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!
Tom, after a 2 1/2 hour wait online the reservation system finally allowed me access and I was able to secure park passes for my whole family for my trip in August. It was very simple and straight forward to reserve. Thank you for all your helpful insight on all your blogs!
We logged on at about 7:30 and moved past the castle about 9:10. Our orbit count-down was at 10 minutes and when it reached 0:00, we moved straight to the reservation page. We were able to make Aug 3-9 reservations without difficulty from that point.
Steve, does it indicate a max number of people in a park for a day? Also, I noticed it mentioned selecting a “time”? What exactly did you select? A park and the date? Did you happen to notice if Typhoon Lagoon is available?
We had 5 in our party, and I do not know if there was a maximum upper limit when “adding a guest” on the first page. I was presented with a calendar and once I clicked a date, the 4 main theme parks appeared as a rectangular images below a calendar. No mention of Typhoon Lagoon. Once I clicked one of the parks, I was presented with a single time “option”, which was the full 10-hour operating window of that particular park.
10:15. Finally in and made reservations. Now to try to get in touch with someone to deal with the fact I have park hopper tickets.
Finally got in on the reservation system and every day at every park shows as unavailable. I think the system still has a few bugs.
Has anyone experienced this? I’m a platinum plus passholder and have a 7 day DVC resort reservation that is all linked to my account, but I’m still being restricted to 3 park passes. I thought that if you had a resort reservation you’d have access to park passes for the entirety of your trip!
Does anyone elses “orbit time” keep resetting to 15 mins?
Becca, I was capped as well.
I am an annual pass-holder with two reservations. I was only allowed to make five (5) reservations even though I have a resort stay for seven nights.
2 hours trying to get on the reservation system. Looking at a launch page that says “we’re almost in orbit”.
“We’re Almost in Orbit
We need a moment to complete your request. Don’t refresh the page or select the back button!
Approximate Wait Time (min:sec)
14:30”
The countdown timer resets to 15:00 when it gets to 14:30 to keep approx wait time at 15 minutes… I guess it’s just buying time.
I’ve been logged on since opening and my castle just changed to say “you are in a waiting room” I fell asleep waiting.
I’ve been logged in since before 6am. I hope it added me as a 6am log in person and not a five minutes ago…unless it just started working 5 minutes ago.
Has anyone gotten in, yet?
Three hours waiting. Countdown clock just went under 6 minutes.
Countdown clock got to 5 minutes and went back to “we’re almost in orbit” and no countdown time. This is so frustrating!!
Just spoke to a cast member after a long wait… and was told that they were supposed to go live at 7 am but did not happen (now 8:30 a.m.). He could not give me a time to expect go-live, but just could suggest I keep checking online.
We got in to a “q” with a countdown to orbit and then it went blank when the countdown ended
Stated phone wait time is now over two hours…
Meanwhile, the Pink castle online wait webpage now has the updated verbiage: “Just a Moment…
Thank you for your continued patience. Hang in there as you are making progress.
We have a lot of Guests accessing the system so you are now in a waiting room.
Please wait while we complete your request. Don’t refresh the page or select back button.”
Was able to finally log in but when checking availability for theme parks I now see the Orbit wait page says “We’re Almost in Orbit
Thank you for your continued patience. Hang in there as you are making progress.
We have a lot of Guests accessing the system so you are now in a waiting room. Please wait while we complete your request. Don’t refresh the page or select back button.”
No more timer..
Have been trying for over an hour, keep getting the castle page and waiting and waiting and waiting. Our stay is July 15 – 24! These folks in August and October… I hope they aren’t calling when those of us opening the parks can’t even get in.
My trip starts on 7/12. Still looking at the pink castle. Maybe Disney should have had a phased in ticket reservation based on when your trip is scheduled.
I hope you got in, Michelle. I had reservations for August and I logged on right at 7 am because I was “competing” for my dates like everyone else. I agree that everyone getting on at once jammed the system but Disney didn’t give us a choice! They should’ve known this would happen and only rolled out reservations for a month per day – starting with yesterday for July reservations only, then today for August, etc. Come on, Disney! Couldn’t ANYONE at IT figure this out?
7:10 and still loading — check back soon for updates.
Now a screen offering FastPass+ is showing up.
I haven’t gotten in at all!
Phone system has crashed, too!
Now the new castle page saying not to refresh or hit back button. Cross fingers.
Has anybody been able to get in?
(I meant that at 7:10 when you went to the Park Reservation System page, it said “Check back soon for updates” same screen that has been there the past week.)
Just got past the castle and it loaded the page 7:27 —
Before you visit a park, you must make a reservation using this convenient online tool–coming soon. Check this page often for up-to-date details.
I can’t get in either , no open phone lines as well . We arrive July 13. This is insane
I am not sure we are going to get into the system for awhile. I tried last night and same page came up fo an hour. Who knows maybe this is our line up like voice mail without the music…lol…sadly, it is frustrating.
You can get in, and get to the My Plans page, but when you try to click on Park Reservation link it signs you out (and brings you to the page where it says check back soon). We have 7/11-7/16 res. Don’t have a choice but to join this awful, awful dance. Third rebooking of this trip.
The things we do for kids, man.
got through on phone- on hold though….
on hold on phone now… 7:11
I may have missed it, but I’ve yet to see a list of non-DVC resorts that will be open or closed during the early reopening period. We have a stay booked at Caribbean Beach from July 18-23 and are planning on going. Any information about the reopening of Caribbean Beach or other non-DVC resorts?
Carribean beach is not opening until July 29, it’s on Disney’s site and here somewhere too. We are booked there July 13-16
We booked a trip for November but have not bought passes into the park yet. Will we not be able to buy passes to enter the park for the rest of the year? Should we postpone our trip until 2021? We don’t care about wearing masks or anything else, i just want to know if we will be able to buy tickets for November.
We have the same issue for early december. We’ve only seen or heard that we will be able to buy tickets “later”. We have an added bonus of some of our group staying off site so I’m not sure how that works with “hotel reservations only” being able to book park days AND being from a state that has a mandatory 14-day quarantine once arriving in Florida. I don’t want to waste EVEN more money by booking flights and tickets (if possible) that we wont be able to use.
Hi. Have tickets for cirque soliel show sept 3.. bought tickets in the disney site,
Haven’t heard if it is a go?. Do you know? Bev
Question – when reserving parks – do you go with the hours posted now (which are only until Nov 1)? Or go by what the hours used to be …? I have a reservation in December and just don’t know how I should reserve! I have old calendars with the days for EMH and events and hope they are running somewhat like that again. Thoughts?
Does anyone know for certain whether Dolphin & Swan count as an “other select partner hotel”? We have reservations at the Swan and also park tickets but have not gotten the email yet about selecting park passes. Thank you!
Am I missing a time for when we make reservations? I’ve heard 7am ET but can’t find official info. Thanks!
I’m canceling this October’s trip. I plan to book for next year when it opens up for reservations. I have one question: when I make my reservations for next year do I also have to make my reservations for each day at the park s that I want to attend on certain days?
If this has been covered elsewhere, please let me know. Just heard that magic bands in 2021 will no longer be complimentary for resort guests and you can either purchase one at a discounted rate or use the MDE app instead. I have 4 questions, 1) Why? 2) Is it just a money grab? 3) Can you still use older bands and if so, how old? 4) Why are they also using Key to the World cards? TIA
Because of costs and everyone has a cell phone now days so they are going to use cellphones instead of magic bands. Plus most people already own at least 1 magic band so there is no longer a need to provide them.
We currently have 8 day park hopper tickets for August. Will we get a refund for the difference between that and single park ticket?
If we have to pick both a date and time to enter one of the parks, does that mean we can’t leave and come back later?
Your reservation is good all day. Which means you can come whenever you want and come and go. The “time” of your reservation is more for Disney to plan staffing than a commitment on your behalf.
I have heard that the time doesn’t matter, you can go in no matter what on that day. I’ve also heard that you can leave and come back as long as you have a reservation that day.
I think the current time slots are going to be for when park hopping starts up again
@Paul, not sure but I think it’s to keep staggering entry so they can keep the lines distanced. Our zoo in our capitol city where I live is taking reservation times to enter. Once in, they can stay as long as they want and capacity is limited to 3,000 on 65 acres. Hopefully this helps. I know sometimes businesses copy common practices from one another, or in this case, I guess it maybe the new common uncommon practice.
I haven’t gotten any information from WDW concerning our Yacht Club Resort reservation and Park Hopper tickets for 8/22 thru 8/29. Were we supposed to have been contacted?
Disney is working at reservation from earliest to latest. To my knowledge they are up check ins that arrive on or before July 11. Assuredly, they will get to you in time.
Likely you will be moved as the NBA will be at yacht club. Time if the unknown variable. It is conceivable that things may quickly scale up. We shall see
Losing the Park Hopper ability, despite the mitigation of having shorter hours and no Extra Magic Hours, almost seems like another step intended to drive down crowd size and deter people from going. It has been a rare trip to WDW where we’ve spent the entire day in just one park. Hollywood Studios never took a full day (admittedly, haven’t been there since Toy Storyland and Galaxy’s Edge have opened, and Animal Kingdom was pretty much done before regular closing as well, This gets even truer after you’ve done all the attractions (or all the attractions you want to see), and you’re going back for seconds. I also don’t see anything about how this will impact the water parks, presuming they open. I mean we’ve done rope drop (or even have earlier breakfast reservations), spend the morning in that park, go to a water park in the afternoon, go to a different park in the evening…and sometimes even go to a 3rd park for Extra Magic Hours (as I said, with limited hours and no EMH, that takes options off the table, but we still like the flexibility of seeing the parks on our terms).
And, of course, no clue when these restrictions will start to be phased out.
I understand your disappointment. The best thing about park hopping (in our family’s humble opinion) is ending our day at Epcot. Especially when the festivals are on. With that logic, we’re always at yacht, beach, or boardwalk. Hence, we’re disappoint …. however, I’m determined to be optimistic, so here’s the upside: No park hopping means that Epcot’s festival won’t be overcrowded at night. No long lines. No shoulder to shoulder crowds. That’s something to look forward to!
Going to Epcot for food was always our thing. I really interested to see how much we save in dining because the Deluxe dining for my daughter and I plus tips for a week was always $2,000. I’ll probably wind up spending 35% of that this time.
Even though we have been APHs for nearly six years, we are most likely to cancel our three Platinum Plus APs. Too many restrictions. And I get it why some of it will be in place. But with no real compensation like what is going on in Shanghai, or even reduced costs to the APs, I can’t see going forward. But my concern is just how long this will last. We love WDW and Disney.
We could deal with some things, even though I’m not sure if they make sense, but the lack of communication and no real compensation for Disney’s inability to meet more of the terms of the AP contract we have with them, is very disappointing.