If you haven’t been to Disney World in a while, you might not know that there’s now a Park Pass reservation system.
Want to “dress up” in Disney World?
You can’t just buy a ticket and walk into a Disney Park anymore. Disney’s Park Pass System requires guests to schedule which Disney Park they’re visiting each day, and without a reservation, you can’t get into a park (even if you have a ticket). We asked DFB readers how the Park Pass System has affected their Disney planning — and there were a LOT of responses. Find out how the Park Pass system has changed Disney planning here!
We reached out to our readers on Facebook (go ahead and give us a follow if you want to share your opinion in the future!) and lots of readers shared how the Disney Park Pass System has changed how they plan a Disney trip. Do these responses resonate with you?
Spontaneity and Flexibility
Although some of our readers like the Park Pass system, not everyone does, and many people mentioned how it has affected spontaneity and flexibility. As one reader put it, “All the spontaneity is gone. A Disney vacation is like sticking to a work schedule. Much too regulated.”
Spaceship Earth
A lot of readers mentioned that it’s difficult to change your plans or let your mood help you choose a park that day. “You definitely have to ‘pick your park’ now. I miss being able to just change up a plan to a different park and be done with it.” Because park reservations can “sell out,” you can’t always wait until the day of your visit to schedule a reservation.
Tree of Life
If you’re more of a go-with-the-flow kind of person, the Park Pass System is not necessarily to your benefit, and you might resent the way it impacts your spontaneous nature.
8 dates in 2022 you need to book Disney World Park Passes for right now.
Extended Evening Hours
If you’re staying in a deluxe hotel and want to plan your parks based on the Extended Evening Hours schedule, you might not be able to wait until the parks and dates are released. Extended Evening Hours are only available to guests staying in deluxe hotels, and the schedule designates select nights when qualifying guests can stay in certain Disney Parks after park closing.
Main Street, U.S.A.
One reader said, “I [used] to wait to plan out what park I would be in what day based on [Extra] Magic Hours to maximize my time in the parks. Now you can’t really do that because a park may be reserved before they announce extended hours. So, you just have to go ahead and reserve and hope you are able to change them after the fact.”
Spaceship Earth crowds during EPCOT’s Extended Evening Hours
Extended Evening Hours replaced Extra Magic Hours, which were previously available to all Disney World hotel guests. You can generally expect to be able to Park Hop for Extended Evening Hours, but there’s no guarantee that a park might hit capacity, and if you wanted to spend the entire day in one park, you might prefer to wait for the schedule to be released.
The difference between Extra Magic Hours and Extended Evening Hours.
More Planning Stress
Another common response was about the added planning stress, as it’s another task you need to check off your list before your visit. Now on top of getting your tickets and transportation, making hotel and dining reservations, and researching Genie+, you must also schedule all your park reservations. It’s a lot of work!
Grand Floridian Resort
One reader commented, “The entire way the park is operated now [has] changed how I feel about a Disney Vacation. Going on vacation shouldn’t require so much work or screen-time once you’re there.”
Magic Kingdom
Plus, you may need to coordinate your restaurant reservations with your park passes, which is another planning puzzle piece to solve. As one reader put it, “It was hard enough getting a dining reservation at the park you want, but then to make sure you have that park reserved. [Hollywood Studios] and [Magic Kingdom] were the hardest to reserve when we went this last trip.”
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Park Hopping Complications
Although Park Hopping is still a thing after 2PM, you must still have a park reservation in order to park hop, and you must also first enter the park you’ve reserved before you can visit another park. That means that even if you get to Disney World after 2PM, you must first visit your reserved park before you can Park Hop to a different Disney Park.
That’s a long line for Tower of Terror
Many readers mentioned how the structure of the Park Pass System and 2PM Park Hopping impacted their day-to-day plans. One reader commented, “No more last-minute decisions when Park Hopping. Back in the day, we bounced around depending on what we felt like that day. We once walked into [Hollywood Studios] and saw the crowd and turned around immediately and went to a different park.” If you want to leave the park you reserved for another Disney Park, you have to wait until 2PM to do so.
The BIG Park Hopping DANGER you need to know about in Disney World.
No Last-Minute Changes
Not everyone hates the new reservation system though! Some readers noted that it helps aid the planning process and that it helps prevent any last-minute changes. One reader commented, “No more last-minute decisions or changes of plan, and I actually like that. I find Park Hopper to be a waste, personally, so planning where I will be spending my park day helps me decide on things like meals, more easily.”
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
If you’re the type of person who already prefers planning out your Disney World itinerary to every detail, the Park Pass System may not be as inconvenient as it feels to others, and it’s just one other detail to take care of during your planning process.
Will Disney World ever get rid of Park Passes? Here’s everything we know!
Disney’s Park Pass System has changed how we visit Disney World, and it’s true that your planning process might be a bit more complicated now. But depending on YOUR personal preferences, it can either aid or hinder your experience! Regardless of how you feel, it seems like park reservations are here to stay, so make sure you don’t forget to get yours scheduled!
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Read our guide about Disney’s Park Pass System here!
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I live an hour away and go on spontaneous trips in the afternoon after work with my husband. I have had only one occasion where there were no reservations at any park that I was able to make. And I like knowing that I’m reserved to go in and don’t have to be turned away when I get there. But for others who have to plan more for their trip, I get where the stress can come from with so many add-ons.
I’m not a fan of all the extra “stress” details now–it’s not “vacation” when I have to plan every detail so far ahead, get park passes and be on my phone so much! We don’t always know months ahead of time which park we want to go to on what day. Floria weather plays a factor also! And…if I need to talk to a real “agent” for help, the wait on hold is WAY too long! Could Disney have named the new ride options with easier names? For example–Fast Pass 1, Fast Pass 2 (lightning lane), Fast Pass 3 (individual lightning lane????? 🙂
Get rid of the reservations and set a reasonable capacity level, and let it be first come first serve as once before. The park hardly ever reaches full capacity where they had to shut the gates and turn people away. Also, allow park hopping at any time of the day once again. Half the day is gone when you have to wait until 2:00 pm, so your basically trapped in a park until 2:00 pm.
Thank god for the genie plus team to help get those reservations as that and park reservation have killed spontaneity . I am an annual pass holder and I’m finding it super painful and complicated to have fun. Not doing to be a 20223 annual pass holder, which is sad😢
I agree…it’s much too pre-planned. We make a lot of decisions based on weather. With the park pass reservation system, you can’t do that. You’re gonna be stuck with whatever you reserved weeks ago. This especially applies to our pool days. We always like to have a couple pool days between park days and now we just have to hope that on our scheduled nonpark days that it doesn’t rain. Kinda really sucks. We just went last month where this happened. We were stuck with our pool day because we had to reserve the parks and then it rained on our pool day 🙁
I see how park reservations are helpful for Disney to plan appropriately for cast member staff. But, I agree that it really puts a damper in flexibility for our vacation. Planning which park to visit on each day was one of the most stressful parts because I was trying to factor in so many variables. Extra Evening Hours, and which parks to go on back to back days so we still have stamina for all the walking we’ll be doing as well as what days Galactic Star cruiser guests are in HS all played a factor in the days we made for our park reservations.