Park Reservations

[SniperRose]

Am I the only one that thinks its wrong that a resort reservation doesn't guarantee a park reservation? If i already have a resort reservation there should be a spot in the park for me a local driving in. Disney should implement a system that counts all resort guest into the numbers for the park capacity before allowing offsite guest in to hit capacity.

 

[Marionnette]

Am I the only one that thinks its wrong that a resort reservation doesn't guarantee a park reservation? If i already have a resort reservation there should be a spot in the park for me a local driving in. Disney should implement a system that counts all resort guest into the numbers for the park capacity before allowing offsite guest in to hit capacity.

If there’s anything that I’ve learned from years and years of being a Disney Parks fan it’s that they don’t guarantee anything. The last thing they want to do is have a resort guest show up without ever making any advance plans and then chewing out a frontline CM because they were “guaranteed” a park reservation and there are none to be had.

I think that onsite resort guests with valid admission media will be given a priority over some other guests when it comes to booking a park reservation. But just like FP+ reservations, if you don’t take advantage of that booking priority, Disney is not going to guarantee you a slot later.

 

[SniperRose]

If there’s anything that I’ve learned from years and years of being a Disney Parks fan it’s that they don’t guarantee anything. The last thing they want to do is have a resort guest show up without ever making any advance plans and then chewing out a frontline CM because they were “guaranteed” a park reservation and there are none to be had.

I think that onsite resort guests with valid admission media will be given a priority over some other guests when it comes to booking a park reservation. But just like FP+ reservations, if you don’t take advantage of that booking priority, Disney is not going to guarantee you a slot later.

Its never the cast members fault so i wouldnt take it out on them. But i think people who had prior trips planned and had to rebook in the next month or two should get access before other people. I know they are not accepting any new reservations so that should help. But i Would suck if you bought a 10 day ticket and were only able to use 6 or 7 of those days

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Am I the only one that thinks its wrong that a resort reservation doesn't guarantee a park reservation? If i already have a resort reservation there should be a spot in the park for me a local driving in. Disney should implement a system that counts all resort guest into the numbers for the park capacity before allowing offsite guest in to hit capacity.

With reduced capacities required due to social distancing requirements, seems the only way they could do what you're recommending is to cut the capacity of guests staying at the resorts - which would mean even more room cancellations - and that's a whole other ballgame of problems.

So no - a resort reservation is not an automatic pass into the park at this time. Hopefully, you'll have an edge to access a pass into the parks. But if you miss that and someone else grabs it, then enjoy your day at the pool.

 

[Marionnette]

Its never the cast members fault so i wouldnt take it out on them. But i think people who had prior trips planned and had to rebook in the next month or two should get access before other people. I know they are not accepting any new reservations so that should help. But i Would suck if you bought a 10 day ticket and were only able to use 6 or 7 of those days

So, you’re saying that if you had a trip planned for - let’s say - June and you rescheduled for - let’s say - October, that you should get some sort of preferred access over someone who, like me, booked an October stay back in November of last year? Just who are these “other people” who you think should move to the back of the line? Because no matter who gets any kind of preferred access, there are going to be others who feel they personally deserve it more.

 

[Sandisw]

Winners and losers and no matter what priority they decide, people will be upset.

Everyone feels their group should be first. With the limited capacity, IMO, we all have to accept whatever decision was made, even if it doesn’t work for own personal situation

Here is what I believe...they will do the best they can to try to get as many people as possible into the parks, from as many different groups as they can,

The fact that they said they won’t guarantee onsite guests a park day shows they want no one to assume anything.

I am DVC and AP and have resort reservations. Just hoping we get park days for August...even if it is not every day.

 

[bach63]

It is simple for us. We will work with whatever system they come up with. If we don't have park reservations for the days of our trip by the cancellation cutoff, we will cancel.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

It is simple for us. We will work with whatever system they come up with. If we don't have park reservations for the days of our trip by the cancellation cutoff, we will cancel.

I think a lot of folks feel that way. Wait till late in the game then see what's what. We are going this route. We park hop a-lot. It's why we are staying at BWI this year. No reason to be near Epcot and HS if I can't just swing in when we want.

 

[SniperRose]

Winners and losers and no matter what priority they decide, people will be upset.

Everyone feels their group should be first. With the limited capacity, IMO, we all have to accept whatever decision was made, even if it doesn’t work for own personal situation

Here is what I believe...they will do the best they can to try to get as many people as possible into the parks, from as many different groups as they can,

The fact that they said they won’t guarantee onsite guests a park day shows they want no one to assume anything.

I am DVC and AP and have resort reservations. Just hoping we get park days for August...even if it is not every day.

I am DVC member also but not an AP. I guess all we could do is hope for the best, we are heading down in July. Hope you have a good trip in August. And best of luck getting to the parks you would like to go too

 

[SarahC97]

I honestly think that most people will be able to get the park reservations they want, especially if you look at how not crowded other theme parks that have opened in the area are right now. It's just a matter if people will have the access they need to make the reservations -- Disney IT doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence.

 

[Lumpy1106]

It's all just speculation at this point, but I think the problem of reduced park capacity will be moot for the time being. UO is operating far below their reduced capacity, SDL has wait times under an hour for almost all rides even with reduced ride capacity and fastpasses, and the guys said it on the last DIS unplugged; they did an informal survey that revealed that over 50% of the people like us are planning on waiting before going. I think this could be a problem in the busy holiday season, but only if thee is not a surge in CV, confidence has returned, but the allowable park capacity has not increased. That could happen.

That said, we are pretty committed to going in August, but if we end up only being able to get reservations for only say 2 days in the parks, that would probably be enough for us to cancel.

 

[SarahC97]

That said, we are pretty committed to going in August, but if we end up only being able to get reservations for only say 2 days in the parks, that would probably be enough for us to cancel.

We have a reservation at the end of July we'd like to do, but if we can't get park reservations for our stay, then we'll cancel too and probably head to Universal.

 

[MB1232]

I'm curious as to when the IT work will be completed for the reservation system and when those without reservations will be able to make them again?

 

[RanDIZ]

Those staying on property who already purchased tickets for that specific time period should have top priority.

 

[butterscotchcollins]

I would bet that Disney is taking into account the # of current reservations (hence the freeze) and calculating how many spots they have left over for the general public/new reservations. I'm sure you'll be able to get into a park every day - it might not be the one you want, but over the course of several days I'm sure you'd be able to get to all of them at least once if you so choose. They've messed up big time creating headaches but I think one they'd want to avoid is having a bunch of angry on-site guests with valid useless ticket packages.

 

[GigEm96]

My guess is that resort guests will have priority, up to a point. There's likely to be a window that only those staying on the resort (and maybe APs) will get exclusive access to the reservation system, and then after that window closes, you take your chances.

Disney has to use sweeping language to cover all eventualities right now, like people booking rooms right before their trip or resort guests who want to wait until they arrive to make reservations depending on how they feel/weather/other plans.

Resort guests are the biggest money makers for the parks. I'm confident they'll do right by us.

 

[Marionnette]

Those staying on property who already purchased tickets for that specific time period should have top priority.

I know plenty of local annual pass holders who would argue that they should have top priority. I’m not a local and no longer have an AP but I understand their stance.

Every group feels that their interests should be served first. In the end, the only one that will matter is that of TPTB at Disney.

 

[chasgoose]

Well they can't guarantee that you get park entry with a room reservation alone because with the park reservation system, that literally won't be true. You still have to make a separate reservation for the parks, even if resort guests get a priority reservation window. Sure they could automatically assign resort guests a park reservation for each day of their trip, but most people would rather have the option to do it themselves. I think if you book relatively shortly after your park reservation window opens up you shouldn't have too many problems (especially since it does appear resort guests will have some priority access to park reservations). It's only the people who wait to long or until they show up at WDW that are going to have isues.

 

[RanDIZ]

I have a 5-day pass for Dec. If I can at least get 3 days out of it I’d probably still be willing to go. As long as I’m refunded the other 2 days not used. I’m also going to be monitoring the new system up until Dec to see how positive/negative it is. I want to at least be able to hit enough rides throughout the day to make it worth it. On a typical Dec day I’ve always been able to hit every ride including multiple rides on coasters. So I guess it’s just a wait and see approach.

 

[Pkltm]

Am I the only one that thinks its wrong that a resort reservation doesn't guarantee a park reservation? If i already have a resort reservation there should be a spot in the park for me a local driving in. Disney should implement a system that counts all resort guest into the numbers for the park capacity before allowing offsite guest in to hit capacity.

The problem is what if everyone staying at the resort doesn't want to go to the parks. So they hold a spot for every resort guest and others may not get in?