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

[Animaniac93-98]

Basically if you want to be in MK on Oct 1 2021 you have to book your room, ticket and park pass now.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Was hoping MNSSHP would return for 2021, but this extension does not give me much confidence.

 

[DCBaker]

Some limited availability has been added, with all 4 parks now available to book on Halloween from each group.

 

[DznyGrlSD]

Got halloween at MK. I know it'll be busy but I don't care

 

[Texas84]

Made my reservations for April.

 

[sbunit]

Doesn't appear to have full availability at this time. Some resorts are not available at all and in some cases where the resort is available, certain room categories are not. At least for early Dec 2021 dates I am looking at. Are they slowly rolling out availability? Or are they anticipating keeping certain resorts and room categories closed through 2021 (Which would blow my mind)?

 

[nickys]

Doesn't appear to have full availability at this time. Some resorts are not available at all and in some cases where the resort is available, certain room categories are not. At least for early Dec 2021 dates I am looking at. Are they slowly rolling out availability? Or are they anticipating keeping certain resorts and room categories closed through 2021 (Which would blow my mind)?

I don’t think they are accepting any future bookings at resorts that are closed now (or without an imminent opening date). So no All Stars, POR, POFQ, BC, BWI, AKL, Poly, WL.

 

[danv3]

Yuck. Although they're rolling this out through January 2022, I hope it goes away (or is modified significantly--i.e., park hopping) before next October.

 

[Ldno]

goodbye Park Hopper

 

[doctornick]

goodbye Park Hopper

It will return as soon as the situation allows. Pretty much every insider has agreed that Disney has no desire to get rid of park hopping.

I don’t necessarily think they extension of the booking means anything at this point. If the COVID situation resolves, they can easily remove these bookings and allow park hopping whenever they want

 

[nickys]

goodbye Park Hopper

Why?

The current “arrival time” that is irrelevant could easily be used to allow people to book two parks, nominally am and pm. That would show the two parks people intend to visit. Just like now, you could change one or both of those on the day in question.

 

[Magic Feather]

Park hopping is on the docket to return while the park reservation system is in place. It's just not next up from a priorities standpoint.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

Was hoping MNSSHP would return for 2021, but this extension does not give me much confidence.

Well, I could easily see them bring it back. It's controlled numbers, they already have limited hours at the park. What will be different is they will probably not allow party goers to enter early, it will be a strict start time

 

[danv3]

What will be different is they will probably not allow party goers to enter early, it will be a strict start time

I don’t know...that could lead to big crowds at the gates as everyone tries to get in at the start time.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

I don’t know...that could lead to big crowds at the gates as everyone tries to get in at the start time.

I would expect them to limit tickets more than in the past ..and probably a higher price.

 

[Ldno]

How does it affect park reservations and availability with park hopping? Currently if DHS is sold out for the day will someone from epcot be able to head over To DHS? So many questions.

 

[rct247]

Park Hopping will come back, but most likely with the Park Pass reservation system still in place. They will likely utilize the separate groups that already exist in Park Pass alongside the arrival hours/times to achieve it. Much of this will depend on the loosening of COVID capacity restrictions/suggestions, but could still work with them in place. These are all pure guesses.

Within the current capacity restrictions, they could open up Park Hopping allowing Guests to make their next Park Pass after checking in to their first park similar to how the old Fastpass system worked where you could pull a paper Fastpass and get your next one after a certain time passed. This would still be based on whatever was available in your category. So if you made your Park Pass for MK (even though you wanted DHS, but it was booked), you would then be able to pick your second park to hop to like DAK for instance, but you still wouldn't be able to pick DHS since it was booked out.

Another version could play out with more flexibility with capacity. You could park hop, but maybe after a certain time of the day. Let's say park hours go back to more of a normal 9am to 10pm schedule. They could allow park hopping after noon or 1pm for instance. This would give Disney a good idea of the amount of people showed up initially for their Park Pass to better determine how much wiggle room they had for park hopping capability due to no-shows.

The other thought on specific times of day could also be a gold mine for Disney too. They could reintroduce park hopping but as a means of balancing out crowds. Prior to the pandemic, it was easy to understand that Epcot was the park many would park hop to after their first park. Dinner reservations and strolling the World Showcase promenade were great ways to relax after hitting the headliners at the other parks. On the other hand, DAK usually quiets down quite a bit in the evening, even when Rivers of Light was a thing. Disney could reintroduce park hoping to help shift crowds around to less popular times.

This could also encourage a staggered approach as the busy parks. everyone wants to be at DHS for the 10 & 2 VQ drops, but if Guests could park hop to DHS after those times, it could please the Guests that aren't coming for that purpose while allowing the disappointed ones that didn't get it to leave and go to another park. During normal holiday periods, we used to see the parks phase close due to capacity in the mornings, but usually open back up later in the day. Maybe the morning Park Pass arrival times for MK will be limited, but those that start at a different park could then park hop to MK later in the evening.

Lots of what-ifs, but it can work. Us park-goers will have to shift what we had gotten used to, but overall, it will be a win for Disney and could still be a win for Guests.

 

[Touchdown]

This is not a win to guests, once Covid is over there is no reason to continue to require park reservations. It’s BS plain and simple. When I’m ready to head back to Florida if this continues, my magic next year will come from a British Wizard. Disney seems hell bent on continuing anti consumer practices after this pandemic is over, I will not support it, period.

 

[szwally]

WOW. already know a few Florida AP holders that will not be renewing. what's the point of having an AP pass when you have to book a reservations 2 months down the road. Get ready for a HUGE ticket price increase.

 

[larryz]

During normal holiday periods, we used to see the parks phase close due to capacity in the mornings, but usually open back up later in the day. Maybe the morning Park Pass arrival times for MK will be limited, but those that start at a different park could then park hop to MK later in the evening.

This should be interesting to watch this year. There shouldn't be any phase closings under current strict crowd management. They should know exactly how many people to expect and cut it off far enough out to assign adequate CM numbers and other resources to handle them.