Annual pass availability

[Den Carter]

Hi folks. Looking for some advice on availability for parks access.

I didn't renew my DLP Magic Plus this year as I wanted to have a break for a couple of years during the WDSP expansion. But with it looking unlikely I'll be able to travel from the UK to Florida in the foreseeable, I'm going to request a partial refund on my WDW pass, and buy DLP passes instead.

My question is about park access availability. At WDW everyone can see what the park availability is like for all types of ticket, but at DLP I can't see whether there is capacity or not until I link a ticket.

Is passholder availability looking fairly open for most days, or are the parks rammed? Specifically I'm thinking of going next Wednesday/Thursday, but I won't book travel if there's no chance of getting in.... any help or advice appreciated!

 

[cjkeating]

Here is the current availability for August. There were more blocked out dates but capacity has been added to the Annual Pass allocation today.

 

[Den Carter]

Here is the current availability for August. There were more blocked out dates but capacity has been added to the Annual Pass allocation today.View attachment 487862

Thank you! Think I may buy a one day pass and upgrade on the day. You can still do that at the AP Bureau, right?

 

[cjkeating]

Thank you! Think I may buy a one day pass and upgrade on the day. You can still do that at the AP Bureau, right?

Yes, the Annual Pass Bureau is open.

 

[Swissmiss]

Thank you! Think I may buy a one day pass and upgrade on the day. You can still do that at the AP Bureau, right?

You can, but choose your time wisely. We were in the parks on Monday and Tuesday and the line there looked rather long each time we passed by, and it has no sun cover.

I have no reason to doubt the other poster who said more allocations were added for APs, but I “followed” the calendar for weeks (out of curiosity) leading up to this week and was surprised how “fluid” the situation was. I’d look and both (tickets and APs) would be sold out, and then another time one would be green and not the other, and then it would flip, and then it would be green for both, and then it would change (you get the idea). I finally came to the conclusion that people would reserve “just in case” as they were thinking about planning a trip and then as their plans changed, they would cancel.

And for what it is worth, I think you can see the calendar without tickets linked - in the text there is a link to see availability, but this link is much less obvious than the “register” buttons, you might have overlooked it.

 

[Den Carter]

And for what it is worth, I think you can see the calendar without tickets linked - in the text there is a link to see availability, but this link is much less obvious than the “register” buttons, you might have overlooked it.

Amazing, thanks, you're spot on! Yes, the words 'subject to availability' in the blurb about registering have a sneaky hyperlink that I missed.

For anyone else in the same boat, this link may work:

Registration availability calendar

register.disneylandparis.com

 

[cjkeating]

It’s interesting to see that since I posted the image earlier all of August is available again.

 

[Swissmiss]

It’s interesting to see that since I posted the image earlier all of August is available again.

That is what I was talking about - I would look and there wouldn’t be availability on certain days, and then the next time it would be different days (or none) that had no AP availability. That is why I concluded that there were people reserving possible days as soon as they thought they might come to the parks, and then cancel them when they knew they wouldn’t. I did that to an extent - I knew we would go on Monday and Tuesday, and we had time enough to go for a bit on Wednesday. Leaving the park on Tuesday my DD told me she was happy with our two days and was ok not going on Wednesday (but said if I still wanted to go, she was ok with it too). So before getting to our car we stopped and I cancelled Wednesday’s reservations.

And in case people haven’t read the “fine print” - on the reservation confirmation it says failure to cancel gives DLP the right to block your ability to reserve entry for the ensuing two weeks.

 

[cjkeating]

That is what I was talking about - I would look and there wouldn’t be availability on certain days, and then the next time it would be different days (or none) that had no AP availability. That is why I concluded that there were people reserving possible days as soon as they thought they might come to the parks, and then cancel them when they knew they wouldn’t. I did that to an extent - I knew we would go on Monday and Tuesday, and we had time enough to go for a bit on Wednesday. Leaving the park on Tuesday my DD told me she was happy with our two days and was ok not going on Wednesday (but said if I still wanted to go, she was ok with it too). So before getting to our car we stopped and I cancelled Wednesday’s reservations.

And in case people haven’t read the “fine print” - on the reservation confirmation it says failure to cancel gives DLP the right to block your ability to reserve entry for the ensuing two weeks.

I did exactly the same... we were in fact in the park on the same days as I was there half day Saturday, Sunday/Monday and half day Tuesday. How did you find everything? I am thinking of doing a brief Trip Report/COVID post over the weekend. I was very impressed.

 

[Swissmiss]

I did exactly the same... we were in fact in the park on the same days as I was there half day Saturday, Sunday/Monday and half day Tuesday. How did you find everything? I am thinking of doing a brief Trip Report/COVID post over the weekend. I was very impressed.

I can‘t say that I was “impressed” insofar as I expected it to be as good as it was (if that makes sense). I kept finding myself wishing that the person (or people) who put in all the COVID-19 safety measures in my office building would go to DLP and take notes.

And other than our last two rides on Tuesday (Phantom Manor anc BTMRR) we rarely waited longer than 10-15 mins for any ride, which was nice. And that last Phantom Manor ride was rotten timing, as I saw the line was only about half as long by the time we’d gotten to the front. Definite kudos for the number of Purell dispensers and their placement, as well the vigilance of CMs to notice when they needed replacing. Loved all the new photopass magic shots; I think we got them all except for the Aladdin themed one.

 

[Den Carter]

I'm glad people are still buying annual passes, even if it means getting into a long line at the bureau. I would've expected demand to have gone down, but I guess people may be hoping that Illuminations and other shows will return within the year, and they can come back for a more rounded Disney experience.

 

[Swissmiss]

APs are still a good deal at DLP, particularly if you factor in parking in addition to park ticket prices. Parking is EUR 30!

 

[Den Carter]

APs are still a good deal at DLP, particularly if you factor in parking in addition to park ticket prices. Parking is EUR 30!

That's a very good point, especially on the parking. Same at WDW. It's been a few years since I visited a Disney park without an AP, so I think I take these things for granted. In my head parking is still free for everyone! I'm getting old...

 

[cjkeating]

I had never seen the Annual Pass Bureau line so long, I wonder if there are a backlog of people are ready to renew their passes after the closure?

Last time I renewed I did it at Donald's Desk which was the best experience ever, in and out in about 10 minutes.

 

[Den Carter]

So I came. Annual pass bought. Man, the park is busy today! And my goodness, the European crowd is AWFUL at social distancing. Glad to say park ops seem to be running well, but there needs to be an increase in cast members enforcing the Covid rules. Watching the WDW crowds on vlogs makes me feel that the US cast and crowd are way more respectful.

 

[Swissmiss]

So I came. Annual pass bought. Man, the park is busy today! And my goodness, the European crowd is AWFUL at social distancing. Glad to say park ops seem to be running well, but there needs to be an increase in cast members enforcing the Covid rules. Watching the WDW crowds on vlogs makes me feel that the US cast and crowd are way more respectful.

Wow - I wonder what happened in the past ten days because we had no issues with people social distancing early last week, and over 2 days we had 2 long waits, a few (maybe 3?) moderate waits and the rest of the wairs were of 10 mins or less.

 

[Den Carter]

Wow - I wonder what happened in the past ten days because we had no issues with people social distancing early last week, and over 2 days we had 2 long waits, a few (maybe 3?) moderate waits and the rest of the wairs were of 10 mins or less.

Chatting to a few other guests and also ED92 on Twitter, it seems this week has seen a massive influx in visitors, mainly driven by French school holidays. I've been checking weekend wait times for the last few Sundays, as I always use a weekend to gauge 'worst case scenario' crowd levels, despite always visiting on weekdays. Still, average wait times today were above last weekend. 60 mins plus for SM, BTM and PM, and 45ish for PotC. Still a lovely day though. Going to brave Studios tomorrow!

 

[cjkeating]

So I came. Annual pass bought. Man, the park is busy today! And my goodness, the European crowd is AWFUL at social distancing. Glad to say park ops seem to be running well, but there needs to be an increase in cast members enforcing the Covid rules. Watching the WDW crowds on vlogs makes me feel that the US cast and crowd are way more respectful.

I had a few issues with people behind us in the lines getting too close so we just let the group past, then the group in front had a French on French conversation to resolve issues. Across the parks in general we didn't have issues so will be interesting to see how things go during August.

Disneyland Paris has certainly had the lowest attendance cap compared to other European parks so not surprising that they are increasing attendance after a few weeks of operations. Santa Fe has opened this week which brought a fair few numbers of rooms online as well.

I would always avoid the parks during the holidays so my next trip (future lockdowns permitting) will be early September once the schools are back.

 

[Den Carter]

I've also always avoided school holidays, but perhaps the low crowds of the last couple of weeks emboldened me somewhat. I'm glad the park isn't dead. After this week's Q3 results, every guest counts!

 

[cjkeating]

I've also always avoided school holidays, but perhaps the low crowds of the last couple of weeks emboldened me somewhat. I'm glad the park isn't dead. After this week's Q3 results, every guest counts!

Yeah. I understand the parks urge to get the park to it's maximum COVID capacity with it being August... it won't have the demand again until maybe Halloween week, December weekends, Christmas week and then Easter.