A BIG change happened when Disney World reopened in 2020 and guests were introduced to the park pass reservation system.
If you want to visit Animal Kingdom, you have to book a park pass reservation
That system has stayed in place, and it seems like it’s going to be around for at least a while longer. So Disney World guests now must have a valid ticket PLUS a reservation for a park for a specific day (although they can hop to another park later without a reservation for THAT park). Now, how that reservation is made looks a little different on the My Disney Experience app.
When you book a park pass reservation on the My Disney Experience app, you get a page with the Disney World calendar, where you would be prompted to click on a date. Once that date was clicked on, you’d go to a page with a lot of condensed information that could get a little confusing. Now the page you get is more streamlined with all four parks listed with each park icon.
©Disney
Choose “select” on the park you want, and then continue to make your park pass reservation. For those NEW to park pass reservations, it might be easier to go on the Disney World website to make them — we’ve outlined the entire process here. Note that you cannot enter a park in Disney World without a ticket AND a park pass reservation.
EPCOT
We also cannot stress how important it is to make those park pass reservations for each day of your Disney World trip as soon as you can — some busy days can sell out and if you don’t jump on those reservations quickly, you may not be able to get those reservations you want for the days you want.
Magic Kingdom park passes often sell out for holidays.
If you forget to book those park pass reservations, you can still wait to see if more open up for that day (it does happen from time to time), but it is not a guarantee. If all else fails, you can book for a different park, and if you have the park hopping option on your ticket, you can head to the park you originally wanted later that day (at 2PM). We’ve got more details about that here.
We’ll let you know about any other changes that could affect your next Disney World trip so stay tuned to DFB for more!
Here’s Everything You Need To Know About Park Pass Reservations In Disney World
Join the DFB Newsletter to get all the breaking news right in your inbox! Click here to Subscribe!
WE KNOW DISNEY.
YOU CAN, TOO.
Oh boy, planning a Disney trip can be quite the adventure, and we totally get it! But fear not, dear friends, we compiled EVERYTHING you need (and the things to avoid!) to plan the ULTIMATE Disney vacation.
Whether you're a rookie or a seasoned pro, our insider tips and tricks will have you exploring the parks like never before. So come along with us, and get planning your most magical vacation ever!
Have you ever had issues getting park pass reservations in Disney World? Let us know in the comments!
Our handy (and portable!) ebook guides make sure you get the best deals and can plan a vacation of a lifetime.
That’s nice, the previous interface was pretty bad, most likely because it was improvised at the time.
I wonder what the daily take rate is for each park…? Meaning, of all the reservations made for a specific park on a specific day, how many actually show up…? What is the actual take vs. reservations made.
Worst thing Disney has ever done
Leave it to Disney World to turn a vacation into a full time job.
For example: Make sure that you have valid tickets and park reservations for the days you want to visit, make sure that you place your food order through the mobile app in advance, remember to check the wait times for each ride on your mobile app, make sure to space your Genie+ rides at least 2 hours after each ride, Make sure to make reservations at a sit down restaurant in advance, and if you don’t cancel 24 hours in advance you will be charged. Etc. Etc. Etc. Geez Louise!
I have a small problem paying for Genie +.. and I will probably pay it this year, but at least let us book 3 rides 60 days in advance similar to the old fast pass so we can plan our vacations a little more…
J.R. is correct. You always had to do some planning, but you used to be able to do all of it 6 months before you visited WDW. That was pretty much just dining reservations and any special things you wanted to do (like backstage tours, etc.) You used to be able to just wake up and pick a park that you wanted to visit and you went. Fast Passes were a 5 minute thing to do initially, and then you could pick them during the day as you wanted. Now you have to constantly be working at getting into the parks you want to visit, order meals 2-4 hours in advance, and try to reserve time slots for rides. For me, a vacation means sleeping in, and doing what I want when I want. If you have to be buried in your mobile device all day, that’s NOT a vacation. We have met too many families who were stressed out over all of this, and definitely NOT enjoying their vacation. This is why we will likely let our (Sorcerer) Annual Passes go at the beginning of October, and refocus on discovering the quiet beach spots of Florida.
The Park Pass System is just ridiculous! We hate it. It has turned a wonderful and magical experience into a stressful nail biting mess. It has destroyed all spontaneity and made visiting Disney feel like spending 10 days in a straight jacket. Too many constraints. AND, we paid extra for park hopping which was full price but could not be used til after 2pm. What a ripoff! Disney you should be ashamed. You are no longer the most magical place on Earth and your pixie dust is gone!
If you want to change a park reservation, do you have to cancel one and then go in and book the other? Or is there a quicker way to do that? Thanks!
There’s no park reservation system for Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard beach, I have booked park days well in advance, but it’s annoying you can’t decide on the day where you want to go. Any info on Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard beach reservations would be much appreciated.
Someone please give JR a medal!!! And a high 5
I completely agree with the comments posted by J R! I am planning a trip with my granddaughter for January, and I am seeing all the recommended planning “tools”. I have made a conscious decision to just not do it. I am not spending all day looking at a phone screen trying to game the system. She is 4 so we do not need to get on the big ticket rides and attractions. I am going to try, to the best of my ability, to give her the same magical experience that I was able to give my kids 30 years ago on our first visit.
I’m going with family in December. This will probably be my last visit. Who can enjoy Disney anymore? It’s stressful and no longer about the guests but about MONEY!! Just like almost ALL big corporations there is no concern at all for the customer. All they work at now is how do we make more money. There are nine family members going in Dec. We rented a house instead of staying on property. It has arcade games, 5 bedrooms and a pool. It is a third of the price for staying on property. New management has taken the fun out of the whole experience. I’m sure Walt is horrified!!! This is NOT what he wanted. Shame on you for destroying his ideas.
I know you’ve answered this somewhere, but I can’t find it: If you don’t have a park reservation AT ALL for a certain day, can you still “hop” after 2pm to a park or do you have to “check in” at the first park regardless of time of day before you “hop”???
Thanks for your patience!
Diane
Hi Diane! You will always need at least one park reservation. For instance, when I was there in January, we didn’t get up and moving until close to 2pm, but because my park pass was at Magic Kingdom and we wanted to hop to Epcot, I had to go to Magic Kingdom first and scan my band because there weren’t any Epcot reservations available. You can always check to see if the park you want to hop to has availability and if it does then you can just change your park reservation to that park, but if it doesn’t, you will have to scan in to your first park before you can hop.
Hi Dottyanna! The fastest way would be to cancel one park reservation and make another if the availability is there.
Good for you, J.R! Our thoughts exactly! It’s now so complicated to go to Disney World that we already let our annual passes expire. We found Universal to be much more enjoyable and in October we are buying annual passes there.
Over the last few years, Disney has gone crazy trying anything they can to raise prices and complicate the Disney experience. We’ve had enough.
The only change they need to make to this reservation system is to cancel it altogether.
I agree with Darlene!!! Cancel this system,it is one of the worst things Disney has done along with Genie + and getting rid of the Magical Express along with resort luggage check in.
We were at Disney in May this year – we had genie+ on a deal and we made all our park reservations, we allowed more days than we needed at Epcot & Hollywood (we paid for Rise of the Resistance – when we first booked it was virtual queue so I allowed extra days!) I then tried to change our park reservations that week – no availability for the parks we wanted so we just booked late afternoon genie+At the park we wanted and park hopped after 2pm after checking in to our first park later in the day, a real pain. We are planning to come back to Orlando in 2024 but are only doing Universal & Seaworld. As a previous comment said it wasn’t a vacation, we know we have to plan for a Disney hol but this new system and Genie+ was ridiculous and I spent most of my time on my phone whilst remembering to carry a power pack – not going back until things change, we are going to parks where guests are welcome and not only those with a platinum bank card, sad times .
I agree with all the previous comments. We used to buy annual gold passes, even though we live out of state and only got to Disney twice a year. It was worth it to have the flexibility to go into the parks whenever we wanted while we were there, even if it was only for dinner or to see the fireworks. Doing all the dining and fast pass reservations way in advance was a pain, but at least once we were there, we could relax and have fun. We have now given up our annual passes, and not even sure if we want to bother going into the parks with this new reservation system. We are DVC members, but are so disgusted with Disney’s greed and lack of consideration for guests. Like one of the previous commenters, we feel the magic is gone. We no longer recommend Disney to friends and family.
Hi AJ and DFB crew,
Can you confirm what I believe I read in the DFB newsletter some time ago, that Annual Passports will begin to be sold again, sometime prior to Nov. 1 2022, the 50th Anniversary of the opening of EPCOT? I anxiously await this admission policy re-revision, as I cannot afford to make a return trip to WDW without it. Any update you can provide about this would be greatly appreciated.
An open note to WDW execs:
C’mon Chapek and McCarthy, enough is enough with this AP “pause”. Oh, and while you’re at it, please trash this horrendous park reservation policy too. Considering all that you guys have put us guests through of late, namely horrendous across the board price increases, to the tune of 30 to 40% and tremendously inconvenient reservation policies for hotels, dining and attractions, don’t you think you might mitigate the damage a little by at least bringing back APs, so that we might be able to possibly afford a return trip to the parks again? Enough of profit over people, you guys. Walt is getting near to the earth’s core, due to his
grave spinning by now!
Hi! Disney has not yet confirmed when annual passes will return so as of right now we haven’t heard any news of them coming back by November 1st, however we are keeping a close watch on the situation and will post as soon as we know more.
Totally agree with Janet and Ann Marie. This is the worst thing Disney has done and we will not be going into the parks until this ridiculous rule is lifted!