Magic Kingdom Starlight Parade Brings New Annual Passholder Park Reservation Rule

Dranth

Well-Known Member
I have no idea why anyone is still an AP holder at this point. They continually change the rules on you and make more hoops for you to jump through, just to use the privilege you paid for.
Makes for significantly cheaper tickets for us so the money saved is worth the reservation hassle.
 

jprieur

Active Member
Maybe I missed it, but any mention of APs staying on site?
Funny! Of course not.

This is the one thing about this whole reservation system that continues to disprove their narrative that reservations help them for planning and managing capacity, etc.

If I am an AP (non FL resident), staying onsite at a disney hotel then count me in the same planning and capacity numbers as those staying onsite with dated tickets (we are essentially the same profile). As a non FL resident/non DVC member I am forced to buy the highest level AP, that has no blackout dates. If I cant enter a park on a specific day (and its not at full capacity/phased closing the day that I try to enter and I am notified PRIOR to that day that that specific calendar day it is not available to me) then sorry, that is by very definition a blackout date. DVC members at their tier of AP staying on site should be the same.

The very fact that, aside from this new passholder parade rule, I can enter a park that did not have avail park reservations, a mere 15/30 min after hitting the entry touchpoint at another available reservation park also makes no sense for the capacity planning narrative.

The whole park reservation system is a joke now anyway, and they act like they are doing AP holders a favor by announcing good to go days (when I have yet to see a good to go day that had any parks not available for park reservations). And they still can't embed making/modifying a park reservation in their app as it requires a redirect to the actual website. The only thing I use good to go days for is a gauge that park crowding will be lower than normal.
 

JohnD

Well-Known Member
This wording is very confusing since it just says park reservation. Not MK. That would seemingly allow hopping.

Guess we will see…
If any park reservation is needed, then why issue a statement? I agree the wording is confusing but it's meant to convey a park reservation is needed for MK if you want to see the parade. How you handle that day as an AP is up to you (e.g. scan in, go to another park, come back in the evening) but you need a park reservation to MK.
 

JohnD

Well-Known Member
Maybe I missed it, but any mention of APs staying on site?
No. You just need a park reservation to MK, whether as one of your allotted park reservations without a stay, or one of the total number of days, if staying at a Disney resort.
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
If any park reservation is needed, then why issue a statement? I agree the wording is confusing but it's meant to convey a park reservation is needed for MK if you want to see the parade. How you handle that day as an AP is up to you (e.g. scan in, go to another park, come back in the evening) but you need a park reservation to MK.
Unless it’s just saying “you can’t go to MK after 2 without a reservation.”

You currently can do that on weekdays. Essentially, that makes every day work like Saturday and Sunday currently work.
 

JohnD

Well-Known Member
Unless it’s just saying “you can’t go to MK after 2 without a reservation.”

You currently can do that on weekdays. Essentially, that makes every day work like Saturday and Sunday currently work.
Last sentence in the @wdwmagic post (bold is mine): "If you’re a Passholder planning to catch the Starlight parade, make sure you secure your Magic Kingdom reservation early."
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
Last sentence in the @wdwmagic post (bold is mine): "If you’re a Passholder planning to catch the Starlight parade, make sure you secure your Magic Kingdom reservation early."
That’s Steve’s wording. Not Disney’s.

Disney focuses on the shift to the “after 2 pm” policy that currently stands.

But, again, I guess we will see.

I’m…skeptical…that they’d block hopping for this one group. Not wanting tens of thousands of locals to show up without Disney knowing in advance makes sense, though.

They need to specify “Magic Kingdom park reservation” if that’s what they mean.
 

JohnD

Well-Known Member
That’s Steve’s wording. Not Disney’s.

Disney focuses on the shift to the “after 2 pm” policy that currently stands.

But, again, I guess we will see.

I’m…skeptical…that they’d block hopping for this one group. Not wanting tens of thousands of locals to show up without Disney knowing in advance makes sense, though.

They need to specify “Magic Kingdom park reservation” if that’s what they mean.
I'm aware of that. But I would heed is guidance and hold a reservation for MK anyway.
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
I'm aware of that. But I would heed is guidance and hold a reservation for MK anyway.
Oh, definitely. I made a couple MK reservations. But we are staying at YC and prefer to hop on summer days with a swim break. So we will see how this works. It’s easy enough for me to go MK-YC-MK if needed (though not my preference).
 

Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member
Well I guess I was wrong when I said there was ever going to be a day in the near future where Disney might decide to eliminate reservations!
aprulechange.jpg
;)
 

KDM31091

Well-Known Member
The whole “helps us plan and staff” and whatnot is just BS to considering you can modify a reservation minutes before you enter a park, or park hop immediately, rendering the data useless. I don’t know why they are clinging so hard to this honestly. They survived without it for decades. During COVID it made sense but it needs to go now. Instead they just keep adding more layers and complication to it.
 

gorillaball

Well-Known Member
Funny! Of course not.

This is the one thing about this whole reservation system that continues to disprove their narrative that reservations help them for planning and managing capacity, etc.

If I am an AP (non FL resident), staying onsite at a disney hotel then count me in the same planning and capacity numbers as those staying onsite with dated tickets (we are essentially the same profile). As a non FL resident/non DVC member I am forced to buy the highest level AP, that has no blackout dates. If I cant enter a park on a specific day (and its not at full capacity/phased closing the day that I try to enter and I am notified PRIOR to that day that that specific calendar day it is not available to me) then sorry, that is by very definition a blackout date. DVC members at their tier of AP staying on site should be the same.

The very fact that, aside from this new passholder parade rule, I can enter a park that did not have avail park reservations, a mere 15/30 min after hitting the entry touchpoint at another available reservation park also makes no sense for the capacity planning narrative.

The whole park reservation system is a joke now anyway, and they act like they are doing AP holders a favor by announcing good to go days (when I have yet to see a good to go day that had any parks not available for park reservations). And they still can't embed making/modifying a park reservation in their app as it requires a redirect to the actual website. The only thing I use good to go days for is a gauge that park crowding will be lower than normal.
Agree!! Out of state AP holder staying on property… should not have to make a reservation. Such a nuisance and added confusion.

I go with my non-ap kids. They don’t need a reservation but I do. Logical.
 

Ayla

Well-Known Member
That’s Steve’s wording. Not Disney’s.

Disney focuses on the shift to the “after 2 pm” policy that currently stands.

But, again, I guess we will see.

I’m…skeptical…that they’d block hopping for this one group. Not wanting tens of thousands of locals to show up without Disney knowing in advance makes sense, though.

They need to specify “Magic Kingdom park reservation” if that’s what they mean.
If I was going to be there during that time, I'd make sure I made a MK reservation.
 

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