Planning a Disney World trip can be stressful! There’s a lot that goes into vacationing in the Most Magical Place on Earth, and you’ll need to be able to navigate the park pass system, Disney Genie and Genie+, as well as book dining reservations for any table service restaurants you want to experience.
Cinderella Castle in Magic Kingdom
The first (and arguably most important) thing you’ll want to do is make your park reservations. Park reservations (or park passes) are required for every day of your trip, and are subject to availability so they may sell out. Here’s what you can do when that happens.
Be Preemptive
One of the best things you can do to make sure you secure the park passes you need is to book them as soon as possible. As soon as you have purchased your tickets and you know which park you will be visiting each day of your trip, go ahead and make the park reservation.
Book your park pass as soon as you know which park you’ll be visiting.
You can make changes to your park passes later if you need to, but we highly recommend making your park reservations sooner rather than later to avoid missing out on passes.
Click here to see why Disney guests say park passes make planning harder!
Take Advantage of Park Hopping
If you check the Park Pass Availability Calendar and see that the park you want to head to on a certain day is unavailable, you may want to consider taking advantage of park hopping. This will, of course, only work if you have a ticket with the park hopper ability added to it, but you can make a reservation for one park, then hop to another after 2PM.
You can make a reservation for one park, and then hop to another after 2PM.
If you plan to use this method, know that you’ll still need to enter the park you have a reservation for before you can head to your desired park, even if it’s after 2 PM. Let’s say you have a park reservation for Animal Kingdom, but you want to go to EPCOT. You’ll still need to go to Animal Kingdom and scan your MagicBand or park ticket to get into the park before you will be able to EPCOT.
You’ll still need to scan into your first park before you can head to your desired park.
It’s also worth mentioning that park hopping may become unavailable on especially busy days (like when guests were unable to park hop to Magic Kingdom on Disney World’s 50th Anniversary). When this has happened before, Disney has sent notifications in the My Disney Experience app, so you’ll definitely want to make sure you have that downloaded before you go on your trip. There’s also a phone number you can call — (407) 560-5000 — to get an automated message about park capacity that is updated throughout the day.
Click here to read about a park hopping danger you need to know before you go!
Keep Checking the Availability Calendar
You might find yourself in a situation where every single Disney World park is completely sold out. If that’s the case, the best thing you can do is check the park availability calendar periodically to see if any park reservations become available.
Keep checking — you never know when Park Passes may show up!
People’s plans change and they may need to cancel their reservations, so you may get lucky and be able to snag something at the last minute! Disney has also been known to release more Park Passes on days when things are sold out . This is something we monitor continuously, so make sure to follow DFB for more information on Park Pass availability!
Disney may release more park passes on days that are sold out!
While there is no guarantee, you also may be able to call Disney directly or go to Guest Services and see if there is anything they can do to help you get a Park Pass if you need one.
How HATED is Disney’s Park Pass System? Click here to see the answer that shocked us!
Do Something Else
Sometimes, part of a Disney World vacation is being flexible! If you’re unable to book a park pass reservation, you might consider taking advantage of some other things Disney has to offer. There are lots of things to do that don’t involve going to the theme parks. For example, you can head to Disney Springs and do some shopping and eating, or maybe even catch the Cirque du Soleil show Drawn to Life. There’s also bowling at Splitsville Luxury Lanes and live entertainment on the Waterside Stage.
Splitsville Luxury Lanes
You could also head to a Disney water park (the water parks currently do not require a park pass for entry). Blizzard Beach is currently closed for refurbishment, but you can head to Typhoon Lagoon and spend your day going down water slides and chilling in the wave pool.
You could head to Typhoon Lagoon!
If you’re staying at a Disney World hotel, you could have a hotel day! Each Disney hotel has at LEAST one pool, so you could relax poolside, explore the resort, and have a chill day. If you have kids, you can let them play on the playground or in the arcade. If you want, you can even explore other Disney World hotels, but keep in mind that you won’t be able to park there unless you’re staying at the hotel or have a dining reservation there. Disney vacations aren’t always the most relaxing, so sometimes it’s nice to take a day to just chill at the hotel.
You can take some time to relax at your hotel!
One thing a lot of people don’t know about is all of the recreation activities you can take part in at Disney World! You can rent Surrey Bikes at some Disney World hotels like Port Orleans Riverside and Old Key West, you can play mini golf on two courses, or golf on two full-size courses!
You can rent Surrey Bikes at Port Orleans Riverside!
You could also head to Fort Wilderness, where you can rent canoes and kayaks, rent bikes or golf carts, and even ride horses! Honestly, you could spend multiple days at Disney World outside of the parks and not run out of things to do!
Here’s why you’ll REGRET staying at these Disney World hotels in 2022.
Not being able to get the park pass you need on your Disney World vacation can be frustrating, but there are a few ways you can try to secure the reservation you need. If you can’t get into the parks, there are lots of other things you can do with your day in Disney World. Make sure to stay tuned to DFB for all the latest Disney World news and information!
Click here to find out how you’re planning your 2022 Disney World trip WRONG!
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In 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017, 2018 there was a lot of crowds of people. Everyone was very very close to everyone. Disney World never announced it was too full or turned people away. In my opinion this is a artificial tactic . I was there in all the years listed above in October. This is not their least populated month and was not their cheapest. This tactic is to raise prices and extract more monies from their guests by creating artificial numbers.
The only time i can remember the parks being closed was new years eve. 1999 into 2000 we were at the swan and the parks we all at capacity by 11 am. We had no plans of being in the park that day it was a pool day for the kids.
But new years day morning we went to magic kingdom and as we were passing through the castle we were asked if we wanted breakfast at the royal table. We took them up on the offer. That would never happen now days with all the online booking. So it goes a little of the magic is gone.
I realy don’t enjoy looking at my phone all day, its just another way disney controls us in the park.
Joe
Disney has taken all the magic away….I worked at Disney World during my high school years, took my 3 boys there as they grew up, and spent many fun days with my husband…we will never return. Between the sky high costs, the torture of having to constantly be on a phone to do anything, the extra fees to ride what I already paid to tide when I bought an admission ticket, and their decision to step into politics and culture wars….they have killed any magic.