on the monthly payment plan “because the parks are open” or if they’ll just let the rest of the annual pass agreement die a quiet death. So many people with AP agreements have lost jobs and so many are at risk in visiting the parks due to health issues and/or age. Even if one discounts those reasons as invalid for “breaking a contract,” no one should forced to pay for a product that they do not wish to “consume” because it bears little resemblance to what they signed up for. Hoping Disney does the right thing.
Our APs were officially extended by Disney with a new date listed on our my Disney app. It only covers the time closed. This is a little disappointing as we bought a pass with 365 day access but we do understand all the issues associated with making Park reservations now. Although we could have saved a lot of money by buying the Disneyland reservation pass that was sold prior to this Covid mess!
Any more information on soft openings for DVC/annual passholders? I have reservations for end of next week and at this point have 0 confidence they will be doing soft openings by then.
Same boat here only a bit closer. July 5th. Hmm
Tom, thank you for all the updated information! It’s so helpful! I really appreciate it and look forward to receiving your email updates.
For clarification, I have a trip planned at a resort in Oct. Does that mean I can book through this new service on Monday the 22nd?
Any thoughts on being reimbursed for park hopper? We have a trip planned August 2 for 5 days. We purchased park hopper passes to park hop. If they cannot honor them then we should be refunded.
Just chatted with a CM. Asked about what happens with Park Hopper tickets. The answer was they have no information as to what happens with the difference in price for park tickets. A bit frustrating. My trip starts July 12th!
I plan on calling Monday after I try and get park reservations. We have resort reservations and tickets starting August 8th. Online it said to call about this beginning June 22. I’m hoping to modify the type of ticket we have and get a refund for the park hopper portion.
Online:
At this time, Guests will only be able to visit one park per day. If you have a ticket that includes the Park Hopper Option or Park Hopper Plus Option, we have several options available to you:
Ticket Modification: Resort Packages with tickets may be modified or cancelled. To discuss your options, please call the Disney Reservation Center at (407) W-DISNEY or (407) 934-7639 beginning June 22, or contact your travel professional.
Any idea about adding someone to a resort reservation that has been made with a cast member discount? They have an ap.
Also, adding a cast member to some current reservations? I haven’t done it yet, as I thought there was no rush and then it was all locked up! We have a triple stay beginning August 27th.
AND…….. I will need to make park reservations for a November 12th reservation but my travel friend has not purchased tickets yet, but is on the reservation.
This is not inspiring confidence when it comes to renewing my FRAP.
And what’s the deal for the park time? Is that just to prevent huge crowds at bag check?
So am I understanding correctly that even if my resort reservation is Oct. 8th-11th I can begin making reservations for my multi-day tickets on June 28th?
Following
Following
June 22 for Disney resort guests and ticket holders is how I read it. I’m guessing/hoping we’ll get an email though.
according to the CM I chatted with (and I have a resort and tickets already for December) you can reserve your park days on Monday at 7 am Eastern if you have a resort booked and tickets linked. Hope that help!
“Families and friends can… arrange theme park entries at the same time.” What does this statement mean? Will people be assigned different times of day they are allowed to enter a Park? Or does the statement just mean that family and friend groups will be allowed to enter a Park together on the same day (not the same “time” of day)?
My reading is that it’ll work the same way as FastPass+ bookings (previously worked) for family & friends in MDX.
It means if you have 15 family and friends going, you can link all their tickets to you, and you can do the reservation for them all. Thus guaranteeing that all 15 of you will be in the same park each day.
Have they indicated (maybe I just missed it) how far in advance you will be able to make the park reservations going forward?
I imagine for many people that might fly in this would be a deciding factor. That is, if you don’t have a park park day then it probably would not be worth the trip….
They have not, but the initial batch of reservations can be made through September 26, 2021.
EDIT: Originally did not notice that date is September 26, *2021* when predicting a 60 day booking window. Hopefully the system will be out of use by October 2021…so my new answer is “all at once.”
Thank you!!!
September 26, 2021 is next year, not a 60 day booking window! Does this mean anyone with a resort stay between now and September 2021 can begin making Park Pass reservations on June 22?!
@Mattie, Anyone with tickets AND a resort reservation CAN make reservations starting Monday at 7am Eastern. 🙂 We have December reservations/tickets and I’m good to go!
Just wondering if you have a park reservation, can you leave the park and reenter later in the day?
yep
I have date specific tickets. The tickets naturally are for dates when I’m on vacation. Of course, I also have travel and room reservations for those dates.
Maybe it’s just me, but Disney telling me I can’t use my tickets on those dates but I have all thru next September whenever I just happen to be in Florida is not going to be acceptable.
I have tickets for when I have plans. Disney is unilaterally changing our agreement. They need to offer refunds if they can’t uphold their end of the bargain.
The ‘nonrefundable’ excuse doesn’t hold water when they are not honoring my date specific tickets.
They will cancel and refund if you escalate things. Many people have already done this.
Virgil, we got a refund for our tickets for our May trip that had to be cancelled. It took a month and my travel agent calling twice for the credit to show up on my CC.
We are booked for February 2021 in total 13 of usdo you think we will be able to get in ??
Thank you
Thanks Tom, really great how you are so up to date with Disney News. Any idea as yet as to what time of day the park reservation system will become live on 22nd June?
Thanks for this update. Any insight on what the “select a time” requirement is? From the reservation website:
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.
After selecting your date, park and time, you can confirm your reservation.
My guess is that it’s choosing your arrival time, and is for Disney’s benefit–not something to which they’ll hold you. (Just like resort arrival times when doing online check-in.) That’s totally a guess, though.
We have 3 day park hopper tickets included in a resort hotel package. I’m worried that if I call Disney to change these tickets to one park per day tickets that it won’t show up in my plans in time to make the reservations on Monday. Would you suggest waiting to make that change? Our reservations are for late August.
I’m wondering the about park hopper stuff too. I need to change mine, but don’t see the option mentioned yet. Assuming that may be possible on the 22nd. Our trip starts Sept 1st. Still not sure if we will go or not, but want to see how all this goes. ..
I have 5 day park hopper with a resort hotel package. I plan on calling Monday after I try and get park reservations. Online it said to call about this beginning June 22. I’m hoping to modify the type of ticket we have and get a refund for the park hopper portion.
Online:
At this time, Guests will only be able to visit one park per day. If you have a ticket that includes the Park Hopper Option or Park Hopper Plus Option, we have several options available to you:
Ticket Modification: Resort Packages with tickets may be modified or cancelled. To discuss your options, please call the Disney Reservation Center at (407) W-DISNEY or (407) 934-7639 beginning June 22, or contact your travel professional.
Hi! I’ve been watching this blog avidly as I try to figure out my plans. We (two adults) are currently waiting on confirmation from DVC Point Store for a reservation at Bay Lake Tower for August 31st through September 4th (with hopes of going to 1 park a day on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday). However, we do not have park tickets. This is our honeymoon, as we had to cancel our original spring wedding and honeymoon to Italy. Is there hope that they will open ticket sales for summer 2020 in time for us to obtain park tickets/park reservations? I was hoping the fact that they are weekdays after many schools resume would help our cause…
I cannot find any details on what time park reservations can be made on your date-window. 7am Florida time? Can anyone help answer please.
@Erin, CM said yes 7am Eastern on Monday is when bookings go live. 🙂
Just to clarify, will all magic bands need to be purchased for Disney resort guests starting in 2021? No more complimentary magic bands?!
You will use your smart phone for everything your magic band does. So no need for a magic band at all.
The article says your phone will act as a magic band but you can purchase a magic band for a discounted rate. So no need for them to provide them any more as they will not be needed as most people have phones.
That’s what the announcement sounded like to me. You can get a complimentary Key To The World card, or use your smartphone. Remember, Disney has been losing money, I’m sure they will need to trim as much as possible to try to maintain a minimum service level, and MBs are one of those things that likely most people either a) already own one and brought it back with them or b) would want a prettier design than was offered, and were going to buy one anyway. This way, Disney can go back to the much cheaper KTTW cards, and probably 90% of guests won’t really mind. I think it’s a decent strategy for now, even though it’s sad for fans.
Tom,
Do you think they will roll out the preview reservations (CMs/DVC/AP) soon through this same system?
Lori
Obviously hasn’t been announced yet, but do you have any RunDisney predictions?
If there will be no Magic Bands as of January how is Disney planning on handling children whose parents don’t give them smart phones? Besides park entry the GPS feature is a helpful method of finding a lost child.
Thanks Tom for this update! So exciting! I’m wondering if we have a family of 8 with 2 rooms booked and linked in my Disney experience will I be able to make park reservations for all 8 if us? Also any idea if you lose your park reservation if you have a resort booked but it ends up not opening and you decide to stay off site? Thanks!!!