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!
Okay, I just chatted with a CM on-line about my December reservation. I have 8 people in 2 rooms on site all linked together in My Disney Experience. According to CM I can make park reservations at 7am EASTERN Monday the 22nd for ALL of my party. (as long as you are all linked in MDE you should be fine.) Also, you can enter and exit your reserved park as often as you like during the day. The “time” is not a thing she said it’s an ALL DAY reservation. You will not be kicked out of the park early. Also, you can arrive any time you want when the park is open. You do not have to show up right at park opening… Hope she’s right about all this. She did not know if the Skyliner or certain resorts would be open. DAS pass will work like usual. Magical Express is still going to run and Magic Bands are STILL complimentary through the end of this year. Dining reservations are open 60 days before your check in date. I asked as many questions as I could. She was very helpful and even put me on “Hold” to ask a few questions to be sure of her answers. Hopefully this helps answer some of the major questions we ALL have.
That’s extremely helpful – thanks!
Am I reading this right that there will be no way to go to Disneyland until 2021 for someone who doesn’t have an AP or a ticket already?
For people wanting to buy military discount admission tickets, I just called the ticketing office (ITT) at my base and they said they are not allowed to sell new tickets and they were not given a firm date for being able to sell new tickets. Hope this helps!
Any idea about guests staying on a DVC reservation? We booked 11 months out and they didn’t have dated tickets available (we go during “off season”) so in waited. Now I’m panicking. I’m also curious if you can come back to the park if you leave as long as it’s the same day now.
yes you can… I asked a CM about this just now. You can come and go to the park you have a reservation for as often as you want.
Any ideas on what will happen if we have an existing room reservation but no tickets or AP purchased? Any way to still get park tickets and use the new reservation system or should we plan on not even being able to access the parks?
From another site:
“Later this summer, we will resume sales of 2020 tickets and Disney Resort hotel arrivals, based on availability of park reservations, while we continue to provide guests with existing tickets and Annual Passholders the opportunity to make park reservations for 2020 dates.”
Looks like it’s a wait and see at this point.
I actually was wondering about going in and out of the parks as well! Will you still be allowed to do that or do you have to stay all
Day? We like to go back and do the pool and rest and go back at night .
just chatted with a CM on-line about this. She said you can come and go as many times as you want to the SAME park you have a reservation for all day long. I specifically was wondering bc I have a 2 year old who will need a nap most days. Hope this helps.
There’s reports floating around again (today!) that people with valid reservations at closed hotels when the parks are open, like All-Stars, are being told they have to upgrade their hotel reservation and pay the difference or cancel. How do I book airfare for a November trip if I don’t know that Disney is going to pull the rug from under me? Wish there was more insight on this.
I have the same question! I wonder where these rumors are coming from, though, bc at this point Disney isn’t allowing modifications for after July 11, so any people in that situation would not have had a chance to modify yet.
WDWNT twitter reported it and the replies under it seem to agree.
I wish we could get a clear answer on that. When I have asked via text chat, they say, “depends on your reservation. You will have an opportunity to modify closer to your reservation date”. No answer as to if I will be upcharged. Frustrating!!
I had to pay the difference, extra $175nt for cheapest upgrade option (that was increase after 35% discount from losing my free dining). Only other option was to cancel.
Evan, can you give us details? Was your stay before or after park opens? Did you call Disney, or did they reach out to you? What was your original resort? What was your new one?
It is clear from comments in previous posts they were doing this for people who were forced to reschedule for different dates (bc original reservation was in June), or for people with reservations during park close period. Trying to find out if this practice is continuing though…
Cara, mine saddled the opening dates so I got the info from several reps during multiple long convos. I was told res before park opening at closed resorts (All Star in my case) were getting moved at no additional cost but people had no say in where they moved. At that point, it was a Ft Wilderness Cabin shift. If they had lost the free dining, there was no addl compensation for that loss by accepting the move. Res after park opening (7/11 on) could be moved to option of their choice but they had to pay the difference of the rack rate. Only open resort options were deluxe so quite a jump from value. If they had lost the free dining, they could get the compensation-35% room discount off that deluxe upgrade cost, but in my value-to-cheapest-upgrade, that still came to an extra $175nt. I pushed, spoke to multiple reps, asked supervisor bc I had read others got free shift, but that was the final and consistent word for what it is worth. Only alternative for paying twice as much was to cancel. Hope someone else has better luck, but it seems that is the current plan.
I have an AP, but my family doesn’t. I don’t know how or when I could buy tickets for them for our October trip. And I might not want to, given that tickets are still not refundable, right? I’ve been leaning toward canceling, and having to buy tickets 2-3 months out just for the right to make park reservations might finally get me to hit the cancel button when we have no idea what a currently spiking Florida will look like in the fall.
What about DVC members with DVC reservations (like in August) , but who have not purchased tickets yet? The announced protocol doesn’t seem to cover that? We can’t convert our “room only reservations” to “packages”?
Ditto!
Thanks @Tom for mentioning that you think the Disney Springs Area hotels will be included in the “select others” on Monday–got me to finally link our Hilton reservation for November to my MDX! If not we are APs and will go on Friday.
I did find the MagicBands announcement to be a minor bombshell but in retrospect not too surprising…
September 2021… wow. We already had a trip cancelled ‘cos of Covid and were hoping to do a honeymoon in May 2021, so I’m hoping (and in fairness think it’s logical) that this is just Disney being very cautious and they’ll revert back to normal earlier if they can.
Hi Tom. Do you know if making dining reservations will be available on this new system on Monday as well? We are coming to Disney for Christmas and I am just wondering what I should be doing ? Thanks!
Dining is being switched to just 60 days ahead of your trip!
Hi Tom,
We have current reservations for October, but with the likelihood of a second wave, we were looking at moving up our reservation to August. Do you have any idea or conjecture if this will be possible? I’m not quite sure how to take “reservations will be available later this summer.” How late in the summer will new reservations be available? Is going in August even realistic without an existing reservation?
Thank you for everything you and Sarah do!
I have no clue whatsoever–sorry. For now, my recommendation would be simply holding onto October and waiting to see what happens next.
I have a resort reservation at Coronado Springs starting 7/19. I usually purchase tickets 60 days in advance, but did not this year because of the parks being closed. Now I have a reservation in a resort that will be closed to the public and no tickets. I am trying to find out if I will have a room to stay in, where it will be, and if I will be allowed to add tickets to my reservation, but cannot get any information. The opening of ticket sales for late summer makes me think I am out of luck. I can’t afford a more expensive room than I already booked so I can’t modify my reservation either or I will have to pay a huge difference. Feeling let down.
The way I have read it in other places, is if the hotel that you have reservations for is not opened up then they move you to an equal or greater hotel with no extra cost to you. As far as not already having purchased tickets, you might be out of luck until they open it up for new reservations. I have tickets purchased already for August so I can reserve my parks next week, but I am at All Star Resort which does not currently have an opening date. So, they either open by then or move me to a different hotel.
That was not my experience. They will move you, but you will have to pay the difference or cancel. This is what I was told and I asked them to check with multiple supervisors to make sure as it was a serious blow.
Hi Tom,
Your frequent updates are so appreciated. I have a question for you. We have a reservation for March, 2021 through a DVC rental. There was no option to purchase 2021 tickets when we made the reservation. So now we have a DVC rental at The Wilderness Lodge – Copper Creek, but not tickets. How do we make a reservation for the park?
I don’t see this as a problem. We have rack rates for next July at the Grand Floridian. We are going to call back in November or December to add the tickets.
So many questions! I think Monday morning will be another mad scramble. One thing maybe I missed is whether this will be wide open to all booked trips on Monday? So if I have two trips planned (August and November) am I able to choose for both of them? Or is this a 60 day out thing like dining?
According to the website, the reservations will only be available until September 26th. You can make reservations for August day 1. As for November, the window for hotel guests from June 22 until September 26 is 96 days and the existing ticket holders are getting 90 days. Since they didn’t announce when the next window would open or if it would be a rolling 90 days, you might not be too far off with 60 days.
I just chatted with a CM on-line about my December ressie and since I have a resort booked and tickets already I can book Monday. Hope that helps you!
@Rick, it looks like you can make park reservations through September 2021. Not just Sept 2020.
“Beginning June 22, 2020, Disney Resort and other select hotel Guests with valid theme park admission can make reservations.
Park reservations will be available through September 26, 2021, based on your Resort stay and ticket eligibility or ticket eligibility window.”
So definitely be prepared to book everything for your two trips on Monday. Good luck!
“According to the website, the reservations will only be available until September 26th.”
That’s September 26, 2021 (the same date tickets have been extended to).
I’m another person with an existing DVC reservation but no park tickets. Befuddled that Disney would prefer that I cancel my reservation rather than offer ticket sales to folks with existing resort reservations in one of the first queues. Geez.
Why didn’t you just purchase your ticket when you made your dvc reservations people who only book rooms and not packages i don’t understand the need to do that won’t you save money doing it together?
@Ch – Many people, including DVC, purchase their tickets separately, using available discounters to save a little money. Disney resort packages rarely, if ever, save money, even with “free” dining in lieu of discounts. Also, Annual Passholders book room only, and reap significant discounts that way.
Ch: As a DVC member, I make reservations with points. No package deals available. I purchase tickets as needed. This year, I did not want to plunk down the cash in advance, given the tremendous uncertainty due to COVID-19. Florida rates are increasing, and we are watching and waiting. I had planned to purchase tickets when policies and protocols were clarified. Disney appears to be scrambling… What a mess.
Thanks Tom, I heard it here first! Under Step 3, when I click on “Read More” it says:
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.
After selecting your date, park and time, you can confirm your reservation.
My question is: what is your best guess on what “Select a Time” means?
The CM I chatted with said it means nothing. The reservation is for ALL day and you can come and go as you like…I hope she’s right!
Thank you Dee!
I just got off call w/ DVC rep… they only just got the info too, but one of their FAQs was this exectly: “I have an existing reservation but have not purchased tickets, when will I be able to purchase a ticket?”
The answer was, they have passholders and people with reservations and existing tickets. If/when those folks complete their park reservations more tickets will be made available “later this summer”.
One obvious outcome is having a reservation and not being able to get a ticket and/or reservation at a park during the reservation period.
This is something we’re concerned about now. We booked trough a DVC rental site for our family to go in Early December. We have waited to get park tickets through my dad’s military discount since were not sure if we can even go in December with stay at home orders here in the north continuing. Not having Park tickets for the time we’re going would be a major disappointment and seems like something Disney could rectify easily for guests who already have Resort reservations but no tickets currently. :/ This should be interesting… we’re crossing our fingers there’s no second covid wave this fall/winter.
Is it just me, or does the cancellation of park hopping REALLY decrease the value of my AP? I feel like this is worthy of Disney addressing this. It’s a huge reason we buy AP’s…so we can park hop.
Not happy about my upcoming September trip. 🙁
It’s becoming more and more clear that they’re going to need to do something to address the justifiable discontent amongst Annual Passholders. Last time (when the parks closed), they waited until the story/complaints made waves on local media…
Right with you there, Rory. We usually go at the end of September for both Universal Haunted Halloween Nights, and Disney for Food and Wine festival. and make it a long two week stay, split between the resorts. We like to go to a park for the morning, then hop to Epcot and snack around the food booths, then hop to another park for the evening. Same with other festivals – we devote one Epcot day to rides, and festival-centered events, but hop in and out to get the food, as it is impossible to sample everything in a day! It’s also advantageous to use Fast Passes at one park, then take in the night time fireworks or shows at another, with a break in between.
That said, DO let Disney know your feelings about this. Go to the Contact Us page and select Email. I assure you, they most definitely do read the emails they get. I wrote with what I consider an minor grump, along with several praises and cast compliments, and I return I got a phone call from a guest relations rep. We chatted for almost an hour, going over all the items I wrote about. We also got a bit of pixie dust for our next trip – some extra Fast Passes. They are probably overwhelmed with guest emails and chats right now, so I don’t think they are taking this kind of time to respond, but they are indeed reading what we send them.