Today, Disney released a slew of new policies and updates that will be coming to the resort once it opens on July 11th.
We knew that Disney would be putting in place a new reservation system that meant in order to visit a theme park, you needed valid theme park admission as well as a reservation for the park that day.
Today, Disney released that even if you have a reservation and are staying at an on-site hotel, that does not guarantee theme park admission.
While this is surprising news, we’ll do our best to keep you updated as Disney releases more information as we get closer to the parks reopening.
This is a bad step. There needs to be MUCH more clarification on this statement by Disney. If you have customers on site, paying $100s of dollars per day at your resort, they should absolutely have prioritization of getting into the parks (with a valid, purchased ticket). This is a bad move.
I was just informed of some special news…What’s really awesome is that there’s no such thing as a 15% discount for AP renewal. Yeah, there’s a discount, but it’s 15% off the current price, NOT 15% off the price that YOU paid, which is the opposite of what I was led to believe from multiple videos and blogs that distinctly said you get a 15% discount for renewal as a means to entice you to come back the next year. Well, this definitely does NOT entice me. It’s awesome that the price went up twice in the period between the time I paid for it and the expiration date, so for me, I’m not being discounted at all. And in today’s post-COVID world, I would have to pay close to $200 more for an AP renewal for a LOT LOT LOT less to do and not even a guarantee that I’d have park admission…and a lot of my day would be spent watching TV, which I can easily do at home, due to the shortened hours. Classy, Chapek, classy. What’s not at Disney right now? Meet & greets, nighttime shows, park-hopping (presumably, the details on reservations haven’t entirely been made clear), Minnie Vans, EMH, late-night happenings, FP+, etc. And they want us to pay MORE for LESS? We probably won’t even get to ride the same ride twice in a day anymore! So I have to laugh whenever they say that passholders are their most cherished visitor.
This is stupid will they refund your money if you don’t get use your park tickets you bought already
Ummm it will be a cold day in hell before I slap down 3000$ for a trip to WDW to if I can’t be gaurunteed to get into the theme parks if I’m staying inside! I think WDW has gone crazy! Whom in their right mind would fly from far and away to sit in a hotel room? Wtf Disney! Get your sh*t together or you’re just going to have passholders at your parks! But maybe that’s how they want it? Then again if pass holder need reservations they may stop renewing their passes too!
REALLY?! I have reservations to stay at a resort in July and got plane tickets way back in January and now being told I may not be able to purchase a park ticket. That makes no sense. I’m flying from Pittsburgh to just stay at a resort. I am not happy. If I knew this sooner I would have canceled. You think disney resort guest with reservations would get priority. Again both disney resort and plane tickets purchased in January. I was going to cancel all in May but heard may open in June or July so I waited and by luck they will reopen in July with accommodations which I fully understand but NOT to be able to go to a park my entire week stay is a HUGE accomodation that is not nice.
I think what they meant is you need a reservation and a ticket. Meaning your resort doesn’t guarantee you entry. However, resort guests will get access to the reservation system before annual pass holders.
Resort guests who had their trip moved…
Hey come on down, you’ll pay thru the nose for your room but roll the dice on park admission. Great marketing strategy piss off the die hards.
I think they need to clarify. I wonder if that means “does not guarantee access to ANY theme park“, as in you may not be able to go anywhere at all; or if it means “does not guarantee access to A SPECIFIC theme park”, as in you may not be able to go to Magic Kingdom on that day, but might still be able to go to Epcot.
As a local, this will pretty much never apply to me, but if I was staying onsite, I’d expect a guarantee that I could go SOMEWHERE every day that I was paying Disney prices for my hotel room. Also, if my stay was long enough (say 4+ days), I’d want a guarantee that I would have access to each theme park for at least one day during my stay.
Imagine paying for a 7 day Disney vacation, having access to Animal Kingdom for 2 days, Epcot for 2 days, and nothing at all for the remaining 3 days.
This reminds me of a Charlie Brown Halloween in which every house he goes to trick-or-treat he gets a rock instead of piece of candy.
In this situation you would book the Grand for 5 nights and get guaranteed admittance to one of the four parks, the caveat is that it’s Animal Kingdom each day.
Ah, no thanks Mickey, I’d rather visit Cedar Point this year or a National Park.
Wrong, wrong, wrong! A family just spends thousands to go there and now there is a good chance they won’t get to the parks…major rip-off. Go somewhere else.
If you stay on resort then you should be garented to go to the park. If not refund the $ for that day
So I am supposed to fly to Florida in November, when we have on-site reservations, in the hopes we can get in? Doesn’t sound fair.
Staying in the resort has never guaranteed entry into a park, park tickets are not included in a resort stay, and there is always the possibility of the parks hitting capacity and not being able to admit anyone else until someone leaves. All that has changed is that the maximum capacity of the parks has been reduced.