As Walt Disney World returns to normal following policies and procedures from the COVID-19 pandemic, park reservations are now a thing of the past for some guests.
For typical day guests to any of Disney World’s four theme parks, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, EPCOT, or Hollywood Studios, a park reservation through the My Disney Experience App are no longer needed.
Instead, day guests can now show up and enjoy a magical day at whichever theme park they choose, and they can park hop wherever they’d like if they have the appropriate ticket. However, one group of Disney World fanatics must still utilize the park reservation system at Walt Disney World to enjoy everything that the Most Magical Place on Earth has to offer.
When Disney finally announced that they would be lifting their park reservation restrictions, most cheered loudly as the days of confusion and strenuous planning were finally over. However, Annual Passholders would cheer prematurely, only to learn that they would still be required to make reservations when they hoped to visit a Disney Park.
Although Disney would incorporate what would be known as “good-to-go” days for their guests who hold an Annual Pass, if they wanted to visit a theme park at any point not labeled as such by Disney, they’d still need a reservation to get in.
Although this doesn’t necessarily bode terribly for Annual Passholders, who’ve become accustomed to utilizing the park reservation system, it felt like a sleight to some, leaving a nasty taste in their mouths (me, it felt like that to me).
Still, if an Annual Passholder wants to visit, they can do so on “good-to-go” days. However, based on Walt Disney World’s reservation calendar, it doesn’t appear that these days often fall on premiere times to visit, such as the weekend, when everyone is off of work.
Also, despite the “good-to-go” day strategy, Disney World Annual Passholders will still need a park reservation anytime they hope to visit Magic Kingdom on a Saturday.
With a new system in place, it seemed like some of the confusion surrounding how to reserve park attendance was going to alleviate itself. However, that proved to potentially not be the case, when this weekend, one Annual Passholder, hoping to take advantage of the rare nice weather in Central Florida, discovered that there were zero park reservations available for Saturday.
Reddit user @u/mosie143 noted that upon attempting to visit Walt Disney World this weekend, no park reservations were available for Annual Passholders. All four parks, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and EPCOT, were full.
No AP reservations at any park for this Saturday!
byu/mosie143 inWaltDisneyWorld
However, many other Disney fans came to the rescue as the user was only looking at the availability calendar. Others quickly noted that as they attempted to book, Disney World did indeed have reservations available. The calendar just showed that it did not.
Of course, with the furthered confusion of the reservation calendar for Annual Passholders, this only adds to the perplexity that they now have to endure to simply visit their favorite parks. How many APs have canceled plans this weekend to visit due to calendars showing no reservations?
Given the coming weather, with temperatures in the high 50s and low 60s, this is one of those rare chances where Orlando isn’t blazing, drenched in rain, or as humid as can be. According to the same Reddit post, many are flocking to the parks this weekend to take advantage. However, some may not, as the reservation calendar, upon our last check, shows no availability for Disney World Annual Passholders unless you carry on further in the reservation process. Confusing times, indeed.
How do you feel about Annual Passholders still having to utilize the park reservation system?
I am extremely disappointed in the new reservation process for AP holders. First of all, Disney gets to use our purchase money even before we activate our passes. Secondly, many of us buy APs because we are DVC members and make multiple trips to the parks in one year. We may not be buying Park passes each of those times, but we do spend money on meals, merchandise, shows and others things. IMO, we are being treated as second class citizens. Guess Disney is catering to many one and done Park attendees…many families can only afford a once in a lifetime trip to Disney World and save up for the expense for several years.
With the constant rising costs, the number of people and families able to afford a trip to WDW, is and will be shrinking. Additionally, as a DVC Member, booking our home resorts or any DVC resort has become a challenge in and of itself. My family use to be able to make spur of the moment reservations when we found unexpected time off and we could use our AP. Now, we need to check for Park reservations first. I forsee a lot of NO PARK visits I’m our future.