OH NO. You planned a Disney World vacation, booking your hotel and plane tickets, only to realize that the UNTHINKABLE has happened: the parks are SOLD OUT on the days you were planning to visit!
Cinderella Castle
Or, perhaps all the dates of your planned visit are available except for ONE. It’s rare, but it DOES happen. We’re here to give you all of our best tips from avoiding this scenario to options that you have if you’re visiting Disney World or live nearby and one of your desired dates is sold out. Let’s go!
First, we’re going to start with how to hopefully avoid this situation entirely.
How to avoid sold-out dates.
First and foremost, the earlier you can start planning your vacation, the BETTER. Especially if you’re hoping to visit around a busier time of the year like the fall and winter holidays or Spring Break. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and May 4th (hello, Star Wars fans!) have been known to sell out entirely for Annual Passholders and reach capacity for general ticket holders.
Christmas Day at Disney World in 2023
We recommend booking a vacation package that includes a hotel stay and park tickets if you know you want to stay on property, and like we said, the sooner the better. Folks generally have better luck finding their desired dates this way. Vacation booking through October 2025 is now open, so we’d recommend snagging those packages now if you want to visit on busier dates for the first 3/4 of the year.
Annual Passholders still need park pass reservations.
If a park is going to sell out for a group of folks, it’s likely going to be for Annual Passholders first. Annual Passholders still need to make park pass reservations before 2PM at most parks on most days, and all day long for Magic Kingdom on Saturdays and Sundays. The exception to this are Good-to-Go days, which are listed in the reservation calendar on Passholders’ Disney World app.
Annual Pass
A few other people need Park Pass reservations — mainly if you are with a convention group or otherwise have “undated” Disney World tickets — you will be told this when you get them! MOST people who have bought date-based tickets no longer need reservations, but be aware that parks can reach capacity on the busiest days of the year, and you can absolutely be turned away.
Which parks sell out first?
Typically, Magic Kingdom goes first. That’s why on weekends, Annual Passholders need to make reservations all day long. Next, Hollywood Studios and EPCOT will probably go. The good news is that if you have a park hopper ticket, Animal Kingdom reservations are almost always still open when those other parks are sold out.
Tree of Life
Now, there are exceptions to this “rule” — especially when there is some sort of special event of holiday happening in one park. For example, all the other parks are open May the 4th, but Hollywood Studios reservations are hard to come by because of all the Star Wars activities in that park. All-day park hopping is back, though, so you can go scan in at Animal Kingdom and then visit your desired park as long as it hasn’t reached capacity. That’s one option that you can take if all the other parks are sold out, but there are other things you can try as well!
Ask for help!
Disney is all about ensuring their guests’ needs are met. If all else fails, you can visit Guest Relations and see what they can do. Sometimes, people will transfer their tickets to a future date so that an opening becomes available that you might not see online.
Animal Kingdom Ticket Windows
Stop by Guest Relations at the ticket window outside the parks and see what they can do for you. There are no guarantees here, but we know that small parties have had luck with this. The worst case scenario is that you get a free day roaming Disney property at the hotels and Disney Springs. Oh, and that leads us to our last point!
Roll with the punches and take in Disney World BEYOND the theme parks!
If all else fails, you can absolutely treat yourself to a resort hopping day or a shopping and dining day in Disney Springs. You might not be free-falling on Tower of Terror or saving the galaxy with Star Lord, but you can absolutely have a DOLE Whip at the Polynesian and ride the Skyliner a few times.
Disney Springs
You can also visit all the shops that Disney Springs has to offer as well as have access to tons of the souvenir collections that you have in the parks! As Hannah Montana once said, “Life’s what you make it, so let’s make it rock.” She was also talking about sold-out Disney days, trust us.
We’ll be sure to keep you updated with all our best Disney tips and tricks, so make sure to follow along so that you’re always in the loop and never missing out.
Click here to see more Disney World advice for 2024!
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How do you know it’s sold out if you don’t have to make Park Pass Reservations anymore? Is it that you show up at the gate and are turned away?
Hi Chrystie! You can actually look at the calendar in the app to see if tickets are still being sold. Some tickets do still require reservations, it’s just the date-based tickets that no longer require them.