In case you missed it, there has been a major change in leadership at The Walt Disney Company recently — Bob Chapek has been replaced with Bob Iger as CEO of the company.
©Reuters || Bob Iger is back in charge at Disney.
There has been a lot going on with the change, like why it happened, the changes that could potentially happen at Disney due to the former CEO’s return, and what Iger might do first. Now, Bob Iger is holding a Town Hall meeting for Cast Members, and he has made some comments about the current Theme Park Pass Reservation system at the Disney theme parks.
According to Spectrum News 13’s Ashley Carter, Iger spoke about the Theme Park Pass Reservation system during the Town Hall and said he has not used it himself. He also said that he wants to hear from Josh D’amaro about the system before he makes any more comments. D’amaro is currently the Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.
On the park pass reservation system, Iger said he hasn't used it, but wants to hear from Josh D'Amaro about it before saying anything.
— Ashley Carter (@AshleyLCarter1) November 28, 2022
The current Theme Park Pass Reservation system requires you to make a reservation for the park you want to visit on a specific day in addition to buying a ticket to the parks. This was originally introduced as a way to control capacity when the parks reopened after closing for the global pandemic.
Hollywood Studios
The system has remained in place, meaning that a park could get booked up for the day in advance, which we’ve seen happen regularly, especially on busy days like holidays.
Magic Kingdom
For more on Bob Iger’s return to Disney, check out if Disney CEO Bob Iger is on a collision course with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Iger’s comments Bob Chapek “killing the soul” of The Walt Disney Company, and the FIRST thing Disney fans want to see from Bob Iger.
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NEWS: CEO Bob Iger Plans to Continue With Disney Hiring Freeze
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Bob Iger has stated that he has not used the park pass reservation system. Well, Bob, I have. It’s awful. I now have to decide in advance where I’m going to be and when I’ll be there. No spontaneity. No ability to breakfast in one park and hop over to another before 2PM. The lines are worse than ever. I got suckered into Genie+, and got damn little for it. You don’t reserve a second or third park, so you risk being turned away. If you start your day late, and skip the first park, you can’t get in to a second park after 2 PM. If the reason for the reservation system is the pandemic, President Biden has stated that it’s over. You don’t need to talk to one of Chapek’s lackeys. Your guests hate it and that should be enough. We have weathered the Chapek regime, where there was damn little respect for the fans, and even less for the faithful who make Disney a second home. I doubt that we’ll see a price rollback, as the same Board who let Chapek run wild for two years is still there, but at least give us the freedom to decide where we go and when we go there.
Maybe he can look into the Disney+ price hike. THREE dollar jump is that really necessary for them to stay in business???
Regardless of what Josh D’Amaro has to say, I hope they get rid of the reservation system and let it be as it was before when it was first come, first serve. Let only guest staying at a Disney hotel have Park reservations as part of their vacation package.
They can still have crowd control by setting a capacity limit as they’ve always done. Once the limit is reached, close the gates. If they reach capacity, post it on the app and the website to let people know it is sold out for the day.
Reservations made sense during the pandemic as it was for safety. But now there is need for it. I only know of a handful of times the parks reached capacity and they had to shut the gates. Get rid of it and let people go when they feel like it, not when it’s available.
Hate the reservation system. First, we have incredipass which was supposed to have NO blackout dates. We honeymooned at Disney World in 1975 and came back every year except two when were in Disneyland, but there was also a year that we went to Paris Disneyland, Disneyland and Disney World as well as another that included Tokyo Disneyland as well as Disney World! We always stayed at the Polynesian or the Beach Club. When we retired six years ago we moved to Winter Garden about 5 miles from the western gate so that we could come and go to the parks. We went often and always stopping to have meals and buying gifts as well as merchandise for ourselves. We spend a lot more in one year that we did for a week or two before we moved to Florida. We now do not feel welcome at Disney unless it’s a slow day that then they would like locals to come in. We don’t eat there as often because we cannot get reservations. We were finally able to get into the fireworks dessert party because my sister and her family came to vacation and included us in their plans for the party and for lunches and dinners. We were finally able to eat at a number of restaurants that we’ve always loved but couldn’t get in to so we don’t eat out as often in the nice restaurants. Even trying to get reservations for my husband’s 71st birthday, we couldn’t so we ate at Shula’s at the Dolphin which is exceptional by the way. So, yes, we think the magic is gone and it doesn’t look like it’s going to change. Unless your are in a Disney deluxe hotel, you will have to either get lucky when someone cancels at a nicer hotel or you will eating at one of the quick service places. If you’re in the hotel, you can even make changes the week before, like my nephew did and get the restaurants you want.
Why is it they never seemed to fill up before except New Years and Christmas. Everyone also knew that and planned accordingly. Not saying they weren’t crowded but some parks are “ closed” now a lot .
Maybe if he experiences the reservation system he will understand us.
Agree with all of these comments. Prior to Covid, Disney had a way to manage capacity and the parks almost never closed (Christmas Day, etc). Now all of the flexibility has been taken out of our vacation. We have to be on our phones instead of being able to unplug and enjoy the magic. I used to just walk around the parks and soak it in but now I miss so much because I’m constantly on my phone. Please get rid of park reservations and at least make changes to Genie+ so we don’t have to set an alarm for 7am every day of our vacation and stay on our phone all day.
I feel like the park reservation system is basically going away anyway because unless they decide against it, they’re changing to individual park prices on Dec 8th, so you’ll have to know which days you’re going to which parks when you purchase your tickets and purchase for that specific park. Even though it won’t be a reservation, you’ll still have to go to a specific park each day. I’m not sure how that will work for annual pass holders though. It might work out better for them.
Stayed at Boardwalk for a few nights. Family member came in to visit from out of town and stayed with us. Aside from the incredible cost of a three day park hopper pass ( we have the incredapass) we could not get a park reservation for our out of state guest. We had to completely change our park and dining plans. Not enjoyable.
We also aren’t eating at the restaurants as frequently as we did due to the loss of Tables In Wonderland, higher prices, smaller portions, limited menu choices and in many cases, a significant reduction in the quality and consistency of the food and service.
I agree with all of the above comments.
Everything about Disneyland and WDW systems to stink right now. There is absolutely no Magic and hoping you can bring that back Bob Iger, its much needed. We are WDW Pass holders, Disneyland Pass holders and DVC members. We are not NEW member, we have had passes from childhood and DVC x25 years. No respect is given to loyal Disney fans. True story: I am a legacy passholder in Disneyland. I renewed the Enchant pass thinking I would see how it goes post pandemic with the reservation system. At time of my renewal 10/22, I wanted to upgrade from Enchant to Believe and was told I could not because they are not selling new passess and things were “Frozen” because of some law suit. Well about 2 weeks ago, 11/2022, Disneyland had a 1 day sale for people who never held passess before, some waited 4-6hrs just to get passess and they were only selling 2 passess, the Believe Pass and Inspire pass. When I found out about this, I went to Disneyland to both Guest Relations and Ticket booth to see if I could upgrade my pass. I was told I could not. My conversation escalated to a Team Lead and Supervisor who apologized and bottom line was they were not selling new passess so I was not eligible to upgrade. It was only a 1 day sale.
This made ZERO sense to me, since peoples who never held passess before were able to buy passes on that 1 day sale 2 weeks ago and since it had such an overwhelming response, they shut it down AGAIN all pass sales are once again Frozen.
For the future, if you have loyal fans such as myself who love Disney and we are basically begging you to take our Money, perhaps Bob Iger can talk sense into everybody on going back to basics, when you can upgrade without any issues, add on parking if you needed to, go to parks for lunch or shopping, park hop when you want and a Reservation wasnt something you obsessed over getting. Its just ridiculous, NO MAGIC
I have never added my 2 cents before, but now I want to speak up. The Park Reservation system is very frustrating. When I was at WDW in February, I had a park reservation for MK. I got a text saying they had gotten in more Figment popcorn buckets at EPCOT and you could only get it thru the Mobile food app. I immediately left Disney Springs for EPCOT. I got my mobile order to go thru when the monorail was making the loop in the park. I fast walked to the front gate and was informed I didn’t have a park reservation for EPCOT. I explained to the cast member that in the moment I forgot I needed a reservation for EPCOT. She got someone to try to help me. That cast member acted like I had committed a crime. I asked if there was any way I could change my PR to EPCOT. After drilling me with more questions & chastising me she changed it for me, then told me to NEVER let it happen again! Please make the Park Reservation system and the Park Hopping restrictions go away! Please bring back the magic Bob Iger!! I’ve been coming to WDW since 1978 and without the magic returning (and as much as I love Mickey), we’ll look for places to visit that really appreciate us and our money.
At first I didn’t like the reservation system, but now am glad its there. We travel to our DVC resort from over 1000 miles away. There’s nothing worse than showing up and having the park you wanted to visit be full. We get there early, but it can still be an issue. I would rather be sure that I can get in (after traveling all that way) than worry about flexibility. Plus, we can come and go to the park we are visiting that day without the gates closing behind us. I agree it can be an issue with table service at different parks, but truthfully, we are doing most of our table service at resorts. We are on the monorail line so getting to and from other resorts is not a big deal. The food is great and spending some down time at other resorts is fun too.
The reservation system is the 2nd driving force behind me not renewing my AP. (First driving force was the price). The benefit of the AP is being able to go to any park without advance planning. When we’re staying at one of the Epcot resorts, we like to pop into Epcot to go to the French Pavilion to get a croissant or baguette. Need you need to know in advance if you want to do it. Forget about it!
After years of faithful patronage I will never go back to W.D.W. I went there to relax and do what I want with spontaneity. I spend the rest of my time working to a schedule and the visits to W D W. were my time to forget having every minute of my time scheduled. This rule of having to decide days weeks months ahead of my visit where I will be every second of my vacation has removed the MAGIC. Until you realise most of us feel this way we will be finding another place to just be spontaneous.
Will I miss it you bet I will but not the way it is now but the way it was.
Wake up Disney and listen to Mickey’s kids who remember the way it was.
The reservation system was implemented to follow Covid Guidlelines for social distancing.
News flash – social distancing/making etc is over . . . .SO . . . .
Its time to end the reservation system. Unless Disney is lying to us . . . . . .
Well I think the reservation system was just a way to decide how much to gouge people based on low or high attendance and had little to do with safety.
However, I really hate to see local passholders flood the parks again with no restraint. I was a passholder for decades but I am not local. Just before Covid we had decided to not renew because of the horrible crowding caused by locals out to have a walk or just mosey around and make it miserable for those of us who could not just come and go so conveniently.
So, I hope it stays in some form, at least for passholders. I know this is not a popular opinion but I know a lot of people who feel the same way.
Just ask me, I will tell him how bad it is. No more spontaneity in WDW anymore. So many things you need to bring back and number one on the hit parade should be the magical express and number 2 should be the old fast pass system.
I’ve also used it, Bob. It sucks and could potentially cost you money. With the system along with the ride reservation system, the only way to make sure you get on a ride is to spend the entire day in one park. So, why pay extra for a park-hopper ticket? No reason to do so whatsoever if you’re trying to get on a ride with the new pay per ride or Genie +.
Merry Christmas…change the system back to avoid getting lumps of dirt (coal is too expensive for Santa, these days) in your stocking.
A message to Bob Iger. Please
1.Bring back the free Fast Pass
2. Eliminate the Genie Plus and the Lightening Lane
Do away with the reservation system. Parks are not as full as the standby line wait times would make it seem. That is because of Lighting lanes. They dump out the lighting lanes, no matter how long the standby lines are, because now Disney makes you pay for them. The only time I remember the parks hitting capacity pre pandemic, was the Fourth of July, Christmas day and New Year’s Eve. I highly doubt they will do away with lighting lanes because people are still paying for them, so they don’t have to wait in the long standby lines, which lighting lanes have caused. I don’t have an answer for that because Disney is making money from them. When they were fast pass lanes, they never dumped them out. They emptied both lines equally. It really all circles back to lighting lanes. They cause long standby line wait times, and that in turn makes it look like the parks are full. Money and greed, not guest enjoyment is what Chapek turned the parks into. Cast members are doing their best to make Disney magical.
The reservation system discriminates against people with disabilities adult and children. If you have a reservation but say have a condition that changes daily, then how you feel every day will be different.
So you may have to change your plans not go to the park in the morning. But, maybe able to go late in the afternoon. But, if you are park hopping you lose your ability to do so. Then your whole party suffers because of one person. If you have an annual pass and miss your reservations because of your illness or the illness of a person you are caring for you can’t predict how they will feel daily so you can’t cancel your reservation ahead of time. Your forced to miss it and get blocked out for a month after 3 misses. Trips to Disney could be one of the few joys a person with disabilities could enjoy because the parks are the best ADA friendly parks in the state. Think about how often you see a person in a wheelchair at Knotts, six flags or Universal Hollywood? It’s not often because most of the things there don’t allow for participation of the individual or can further harm them. Disney has always had a variety of things that allowed them to actually have fun with their families and to create new memories. It allows care givers a breaks, lets them feel joy even with the stress of having a park at capacity. It was hard getting around in Disney as a person with disabilities because of the capacity. You constantly get hit by people, their bags, etc because people don’t pay attention to their surroundings most of the time so it was hard to get around. But, if you don’t experience that then it is wonderful to get distracted from your condition and be able to just experience joy and happiness and feel part of the world. The reservation system discriminates against people with disabilities and adds to their misery or feelings of being a burden when they can’t go to Disney when planned and result in their families not being able to go and then getting blocked out from the parks wafter spending so much money for the passes. It’s been 2 years since this system has been in place and no one has ever mentioned this fact. The old first come first serve was better and felt the same then this system. I have been told by cast members there is nothing they can do and I should try not to “get sick” or “why would I want to be there at all if I can’t go on all the rides?” I want to go for the beauty, the fun, food, shows, and joy with my family. But, to have the family penalized for one person or that person penalized for what they can’t help is completely awful. It ruins the magic.
It will be a magical moment if they greed us in December saying there’s no more reservations system to enter in the parks all disney fans and tourist will be happy we miss getting inside the parks always full when we try to make a reservation without no luck my magic moment is faiding
It’s a shame that 2 se enty year old veterans have to pay $972.00 to camp for 4 days in the campground. We spent our honeymoon there in 1985, have been there over 5oo times since then, and can’t believe the awful things they have done. 98% raise in Chef Mickeys Restaurant pricing. I sure hope this CEO can turn it around. Walt would turn over in his grave. His fun place has turned into a money pit.
Absolutely hate, HATE, DESPISE the reservation system!!! I have had the top Disney annual pass since January 1996. No blackout days and lived in Ohio, visiting WDW 4-6 times each year. Finally moved to Florida, close to WDW, in 2015. Now reservations are needed to go?!!! It’s terrible !! PLEASE, PLEASE do away with it for annual passholders especially for the incridipassholders!! Thank you
We absolutely detest the park reservation system. Went to Disney for 20 days this past September and refused to go to the parks for the first time ever. We used to buy an annual ticket even though we live out of state just for the flexibility. The new reservation system has removed the flexibility we wanted. There were days when we would go to the parks just for dinner. Now we just go to Disney Springs or the hotel restaurants. We don’t go on vacation to get up at 7am or stay glued to our phones for the entire day.
I think that the Park Reservation System isn’t very good. I haven’t been to the Disney Parks in years. I would like to go back someday to visit all the Parks. I wouldn’t be able to do so with only so much time to visit them on a budget I could afford. I would like to have them bring back the vacation package deals that were in place a long time ago when they offered everything for 1 price including airfare and shuttle service to the hotels.
In regard to Walt Disney World please bring back the magic. Too many price increases, go retro and run the park the way it was pre 2019, hire more staff in all areas to give guests that magical experience, sad to to but in todays world you need to install more metal detectors in entry points and present a larger force of walk around police to counteract the violent individuals. I say that in Ernest because a safe park is necessary for the customers minds. I say that also because the Walt Disney Company Can Afford to implement it.
Barbara Sather, there are metal detectors at every park entrance and Disney Springs already which are operated by security guards. These took the place of the manual bag checking that was done previously. I’m not sure what else they should do…?
Hey Bob Iger, why don’t you try planning a WDW trip all by yourself, including park reservations and virtual queues and you’ll see how stressful Disney vacations have become! Fix this, Bob!
Does anyone, i.e., Bob Eiger, see these comments? I’m guessing no one sees them except us disgruntled Disney goers.
Sorry I spelled Iger wrong. Didn’t check auto correct.
Seems like a lot of you are local, frequent visitors and I get why the reservations can be frustrating. Now I want you to imagine being an 8 year old girl from Ohio who gets to the park for her BBB reservation only to be told that the park is at capacity, tough shit.
Disney world is no longer magical it is painful!!
My first visit to the Magic Kingdom was in December, 1970 and have been back several times each year. One of the things we miss is the freedom of getting up in the morning and choosing, over breakfast, which park to attend. Recently, weather canceled our return flight, so we had the opportunity for 2 extra days in the parks. WRONG! We couldn’t get into the parks (with our annual passes) because they were “full.” FYI, that December 1970 visit was to a construction site in the middle of an orange grove. We are DVC, AP, D23 for many, many years, and we feel like we’re being taken for granted. I would like to see the ADR window returned to 180 and the FastPass+ returned with a 60-day window for On-Property guests. We’ve earned it!
We have been loyal Disney World patrons all my life and I’m 65.
We now don’t even want to go.
The magic is gone, the stupid “genie” and lightning lane process is making it feel like Hunger Games.
Not interested in getting up at the crack of dawn every day on my vacation just to compete to get on a ride or two.
My daughter and her family are paying about $10,000 just to stay at at a low budget resort and feed their family and hopefully get their 6 and 4 year olds on a ride or two. Seriously? why?
we are completely disillusioned and will look elsewhere to get value and respect for our time and our hard-earned money.
As Len Testa said in his wonderful article in the Sunday, New York Times, “If he [Mr Iger] wants to learn more, I sincerely suggest he try to plan and take a Disney World vacation on a middle class budget, relying only in Disney’s website and app. When he is overwhelmed by the cost and complexity, I know many fans who’d be happy to talk him through it. No charge.
Perfection!
After 30+ years of multiple trips to DW each year, from across the country, my family and I have simply stopped enjoying DW. We will not return because of Genie+, lightning lanes, park reservations, loss of park hopping freedoms, to name a few. They have become the #1 source of stress on my family while on our vacation! And what’s even more ludicrous is we are being charged for the added stress! In our experience, not one of these so called crowd control methods have lessened my wait, or thinned out crowds at any park. It’s still as crowded as ever, only now with higher prices and more restrictions. We cant do what we want, when we want like before. What’s wrong with this picture? Its become an overpriced regimented dictatorship of a vacation…no thank you.
As long as people continue to go, and pay, Disney will continue with the insanity. Chapek said so, and I have yet to hear Bob I. contradict that statement, or roll back the damage that ensued. Not sure Bob is the savior everyone is hoping for either.
I’ve never agreed with cancel culture, but the way Disney had turned years of my family’s joy-filled, magical experiences into what is now an overpriced daily grind from hell, I would vote to cancel Disney in a heartbeat. The magic is gone from Disney, because Disney allowed it to happen.
Moreover, stay out of politics! Disney used to be a safe zone from politics and fads. It’s now a hotbed of political drama. It’s a no-win position for Disney because there will always be those who feel ostracized one way or the other. Just stay out of it, duh!
Are you listening, Bob and board of directors?! If you want to know where to go from here, start with returning to pre-pandemic norms, asap.
When I first heard of this reservation thing happening I thought to myself, what a way to take a vacation. Dinner reservations I can see. But Disney World! That just takes them to another whole level. I’m planning on going I hope in the next year and I have to say, without reading others comments, maybe Iger should read the patrons comments first before he decides what he is going to do. As I talk with others in the party that are going also, this could be a deal breaker in if we do or not.
I remember the days that you just went on vacation and it was “hey kids, do we want to go to Disney today?, well geez, it looks like rain part of the day, lets go tomorrow” It’s a vacation, why make it so complicated?
Disney has made everything complicated. The fun and spontaneity is gone. It does not seem like a vacation . It seems like going to a job full of issues. What fun is that.
Gotta agree with all the comments! However, please note, how many of Chapstick’s initiatives were originally conceived by Iger? The best that we will ever see might be some insignificant crumbs. Everything keeps coming around to the “losses” at Disney +. If this is a lame duck, DUMP IT instead of constantly ticking of loyal guests! This ain’t rocket science.
I feel the bonus reservations at all the parks this week was a test to see what the impact of annual passholders not needing reservations would have before they finalize any changes.
So it’s been a little over 2 weeks, since Iger was going to talk to this Josh guy about the complicated res system.
How hard is it to make a decision in favor of the Disney guests who without us Disney would not be and you would not have the CEO job.
I’m fed up with the lamé answers we are getting on issues that affect us as loyal guests of this once magical place.
Get on with it IGER. Bring back the MAGIC OF DISNEY.