Walt Disney World Resort has proposed a reopening date to Florida’s Orange County Economic Recovery Task Force starting on July 11th for Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, and July 15th for Disney’s Hollywood Studios and EPCOT.
Epcot Entrance in Walt Disney World Resort
Among the many safety measures mentioned in the proposal, limited guest capacity is mentioned. And in order to help implement that, Disney is planning to utilize a guest theme park reservation system.
Though details have not yet been announced regarding the reservation system, it’s worth noting that a limited guest capacity measure has already been implemented in Shanghai Disneyland, with guests required to purchase a ticket for a specific date in advance, and Annual Passholders likewise required to secure a reservation.
queue line for Magic Kingdom Monorail
We will continue to keep you informed on these and other proposed measures as this story develops. As a reminder, Walt Disney World (as well as SeaWorld) just made its reopening proposal today — at press time, the proposal has not yet been approved.
To learn more about the current status of Disney parks around the world in the meantime, you may visit any of the links provided below.
More Disney Park Closure Details and Info
Click HERE for the All Latest Updates
Disney Parks Closure Extended “Until Further Notice.”
Should I Cancel My Disney World Vacation?
Disney’s Closure Timeline and What It Could Mean For Disney’s Reopening
Your Disney Trip Was Canceled -- Now What? DO'S and DON'TS to Cancel, Get Refunds, and Reschedule
Disney World and Disneyland Closure Questions Answered!
Are Disney World Restaurants Really Just Firing Everybody?! It’s Much More Complicated Than You Think
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What are your thoughts on the proposed reservation system? Please let us know with a comment!
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THANK YOU SO MUCH for the quick, simplified, and understandable updates!!! I have recommended your blog to so many people and I can’t wait for more news as the park gradually reopens 🙂
What about resort guests? Will resorts be open? Will these guests get a guarantee for park admission?
So my husband and I are annual passholders and we have a trip in August with our friend that bought tickets through a 3rd party but they’re dated for that time we’re going. We are also staying on property at pop century. Do you think that counts as a dated reservation and we should be okay to enter, since we already had the tickets?
Don’t we already do park reservations when we make our FastPasses in advance???
Nadia, in a sense, you’ve got a reservation for an attraction with FastPass. But it appears Disney World will require reservations for Park access, perhaps unrelated entirely to FastPass selections. We’ll be updating as soon as Disney releases info.
Brittany, no idea on this yet. You’ll need to contact Disney, but you might want to wait until they release information about what this reservation system is like.
I wonder about park hopper passes… I have had a resort reservation for this winter 2020 since December with park hopper passes included and I wonder if this new reservation system allows you to reserve all parks per day considering those having park hopper passes. 🤔
A queue and a line are the same thing, you don’t have to say queue line.
Per the Disney Parks Blog – all new hotel & ticket bookings have been halted while Disney deals with guests that already have reservations planned – fingers crossed this means my October park hopper ticket/hotel reservation will guarantee me entry into the parks.
We’ve got it — thanks, Maggie!
Angi, we’re watching this.
I am curious on the Reservation Process also. I have tickets with specific dates and Fastpasses for specific parks on set days. Surely that is enough of a reservation I would think. We do have Park Hopper too, so I wonder if or how that comes into play.
As supply goes down, price goes up. I’m hoping the ticket prices won’t go up too much due to limited capacity, but I don’t see how we’ll avoid a price hike. Disney needs to make money to stay open, after all!
We want to know how social distancing will be enforced on monorail and buses?
Curious about the reservation system as I am both a DVC member and an Annual Passholder and as such have quite a bit of money invested in my magical place and would hate to not be able to get into a park due to such a system.
Going without kids for our 25th anniversary and first time we purchased park hopper as we wanted to just wander with few plans. This is is not funny.
We were thankfully able to rebook our DVC reservation from June to late July. Hubby spent an hour on hold with Disney yesterday to see about changing the dates for our tickets. He was told the tickets no longer have dates attached to them as all tickets are now valid through 12/15. So I’m curious how they determine who has “purchased a ticket for a specific date” for purposes of the park reservation system. I hope they understand that I don’t want to use 1.5 years worth of my DVC points to sit in my villa and not get to go to the parks.
I wonder if there will be the “big fight” everyday to try to get reservations? And will passholders get any priority?
Will the Magical Express begin operating on July 11?
Also DVC and AP holder booked for Dec 10 2020 .
Wondering how Park hopping will work. And fast pass. ?
Still a lot of detail s to be worked out !
So are they doing park reservations yet for people who already have resort reservations?
Just to update you! I called DisneyWorld like you suggested and they said that they don’t think they will be implementing that for people with pre-existing reservations/dated tickets like my friend has, but possibly for people trying to go going forward without tickets or a reservation. She said as of right now, I’ll be going no problem. Hopefully that’s true, she seemed pretty convinced I’ll be fine.
Hi! So I booked a reservation for my mom and I a couple of weeks ago for July 18th at All Star Music with two 4 day tickets, does that mean our reservation is safe or will they be cancelling those so you have to rebook? Also, since the park hours have changed, and a couple of our fastpasses have gotten cut off with the later opening of Epcot, will we get to choose another one? I know y’all don’t know all this but it’s just some stuff I’m curious about 🙂 Thank you! (Also I’m a huge fan and if you guys are there when I am I have to get a 6-ft apart picture!)
So we’re due to come from the UK in September . We’ve bought park hopper tickets for 3 weeks so we now need to buy different tickets and will we be refunded for the park hopper tickets?
These “guidelines” aren’t going to do anything to allow the economy to come back nor supposedly protect people. We have a natural immune system that can work if allowed to. Masks are ridiculous!
Wendy, no idea on this. You’ll need to reach out to Disney to confirm anything.
Ashley, thanks for writing! I would not expect your July 18 reservation to be cancelled since they’re hoping to have all four Parks open by then. But I really don’t know, especially with the new reservation system coming online. You’ll want to reach out to Disney to get confirmation (and to see about your FastPasses).
Thanks, Brittany!
Mary, our understanding was that the new reservation system would be up today, however we haven’t learned anything new about it at this time. We’ll update as soon as we do!
VP, you’re right about that! We’ve got these topics on our list to keep checking!
Lu Ann, no word on this yet, but we’re looking into it.
When in the parks, you must wear face masks. My wife and I have full face clear shields. Can we use them in-place of the face masks?
John, this is the current language from Disney: “All Guests ages 3 and up—along with Cast Members—are required to wear face coverings when visiting Walt Disney World Resort. Please bring your own face coverings and wear them at all times, except when dining or swimming.
All face coverings should:
Fully cover an individual’s nose and mouth and allow the Guest to remain hands-free
Fit snugly but comfortably against the side of the face
Be secured with ties or ear loops
Be made of breathable material, either disposable or reusable
Costume masks are not considered appropriate and are prohibited from being worn, in alignment with our existing rules. “
I’m wondering if we have an existing hotel reservation with DVC for October stay, but have not yet purchased park tickets how that will work? Do you have to have BOTH an existing hotel reservation and have purchased tickets in order to qualify for making advanced reservations at the parks? We did not pay to belong to DVC to sit in the room. So many unanswered questions remain to be explained.
First off, thanks for all you guys do! I watch your videos and read the posts constantly and through out this stressful time your posts and videos have been a little light! I have booked reservations for my family and I that are supposed to begin on July 25th. I’ve been constantly checking MDE and my email to see if there has been anything about the reservations for the parks sent out or updated. I noticed today that all of the fast passes I chose have now been deleted and saw where other peoples have been removed as well. Wondering if you guys have experienced the same or have heard from anyone else who has? Again, thank you so much for all you do!
What better reservation system is there than FP and Dining? Limiting guests to a specific park for the day to get more revenue from single park admission tickets is probably likely with credit being given to Park Hopper tickets and AP holders to reimburse them for their ‘overpayment?’.
60 day FP window for guests will probably consume the inventory to those parks pretty quickly, but FL resident AP holders might get lucky with a random FP or dining res in a park. I’m also betting that FP holders will have to walk/stand in the regular queue with social distancing stickers, so I doubt that you’d be able to do standby lines as you’re previously used to them.
This confuses me as to how it works for people who already have purchased tickets for upcoming trips. Does that guarantee me entry into a park or do I now have to go on to a reservation system and hope I can even get reservations to use my existing tickets? And what if they are park hoppers? Can I simply go into parks at will or are my park hoppers obsolete now since I might not be able to get a reservation? I guess I just want to make sure my existing plans still stand without having to hope that even with tickets I can even get in to the parks.
I find this interesting: “.. with guests required to purchase a ticket for a specific date in advance, and Annual Passholders likewise required to secure a reservation.” Does this mean Annual Passholders will have to “purchase” an additional ticket, or just secure a reservation and use their pass? It would seem making an Annual Passholder, and I am one, buy an additional ticket is like paying twice.
I’m so happy Disney is opening. We are DVC members and have a September trip booked but haven’t yet purchased park tickets. I usually use a travel agent for that, but should I contact DVC directly? Also, will we be allowed to swim/layout at pools without masks? I work in healthcare and I’m use to wearing them, I just don’t think it’s safe to wear while in a swimming pool.
Amber, Disney has updated language to say guests won’t need to wear masks in the pool, but they’re required in public areas. I would interpret that to mean laying out by the pool they would be required but not IN the pool. I don’t know about DVC; I would see what your travel agent can do, and if you need to contact DVC directly, he or she will likely be told that by Disney.
Wade, we expect APs will need to reserve a time but will not need to buy another ticket.
Melissa, we don’t know yet about Park Hoppers or whether your tickets are a guarantee you can get in. The new Disney reservation system hasn’t been unveiled yet, but a call to Disney might help you. (From the feedback we’re getting from readers and followers, though, it sounds like Disney reservations cast members aren’t privy to the new reservations info just yet.) We will update with any and all information that emerges about the new system.
Taylor, thanks for your message! We have heard from many readers/followers who also had their FastPasses disappear. However, some are noting that their plans are back on My Disney Experience.
Victoria, we don’t know the answers to these questions yet. We’ll update when we do!
I have a platinum plus pass which means I pay a premium for unlimited access – now that Disney is limiting my access – similar to a plan with block out dates and less access with a lower payment- I wonder how I will be expected to continue paying the larger monthly payment, but not receive the services I am paying for?
In an earlier post you asked: What Will It Take For You to Feel Safe Visiting Disney World Again? There were several questions that I had to do a double take, but one really caught my attention, It was: “Overall, our readers are in favor of reservations being required to get into the parks — 78% said yes, and 22% said no.” Now lets ask that 78% that the day they have reservations is raining cats and dogs, but the next day is 75 and Sunny, Lets ask them, How they like that Reservation System Now?
I have reservations for 6/19/20 – 6/26/20 at the Polynesian Resort as well as park hopper passes for those dates. I was hoping they would open in June so I didn’t cancel. They still show in our My Disney Experience account as active. I know that Disney will contact me to officially cancel these reservations, but I’m not sure if I will be able to reschedule at that time (part of the phased rescheduling for those with existing reservations/tickets) or if I will not be able to reschedule. When I read the announcement on the WDW blog it seemed to say that I would be able to reschedule provided the new dates I wanted had park capacity availability. But when I contacted a WDW agent via chat I was told that my reservation would simply be canceled and I wouldn’t be able to reschedule right now. Do you know which is the case? THANK YOU.
For anyone asking about “guarantees” to enter parks. There’s NEVER a guarantee. For example, during holidays, if a park is at capacity, you’re not guaranteed to enter. It’s a fire hazard. It doesn’t matter whether you have an annual pass, are staying GF or POP, etc. I would HOPE that a specific reservation period will allow entry. But if people don’t leave at the close of a reservation, who’s to say there will be a guaranteed entry?
Just thought of another question
When they give you a Reservations to enter the park , will it be time restricted ?
Can you stay all day or do you have to leave after a specified amount of time ?
VP, we’ll update when Disney provides the info!