How to Make a Walt Disney World Park Pass Reservation

To help manage capacity numbers and ensure that guests are able to social distance, there is a new step you will need to take when planning your vacation to Walt Disney World, at least for the foreseeable future. Every guest will need to make a Walt Disney World park pass reservation in advance. Here’s how to do that!

Last Updated: January 2024

As of January 9th, 2024, the need for reservations for date-based tickets is no more. That’s right, for standard date-based tickets, you can now waltz right into Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom without pre-planning your park days. Annual Passholders and some other ticket types still need reservations on certain days. Get ready for a more flexible, magical adventure at Walt Disney World in 2024!

What is a Park Pass Reservation at Disney?

After you’ve booked your vacation package and have your park tickets, make sure you have it all linked to your My Disney Experience account. This will allow you to make a theme park reservation through the Disney Park Pass system. The park reservations began when the parks reopened in June 2020.

All guests over the age of 3 must have both valid park admission and a park reservation for the same park on the same date. This is limited to one park per day.

Park hopping is available with a park hopper ticket or Annual Pass after 2:00 pm, but you don’t need a park reservation for a second park at this time. You must, however, have checked in to your first park that has a reservation before hopping to another park.

These reservations are limited and subject to availability. If you have multi-day tickets, you will need to make a park reservation for each day. This is something you will need to do in advance and certain parks on certain days DO fill up. Hollywood Studios tends to fill up quickly, as does Magic Kingdom. Be aware of certain seasonal events or celebrations, ride openings, and anniversaries as those can also affect the availability. I recommend making your reservations as soon as you purchase your tickets.

Also, note that this currently can only be done on a website browser and not on the My Disney Experience app on your phone. You can select the option from the app on your phone, but it will open up in a browser and you will need to log in again.

How to Make a Walt Disney World Park Pass Reservation

When you are ready to make your reservation, here are the four steps to follow:

1. Make sure you have set up an account on My Disney Experience and confirm your admission is linked to your account.

2. Create your travel party. Select the family and friends you’d like to include if they’re already on your Family & Friends list or select the option to add a guest if needed. With some of the more recent updates, you are able to book reservations with different admission types at the same time.

3. Select a date and a park. View the calendar and select one of the available dates for your visit. Then select the theme park. It will show the park hours for the day, but you are able to enter the theme park at any time during the day of your reservation. After you select your date and theme park, you can confirm your reservation.

4. Review and confirm your plans. If you need to make any changes, select “Back” to revise your selections. Before confirming, you’ll have to agree to the Terms & Conditions, including an updated COVID-19 liability waiver. After you’ve done that, select “Confirm” to complete your park reservation. It will then show under “My Plans.” If you need to make another park reservation, you can just select “Make Another Reservation” to continue planning.

Park Pass Availability

Be sure to check the park pass availability before planning your vacation!

There are three tiers of available dates: Walt Disney World Resort Guests, Theme Park Ticket Holders, and Annual Passholders. You can check the availability calendar, just make sure to select which calendar applies to you!

You will not need to make a park reservation for the water parks at this time.

Other Park Pass Reservation Tips

Sometimes the Disney website can have technical issues and Stitch will “eat the page” and kick you out. I always recommend using an incognito browser for Disney sites as it tends to work better and have fewer issues.

FAQs

• Can I make a park reservation at Disney without a ticket?
  • You must have an Annual Pass or theme park ticket linked to your account in order to make a park reservation.

• What if the date I want to visit a park doesn’t have any availability?
  • Keep checking a refreshing the page to see if anything opens up. You can also upgrade to park hopper tickets if you are able to get a reservation at a different park to start with and then hop at 2:00 pm.

• How many park reservations does Disney allow at a time?
  • Passholders can only hold 3-5 reservations at a time (depending on which pass you have) if not linked to a resort stay. Ticket purchasers can make a park reservation for each day of the length of their park ticket.

• Is there a penalty for missing your park reservation or just not using it?
  • There is not a penalty, but you do have to scan in at the park you have a reservation at first before visiting a different park on that same day. If you know that you are no longer going to use your park reservation, it is helpful for others if you go ahead and cancel it in case the availability is limited. Disneyland in California does have a penalty for missing multiple park reservations though.

Disney World Park Reservations – Latest Updates

You are now able to modify your park reservations and your party instead of having to cancel and rebook which is really helpful!

Now, when you purchase a 1-Day ticket for a specific date and theme park, a theme park reservation will automatically be made at the time of purchase.

No date has been announced yet, but there was an announcement that soon Annual Passholders will not have to make a park reservation to visit the parks after 2:00 pm. The exception is Saturdays and Sundays at Magic Kingdom.

While this may not be an ideal situation, especially for spur of the moment trips, it does seem to be working. Let me know if you have any questions I can help answer in the comments and we can chat more. If you need help booking a Disney vacation, I can help! Find out more and fill out a quote form to get in touch.