Fans Share Concerns With Disney’s New Park Reservation System

in Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World

disney parks reservations

As the Disney Parks in the U.S. prepare for reopening, they have announced that they will be requiring reservations in order for Guests to enter the theme parks. Now, Disney fans, upcoming visitors, and annual passholders are sharing their opinions of the new reservation system, as well as expressing some concerns for how the new system will be executed.

Reservations Required to Enter the Disney Parks

disneyland experience updates
Credit: Disney

Disney has shared that at both Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, and Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, reservations will be required for all Guests to enter the theme parks. At the time of this article’s publication, Disney hasn’t yet said how the reservation system will work.

Below is the statement regarding reservations required for Disney World theme park entry:

Initially, park attendance will be managed through a new park reservation system. To enter a park, both a park reservation and valid admission for the same park on the same date are required.

Disney World also shared that “a Disney Resort hotel reservation does not guarantee theme park access.

Below is the statement announcing the required reservations for the Disneyland Resort theme parks:

Because theme park capacity will be significantly limited to comply with governmental requirements and promote physical distancing, we will manage attendance through a new theme park reservation system that will require all Guests, including Annual Passholders, to obtain a reservation for park entry in advance. Theme park reservations will be subject to availability. More details about this new reservation system will be available soon.

Getting Theme Park Access

After both Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort shared that they will be implementing a theme park reservation system for all Guests, Disney fans, APs, and frequent visitors had some thoughts to share. Some upcoming visitors are expressing

Annual Passholder
Credit: Disney

What Annual Passholders Are Saying

Annual passholders at both Disneyland and Disney World have expressed their interest in getting priority access to the theme parks through the reservation system. Here is what they are saying.

One Disneyland Resort annual passholder shared on the Disneyland Subreddit that they hope Disney opts to enforce a tiered reservation system for both APs and non-APs: “I think/hope they’ll do a tiered reservation system, like X number of spots open for higher-tiered passholders at this time, then Y number of spots for lower-tiered passholders at this later time, and then Z number of spots available for non-passholders available at this latest time. Then it won’t flood the system as badly and is still as fair as possible, considering people pay extra for certain passholder perks it would be the least Disney could do to honor that somewhat.”

Another Disneyland passholder raised the question of being blocked out of the theme parks over the summer: “The issue is I have the Deluxe pass meaning that I have blackout dates, especially in the summer. It will be frustrating if I lost a lot of “good to go” days in March, April, and May to have them replaced with blocked out days in July, August, September.”

Concerns over prices were also raised, with one fan sharing, “I’d be happy to have the clock ticking on my pass again if reservations weren’t required but I feel like they shouldn’t still be charging the premium they do for the upper levels if everyone essentially has a flex pass.”

And Walt Disney World Resort annual passholders are shared their concerns for whether or not they will be able to get into the Disney Parks. Many believe that if they are paying money year after year to get access to the parks with hardly any blockout dates, they should be able to get priority within the new reservation system.

A Disney World AP commented on the Inside the Magic website, sharing their objections with the changes coming to the parks: “I renewed my ap in January […] now with masks required, no fireworks, parades character close ups fast passes and dining reservations canceled what do I have to show for my $1000.”

Even our own writer and editor Emille shared her concerns for annual passholders gaining access to the Disney Parks — you can read her perspective here. 

Annual Passholder Disney
Credit: Disney

What Upcoming Guests Are Saying

Upcoming Guests are also sharing their perspectives online. Many Disney fans with trips planned to visit Disneyland or Disney World in the months ahead are concerned with being able to get a reservation to enter the theme parks, and others wonder just how early theme park reservations will be available.

Many fans are worried about theme park reservations filling up far in advance without warning. One said on the Walt Disney World Resort Subreddit, “This needs to be organized with those there 7/11 notified that they should now make reservations and it laid out exactly how it will work. 30 days out on a rolling basis? 60? 45? I mean this is completely changing the way WDW works, I can’t imagine they just launch it without notice.”

Another Guest with a summer trip planned wrote, “Hopefully park reservations can be booked early enough to decide to cancel resort reservations without issue/fees if you can’t get what you want. About a month ago we bumped our mid-June reservations to instead start 7/16, hoping we could see the parks open and running for at least a couple weeks before our trip.”

One Disney fan shared her frustration with the restrictions in place for tickets: “It really bugs me that they keep changing their policies on pre-purchased tickets to be more restrictive than previously announced.[…] They can’t keep telling us that our tickets will be good at a certain time and then pull back later and say ‘just kidding.'”

Another said that Disney needs to address the issue of fairness when it comes to being able to obtain a reservation for the theme parks: “My concern, as I have voiced in the past, is that not everyone will be able to go because of the crush of people(the locals and diehards) to Disneyland. A guy like me who would go at this time due to presumed low crowds won’t be able to get in because all the reservations will be taken up.”

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Credit: Disney

We’ll continue to update Inside the Magic as Disney reveals more information pertaining to the reservation systems that will be in place at Disneyland and Disney World.

What do you think? Are you concerned about the reservation system, and do you have any ideas for what could make it work for Disneyland and Disney World? Let us know in the comments!

in Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World

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