What Does It Mean When a Disney World Park Sells Out, and What Can You Do About It?

It’s no secret that the holiday season and holidays, in general, are among the busiest times in Disney World, which means crowds, crowds, CROWDS.

Magic Kingdom entrance on Christmas Eve

So here’s the thing: Believe it or not, Disney World’s theme parks do have capacity limits (although they aren’t quite as limited as what we saw after Disney World’s reopening in 2020). Now, we’ll have to tell you that the parks don’t reach that limit often (and yes, that means you’ll often be in the parks shoulder to shoulder with everyone else), but sometimes they do. Well, what happens when a park sells out? What’s that about? We’re going to tell you!

Okay, first we need to explain the difference between sold out dates for non-dated tickets as opposed to sold out dates for everyone. So here’s the thing: in early 2024, Disney World got rid of its park pass reservation system for the majority of its guests — those with date-based tickets. That’s basically anyone who bought regular park multi-day tickets — these guests do NOT have to make park pass reservations to visit the parks.

Disney World Theme Park Ticket Cards

However, Annual Passholders and other people who don’t use date-based tickets are required to make park pass reservations before visiting any of Disney World’s four theme parks. They can do that through the Disney World website. So here’s the thing: Park pass reservations can “sell out” on busier days, meaning that those folks will be blocked out from visiting the parks that are “sold out.”

Annual Pass

Mostly, those of us who come from out of town with date-based tickets don’t have to worry about this — you can still get into those parks that no longer have park pass reservations available. However, there are certain days of the year, like the Fourth of July or New Year’s Eve, when the parks can still reach capacity and you could be prevented from entering a park, regardless of the kind of ticket you hold.

Yeah, we know, it’s shocking that Disney World would ever turn anyone away, but this means the parks are at their MAXIMUM capacity and they have to turn you away for safety reasons.

2023 New Year’s Eve crowds at EPCOT

Now, this usually only happens in Magic Kingdom, Disney World’s most popular park, and EPCOT (particularly on New Year’s Eve because a popular New Year’s Eve activity is drinking around the world). If it DOES happen, the capacity is usually reached in the morning. So you’ll want to get to the park as early as you can, either with Early Theme Park Entry (which is available to Disney World hotel guests) or at rope drop.

Lots of folks ready to go at rope drop!

Here’s the thing: Even if you’re just wanting to celebrate New Year’s Eve in the parks — you’ll need to get to the park early and stay there all day — if you leave, you might not be able to get back in. So you’ll need to be prepared to settle in for a long day at the park you choose.

EPCOT New Year’s Eve

Disney World will generally send out notifications through the My Disney Experience app when a park reaches capacity. However, if you want to check before you head to a park on one of these busy days, you can also call the park capacity hotline at (407) 560-5000. You’ll be able to find out quickly which parks have reached capacity and which ones are still available. It’s also a good idea to call this phone number if you want to park hop — because even if you are “in” at one park, when you get to your next one, you could be turned away if it reaches capacity.

Capacity Message pop-up on My Disney Experience

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that even if you can’t get into one park at the moment, you will still likely be able to visit another park while you’re waiting to see if your first park of choice has any capacity free up (and that does occasionally happen). So be sure to keep checking on all four parks before you just give up. Note, though, that your hotel and Disney Springs might also have some fun activities going on for any big celebratory days, if all else fails.

You should be able to visit other parks

Stay tuned to DFB for more.

4 Big Reasons Disney World Crowds Could Be Lower in 2025

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