MAJOR Changes Made to Park Pass Reservation System for Disney World

Since Disney World reopened in the summer of 2020, there have been a LOT of changes.

Cinderella Castle

One major change was the introduction of Genie+, a paid version of FastPass that allows you to skip the line at several rides. However, one of the biggest changes that affects everyone planning a Disney World vacation is Park Pass Reservations. Based on statements from Disney CEO Bob Chapek, Park Pass Reservations are here to stay, however, we just noticed a few changes in how you book them.

So, what are Park Pass Reservations? Well, Disney uses Park Passes to monitor how many guests visit the parks each day and control crowds. You must make a Park Pass to enter a Disney World park ON TOP of buying a park ticket. Parks do fill up constantly, so as soon as you have dates for your trip, you should book those Park Passes immediately, especially around or on holidays.

Park Pass Sign At Disney’s Hollywood Studios

We’ve got a full guide that walks you through how to make Park Pass Reservations which you can check out here. Note that if you have a park hopper ticket, you must scan into the park you made a reservation for before you can hop and you cannot hop to another park until 2PM EST.

Now that you’re up to date on the Park Pass Reservation system, let’s take a look at the changes!

Park Pass Reservation sign

As of August 23rd, 2022, most guests no longer have to cancel their Park Pass Reservations before changing the park or the date! Previously, guests generally had to cancel the reservation and hope that the park and date they wanted didn’t fill up before they could grab it.

©Disney

That’s no longer the case for most guests. The Disney World website now specifically notes that guests can modify park reservation dates, park, and party members when it comes to their Park Passes, rather than having to rebook.

©Disney

In the My Disney Experience app, you’ll also notice that it now says “Make or Modify Park Reservations,” as one of the options.

©Disney

The app now also has details about how you can select “modify reservation” to modify the date and park, and it discusses removing members of your party from a reservation.

©Disney

If you choose to modify, you’ll be taken to a screen to select for whom you’ll be modifying the Park Pass reservation. It will then show you available dates and parks. Then you’ll review the changes. Be sure to hit “confirm selections” when your changes are all ready to go so that the system saves your modifications.

©Disney

UPDATE: Note that modification may NOT be available for all ticket types. According to Scott Gustin, Annual Passholders staying at a Disney World hotel who are making Park Pass reservations through the hotel path (i.e. not using their allotted Annual Passholder park pass reservation spots) are NOT eligible to modify their Park Pass reservations. Those guests must cancel and rebook their reservations.

This was previously the case for regular ticketed guests using the hotel path for Park Pass reservations as well, but Disney changed that. So it’s possible that things will change for Annual Passholders eventually too. Be sure to check and see what the situation is like during your visit.

Disney Annual Passholders Need to Be Cautious

But that’s not the only change that has been made. Guests can also now book more than one ticket type at a time on the Disney World Park Pass Reservation system. This means you can book passes for both Annual Passholders and single-day ticket holders at the same time.

But keep in mind that (as Scott Gustin points out) the day must be available on the calendars for the ticket types you’re booking for in order to book them together. In other words, if you’re booking a Park Pass reservation for a regular ticketed guest and an Annual Passholder in the same transaction, the date has to be available on both calendars for it to work.

Scanning in!

We also noticed another change that has been made to Park Passes on the My Disney Experience app. Previously, you could click on the “Future Plans” section in the app to see the people listed for each Park Pass. Now, however, when we click on the Park Pass in the “Future Plans” section, it redirects us to Safari and prompts us to log into our Disney account.

Once we logged in on Safari, the website showed us the list of individuals for each Park Pass (as normal). But it looks like seeing those details in the app is no longer an option.

©Disney

UPDATE: Even MORE changes have been made to the system. According to Scott Gustin, guests could previously book a Park Pass reservation for linked family members and friends if they had enabled the portion of the My Disney Experience app that says other friends can see “only plans we share.” Now, however, to book a Park Pass reservation for a family member or friend, Gustin reports that they must be sharing ALL of their plans through the app. In other words, they’ll need to go in and make sure “All My Plans” is enabled when specifying what plans other family/friends can see.

This can be changed by tapping the 3 horizontal lines at the bottom right of the My Disney Experience app, going to “My Profile,” hitting “Family & Friends List,” and then selecting the friend you want to share plans with.

©Disney

To learn more about the Park Pass system in general, check out our page all about it. You can also click here to learn about the easiest Park Pass reservations to make in 2022. We’ll continue to keep you updated on the latest Disney changes, so stay tuned for more.

See the latest Park Pass Reservation update from CEO Bob Chapek 

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Do you like or dislike the Disney World Park Pass Reservation system? Let us know in the comments!

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7 Replies to “MAJOR Changes Made to Park Pass Reservation System for Disney World”

  1. I am retired from Disney World but won’t go to parks because of inconvenience of making reservations. I never know what day I can go because of husband’s health. We never know from day to day when he can get up and make it to a park even for an hour or two just to have a good meal

  2. I wish they would get rid of the 2pm park hopper restriction. It really diminishes the value of the park to park ticket, enough already

  3. I know why they gave it but it cuts down on being able to come and go as you please. I am planning a trip in 2024 my 6th trip. I miss being able to be less planned and just being able to wing it

  4. I see one major issue with this change. My current park pass reservations have been split (1 for each person in my party) so I need to modify 3 reservations if I want to make any change in my plans. I find it very risky…

    1. It is certainly more work and has added more stress to what was once an easy system.. Hate the fact that you are unable to leave a park and must wait until 2 for your next park, especially if you have small children who are unable to make that wait work.