The Disney World parks are currently set to reopen in mid-July.
Magic Kingdom
And, while we are now able to book vacation packages for 2021, guests still can’t purchase tickets or hotel reservations for dates in the remainder of 2020.
We’re getting hundreds of direct messages on instagram and loads of emails from you asking why — if you have a hotel booked and most of the people in your party have tickets for a 2020 vacation — you can’t buy one more ticket! There are a lot of people who have their whole trip booked — including hotel and transportation — for Disney World this year. They just need tickets. So, what’s the deal?
With all of the moving parts surrounding the reopening of Disney World, it can be tough to decode what’s really going on — and why! Officially, Disney has stated that they will open up ticket sales and hotel reservations for the rest of 2020 “later this summer.” Although, as the situation progresses, this timeframe is subject to change. We’ve also seen Disney refer to ticket sales for 2020 as “temporarily paused.”
©Disney
So, why the hold-up on 2020 tickets and hotel reservations? This comes down to the limited park capacity that will be implemented upon reopening. Prior to the closure, Disney was selling park tickets for 2020 dates based on full capacity. Now that they’ve confirmed that park capacity will need to be greatly reduced this year, they want to ensure those who’ve already purchased a ticket for 2020 are able to visit.
Animal Kingdom Entrance
Essentially, the goal is to determine how many people currently have tickets AND how many are still planning to come to Disney World so that they’re not overselling the limited capacity theme parks. If the number of guests currently holding tickets already meets (or exceeds) the park capacity for the year, opening up ticket sales for 2020 would allow guests to purchase tickets that couldn’t be used.
Tower of Terror
Once those with 2020 tickets have made their Disney Park Pass reservations, Disney will determine whether they have any additional capacity in 2020 and if so, they’ll open up ticket sales at a later date.
Mission: SPACE
With all of the new policies and procedures, it can be tough to figure out exactly what’s happening with your Disney World vacation plans. This is why we’re keeping a close eye on things as they unfold — to help break it down for you! If (or when) Disney World ticket sales are resumed for 2020, we’ll report back with the details!
Learn more about the new Disney Park Pass reservation system!
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Thank you for this post! This is the only post I’ve come across explaining why Disney isn’t selling 2020 tickets! I’ve read countless posts about families traveling in 2020 with on site/partner hotel reservations who weren’t able to buy tickets before Disney stopped ticket sales and now their plans are stuck in limbo. As a matter of fact, our family is in the same boat. I’m hoping Disney management will realize the amount of families planning to traveling in 2020 who already have room only reservations but haven’t gotten the chance to purchase tickets yet and set aside a date for us to purchase tickets/make park reservations before opening everything to the general public.
So what about visitors whohave resort reservations, annual passes for mom and dad…but only tickets for their adult children that only cover twodays and four days – of an eight day stay? We triedto purchase tickets on Sunday(28thof June) as we were told to do when making our Theme Park reservations- Annual Passes to be exact. Oh nononono…you can’t DO that! Our trip is scheduled for December and even if we are able to get tix, the park reservations might all be gone for our stay period. We WON’T be able to enjoy our trip as a foursome as originally planned, so we may end up cancelling – and losing HUNDREDS of $$$ in non-refundable airfare! This trip was planned because we lost one trip in April …and the DCL Hawaii Cruise ( for husband and I) in May ! Talk about the NOT So Happiest Place on Earth!
What happens to us that have resort hotels ( we used points to book through rci at SSR) and flights but they won’t sell 2020 tickets? I personally think this was the wrong way of doing it all, we should have a chance too. I feel bad for people who are at Shades of Green and they cant get tickets also, they need to help out the people who served our country.
We are in a situation where we have a DVC resort stay scheduled for October, however, we are short one ticket for our youngest family member who just turned 3. Prior to this trip, our youngest was only 2 years old and did not require a park ticket. The rest of the family are active AP holders, and we had every intention of making him an AP ticket holder after he turned 3. However, we missed any opportunity to do so with the pause of 2020 ticket sales. I realize that we probably could have purchased his AP in advance of his birthday, but that was the last thing on our minds as the pandemic began. While we understand the situation with the 2020 tickets, we are bummed that even with resort reservations and the majority of our party being AP holders that there is no flexibility with our now turned 3 year old. We will most likely be cancelling our resort reservations and will let our APs expire this year (going after prorated refunds). We are Disney fans and DVC members, so we’ll be back in the future as the pandemic situation improves.
Booked my Disney resort in January….five nights….for the big 60th birthday! Also booked flights. Now fingers crossed we’ll be able to get tickets. Trip is for the end of November.
Bradley, sounds like a really unfortunate situation. I hope something works out for you.
Melissa, we’re still awaiting those new 2020 ticket sales. We will update when they’re live, and hopefully things will work out for you.
Go somewhere else, like the Smoky Mountains or Branson, MO or Wild Adventures in Valdosta, GA. Be creative. You had to spend many months without too many distractions due to covid and you did it! Disney has gotten too complicated and too crowded and too expensive and is trying to create false demand. Not fun! Not the Disney of old either! Instead of watching the NBA or NFL, take up a sport like hiking or biking or listen to Candace Owens. Save your money!
The thing that has exasperated me about all this is that Disney made no arrangement for DVC members to purchase park tickets or annual passes on a priority basis. DVC members don’t buy packages; we book the room through DVC and then purchase the tickets separately. By freezing ticket sales, Disney effectively shut out DVC members who had made resort reservations but hadn’t bought the tickets yet because we’ve always been able to buy them at any time (we’ve even purchased them at the resort front desk). Disney sells DVC as a way to “own a piece of the magic,” and for the $Alottamoney we paid to belong, they should have made sure DVC members were properly accommodated. And to make matters worse, now Disney is allowing park reservations through September 2021. We don’t know when we can take a vacation next year–it’s too early for our companies to allow us to schedule the time–so we might be shut out next year too.
So. Have a question that hopefully you can answer – My husband and I purchased annual passes for the first time this year. We are dvc members and we’re planning a few trips this year. April trip was moved to June then canceled. Hoping we can still make the December trip as planned. Problem is we invited our adult son for this trip but didn’t purchase his ticket yet. Should we make our park reservations now and add him to plans after ticket is (hopefully) purchased or will we not be able to add additional person to reservations ? Any insights ???
I have a resort reservation for November—party of 8. Three of us are AP, but the coronavirus got in the way and Disney shut down ticket sales before I could purchase the other 5 tickets. My son has gone through a serious medical condition and his goal throughout this ordeal was to have all 8 of us together at Disney. I am concerned that we will not be able to purchase our tickets and be together. This is our Happy Place.
We are in a similar boat as others-we sank three years of our DVC points in a pre-planned (for the last four years) Senior trip at Christmas. It’s the only thing my graduate asked for-to stay at Christmas at the Poly, our home resort, and take her little sister who’s never gotten to go on an extended trip. When your 17 year old asks for that as her senior trip as a Freshman instead of Cancun or another beach, you take it and run 🙂
We fall into the same group as other DVC=BUT CANNOT get refunded our three years of points (last, this and next year) as per DVC they are only refunding those affected through 11/30, and we are in December. We planned to book the dining plan and buy our tickets the same day-which our 180 day for purchase HAPPENED to be the EXACT same day as the day they closed sales 🙁
Now we can’t get points back, everything else was crappy for our girl’s senior year, AND we can’t go to the parks…oh-and according to the cast member on our 4 hour phone call…it’s not ‘later this summer’ it’s NO MORE THIS YEAR for 2020 tickets…but I know 5 different CM’s will give 5 different answers…just really frustrated and stuck!
AH, first, I’m sorry you’ve encountered so many disappointments. This situation has been such a challenge for so many people. I’m hopeful that things will improve in time for your trip as Disney irons out the apparent wrinkles in their plans and policies. All the info we’ve seen and gotten when talking to Cast Members in chat and on the phone is that 2020 ticket sales and reservations will resume “later this summer”, so until we hear otherwise from official channels, that’s what we’ve got. There’s truly no word on the DDP returning, aside from it being “temporarily” suspended. Unfortunately there’s no timeline for this yet, but we will update as soon as there is anything to report. I know this is all not helpful, and nothing can compensate for what you feel you’ve lost this year, but I send you (and your new graduate!) best wishes and hopefully some peace in the planning process.
Debi, hopefully since your trip is later this year, you’ll be able to align your plans when ticket sales resume later this summer. Best wishes to your son.
Becky, our understanding is that you will not be able to add someone to or modify a Disney Park Pass. If it were me, I would probably grab the DPP for whomever had tickets and then make his DPP reservations separately as soon as the new ticket sales resume. There’s a risk that dates could be booked up by then, which would mean you’d need to reevaluate all of your DPPs. But hopefully having just one DPP to make at that time would allow you to be efficient when the new ticket sales resume and get his to align with yours. Does that make sense? Obviously, with the system being so new, I don’t really know everything there is to know, but based on what I’ve seen and the experience I had making my own DPP for late-2021, that’s what I would recommend.
I have 2 separate vacations booked in October . We are DVC and annual pass holders . I have booked our resorts for October. unfortunately we have other family members who are booked in our reservation and I cannot get them tickets ! They are accounted for in our reservations but I cannot get them tickets I have been holding off on booking our park reservations so we can all be together . I am disappointed in the no ticket purchases
When we booked our trip in March they told us we would be able to buy tickets at the resort so we didn’t add them to our plan when I moved our orginal trip from the first week of June to July 13th in May they said I would be able to get tickets. Now we are two weeks out and still no word yet on when we will be able to buy them. I just wish they could give us some idea when they will open up sales. We stay on property and have had this trip planned for months and used it as a beacon of hope during the past few months for our family and I don’t want to fail them as a father and husband!
We have the same problem. We booked a DVC trip with family and friends a year ago. We have annual passes as we try to go to Disney a couple times a year. Our April trip got cancelled. Now, our trip which is scheduled for October appears to need to be cancelled as those in our party who don’t have tickets yet probably won’t be able to go to any parks. A huge waste of money if that is the case, and so far, DVC refunding of points is not going well either. At this moment in time, Disney is NOT magical! So disappointed in how they are dealing with this situation.
Mardeen, so far October is still showing full availability for DPP, so when ticket sales resume this summer (according to Disney), you may still have a good chance of getting what you need for Park days. Ultimately, though, I know the disappointment is being felt by many.
We have a DVC rental at AKL-K in September 2020 and we’ve purchased airfare. No park tickets. While I understand the need to pause ticket sales and assess the capacity situation and take care of existing ticket holders and AP holders… I do not like being lumped into the same “later this summer” category for tickets as the rest of the general public. We have an actual arrival date. We should have an actual date when we can purchase (or not purchase) tickets based on availability. Then we can at least grab Universal tickets or visit Discovery Cove or find *something* to do besides sit in our non-refundable / non-modifiable DVC rental. I truly hope that Disney will set aside a date for guests with existing resort reservations to get tickets before releasing them to everyone. I feel very forgotten.
We are in the same situation as many. Booked a house, as this is a family reunion vacation, but waited in Disney tickets. Moved our dates back (trying to coordinate with three different school systems) and still cannot purchase ticket. Just would like an idea of when ticket purchase will be avail again
We have a stay booked at Boardwalk Thanksgiving week, including airline tickets. I would hope that guests with hotel reservations would be able to purchase park tickets before Disney sells more hotel rooms.
Disney surely need to sell tickets to guests who have resort reservations before they go on sale to general public ? Why on earth would anyone want to be coming to stay on Disney property but not visit the parks ? Disney are not playing fair on this !!
I also am holding a DVC reservation that was booked 11 months ago.
We need to purchase park tickets also
Disney should make park tickets available to resort holders before they open up to the general public.
I hope someone from DW is reading these blogs !
This is not very Magical !
Thank you, DFB, for this informative, empathetic explanation. Like others, we have an existing DVC reservation and plane tickets but are missing park tickets. Hoping that Disney recognizes the need to purchase tickets for those with resort reservations before the general public. Not trying to sound elitist, just reasonable.
Anyone heard that direct correspondence with Disney will help?
I have a reservation for August 1-4 and August 6-8 at the Disney resorts and flight tickets. We split up the stay so we can use the Magic Express to and from the airport, while still sneaking in 2 days at Universal. We are hoping that they make a decision before mid-July so we can make other arrangements in time before we leave. Will Disney be letting people who already have resort reservations know in advance before other people about ticket sales opening up again? I know they contacted us already to see if we still planned on keeping our resort bookings.
Vicky, I don’t know if Disney will be reaching out to people with existing reservations. We will report when Disney DOES release information (or when the tickets go live), but unfortunately no word or guarantees from Disney on that.
So…basically I am stuck with a 10-day WDW hotel reservation and round trip airfare already booked. But NO park tickets! And someone ELSE gets priority to make park reservations??
How js AAA auto club able to sell annual passes now when you can’t purchase them directly from Disney?
To those asking if they should go ahead and book AP park reservations in hopes that others in their party can get tickets at a later date. I would book your AP now because Disney is limiting how many AP people can visit the parks. So if you are going its best to do it now. 90% of the weekend days in Aug are not available to new AP reservations as all the spots are gone for AP.
We are DVC members and I have tried several times to get through to DVC member services and have sent an email, as well…. no response. Are AP holders with resort reservations limited in the number of days they can book in the parks. We have three AP holders in our party and four still needing tickets for reservations in October and December. We have not made park reservations yet because we are worried we won’t be able to get park tickets for those without APs. Hoping we can get tickets and there are not limits on AP holders with resort reservations or there are going to be some very disappointed kiddos and adults for that matter too. Disney please don’t forget about your loyal DVC members.
Is there any word on those that have theme park admission but want to make a hotel stay? I have tickets but I want to book a resort stay as well
Hi All,
Anymore updates? I am a same same. DVC member, had to cancel food and wine last October because of an eye operation, booked this year in October, with stays at Riviera and Saratoga Springs, but no tickets. I’d hate to cancel 2 years in a row. Thanks for all your hard work keeping us informed!
Chris K., nothing yet, unfortunately.
We have a similar situation. My husband & I have hotel reservations, tickets & park reservations for our anniversary trip in October. My son & his girlfriend “graduated” high school this year. His apprenticeship program was cancelled & her college classes are all online. They decided to join us & we bought airline tickets & we were getting ready to add them the morning Disney closed all reservations.
We are in the same boat, booked our Disney Trip back in Nov- Staying on DVC PointsStarting Aug 7th – booked airfare, didn’t buy our tickets – we are so frustrated that we have everything, but the tickets. We are at a loss as to what to do, Airline will not refund, and already called DVC. Since we are using 2019 and 2020 point we will not be able to bank the 2019 points, and loose them if we don’t go.. Don’t want to waste all those points, but dont want to go to Disney and not be able to go to the parks. When are they going to allow people with existing reservations to buy tickets. We leave in a month!!!!
Kristi, I wish we had an update on this for you. We’re still checking and waiting.
We were hoping to take my son for his 3rd birthday at the beginning of October but now we can’t get tickets! He has been talking about nothing but how he wants to go to Disney for his birthday :’(
First,
Finally, thank you for some information regarding this mess…
Second,
I will throw my hat into this ring, I have a DVC room, and I was actually in the middle of purchasing an AP with a cast member ON THE PHONE and Disney yanked the sale out from under me (I have the POST webserver errors to prove it). I have a room that’s been booked for almost eight months and no park tickets. I’m not normally one to bark, but in this case, it involves some real money from me. I’m seriously sour about this, I’ve paid decent money to have these points, and even when I could get through to member services (187 attempted calls in one day, over 2 hours of on-hold), I was told that points that I legitimately banked in the correct time-frame were NOT going to be extended (so I lose them…), sure there’s RCI but that 100 points won’t cover nearly all my points. Now, I have a room that I can’t rebook, to a resort on property (that I pay extra for access to), with NO park ticket OPTIONS BEFORE THE GENERAL PUBLIC!?!?
The magic from Disney to its DVC members during this is rather sad…I hope ‘someone’ at Disney is reading this or hearing about all the DVC members that are really frustrated because there does not seem to be anyone directly from member services answering anything from anyone…
I have a resort only reservation in two weeks. The availability calendar is open for resort and ticket guests for all of my days but they keep saying later this summer. Will they really let infilled park spaces go unfilled?
Luisa, tickets are supposed to go on sale “later this summer”, so hopefully that’ll work out for you!
Kristine, no way to know. We’re still watching (impatiently) for new ticket sales to resume, and we’ll update as soon as we know!