Since Disney World reopened in the summer of 2020, there have been A LOT of changes.
A major change was the introduction of Genie+, a paid version of FastPass that allows you to skip multi-ride queues. However, one of the biggest changes affecting anyone planning a Disney World vacation is Park pass reservations. Based on statements from Disney CEO Bob Chapek, Park Pass reservations are here to stay, however, we just noticed some changes in the way you book them.
So what are Park Pass reservations? Well, Disney uses Park Passes to monitor the number of guests visiting the parks each day and to control crowds. You must have a Park Pass to enter a Disney World park IN ADDITION to purchasing a park ticket. The parks are constantly filling up, so as soon as you have dates for your trip, you need to book those park passes immediately, especially around or during holidays.
We have a comprehensive guide on how to make park pass reservations that you can check out here. Note that if you have a Park Hopper ticket, you must scan the park you made a reservation for before you can hop, and you cannot hop into another park until 2:00 PM EST.
Now that you’re up to date with the Park Pass reservation system, let’s take a look at the changes!
As of August 23, 2022, most customers no longer have to cancel their Park Pass reservations before changing parks or dates! Previously, customers typically had to cancel the reservation and hope the park and date they wanted didn’t fill up before they could grab it.
This is no longer the case for most customers. The Disney World website now specifically notes that guests can change park reservation dates, park and party members regarding their park passes, rather than having to rebook.
In the My Disney Experience app, you will also notice that it now says “Make or Modify Park Reservations’ as one of the options.
The app now also has details on how you can select “edit booking” to change the date and park, and it covers removing members of your party from a booking.
If you choose to modify, you will be taken to a screen to select who you will be modifying the Park Pass reservation for. It will then show you the dates and available parks. Next, you’ll review the changes. Be sure to click “confirm selections” when your changes are ready to be made so that the system saves your changes.
UPDATE: Note that editing may NOT be available for all ticket types. According Scott Gustin, Annual Passholders staying at a Disney World Hotel who make park pass reservations through the hotel route (i.e. do not use park pass reservation spaces assigned to annual pass holders) are NOT eligible to change their Park Pass reservations. These customers must cancel and rebook their reservations.
This used to be the case for repeat guests using the hotel route for Park Pass reservations as well, but Disney has changed that. So it’s possible things will change for annual pass holders as well. Be sure to check and see what the situation is when you visit.
But that’s not the only change that’s been made. Customers can now reserve more than one type of ticket at a time on the Disney World Park Pass reservation system. This means you can book passes for annual pass holders and day ticket holders at the same time.
But keep in mind that (like Scott Gustin underline) the day must be available on the calendars for the ticket types you are booking in order to book them together. In other words, if you make a Park Pass reservation for a regular guest and an annual pass holder in the same transaction, the date must be available on both calendars for this to work.
We also noticed another change to Park Passes on the My Disney Experience app. Previously, you could click on the “Future Plans” section of the app to see the people listed for each Park Pass. Now, however, when we click on the Park Pass in the “Future Plans” section, it redirects us to Safari and prompts us to log into our Disney account.
Once we logged into Safari, the website showed us the list of people for each Park Pass (as usual). But it seems that seeing these details in the app is no longer an option.
UPDATE: Even MORE changes have been made to the system. According Scott Gustin, customers could previously book a Park Pass reservation for linked family members and friends if they had enabled the part of the My Disney Experience app that says other friends can see “only plans we share” . Now, however, to book a Park Pass reservation for a family member or friend, Gustin reports that they must share ALL of their plans through the app. In other words, they will need to go in and make sure “All my plans” is enabled when specifying plans that other family members/friends can see.
This can be changed by tapping the 3 horizontal lines at the bottom right of the My Disney Experience app, going to “My Profile”, tapping “Family & Friends List”, then selecting the friend you want to share plans with.
To learn more about the Park Pass system in general, see our page on this subject. You can also click here to learn more about the easiest Park Pass reservations to make in 2022. We’ll continue to update you on the latest changes from Disney, so stay tuned for more.
See the latest Park Pass Reservation update from CEO Bob Chapek
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Do you like or dislike the Disney World Park Pass reservation system? Let us know in the comments!
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