Exactly. You might find a restaurant available for a park you don't have a reservation for and then have to decide between the restaurant and park - some restaurants being very hard to get reservations for. Have been going to Disney for 35 years and this will be the last as I am so fed up with all the restrictions which have soured things for ever for ma.
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Do we still need park reservations when back to full capacity??
- Thread starter cslafferty
- Start date
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
What you're describing only applied to single-day tickets.
The weather is a huge factor and for me governs what I want to do that day.
Yes, you now have to understand which parks stay open later and make sure that you plan on hopping to the one with a later closing time. Which as everyone starts using the park hoppers again will probably mean you want to avoid the park with later hours as it will be the one that gets overly crowded as everyone hopping go there.
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
Based on what Disney CEO Bob Chapek said on Monday at the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media And Communications Conference, Park Passes will remain for the foreseeable future.
Chapek obviously does not see company value in Annual Pass Holders (APH):
The APH program is already gone at Disneyland Resort (DLR). They might institute a frequent buyer program but APH is not coming back to DLR. (Until it hurts DLR's "yield management strategy".)
It's a different situation at WDW, where APH make up a much smaller percentage of Guests.
One way to manage WDW APH is to keep the Park Pass program but limit what percentage of overall park capacity is allocated to APH. With the current "3 reservations" limit, WDW APH are going to the parks a lot less than they once did. For all we know, even when WDW is operating at full capacity, APH might get no more theme park access than they have today.
Instead, as WDW increases theme park capacity, it seems likely that the increased capacity will be allocated to onsite Guests first and single-day ticket holders second. Long term, it may be that the only way you can assure that you can visit the theme parks you want on the days you want, you'll have to stay onsite.
Chapek obviously does not see company value in Annual Pass Holders (APH):
How do we want to emerge and how does that fit our yielding strategy and our guest experience strategy?
Things like annual pass -- it's probably no better example here than annual pass where it’s a legacy system people will keep signing up for year after year which may not play into our yield management strategy in an ideal way so we had a chance to thoughtfully and thoroughly reconsider that.
The APH program is already gone at Disneyland Resort (DLR). They might institute a frequent buyer program but APH is not coming back to DLR. (Until it hurts DLR's "yield management strategy".)
It's a different situation at WDW, where APH make up a much smaller percentage of Guests.
One way to manage WDW APH is to keep the Park Pass program but limit what percentage of overall park capacity is allocated to APH. With the current "3 reservations" limit, WDW APH are going to the parks a lot less than they once did. For all we know, even when WDW is operating at full capacity, APH might get no more theme park access than they have today.
Instead, as WDW increases theme park capacity, it seems likely that the increased capacity will be allocated to onsite Guests first and single-day ticket holders second. Long term, it may be that the only way you can assure that you can visit the theme parks you want on the days you want, you'll have to stay onsite.
orky8
Well-Known Member
Don't need to offer EMH or DME or hardly any perks at all for onsite guests when the only way to be guaranteed admission is to stay at a Disney resort....
nickys
Premium Member
Except when they return to full capacity there will almost never be a time when people are denied a park reservation.
And even if there is, anyone who booked far enough ahead would be able to get in, whilst the last minute resort guest might be the one left without one.
orky8
Well-Known Member
Not if Bobby completely upends the paradigm... Disney can do whatever it wants with the allocation or reduce supply as they see fit. They could allocate 15% of capacity to APHs, 15% to offsite guests, and reserve the rest for onsite guests and day-of single day tickets with dynamic pricing. Sure, book early enough offsite, you score the 15% available. Otherwise, stay onsite or take your chances.
They could, but they won’t.
Minnesota disney fan
Well-Known Member
True. I have a flip phone which I only turn on and use if I really need to call someone while out, or for emergency. I do have an ipod touch which does everything a smart phone does, except no phone calls (which is a plus for me). I can text, facetime, do all the apps I want, just no phone. Even with that, while I am on vacation, I don't want to have to look at my ipod all the time to check every little thing. I know that's the "norm" now for everyone but us dinosaurs. I like to look around and check everything out while at disney and not be connected to a phone. So the less forced planning the better, IMO. That's what I love about Universal. You can go where you want when you want and ride as many times in a row if you want. So much more fun and relaxing. But nostalgia always calls me back to WDW, even if the call is getting less and less over time.
I wonder if the park pass system is pulling ticket revenue forward. In my case, although we have APs, family joining us do not & I suggested that they get their tickets now for our Dec. trip just to be sure they’d have access to the parks we wanted especially since they are staying offsite (we are onsite.) It used to be you’d want to have your tickets before 60 days out if on site in order to get your FPs, now there’s an incentive to buy those tickets very early to be sure you get into whichever park you want.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
There is no company value for an Annual Pass Holder. They are still allowing some at WDW and probably will continue them in limited form in WDW but in Disneyland it is a losing program. Annual Passes in Disneyland are made up of mostly local people that easily spend 100 days a year in the parks. They pack a lunch and already have about 3 of every possible souvenir anyone could possible want. So they come in pay, wild guess here, about 20 cents on the dollar for admittance don't regularly dine there with anything other then the food they brought themselves and are, from what I have heard, some of the most entitled people on the planet. On top of that at the end of the day, they head back home. No hotel charges from them. There is no profit it for an already crowded park.
WDW being a much more world wide park as apposed to Disneyland which is a local park primarily, logistically WDW would have less demand for a annual pass that have to travel I longer distance to get there. And if they buy an AP then they are likely to be from across the pond and will be staying put, spending lots of money for hotels and meals, for them it is worth the discounted park charge. They are using the parks as a lost leader. I find that funny since the parks are the primary reason that WDW even existed after Walt passed.
oliviamia103
New Member
Although Disney has not made an official statement on the matter, Disney's Park Pass Reservation System now runs through January 2023.… We all knew that the reopening of the Walt Disney World Resort theme parks would see some unique challenges. One such
Fable McCloud
Well-Known Member
Having a Park Pass Reservation system makes it hard for you to do a last minute trip or drop in if you're a local. I hate having to plan what I'll be doing 6 months or more ahead of time.
Bob Harlem
Well-Known Member
Some of the folks on WDWMagic have been saying for years they needed to add more capacity (new attractions), and reservations is the artificial way around it, now that they introduced it with the Covid restrictions.
I know they have attractions such as Rat, Tron, and GotG, but that is not enough and should have already been done.
At the Orlando airport this summer, the nonstop domestic seat capacity from June through August is actually 7% higher than in the summer of 2019, it's going to be very crowded all summer long, with not even the entire normal show infrastructure up to help support it.
I know they have attractions such as Rat, Tron, and GotG, but that is not enough and should have already been done.
At the Orlando airport this summer, the nonstop domestic seat capacity from June through August is actually 7% higher than in the summer of 2019, it's going to be very crowded all summer long, with not even the entire normal show infrastructure up to help support it.
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CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
You won't have to, that's the whole point.
Pretend Disney says "we're going to keep the Park Pass system in place forever." Once they're back to full capacity, you can just ignore the park pass system and make your reservation in the morning while you're walking up to the front gates. The parks never fill to full capacity, meaning there's no risk of the parks "selling out," meaning there's no risk in waiting to the last minute.
Obviously you'd want to make reservations ahead of time for Christmas week, 50th anniversary, major new attraction opening, etc. But during normal times, the system will just be background noise.
dmw
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
I know that Disney does not always follow trends of other parks, but Six Flags Georgia just announced yesterday that they no longer will require advanced reservations. This was dropped along with the mask requirement (indoor and outdoor) and end to temperature checks.
castlecake2.0
Well-Known Member
it’s too valuable of a tool for Disney to ever want to give it up.