Part of the Park Pass reservation system is about to CHANGE, and it’s going to make your life a whole lot easier.
EPCOT
Disney World’s Park Pass reservation system was introduced following the pandemic-related closures, and Disney executives have sung its praises ever since (a.k.a. it doesn’t seem like this system will be going away any time soon). We’ve seen some changes made to the system, and soon some more changes will be on the way.
Ever buy a 1-day, 1-park ticket to Disney World and then totally forget to make your Park Pass reservation until it’s too late and the park you wanted to visit has filled up? Well, that problem might be a thing of the past soon thanks to upcoming changes.
©Disney
Disney World has announced some MASSIVE changes recently, including park hopper price changes based on date, a change in the dining reservation cancelation policy, and price increases for annual passes. But, most importantly for this post, Disney has announced some critical changes when it comes to 1-day, 1-park tickets.
Starting December 8th, Disney will actually be utilizing a park-specific pricing structure for 1-day, 1-park tickets.
Disney World
What does this mean? Well, starting December 8th, you’ll purchase a 1-day, 1-park ticket for a specific park (i.e. a 1-day, 1-park ticket for Magic Kingdom, as opposed to just a generic, non-park-specific 1-day, 1-park ticket).
When you purchase that 1-day ticket for a specific date and theme park, a Park Pass reservation will actually be AUTOMATICALLY made at the time of purchase, so that’ll be one less thing to worry about.
Cosmic Rewind
But, note that starting on December 8th (when this change is put in place), pricing will be a bit different when it comes to those 1-day, 1-park tickets. Instead of all parks being priced the same on any given day, prices for 1-day, 1-park tickets will vary depending on what park you want to visit, with Magic Kingdom reaching the highest ticket price levels.
For a full breakdown on the changes coming to 1-day, 1-park ticket prices — click here!
Remember that this automatic Park Pass reservation will only apply for 1-day tickets for a specific date and theme park for now. If you’ll be buying any other kind of ticket type, you’ll still need to take the extra step and make that Park Pass reservation on your own.
A valid ticket AND Park Pass is required for park entry, so you’ll want to make those Park Passes quickly to ensure that you can visit the parks you want.
Expedition Everest
Stay tuned for more updates.
Click here to learn about the Annual Pass price increases
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I took two years to come up with something so obvious?
You say that the park pass system will allow Disney World guests to make reservations for their desired park up to 60 days in advance. However, I have found that sometimes I am only able to make a reservation for my desired park 49 days in advance. I would suggest changing this to say that guests can make a reservation for their desired park up to 50 days in advance.
Duh…
What happens if it rains that day, and you want to change it for a different date? What about 2-day tickets? How does that work with sliding prices for different parks, and you don’t know which date you want to visit each park?
And you say this is going to make things EASIER for people?
Oh boy! Would that affect the people that have already bought park tickets for Jan 2023?
What happens for upcoming trips next year that have already made park pass reservations?
Hi! If you already have a park pass reservation and your tickets, you’re fine. This applies to one day, one park tickets and all it’s doing it automatically reserving a park pass for the park the purchaser is buying a ticket for so they don’t have to do it manually. 🙂
Hi RT. If you already have your park ticket and park passes you will not be affected.
Yikes, so you are even MORE locked in to going to the one park than in the past? No changing your mind here, I would guess! HOw about they really do something that is customer friendly and do AWAY with the park reservation system? Then I will be impressed!
Are there really that many people buying a one day, one park ticket?
I wish they would get rid of the park pass reservation system all together.
I still dislike the reservation system..you can’t just go to the parks.. That was always the best part of being a Passholder..
Still a nightmare !
Park prices ! Increase in dining prices ! and the reservation system make it so difficult to plan anymore! Forget last minute trips now!
The price for animal kingdom remains the same as now. So, for animal kingdom visits, it’s a great convenience. Other parks (Magic kingdom, Hollywood studios) will cost $15-30 more per person per day, so consider this a $15-30 “convenience fee” for making reservations easier!
So right now you buy a one day ticket and can switch it at any time to another park. But now you’ll be locked into a certain park. Definitely not an improvement for the guest, only for Disney, in the guise of making it easier for the guest. Seems like they’re just focusing on park pass management even more. I’ll bet it won’t stop at one day tickets. This is just a test.
It really ruins the spontaneity that you use to have to decide where you want to go and what you do when you start your day. You don’t know how you’ll feel each day especially making them so far in advance.
This is a meaningless change but they are trying to make a big deal out of it anyway.
So they were selling tickets outside of parks for parks that were full with reservations and you couldn’t go in. I knew it was bait and switch! I could see them selling tickets outside Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom on days that were fully booked for day pass holders. Let’s face it they only did this to avoid evidence of fraud and their ongoing lawsuits with annual passholders.
Park reservations are the biggest fraud Disney has come up with. Bob Chapek deserves to get fired and his golden parachute stripped. I hope Disney loses their lawsuits badly.
Park reservations are not about serving the guest at all. It has nothing to do with customer satisfaction. It’s all about Bob Chapek scheduling as little staff as possible and pushing guests around to serve his purposes.
The best thing guests can do is go to Universal or SeaWorld. Don’t give Disney your money or your custom.
Where I see that the implementation makes sense. If you buy a ticket to a park you should be able to go to it. I’m admittedly not a fan of the reservation system. This and the sliding scale root system and continued price hikes just continues to muddy the waters of trying to make sense of buying a ticket to visit Walt Disney World as each day goes by. I remember when it used to be simple you bought a day ticket or tickets, or an annual pass, and you went to a park, or all four parks. It seemed to make sense. Now it’s all a mishmash of continuing changes and increased frustration. For myself my biggest frustration is as vacation club members, I would certainly like to see the availability of annual passes. As are membership pretty much compels our repeated visits to Disney. Often in one year. I’m hoping that Bob Iger will make some sense of all this. I’m not sure it’s a priority as the parks are making money. And other divisions he has to concern himself with are not. And in all honesty, as the person in charge of parks and resorts, Josh de Amaro may very well be the Mastermind of a lot of this!
So you buy a 2-day park hopper. You have to make park pass reservations. You have young kids.
You make a reservation for MK on Saturday, and Epcot on Sunday. But it pours all day Saturday.
So your kids can’t go to MK at all if MK is booked up for Sunday?
These people are out of their minds…it’s disgusting…and I feel so sorry for people coming in out of state, let alone out of country.
EVERY TIME DISNEY IS MAKING MORE AND MORE DIFFICULT TO GET TO ENJOY THEIR PARKS, THEIR FOOD, THEIR EVERYTHING!!!!
IS THIS A PLAN FOR RICH PEOPLE ONLY-PARK?
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO NICE-FRIENDLY-DISNEY???
HOW DISAPPOINTING!!!