I'm...Kind of Digging the Park Reservation System

[PlutoTheDog89]

I know... the last thing we need as Disney fans is MORE PLANNING. But I just booked my Christmas 2021 vacation and figured I'd grab my park reservations, since as things improve and more people book, parks are gonna start filling up.

I'm a big type A planner and as I'm going through my third iteration of an itinerary, I kinda like knowing what park I'm going to be in when. I mean, staying on-site you never really had to worry about being turned away due to phased closures; and you normally had an idea of what park you'd visit on what days, but having something in stone before you go kinda feels good and makes things easier.

While I really hope they bring back some sort of FastPass+, I also like the idea of not being fixed to a certain FP+ time. I know you'd normally book 60 days out anyway... but I can't tell you how many times we'd wake up to a beautiful 80-degree day after having temps in the 50s or 60s all week, only to have a FP+ reservation at the parks and have to decide "do we waste the FP+ and enjoy a pool day?"

 

[Pixie Dusted Snow]

I like the idea as well because I know what park I want to go to on what day well ahead of time and actually the way park hopping works right now is fine with me too as I tend to stay at the first park until around 2pm.
I would like any form of Fastpass to return as it worked well for me.

 

[peabody58]

I'm also liking the 60 Dining Reservation process. 180 days out was way too long.

 

[MDIME]

I'm also liking the 60 Dining Reservation process. 180 days out was way too long.

Now THIS is the kind of unifying idea our country needs right now

 

[boop0524]

Totally agree. We stay offsite because my family has a timeshare elsewhere (and especially now I can’t justify the prices Disney charges) so not having FastPasses means we can get on any rides same as everyone else. The only park I found it mildly irritating not having them in was HS, but we expected it to be busier there.

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

ALOT can happen between now and December..

I expect alot to happen between now and the summer

Only time can tell.

I can't imagine trying to pick park days a year out lol Sometimes I base parks and pool days off weather so that kinda throws a wrench in those plans also.

Then again, I have a Disney cruise planned in December that I already trying to figure out 1st or second dinner so I'm with you

 

[sethschroeder]

For the most part you can get what you want even a week out as long as it's not a major holiday time likely. Sure AP have it differently but for the people where it really matters you can get most what you want last minute.

Personally once park capacity expands I expect removal of the system.

so not having FastPasses means we can get on any rides same as everyone else.

You could get fast passes as well. Sure hard to get passes are out there but even those you could get same day.

We pretty much only ever went on rides with a FP+.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

If they bring back FP+, then I hope they do away with the reservation system. Most times I base my park on the quality of FP+ I can get (at 60 days out). And then sometimes I rearrange everything.

 

[Disneylover99]

I understand why they need the system at the moment but I’m not a fan.
I hope they get rid of it.

 

[Ksquared]

I don't mind the reservation system either. We were there over christmas/new year and still had the ability to change one of our reservations while there. I also like not having to worry about making a FP so one of the days we decided to chill at the pool and go to the parks later. Not being tied to a FP reservation gives you more flexibility to build your day. Also we got a BG of 85 so we decided not to rush over to Hollywood Studios one day as well. I didn't mind waiting in line because for the most part, they moved and only a few seemed long

 

[soniam]

I don't mind it. However, it's not great if you have an AP and are staying onsite. Our APs will expire before our November 2021 trip. We already have the DVC booked. In order to make park reservations, I had to buy tickets that, hopefully, I can use toward AP renewals. Also, the system has been a pain for local and offsite AP holders.

 

[osufeth24]

As a local AP, I hate it. To go to HS, I almost have to plan to go a month in advance as that fills up so quick. Also I think only being able to book 3 days is way too low. I understand not allowing unlimited, but I feel 5 days is a better number.

 

[TreeFalls]

I am excited to go without fastpasses. I was constantly stressing about being at certain places at the right time, now we can be more spontaneous.

 

[MamaBelle4]

I am excited to go without fastpasses. I was constantly stressing about being at certain places at the right time, now we can be more spontaneous.

I absolutely agree with this. The problem with the fast pass plus system is sometimes your fast passes that you're able to get are on opposite sides of the park so you're virtually running back and forth, and that just decreases your ability to relax and enjoy your time because you're so stressed out about making sure you make that fast pass window. Because of the low crowds right now, I'm happy to not have to deal with the fast passes. It'd be a different story if the crowds were insane, but I'm expecting this experience to be like none other and I'm hoping our family can get a chance to really enjoy it.

 

[bakerworld]

We're relaxed vacationers and the Park Reservation didn't negatively impact our vacation at all. We found the MDE app with the wait times was very helpful because rides we figured the lines would be too long were actually reasonable wait times. It was nice to do rides fairly spontaneously. It was cool to experience standby lines for rides we'd never do or have done standby - like FoP. We did miss the hopping because we like to end the night at Epcot as many times we stay at the BC.

I also REALLY enjoyed the parade hiatus - have never liked the parades even when we had littles. Can't stand all the rabid saving of spots and stepping over people, etc.

 

[holden]

Like others , I'm wondering if anyone out there has an idea of the dates for 2021? We have reservations for Oct31- first week of November so hopefully it is covered-lol!

We're relaxed vacationers and the Park Reservation didn't negatively impact our vacation at all. We found the MDE app with the wait times was very helpful because rides we figured the lines would be too long were actually reasonable wait times. It was nice to do rides fairly spontaneously. It was cool to experience standby lines for rides we'd never do or have done standby - like FoP. We did miss the hopping because we like to end the night at Epcot as many times we stay at the BC.

I also REALLY enjoyed the parade hiatus - have never liked the parades even when we had littles. Can't stand all the rabid saving of spots and stepping over people, etc.

Agree with the parades!

 

[JulieBeeRN]

Totally agree about the parades but I do miss the fireworks and later hours.

 

[Blondie58]

If you are type "A" and well-planned you had the ability to choose or not choose park days prior to travel pre-Covid. If you are type "A" you had the choice to choose fastpasses or not to choose fastpasses pre-Covid. Pre-Covid BOTH the type "A" and the relaxed vacationeer could be accommodated by making your own personal choices. Now this is not the case. You must choose a park each day - not good for the relaxed approach vacationer. Now you have no fastpasses for type "A" well planned person. The way I see it the old way accommodated all. As you have option to go with the flow or be well planned. Changes since Covid is not nearly as flexible to both groups.

 

[Dakota731]

Nah, I prefer a country where we are free to have different opinions!

 

[loves to dive]

I'm not a fan because we are as far from planners as you can get. We only made FPs the day of, either on the bus on the way to a park or while standing in line for a ride. We never made them any further out then 1/2 hour from when we figured we would be off the ride we were standing in line for. We also didn't make ADRs in further in advance than afternoon of. We never knew what park we were going to until we got up in the morning, even then sometimes if we were staying at a moderate or value it was just go to the bus stop and get on the first bus to come.

I'm glad some sort of park hopping is back. We have been going since there were only 2 parks and park hopped then. In over 38 years of going, we have stayed in one park all day once and that was an accident. We had actually planned to hop to another one and on a whim my son and his then wife wanted to stop at a DVC booth. Before I knew what was happening they had plans to go to BW and see a presentation. We were actually staying in a BWV studio at the time and they didn't even give tours, just a presentation on a TV. Then the kids decided to buy (dumb decision that I tried to talk them out of especially since they divorced about 8 months later). We were told the whole thing would take maybe a hour, ended up taking about 3 or 4 so by the time it was done, they took us back to Epcot which is where they picked us up (yep bussed us from Epcot to BWV) and it was so late we just stayed there.