Theme Park Reservation Woes: Walt Disney World Passholders hit with three-day dry spell

Jan 04, 2024 in "MyMagic+"

Posted: Thursday January 4, 2024 8:52am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Walt Disney World Annual Passholders are facing a rough start to 2024 with three consecutive days of no available theme park reservations at any of the parks.

According to the official Walt Disney World reservations calendar, all four parks are at capacity for Annual Passholders from January 5 through January 7, 2024. In addition, Magic Kingdom is fully booked for passholders on January 4.

Currently, Disney is continuing to offer day tickets on these days, and the period remains available to guests staying at Walt Disney World hotels.

Note that on days when reservations are at capacity, Annual Passholders may still visit the theme parks after 2:00 pm without a theme park reservation, except on Saturdays and Sundays at Magic Kingdom. You should also keep watching the park pass reservation calendar as more capacity may be added.

This weekend's lack of theme park reservations is due to the runDisney Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. The event brings in many Walt Disney World regulars, who are also typically Annual Passholders.

Disney plans to introduce new "Good-To-Go Days" for Walt Disney World Annual Passholders starting January 11, where Annual Passholders may enter the theme parks without needing a reservation. However, it would seem likely that even with the new system in place, busy periods like this weekend would not be included, and reservations would still be required.

Discuss on the Forums

Get Walt Disney World News Delivered to Your Inbox

View all comments →

Royal Purple Pigment2 days ago

It takes me just as much time and effort to log on and see it is good to go. This reservation system was one of the big differentiators in the AP tiers aside from blackout dates. We rarely even use our reservations and have 5 of 5 available. I understand everyone is different but this whole thing is lame. It is so annoying that they never could incorporate it into the app and you had to launch a different website and log in again. They need to dump this lame system or add something as a tier level replacement to the AP program (free Photopass, etc.)

wdisney90002 days ago

People have simply said its annoying, exactly like you yourself just stated in your post. I don't see anybody making mountains. Individually, the requirements you need to be on your phone for are not that frustrating, but when combined, it just gets ridiculous.

bmr15912 days ago

I mean, do you though? Unless you’re coming on a peak week, reservations are always available to make day of. Heck, my wife and I change ours the morning of often. I don’t disagree that making reservations is annoying, but some of y’all make mountains out of things that aren’t actually issues. It makes sense though, doesn’t it? CPs came from all over to work at Disney because they love Disney. Most don’t care to do anything on their off day except go enjoy the parks. With that said, man, what a scheme. “Come work for us! With the little you make, you’ll give us a portion back in rent. We also know you’ll spend a lot of what you make back with us in the parks.” It’s almost voluntary slave labor.

GhostHost10002 days ago

interesting I would also suspect they spend on average way less than annual passholders

wdwmagic2 days ago

It is way way more than that. CPers alone make up a good number on a daily basis.

Bullseye19672 days ago

The fact that CMs have to make a reservation is absolutely insane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How many CMs are in a park on any given day? 50 or 100?. This is nuts but at least they can go again.

Disstevefan12 days ago

May the force NOT be with APers.

Rich Brownn2 days ago

Star Wars day ("May the Fourth be with you") :D

hopemax2 days ago

So far the good to go days for CMs have matched the AP days. CMs can see them on the calendar when they go to make a reservation.

SingleRider2 days ago

Do good to go days apply to CMs as well? I thought it was only APs.

hopemax2 days ago

This one was surprising. I saw the news about the merchandise VQ on May 1st and my Dad wanted a reservation, but none were available (Main Entrance Pass). Then an hour later, it's a good to go day. Whatever, Disney. Why make this so annoying!

Brian3 days ago

Notable. They must not be expecting a big crowd for DHS's 35th anniversary day.

Fido Chuckwagon3 days ago

Wow, May 4th unavailable for AP reservations at HS. I know it's May 4th, but it can't possibly be that busy given how slow it is this time of year. They just want to push AP's to other parks and/or don't want to staff HS enough to cover the demand. Shameful.

Brian3 days ago