News Disney Park Pass System announced for Walt Disney World theme park reservations

[Sirwalterraleigh]

A free 2 rides is still better than a paid 3 rides.
Bring back FP!

I’m confused…I don’t remember that program?

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Wait .... Annual passholders, who already get cheap subsidised tickets (and thus destroy the parks with huge crowds and spend very little) don't have to go through the horrors of the reservation system?

I am an annual passholder. I live in NY. I take 3-4 trips per year of a week each. I usually stay on site, eat my meals on site, buy lots of souvenirs, buy genie+, and do upcharge events and parties. I am only an annual pass holder because the breakeven point is two trips (I go at Christmas). You have no idea what you are talking about.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I am an annual passholder. I live in NY. I take 3-4 trips per year of a week each. I usually stay on site, eat my meals on site, buy lots of souvenirs, buy genie+, and do upcharge events and parties. You have no idea what you are talking about.

Not that I’m supporting the clown post you are responding too…I’m not…

But you are a bit of an outlier AP now. They haven’t sold to the out of town type in 3 years minus 4 weeks and you had to pay through Covid as a “test of loyalty” in most cases

 

[RememberWhen]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I despise paying for G+, although I have and it has worked well for us when we used it. What grinds my gears more than ANYTHING is the fact that you're paying for the system and you can't use it to re-ride. That to me is the biggest technical flaw of all. If I'm paying to use it, I should be able to get multiple G+ passes for rides I would like to re-ride.

This is my biggest issue with genie+. I’ve got 3 kids, youngest is 1.5. She wants to do dumbo on repeat. But sometimes the dumbo line is loooong. Seems they could limit no repeat to the e-tickets.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

This is my biggest issue with genie+. I’ve got 3 kids, youngest is 1.5. She wants to do dumbo on repeat. But sometimes the dumbo line is loooong. Seems they could limit no repeat to the e-tickets.

Can’t do it…the numbers don’t work.

It’s the same as the tiers on the blessed fastpass: lazy

The numbers don’t work. You can’t handle your crowd and misdirect the crowd enough to get them to do what you want and make Them THINK you can.

10 years this has been unfolding after 20 years of bad park strategy

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Not that I’m supporting the clown post you are responding too…I’m not…

But you are a bit of an outlier AP now. They haven’t sold to the out of town type in 3 years minus 4 weeks and you had to pay through Covid as a “test of loyalty” in most cases

Fair.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Can’t do it…the numbers don’t work.

I don’t know, I was there Christmas week, and Figment, the Seas, the Land, etc., were all available for genie+ immediately, basically all day, even on crowd level 10+ days. That says to me that genie+ slots for those attractions were “going to waste.” If they allowed rerides on the A-ticket rides like that and only that? I think they probably wouldn’t effect LL availability too much.

Magic Kingdom Dumbo/Magic Carpets of Aladdin / Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor / Mickey’s Philharmagic were similar. Hollywood Studios shows were similar. Animal Kingdom, yeah, there are no rides you could do this for.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

Actually thinking about it some more, they could do it for Animation Experience at AK lol.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I don’t know, I was there Christmas week, and Figment, the Seas, the Land, etc., were all available for genie+ immediately, basically all day, even on crowd level 10+ days. That says to me that genie+ slots for those attractions were “going to waste.” If they allowed rerides on the A-ticket rides like that and only that? I think they probably wouldn’t effect availability too much.

Magic Kingdom Dumbo/Magic Carpets of Aladdin / Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor / Mickey’s Philharmagic were similar. Hollywood Studios shows were similar. Animal Kingdom, yeah, there are no rides you could do this for.

I was there too…it frankly wasn’t that busy…

So grain of salt…everytime they tinker with crowd management…it goes further down the well of not being able to handle the crowds.

Very few people are pounding Nemo…and if you make provisions to do it…you risk having that tick off those who are NOT trying to do it but want some conciliatory option for their ridiculous fees.

The numbers just don’t work.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Disney Glimpses Any update on this? Will there be something to offer for resort guests in the coming months?

Yes, all of the above. They are moving incredibly slowly though. Reservations will forever be a tool they use to prevent the need for phased closures or capacity reaching a point that it actually greatly lowers yield and experience.

But as we all know, phased closures happen only 2-3 times a year (if at all) and the unbearably busy days are really just a few months of the year. They are still sorting out how they keep reservations around for certain parks for certain days for certain guest/ticket types. Hopefully more this Spring.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Yes, all of the above. They are moving incredibly slowly though. Reservations will forever be a tool they use to prevent the need for phased closures or capacity reaching a point that it actually greatly lowers yield and experience.

But as we all know, phased closures happen only 2-3 times a year (if at all) and the unbearably busy days are really just a few months of the year. They are still sorting out how they keep reservations around for certain parks for certain days for certain guest/ticket types. Hopefully more this Spring.

The old phase closings are drop dead moments where it becomes obviously apparent that any more guests would be undeniably unsafe.

I'm sure Disney wouldn't want any park to get that bad, and so, there will be a lower maximum capacity. One that could fluctuate depending on staffing situations.

 

[cslafferty]

I still don't understand all the angst over reservations... I get it's a big change from before, but it makes sense to me.

We usually go the first week in December. Last year, I had to make a reservation for Epcot because we had a lunch reservation at 1:00 (Candlelight Processional dining package). Epcot didn’t open until 11:00. Normally, we would’ve rope-dropped MK, ridden a bunch of rides, spent some money, and then hopped to Epcot for lunch. But because of park reservations and the 2pm hopping restrictions, we sat all morning waiting for Epcot to open. When you only go to WDW once every 2-3 years, that’s precious park time that was waisted.

 

[Disstevefan1]

We usually go the first week in December. Last year, I had to make a reservation for Epcot because we had a lunch reservation at 1:00 (Candlelight Processional dining package). Epcot didn’t open until 11:00. Normally, we would’ve rope-dropped MK, ridden a bunch of rides, spent some money, and then hopped to Epcot for lunch. But because of park reservations and the 2pm hopping restrictions, we sat all morning waiting for Epcot to open. When you only go to WDW once every 2-3 years, that’s precious park time that was waisted.

Looks like that PPR system is working….. For Disney.

They want you to buy tickets to the parks, stay in their resorts, eat in their restaurants, but they prefer to keep your time IN the theme parks to a minimum.

 

[jpeden]

Yes, all of the above. They are moving incredibly slowly though. Reservations will forever be a tool they use to prevent the need for phased closures or capacity reaching a point that it actually greatly lowers yield and experience.

But as we all know, phased closures happen only 2-3 times a year (if at all) and the unbearably busy days are really just a few months of the year. They are still sorting out how they keep reservations around for certain parks for certain days for certain guest/ticket types. Hopefully more this Spring.

Any chance reservations won’t be required for on-site guests by November? We are heading out the week after thanksgiving.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Reservations at this point are mostly harmless considering there is literally 100% availability at all parks, all ticket types, all days for the next year (except TRON opening day, APs are blocked out). The issue is park hopping.

But at this point, reservations serve no purpose beyond a handful of weeks throughout the year. It's time to get normal ops back at WDW and use the reservation system only when necessary.

 

[Jrb1979]

Reservations at this point are mostly harmless considering there is literally 100% availability at all parks, all ticket types, all days for the next year (except TRON opening day, APs are blocked out). The issue is park hopping.

But at this point, reservations serve no purpose beyond a handful of weeks throughout the year. It's time to get normal ops back at WDW and use the reservation system only when necessary

I know there is availability all days and it is somewhat harmless. I disagree with it not being necessary. From what others have said it works to push guests to all parks as equally as possible.

 

[Disney Analyst]

It would make sense to have a reservation if not in property but I’ve been using this example for a while. If you’re staying at an epcot resort you want the ability to meander through the park, grab breakfast or lunch, and head wherever else the wind blows you that day. Same could be said for a magic kingdom resort, etc.

Edited to add: if I’m staying at beach club sure I could make an epcot reservation every day. But then I can’t go anywhere until 2. So the ability to go as I please is limited.

It kinda seems the biggest issue is the park hopper rules. Hopefully WDW will adopt Disneyland’s newer policy of 11 am park hopping.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

From what others have said it works to push guests to all parks as equally as possible.

I fail to see how a system with 100% availability at all parks evenly distributes anyone.

Sure, when capacity was significantly limited and they were regularly re-allocating reservation availability it may have achieved this effect. Today, this is no longer happening. Any guest can wake up on virtually any day and pick any park to go to without restrictions.

The only restriction: hopping.

 

[drnilescrane]

It would make sense to have a reservation if not in property but I’ve been using this example for a while. If you’re staying at an epcot resort you want the ability to meander through the park, grab breakfast or lunch, and head wherever else the wind blows you that day. Same could be said for a magic kingdom resort, etc.

Edited to add: if I’m staying at beach club sure I could make an epcot reservation every day. But then I can’t go anywhere until 2. So the ability to go as I please is limited.

My personal hypothesis is that lunch is the root of the park hopping rules in the first place and why that's going to be hard to change at WDW.

The typical guest behavior was to hit a park like DAK or DHS in the morning, get their desired attractions in, *hop* then get lunch. Which meant you had venues at both those parks staffed and stocked with nobody going to them... meanwhile MK and Epcot venues were getting slammed by guests. In the old days they tried to change this behavior with the afternoon parades, but got cheap.

They wanted to force you to eat in the park you visited in the morning so they could spread the load around and more accurately forecast. Of course, there are second order considerations like bus and main entrance ops scheduling that mattered when staffing was lean.

DLR is totally different, and with the change to 11am they've shown that the whole point of the restriction was to just justify having to make the choice in the first place (and so they can schedule CMs to cover the mass migration across the esplanade that happens at 1pm) .

 

[Disney Glimpses]

That would be a step in the right direction for resort guests. I am obviously not in the know? But I’ve read multiple place that resort guests make up just roughly 20% of the theme park guests. Rhetorical question of course…but why would the guests in property even need to make any at all? Just silliness.

It's a little more than 20% but agree, resort guests should never have to think about any of this.