NEWS: Disney World Will Be Implementing a New Theme Park Reservation System When the Parks Reopen!

Disney World has announced that it will have a phased reopening of its parks in July.

Walt Disney World

While Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom will be opening on July 11th, EPCOT and Hollywood Studios will be opening on July 15th. There are extensive health and safety guidelines in place for guests and Cast Members that were detailed in today’s Orange County Task Force Meeting.

One of the newest procedures that will occur in Disney World is a new theme park reservation system.

Magic Kingdom

Guests will be required to make bookings in advance on this platform in order to visit the parks.

Spaceship Earth

Although there are no specific details about what the system will entail currently, we will keep you updated on more news! This is an evolving post that will continue to have more information added.

Read all the details on Disney World’s reopening timeline here!

Will you be going to Disney World when the parks reopen? Let us know in the comments below!

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Rachel Franko has been going to Disney Parks since she was a baby, and her love of Disney has only grown into a SLIGHT obsession since! She's been writing for AllEars since 2019 and loves sharing the magic with all the readers. When she's not writing, you can catch her heading to Disney and Universal Studios with a heart full of dreams and a backpack full of themed ears!

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22 Replies to “NEWS: Disney World Will Be Implementing a New Theme Park Reservation System When the Parks Reopen!”

  1. This may be a bit of a panic type move on our part, but we had originally planned on going to Disney World in january 2021 for 2 weeks (1 week alone, the other with our adult children) using our DVC points. We cancelled that and plan on going for a week, alone, in March and a second week with the kids in the fall. Then I saw the need to reserve our park admission dates. So we bought single park per day tickets and reserved our days in March. We have been assured we can upgrade the tickets to park hopper or convert them to annual passes even after we start using the tickets, we just purchased, in March. I just don’t see how Disney can possibly manage, using social distancing and no virtual queues, a four hour + stand by line.

  2. We are planning to visit in October 2020 for a 21st birthday and are staying offsite, my biggest concern is that we have to purchase tickets ahead of time and then make the reservation to our park of choice, which is Epcot for the Food and Wine Festival. If we cannot get into any park during our visit what happens to our pre-purchased ticket?

  3. We have plans of camping at Ft Wilderness and attending the parks. We are not canceling our trip as with all the plans a year ahead and getting time for family to join us, just so much time and money has been spent. Hopefully with already being registered at the campground resort we can get a memo letting us know when reservations are up to enter those parks. We already bought our park tickets.

  4. We have been planning this trip for years for my sons graduation. We have airplane tickets, hotel reserved, military hopper tickets, and of course work vacation approved. I read that hotel reservations at a resort does not guarantee you reservations into the parks. All the time and planning and to think we may not get reservations into the park.

  5. I made reservation back in January for December 13th-19th. I booked the room and a dining plan, but I hadn’t purchased tickets yet. Needless to say, meal packages have been cancelled. I can work around buying food, but now you can’t purchase tickets. I have waited 10 years for a chance to go back to WDW. Even if I get an opportunity to purchase ticket, if there are no fireworks, parades, meet and greet, I’ll be paying almost $5K to visit an “amusement park”. Not worth it. Sadly, the odds are looking like I may have to cancel the trip.

  6. We have a birthday trip planned for the end of September for F&W (which I hope is still happening). Normally, I use my points to stay off-site and spend the money we save in the parks. However, with the new reservation system, I’m wondering if it would be worth it to pay out-of-pocket and stay on-site if it means we’re guaranteed a reservation into Epcot for our travel dates. That’s assuming people with on-site hotel reservations are given priority.

  7. This is extremely disappointing. We wiil Definitely Not be returning to Disney as long as these restrictions are in place. We have reservations for 10/21 – 10/25. This was going to be a surprise for our 8 year old son and our first MNSSHP. I can not justify spending that kind of money without the normal Disney perks such as the dining plan and fast passes. Then add having to make a reservation to enter the park, limited dinner reservations available, and being forced to wear a mask, nope can’t do it.
    Hopefully this will not last forever, but until things at Disney resume to pre-covid normal, we will choose other places to spend our hard earned money.

  8. We have prepared everything with on onsite hotel for July 17-24th and paid extra for the park hopper and water parks…we were set to sweat it out in the masks, but now with fast passes cancelled I think we’ll finally move to ask for a full refund and dispute with our credit card if needed. It’s a lot of planning and a small fortune to go and with no magic hours, shortened park hours and now no fast passes I can’t justify the cost. And like someone else said if they don’t open the resort pools than my kids will really be miserable.

  9. I wonder how this will work with park hopping? We paid for park hoppers for our August trip. We weren’t sure if we would need them or not but now seeing the limited hours, I think we would most certainly use them some days. Interested to see how this will work out..

  10. My Children & I Are Booked For July 24th – July 31st. We Are Booked For The Campgrounds @ Disney Wilderness. We Have Prepaid Everything & Had Already Secured Most Everything That We Needed (We Had Not Secured Any Dining Reservations As We Where Planning On Doing That “On The Fly”. We Did Decide To Make Reservations For The Luau & A Dinner At The Crystal Palace @ the Magic Kingdom But In The Process Of Doing So EVERYTHING Became “Locked Out” & We Could Not Proceed With That). We Had Secured Our Fast Passes For Each Park (We Are Doing A 5 Day Package With Park Hopper Option). Since The “Lock Out” Our Tickets Are No Longer Showing Up (The Only Thing Showing Up Is Our Campground Reservation & Our Magic Pass Wristbands). I’m Afraid That We Are Going To Have To Start Over & “Resubmit” Our Ticket Request (Even Though They Have Already Been Paid For). I Personally Don’t See How Disney Can Implement The Park Reservation & Ticket Requirement & Honor The Park Hopper Portion For Those Of Us That Have Already Paid For That Benefit/Feature. Will Disney Refund The Difference In Cost Of What I Paid (The Difference Between A Park Hopper Ticket & That Of A Single Park Per Each Day?

  11. We are going in September and have MNSSHP tickets…..so I’m paying this extra ticket and no fireworks or parade!?

    1. We do too in September. For now I’m just taking a wait and see approach. I wouldn’t rule out parades and fireworks by then–every thing is pretty fluid right now. The virus may be significantly different by then–while there won’t be a vaccine, is there an effective treatment that manages the virus that makes it less deadly (so mitigation efforts can be relaxed)? Do the numbers drop significantly? I think right now it’s impossible to say.

  12. I had heard even Florida residents would need a form of reservation to enter the Parks. I would think those guests with Resort reservations have priority for Park reservations. I would think with less people allowed into the Parks, one might not need as many Fast Passes. We plan to be there Sept 30, 11 days. I’m looking forward to less crowds. I just hope we will still be able to Park hop or we will need to change plans and dining reservations, not to mention get a refund on park hopper tickets.

  13. They’ve needed a system even before Covid. I also hope on-site guests get priority but I have concerns. With Fastpass I go in as soon as I am eligible and a lot of what we wanted would already be fully reserved.

  14. Disney world already takes so much planning and takes most of the spontaneity and flexibility out of vacation. It’s going to be quite a while before I try to go. I’ll be interested to see how things go.

  15. I was just thinking the same thing. If staying on-site at a Disney owned property such as The Contemporary, will you be guaranteed a reservation?

  16. What way would this work if you already have tickets booked for Oct do you think? We have 14day passes booked for 19th oct

    1. Hi Niamh! At this time, they haven’t released specific details on their reservations system, but we will bring updates as soon as they do!

  17. I hope they allow those with on-site reservations the opportunity to make reservations first. Seems foolish to keep your hotel reservation if you cannot visit the parks.

    1. AGREE!!! I’m paying close to $4000 for room only at Yacht Club in July. I don’t mind masks but will I be able to get a park reservation and will the pool I’m definitely paying for be open?? Have called WDW several times today, systems are “on pause” and no one knows anything. Frustrating, I paid in full back in March and have no idea what to expect.

      1. Deb,
        You may not mind masks until you have to wear them in the heat of Florida in July. My family lives here, we wear masks and even now they it is a miserable experience. Miserable but necessary, I can’t imagine wearing one for the whole day walking around WDW!