Since the reopening of Walt Disney World back in July 2020 after the unprecedented three months of closures due to COVID-19, guests have no longer been able to simply purchase a ticket and then go to a park of their choice on the day of their choice.
Disney implemented the Disney Park Pass theme park reservation system in order to successfully manage capacity at each of the theme parks due to COVID-19 health and safety guidelines. So as well as a valid ticket, each guest also has to have a valid reservation for the specific park and day of their visit.
This system inevitably obliterates any option for guests to be flexible with their visits. Even now with capacity increases at the parks, availability is still limited and has to be booked ahead of each visit.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek recently spoke at the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media, and Communications Conference where he confirmed that the Disney Park Pass theme park reservation system would remain in place for the foreseeable future.
This news may come as a blow particularly for current Walt Disney World Annual Passholders and leaves guests wondering if with the Parks Pass system still in place it is going to make a visit to Walt Disney World in 2021 harder to achieve than originally hoped.
VOTE NOW
For this week’s big debate we ask you, When capacity caps are relaxed which is expected to be before the end of the year, Should Walt Disney World Disney Park Pass Reservation System Go Or Stay?
This should be an interesting one as I am predicting for many guests that plan their trip well in advance it may not make a difference as they should stand a good chance of reserving their chosen parks on the day of their visit. However, for locals and particularly for Annual Passholders I am guessing this system seems like a big road block in the way of getting back to visiting the parks. It has also caused problems for some Resort guests that weren’t aware they had to book reservations as well as tickets and couldn’t then visit on their hotel dates as all the reservation spaces had been taken.
So here are the choices:
- Get rid for everyone
- Stay for everyone
- Get rid for Hotel guests, stay for everyone else
- Makes No Difference To Me Either Way
I have included the last couple of options to see what percentage of guests don’t actually feel affected by the Disney Parks Pass Reservation System and also I imagine there is quite a high percentage of people who think that hotel guests should automatically be able to choose which parks they would like to visit so it shouldn’t apply to them. However, currently with the capacity caps in place there needs to be a plan for this as going over the capacity allowance isn’t possible.
CLICK HERE to vote and don’t forget to share this with your friends and family. We will be very interested to hear your thoughts on this issue so please leave us your comments below or on our Facebook page. As usual a number of these will be included in our Big Debate Results article which will be coming soon to Theme Park Tourist.
