When Will Disney World Park Reservations End?
“When will Walt Disney World stop requiring theme park reservations?” for Annual Passholders and regular guests is a common question among guests frustrated about the extra step to visit Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, EPCOT, and Animal Kingdom. This post discusses the end of reservations, reasons for restrictions, and crowd control goals. (Updated January 9, 2024.)
Let’s start with the very good news, which is that the vast majority of regular guests no longer need theme park reservations when visiting Walt Disney World. Starting with visits on January 9, 2024, theme park reservations are no longer be required for date-based tickets. A date-based ticket requires you to choose a start date when you purchase. For other admission types, theme park reservations may be required.
If you’re a regular tourist who isn’t an Annual Passholder, there’s about a 98% chance you will not need park reservations for Walt Disney World anymore. Pretty much all vacation packages booked through DisneyWorld.com or travel agents include date-based tickets, with the only notable exclusions being student groups, tour groups, convention guests, youth sport event guests, military tickets, and (again) Annual Passes. The rest of this post is irrelevant to you–stop reading, because the answer for you to the titular question is RIGHT NOW.
If you’re not an Annual Passholder or part of one of those excluded groups, you also may want to stop reading, because you may not like what we have to say about the future of the Disney Park Pass theme park reservation system for booking entry to Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom.
As you’re no doubt aware, this system was originally introduced due to the parks operating at significantly reduced capacity when the parks reopened. At that time, attendance was capped at ~20% of normal levels, a number that gradually increased to 35% the following spring.
Health safety protocol are now gone entirely and have been for a while, staffing shortages are mostly a thing of the past, and many Annual Passholders and other ticket types are wondering when the reservation system will also be retired for them. That’s what this post addresses…
When it comes to the U.S. Military Salute and other aforementioned regular ticket types (youth teams doing events at ESPN Wide World of Sports, Disney Meetings & Events, tour groups, and other bulk tickets), our expectation is that theme park reservations will stick around for the remainder of 2024.
That’s partly a matter of Walt Disney World signaling as much with the current reservations calendar running through January 18, 2025. It’s also partly a matter of assessing crowd dynamics and demand absent the Park Pass system for all other regular ticket types. Once park management knows it’s not going to be a problem to drop reservations for the rest of these groups, they’ll do so.
There’s actually an incentive for them to do so, as the Disney Park Pass infrastructure for regular ticket types differs slightly from the system for Annual Passholders. So keeping it around incurs maintenance and support costs, and ends up being a hassle that takes time for Cast Members when there are inevitably issues. If there’s no need for these groups to have reservations, keeping the system around is counterproductive. It could certainly happen before that January 18, 2025 date–but we’ve seen how cautious and slow Walt Disney World has been in undoing post reopening changes.
As for Annual Passholders, let’s start with the good news, which is that Walt Disney World is introducing “good-to-go days” for Annual Passholders and Cast Members. On these “good-to-go days,” Annual Passholders and Cast Members may visit theme parks without needing a park reservation.
The theme park reservation calendar, Annual Passholder admissions calendar and My Disney Experience app will show days that are good-to-go. The first good-to-go days will be added to the calendars starting January 11, 2024. Good-to-go days will take the place of bonus reservations, and like bonus reservations, they will be added periodically and may be released days or weeks in advance.
If an Annual Passholder has an upcoming theme park reservation that becomes a good-to-go day, the reservation will be removed and no longer count against their maximum reservation hold, but they will still be able to view their previous reservation in the My Plans section in My Disney Experience.
Our expectation is that a majority of dates in 2024 end up being good-to-go at Walt Disney World. In all likelihood, Walt Disney World will start slowly and scale up, adding a handful of winter off-season dates on January 11, 2024 and seeing how that goes. If the parks are not inundated and overwhelmed by reservationless APs (and they won’t be), they will add more and more good-to-go dates to the calendar.
We’d be willing to bet that by the time late April 2024 rolls around, at least half the dates in early summer will be good-to-go for Annual Passholders. It wouldn’t be the least bit surprising if every single day is good-to-go for Animal Kingdom and EPCOT, and reservations are only necessary for Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. By late summer/early fall, it wouldn’t be surprising if between 75% and all dates are good-to-go for all parks.
During the second half of the year, it’ll probably be easier to list the dates that are not good-to-go rather than the ones that are. For that, our preliminary prediction would be that reservations will be required for only (roughly) the ‘worst’ dates in our list of the 10 Best and 10 Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2024 & 2025.
In addition to this, Annual Passholders are able to enter the theme parks after 2 p.m. without needing to make a reservation, regardless of whether or not it’s a good-to-go day. The exceptions to that is Magic Kingdom on weekends, but it’s still a pretty big deal–especially for APs who previously enjoyed being able to do a spontaneous afternoon or evening visit after work. Suffice to say, a lot of the normal use cases for local Walt Disney World Annual Passholders will not require reservations in 2024.
Finally, there have been a lot of questions about Annual Passholders with resort reservations, which should be their own distinct category that has been favored up until now. Thus far in January 2024, there have been no changes for this group. Our guess is that this is an oversight–that APs with on-site resort reservations have been lost in the shuffle, for lack of a better term.
It’s also possible that there are backend IT limitations preventing Disney from dropping reservations for this group without doing manual overrides, since (as noted above) the systems are slightly different. We would like to think that Walt Disney World will quickly address this, and on-site resort guests who are also Annual Passholders won’t need theme park reservations in the very near future.
Honestly, though, we have no clue. It’s possible this would necessitate too much additional work for Disney IT or the good-to-go days plus extra reservations allotted to on-site Annual Passholders is deemed sufficient at addressing this. And for practical purposes, it probably is. This is one scenario where we wouldn’t be surprised if park reservations are dropped for on-site APs next week or never. Obviously two extremes, both of which are plausible from our perspective. Not very helpful, we know. Sorry.
As a general matter, theme park reservations are likely here to stay for Cast Members and Annual Passholders in some form or fashion. For what it’s worth, this has been our prediction since the system was implemented in 2020–that it would eventually be retired for tourists but stick around to some degree for CMs and APs. As it turns out, we were correct.
So our prediction now is that Cast Members and Annual Passholders will still be making theme park reservations in 2025 and probably 2026. Our past predictions weren’t exactly bold and neither is our current one. The basis for this is simple, and predates the 2020 closure.
Back in 2019, current Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro was the head of Disneyland when the Flex Pass–an Annual Pass with some dates that required reservations–debuted there; D’Amaro was reportedly an advocate for the reservation system for Cast Members. The 2024 system of a blockout calendar paired with good-to-go dates is literally identical to the Flex Pass (right down to the “good-to-go” term!). Suffice to say, this is something that had been in the works at Disney for a while.
Given the introduction of the Flex Pass at Disneyland, overall increases in attendance in early 2020, and population explosion in Central Florida, theme park reservations were an inevitability for Walt Disney World APs and CMs. Even if the closure and everything else never happened, it’s highly likely that Cast Members and at least some tiers of Annual Passes would be required to make park reservations in 2024. It might not look like the current system, but it wouldn’t be like 2019, either.
Retaining reservations for APs and CMs gives Disney control over the attendance mix, and allows the company to prioritize tourists who spend more per visit on average. Although Disney wants Annual Passholders and Cast Members to visit–and spend money–when there’s excess capacity, the circumstances are different when the parks are busier.
Even if there is a more pronounced winter off-season slowdown, the economy enters a recession, or pent-up demand exhausts itself, it’s still likely that the peak weeks around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve will continue to be very busy. It thus makes sense that Walt Disney World would want to prioritize resort guests and other tourists and not fill the parks with Annual Passholders at the expense of more lucrative vacationers during busier dates.
Hence the compromise of no reservations on slower days or after 2 pm most days for APs (and still subject to blockouts–which includes much of the holiday season for all tiers but the Incredi-Pass). That’s also why we do not expect park reservations to be retired for Annual Passes in 2025 and probably not 2026.
What’s more likely than reservations being totally retired for all Annual Passholders is the introduction of a new top-tier of Annual Pass that doesn’t require reservations and has no blockout dates. The kind of AP that, if you’re wondering how much it would cost, is too expensive for you.
As for the why of this, leadership has been pretty clear. During several interviews about the future of the theme parks over the course of the last two years, Josh D’Amaro has shared a similar perspective, indicating that Walt Disney World is “choreographing” the guest experience, pushing technology in a way that Disney has wanted to for a long time. He has pointed to the Disney Park Pass reservation system, as well as Mobile Order, contactless payment, and various virtual queues.
D’Amaro has noted that these technologies are leading to better Cast Member and guest experiences, and has said that many are probably here to stay. In past interviews, D’Amaro has not said with any specificity which components will stick around. His comments have been more to tout Walt Disney World’s use of technology, and indicate they’ll continue to do so going forward. Which should be obvious.
Disney’s desire to better leverage technology should not come as a surprise. The multi-billion dollar NextGen initiative—including My Disney Experience, FastPass+, MagicBands, and interactive queues—was envisioned as a way for Walt Disney World to operate more efficiently. There were grandiose plans for how the project would offer Disney the data necessary to streamline operations, deploy on-demand entertainment, manage staffing, and effectively utilize other resources.
Aside from the guest-facing components like FastPass+ and MagicBands, almost none of the big goals that justified the colossal investment were realized. In large part, this is why My Disney Experience wasn’t ported to other parks around the globe; instead those parks cherry-picked various aspects of the system to build their own, stripped-down incarnations. (See “The Messy Business of Reinventing Happiness” and “Behind the Scenes at Disney As it Purged a Favorite Son” if you’re interested in more on the trials and tribulations of NextGen.)
The lesson to be learned from the goals of NextGen as imagined versus what came to fruition is that Disney’s plans don’t always come true. While executives salivate at the prospect of leveraging big data and analytics to decrease staffing and achieve more efficient operations, all of this only works to the extent that there’s guest buy-in. (Not to mention the tech “playing nice” with Walt Disney World’s legacy IT–something that still hasn’t totally happened with the NextGen additions.)
Quite simply, Walt Disney World cannot unilaterally push through more stringent and regimented planning “resources” without regard for the guest experience and satisfaction. While FastPass+ was initially met with skepticism by long-time fans (something true of literally any change at Walt Disney World), it was eventually embraced by guests. Some still criticized it or expressed a preference for paper FastPasses or no virtual queues at all, but it was sufficiently popular.
It’s also worth emphasizing that My Disney Experience rolled out at a time when Walt Disney World’s attendance had started to soar, giving the company some latitude in making decisions not warmly embraced by guests.
The circumstances were very similar when Disney Park Pass was first introduced…but not anymore. In his interviews during 2021-2022, D’Amaro acknowledged that Walt Disney World was benefitting from pent-up demand. That ceased to be the case about a year ago, and Disney is now seeing the backside of revenge travel. Accordingly, the company now needs to be more responsive to the guest experience and satisfaction.
Disney Park Pass is viewed as an impediment and another reservation to make. It creates uncertainty, headaches, and many guests blame the reservation system for planning problems or rigidity in their vacations. Some have been shut out of visiting entirely due to Park Pass, and have an unfavorable opinion of it as a result.
In the grand scheme of Walt Disney World “approval ratings,” theme park reservations fall somewhere between Stitch Ate the Page! and Stitch’s Great Escape. So it makes complete sense that, as pent-up demand is exhausted and the system has outlived its usefulness for tourists, Walt Disney World would remove this friction for most guests.
For those concerned that Walt Disney World won’t be able to accurately forecast attendance without park reservations, don’t be.
From an efficiency and resource allocation perspective, Walt Disney World should already be able to pretty accurately forecast tourist attendance thanks to both hotel occupancy rates and the date-based theme park ticket system. In fact, it’s likely that the latter system could be tweaked slightly to offer Disney exactly the info it would like without introducing even more friction and unnecessary hoops to the process.
A Walt Disney World vacation is already needlessly complicated and convoluted (even if many fans enjoy the planning, that’s not true of casual guests who find it overwhelming), so it behooves Disney to simplify the process where possible. In short, it’s entirely possible to achieve the same gains among tourists without Park Pass.
Ultimately, that’s a long-winded explanation for why Disney Park Pass existed in the first place and why it has now been retired for most regular single and multi-day tickets. From a resource allocation perspective, the theme park reservation system already offers little advantage over what already exists–it’s just extra friction in an already complicated vacation planning process.
By contrast, there’s no end date in sight for Annual Passholders needing to make reservations. Personally, as an AP, I’m expecting to be required to make reservations during weeks when crowd levels are forecast to be 8/10 or above for the rest of my days visiting Walt Disney World. Good-to-go days and no reservations after 2 p.m. are welcome relaxations, but we don’t expect anything beyond those changes. (We hesitate to say reservations will be “permanent” for APs because a recession or economic downturn could result in Disney dropping the reservation system for all in an attempt to lure back APs who hate park reservations.)
Honestly, so long as you’re not an out-of-state Annual Passholder (whomp whomp) who visits during busier times of year, it’s tough to construe the current compromise approach as of 2024 as a negative. For regular tourists, this is a “best of both worlds” solution. By retaining park reservations to some extent for Annual Passholders and Cast Members, it gives the company control over crowd distribution, at least to a degree. So you’ll continue to benefit from that if visiting during busier seasons. By dropping reservations for everyone else, it restores spontaneity.
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
Do you expect the Disney Park Pass reservation system to be retired at some point, or continue forever? Think Walt Disney World regrets requiring resort guests and theme park ticket holders to use Park Pass? 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!
Thank you, Tom, for a great article.
The daily park reservation and genie+/lightning lane systems set up an undesirable conflict, in my opinion. Both operate to remove any spontaneity and force pre-planning that may or may not work out. At least with FP+, in conjunction with ADR’s, you could predict, to a reasonable extent, how your day was going to go. With these new systems, it is a roll of the dice. You are forced to make a park reservation when you buy tickets. Then, if you do not want to stand in long lines, you must get up early each day and attempt to get a coveted lightning lane spot, around which your day will revolve. Example: if you get one – and it is at the end of the day – you may miss your dining reservation and plans are upended. Thus, you will not know how each day may play out until 7:00 am. On top of this, it appears that, if you cannot get lightning lanes for rides, your park reservation for that day is a bust, thus perhaps requiring changes to the whole schedule. Going to add, it seems highly unreasonable, when staying at a monorail resort, to be prohibited from accessing a park for a couple of hours of a morning because you do not have a park reservation there that day. I truly hope some of this is corrected by mid-April.
Great article. Two questions- it seems that park reservations and park hopping restrictions are inherently linked. Do you anticipate park hopping to go back to pre-pandemic norm when the reservation system ends for regular ticket holders? Also- for out of town AP, would you predict theme park reservations would still be required even if you have a resort hotel stay?
Disney already controls AP attendance with blackout dates , so again, their argument is weak. Our family hasn’t purchased AP’s since the reservation system has been implemented (we had them for 20+ years), not sure we will again (if they ever re-open AP sales) unless the reservation system is eliminated or becomes flexible to our liking. We DID recently purchase Preferred Annual Passes to Universal Orlando (at a reasonable rate of just $425), and while it’s not Disney (yet), it’s great being able to pop in any time we like.
I am with you! Also have not purchased AP since reservation system started and I won’t. I had AP for 25 years. I’m actually in California so mine is a Disneyland issue but it’s the same out here. I now have passes to universal, knotts berry farm and the San Diego zoo/safari park for less than what a Disney pass is and I have no black out dates, no reservations required and parking is included. I miss Disneyland but not enough to deal with the headache of reservations, not when the passes are so expensive!
Sadly the no rsvp for 1 day isn’t entirely true. you have different prices per park and have to choose where you’re going when you buy the ticket which adds you to the reservation system. that’s just semantics not removal of anything
“our expectation is that reservations will be dropped … or the system will be rolled into the process of purchasing tickets.” Can you explain how the latter option would really be a change? Rolling into the process of purchasing tickets wouldn’t reduce the need to plan super far in advance…it would just take a process that already can be done while purchasing a package (or done later), and making it mandatory at that time, no?
Abby — 100% agree. It’s not quite accurate to say that WDW has “eliminated” Park Pass reservations for single day tickets, since by purchasing a single-day ticket you now have to pick which park you’re buying for. I guess the only “convenience” is if you walk up to the park day-of and purchase a ticket, but otherwise it’s essentially the same as before?
I have been to DISNEY WORLD over 50 times since it first Opened, coming from New Jersey. The Biggest problem we have now, Along with MANY Others is PAYING for GENIE+ !! The OLD FREE FAST-PASS System was So much BETTER and much EASIER!! At least you could pick your THREE most Favorite rides in each park for FREE and know the TIME you were supposed to be there, leaving you when to schedule other things, especially with eating LUNCH and DINNER around those times. People should STOP Buying the GENIE+ and make Disney see how many people like the OLD System . Now that they are making MORE money with the New Genie+ system, the Increase in Food prices, and just about EVERYTHING Else, – they just Don’t CARE. There was NO problem with the old Fast-Pass system and now, even if you PAY, you have trouble using the new system and Can’t even get some rides you want !! It is a Shame that you now have to get up So EARLY, be there for ROPE DROP , just to try to get on ONE ride that you really want!! Without PAYING. – Then ” IF ” you do get your ride at Rope Drop, your next one is already filled with a LONG Line and just keeps getting worse as the day goes on. Something SHOULD and MUST be done about this to help all visitors.
Totally agree. Genie+ is a ripoff. Fast pass was much better.
FP+ worked well for people staying onsite and booking rides 60+ days in advance. For everyone else, not so much. And while no one will accuse G+ of being easy to use, it can be made to work for you – just follow Tom’s recommendations.
Btw, please use FEWER CAPS. Thanks
I agree… the fastpass+ was also a reservation in disguise… i mean if i had fastpasses to Haunted Mansion, Pirates and space mountain booked in a day you would have a REALLY good idea that i would be in MK
Why should APs without an on-site reservation have to continue to make reservations? I feel like I’m being penalized for my loyalty.
We took our family to WDW in the 1980’s and 90’s. We all loved it and had an enjoyable vacation. We were considering a family vacation for 9 for the new generation. All the new rules, Genie passes and reservations just overwhellmed me. It didn’t seem like fun. Due to the reservation system we wouldn’t be able to decide each day which park we felt like going to. We would have to decide months in advance. We decided to drop the WDW vacation. We decided we could go somewhere else, spend a lot less money and still have fun. If WDW in Orlando is constantly overcrowded why don’t they build another Disney part in Texas? It would be midway between Florida and California. When built it would take a lot of the crowd from Orlando so the guest experience would be a lot more enjoyable. They will get a lot of guest at the new park because it is in the midsection of the country and closer to a lot more people. In the end they will make more money.
Disney needs to cancel the reservation system and open up all attractions restaurants and resorts that are still closed before I will consider returning. The pandemic is over! Time to return to normal life.
Notice not ONCE were retired cast members mentioned! They don’t care after 30 years.
My spouse and one child got shut out of AP sales when we were ready to purchase, so I and our other child have annual passes but the other half of the family doesn’t (and can’t – we ask every single time we visit). It was incredibly frustrating if we’d change our minds about a park on the day, or times we’ve arrived in town a day early for instance, since we could get same-day park passes for the day tickets, but no availability for the APs. We’ve been told APs have to buy day tickets in order to reserve park passes in that 24/48hr window. So that’s exactly what we do. Then we go to the guest services window and ask them to prioritize our AP over the day ticket – the AP is scanned at the turnstile, and we “bank” the day ticket. This little hack is like a secret savings account. We convert the unused tickets to pay down our AP renewals. It’s not ideal, but it works.
Please,Please Pleae call for Eisner and Iger to team up
Eisner is 80 years old.
Great read. Speculatively, what do you think will be the case for APs who hold resort reservations down the line? We are out of state AP holders so we cannot pop over for the night. My hope is that if reservations go away for multiday tickets, the same will be said for APs with resort reservations. Thoughts?
Reservations are no doubt annoying and make the park hopper less valuable. However from a planning standpoint there seems to be a fairly large contingent that want FP+ back so they can plan vacations further ahead of time. I would think for most folks who keep up on blogs like this that the reservation system wouldn’t be much of a hindrance.
Having said that it is one more hurdle (nuisance) to deal with and adds no value (or negative value) to the customers
I was an AP because I live here but since I can’t pick my kid up from school on a Friday afternoon and head over to Epcot for dinner, the passes are not really useful for us. The thing that made it fun was just going for a couple hours on a whim and whims have been engineered out of the system.
I did not renew mine partially because of this. They screwed me for Oct 1 last year because of the renewal window. My pass expiration was Sept 25th and by the time I could renew, I could not get a reservation. I finally had to pay $155 for a one day ticket to be at MK with my family that day. Guest Services did absolutely nothing for me. Absurd. But maybe if the real Bob makes some changes for the better, I’ll buy in again…
I just got a survey this afternoon asking all about my feeling and experiences with my annual pass and park reservations. It asked if I would renew, did I feel valued, could I get the park reservation I wanted, and if not, did I go to a different park (and which one). I found it interesting timing with the end of park reservations for single day tickets coming up next week. It made me hopeful they will ditch all reservations in the near future. We shall see!
While visiting my cousins at Thanksgiving, I was surprised to learn that when they were in Orlando for a gymnastics meet, they went to Epcot and AK. It was terrible, they said: not at all what they thought Disney would be. Really just a place to eat food that wasn’t that fancy and see zoo animals. I was shocked. It turned out they could not, at the last minute, get reservations for HS (where they would have loved Batuu) or MK (which was what they were thinking of as “Disney”).
They told me it was a waste of time and money and they would never go back. Disney lost an entire family due to that reservation system! They ARE going back to Orlando, but they plan to go to Universal, where they can see Hogwarts.
I have to wonder, now, how many other new, but potentially long-term families this system has lost Disney.
This happens a lot–an amount that would shock many diehard Walt Disney World fans who just assume that “everyone” knows about the park reservation system. We all tend to forget that most people do not plan obsessively months in advance–they do so at the last minute or even upon arrival in Florida.
It’s really sad. It’s also long-term damage that’s being inflicted for, at this point, very minimal near-term gain.
Yes, they’re losing lots of folks. We know people who bought tix at a busy time but didn’t make reservations and then couldn’t get in anywhere — total debacle at Customer Service. It’s a particularly lousy thing to do to families who have saved for years, waited on lines with little kids or missed rides b/c they didnt know to buy or didn’t budget for Genie. We are DVC members and have been utterly disappointed with this system; we went from thinking of buying an additional contract to frankly thinking of dumping the one we have. )c;3
Yes, it was a major issue even before the recent nonsense with fastpass-minus.
I’ve said this before but why not?
The park reservations system would be great if it was actually…..used? The crowds in the parks on certain days are ridiculous and I assume well past the max capacity that should be enforced. I don’t know what the reservations system is used for but it’s certainly not for limiting guests.
Does anyone know what capacity is for the parks? I am sure this is just a ploy to push people to other parks instead of everyone going to MK. With what I have seen on Disney Bloggers fb sites MK is the fullest ever.
Given that “employees and Cast Members” specifically asked about the system, I assume it’s used to on the margins to mess with their work schedules.
My family has been a DVC member since1997. We are very disappointed in the quality of their product. Park admission goes up every year. There is no such thing as slow season anymore. The parks are dangerously overcrowded. Between the strollers and The scooters it is getting increasingly difficult to navigate the park particularly at night with poor lighting. There are so many accidents waiting to happen. With Genie Plus ,which I consider a money grab ; a day at the park is getting increasingly unpalatable . Dessert parties, are another money grab that’s designed to increase their profits and not improve the customer experience. Smaller food portions but higher prices. Inferior quality of souvenirs is quite noticeable as are the higher prices for cheap junk. I could go on, I really have to reconsider if it’s worth being a DVC member. The visits are becoming a real turnoff. It’s simply not enjoyable as it once was. We pay a monthly maintenance fee and have been loyal customers but Disney is alienating the longtime ,loyal , repeat guests. What would you do ?
Keep ur DVC and rent it out. Here’s why. It still goes up b of their greed.
https://dvcfan.com/2022/10/24/rumor-huge-disney-vacation-club-price-increase-coming-soon/
With each new post I become more confused. We are planning a family trip for President’s week in February 2023. If I buy everyone’s passes then do I make park reservations at the same time or will that be discontinued? Park reservations are a huge headache when planning for 9 people. I hate it! I have been going for years and don’t want to go back but the kids want the trip. We will also have to get a DAS pass for our young special needs child. I don’t know how to do any of it. Where do I even go for help? We have been DVC members since 1993 and we used to love out trips but now it sounds like a big headache.
It is a headache and it stinks but if you’ve been dvc since then, you will be fine.
When you buy your park tickets, reserve your park passes
And since you have to plan what parks you are in that far in Advance and what restaurants you will be at, Disney makes it easy and let’s you pick 3 rides to schedule in advance at the times when you know when you’re going to be in the parks (so you don’t have to get next available when it doesn’t fit your schedule or touring plans) so you don’t have to worry about it every day at 6:45 of your vacation for all 9 of you. Should be smooth sailing! Good luck!
Glad they give hotel guests and dvc members the perks that make vacationing there worth it!
@Jeff I think you are referring to the old ways with Fastpass Minus. Now, isn’t everyone at the mercy of the crowds? Either way, it’s ridiculous.
Yes. I was being sarcastic
Wdw is very stressful right, especially if you are trying to plan for 9
Haha, I figured. Ever since they outsourced IT to China, MDE and all their online systems have gone to crap. Mobile ordering used to be awesome. I could order a couple beers from Woody’s and walk right up to the counter to grab them with no line or waiting at all. Ah, the good old days…
The way the Disney Management thinks, don’t be surprised if they cancel all annual passes. Yes – a spiteful move, but I wouldn’t put it past them just to let us know who is in charge…..