Walt Disney World’s Disney Parks Pass theme park reservations system opened up this week for guests with valid theme park admission and hotel reservations, and as you might expect on the first day of a brand new system, users encountered plenty of errors and issues. And unfortunately, due to the widespread problems, Disney’s phone lines were jammed almost all day with guests trying to reserve entry to their favorite theme parks during their hotel stays.
Despite the long wait times and technical glitches, it looks like enough people were able to make reservations during Walt Disney World’s opening week to completely “sell out” reservations for Disney’s Hollywood Studios, for its first three days back to operation.
Right now, only Disney guests with on-property hotel reservations are able to reserve Disney Parks Passes, but later this week on June 26, 2020, Annual Passholders without a resort stay can make reservations and then on June 28, 2020, existing ticket holders not staying on property can make reservations.
In order to gain entrance to a Walt Disney World theme park, all guests, no matter whether they are staying on-site or somewhere else, will need valid admission tickets as well as a Disney Parks Pass reservation time, and with dates going quickly it looks like access to the parks over the coming months is going to be very limited. And speaking of limited experiences at Walt Disney World…
This week marks the first phase of Walt Disney World’s hotel reopening, with DVC resorts once again welcoming guests. However, for Walt Disney World visitors who are not DVC Members, the wait will be a little bit longer for hotel stays at Walt Disney World, as Disney has released the opening dates for hotels for the rest of the summer/fall, which you can find below:
- July 10 – Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Jambo House, Disney’s Pop Century Resort, Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- July 29 – Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
- August 12 – Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort and Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
- August 24 – Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resorts
- September 21 – Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
- October 1 – Disney’s BoardWalk Resort
- October 14 – Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
With only three hotels available for the theme parks’ reopening in mid-July, it looks like capacity is going to be severely limited for on-property guests. And unfortunately, many guests may find themselves with reservations at hotels that will not be open by their travel dates. Fortunately, guests with current reservations at impacted Disney Resort hotels can request help with modifying their reservation starting today.
Though Walt Disney World is now beginning to really kick in with its reopening plan, it looks like it will be a long time before we see full parks and hotels once again. Will you be visiting Walt Disney World in 2020?
As always, while this situation is evolving, all travelers should check out the CDC’s official site here, which has information on the virus and how to prevent its spread.
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