This morning Walt Disney World rolled out their new parks pass reservation system for resort guests only. To say that the morning was not smooth sailing would probably be putting it lightly, but even though the system has its flaws, no one should be panicking, yet.
Even though we are annual Passholders, we have a reservation booked for the end of August at Fort Wilderness. While we originally booked this for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party (now cancelled), we decided to keep the reservation and do a little staycation. In theory, if you are staying on a resort you should be able to book one park for each day of your stay, up to 14 days. I was able to book 4 days as we have a 4 day stay. So why were some people not able to book their whole stay? Simple, Disney technology sucks. My Disney Experience crashes constantly, shop Disney crashes every time there is a new release. We knew that this would not be any different.
At this point a lot of you are probably saying, what on earth is the good news then? The good news is the availability calendar. Yes, the system is crashing, but at this point every day for the next year is still showing available. The only ones that are yellow which means “not all parks available” are the days right after open and the only reason not all parks are available is because two of the parks will not even be open. I think once the rush settles down, we will see it become a lot easier to get your days, similar to Sea World and Universal. With all the cancellations and people choosing not to renew their passes, I do not think annual Passholders will have any issues getting days.
For now, all I can is be patient. As time goes on this will get easier. People are booking right now for the entire YEAR. That is a lot of people trying to get on to the system all at once. If I can be of any help to anyone, or answer any questions, please let me know!
Marvelous Mrs. Morin 