Ah, Disney World Park Passes.
Hollywood Studios
When the parks reopened last summer, Disney implemented the Park Pass reservation system, which controls capacity by requiring guests to make a reservation for the park they want to visit each day. Naturally, this took some getting used to! After all, it was an added step: guests had to go into the system to reserve their spot even after purchasing a valid ticket.
The Park Pass system has been around for almost a year now, and after visiting Disney World every day, we’ve kinda become pros at it. But there are a few hiccups you may encounter while making your reservations! And of course, we’re here to help ya out with some handy solutions.
The Park You Want to Visit Is Full
Even though Disney World is slowly increasing capacity, the parks DO tend to book up — especially as the busy summer months are approaching. That means you’ll want to make your Park Pass reservations as SOON as your plans are in place, before the parks are full!
Summer crowds are arriving!
Of course, you may still find yourself in a sticky situation. On particularly busy days (or ya know, Disney’s Hollywood Studios on a weekend), Park Passes may disappear just like that. So what can you do?!
Park Pass Availability Calendar ©Disney
Your best strategy is to keep checking the Park Pass Availability Calendar for openings! You’ll be able to check for spots based on if you’re a Resort Guest, Theme Park Ticket Holder, or Annual Passholder. Disney does tend to open up more availability as dates get closer, so you’ve got a pretty solid shot as long as you stay up-to-date with that calendar. We’ll also let you know every time reservations are refilled!
And remember, park hopping is available starting at 2PM. So even if you can’t get your first park of choice, you can hop to that park at 2PM (if it hasn’t hit capacity).
Check Out What Dates You’ll Want to Reserve ASAP!
The Website Won’t Let You Book Park Passes
We’ve recently noticed a glitch on the website that produces an error screen when we try to make our Park Pass reservations. It doesn’t happen every time — or to everyone — but it could be concern for you! Even if you have a valid theme park ticket and the park is available for the day you want to book, that dreaded headless Olaf screen could still appear.
©Disney
The solution? You’ll want to call Disney at (407) 939-5277. They’ll make your theme park reservations for you! Just make sure you provide the dates and parks you want to make reservations for. Also keep in mind that you could experience long wait times in order to get a Cast Member on the phone. Here’s hopin’ this glitch gets fixed soon!
You can also reach out to a CM through the chat feature on the Disney World app. It’s not guaranteed that the CM will be able to help you, but it might be worth a try.
Learn More About This Weird Issue!
You’re Being Told You Don’t Have an Eligible Ticket
If you’re trying to book Park Passes online, you may receive a screen telling you that you can’t reserve your spot because you don’t have a valid ticket. Keep in mind, you DO need a theme park ticket for the day you’re planning to visit in order to successfully make a Park Pass reservation — but sometimes, you do and that screen still pops up.
EPCOT
This is likely an issue with your ticket priorities. It’s a bit complicated, but if you have multiple tickets or passes registered under your name, the system could be automatically referring to an expired or blocked-out ticket. That would result in it thinking that you’re not eligible to visit! Like before, you’ll need to speak with a Cast Member directly to get this all sorted out. They should be able to “re-stack” your tickets so that you don’t have this issue again.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Again, you can reach Disney at (407) 939-5277.
Check Out Our Park Pass FAQs!
You Need to Change the Dates of Your Reservations
If your plans change, you may need to reschedule your Park Passes! Maybe you want to switch around which days you visit which parks, or maybe you’re changing the dates of your vacation.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to go into the system and change your Park Pass reservation days. You’ll need to cancel your current Park Passes and start over. This means you’ll want to make absolutely certain that the days you’re trying to switch to have availability BEFORE you cancel your current passes. Again, you can do that by visiting the Park Pass Availability Calendar.
Learn More About Park Passes in Disney World!
We hope these tips helped ya out if you’re in the process of making those reservations. Let us know if you have any other questions, and we’ll be happy to answer ’em! And stay tuned to DFB for more Disney news.
Click for a Guide to Making Park Pass Reservations in Disney World!
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Beginning to resent the reservation system and its limitations. We go to WDW so often we have an apartment just north of the Magic Kingdom. We have annual passes and held onto them through the shutdown. We also belong to D23. We would like to book a day in June, a day in July, and 4 days in August when our daughter is visiting. But because of the limits on reservations–only 3 days for annual pass holders without hotel reservations–we have no days in June or July and 3 in August. WDW could be making money off of us in June and July but the limits of the reservation system are keeping us out. (The August visit with daughter is too important to risk missing out on … need to reserve while we can.) Can’t wait for WDW to open up more.
When i bought our tickets for August the CM told me that she couldn’t make the reservations in the parks and that I had to go into the system and do it myself. Just an FYI….
Sure are a lot of hoops to jump through. I liked it in the past, pay for the vacation and go, any park, any day and dining plans were easier. Having fun at WDW appears to be challenging. Vacations are suppose to be relaxing.
I’m not getting an error. The page just opens and freezes. No links come up. I’ve tried both my PC and Phone. I click “make a theme park reservation” it goes to the next screen, then nothing.