With last night’s mass cancellation of FastPass+ reservations and dining reservations, guests are left back at square one with planning their vacation. This was a necessary step, but it doesn’t undo the fact that many of you did everything right when securing a hard-to-get Flight of Passage FastPass+ or impossibly difficult dining reservation. (If you’re an Annual Passholder, keep reading)
Over the years, the Walt Disney World experience has become so planned out in advance that it requires you to try and get dining reservations 6 months in advance and to get up before the sun rises 2 months before your trip for a chance at getting a FastPass+.
Now, with severely limited theme park capacity requiring a brand new reservation system and approach to planning, Disney had to cancel all existing selections to allow for a clean slate when they introduce their new Theme Park reservation system. While critical details on the system are still unknown, such as how many days you might be able to enter the theme park on your vacation, Disney has made it known who will get access to the new Theme Park reservation system first.
In an email to guests who have been impacted by the mass cancellations last night, Disney said that they would have access to the Theme Park reservation system before new tickets are sold to guests. Here’s the email that went out to guests:
As we plan for the reopening of our Disney Resort Hotels and Theme Parks, we are keeping the wellbeing of our Guests and Cast in mind. And we’re here to help you as we introduce new procedures focused on delivering an enjoyable and magical experience for everyone who visits.
Unfortunately, these new measures have required us to cancel any dining reservations, experience reservations and FastPass+ selections you may have made. We recognize the inconvenience this poses and we’re deeply sorry.
However, because you have valid Theme Park admission, you will have access to the Theme Park reservation system before new tickets are sold to other Guests. There’s nothing you need to do at this time. We’ll be contacting you soon with details on this new system as well as the process of making new dining and experience reservations. If you have previously booked experiences, you’ll also be provided with first access to make new reservations.
We’re putting great thought into helping you return to the magic and appreciate your patience.
At this time, while systems update, we are temporarily suspending all modifications. However, you have the option of canceling your entire reservation at any time.
For more information, please visit disneyworld.com, call 407-W-DISNEY (934-7639), or contact your travel professional or Member Services.
Select third party operated restaurants and certain other experiences may not be cancelled.
The key bit of information in there is that guests who already have valid theme park admission will be able to access the Theme Park reservation system before guests who haven’t purchased tickets yet.
Because Disney has paused new ticket sales at this time, if you currently have valid admission to a theme park for dates beginning July 11th, you’ll have access to the Theme Park reservation system first.
Annual Passholders
Because Annual Passholders have valid admission to the theme parks, they are also included in the category of “first access” to the Theme Park reservation system. In this statement, Disney includes Annual Passholders with existing ticket holders:
Existing ticket holders and Annual Passholders will be able to make reservation requests in phases before new tickets are sold
Now, the question of block-out dates still remains. It’ll also be interesting to see if being able to “make reservation requests in phases” means that higher tier Annual Passholders will be able to make reservations before lower tier Annual Passholders. Disney is facing quite a bit of backlash on social media over the cancellation of FastPass+ reservations, we imagine that backlash would be louder if all tiers (read: all price points) of Annual Passholders would have access to the Theme Park reservation system at the same time.
Overall, this is obviously a very fluid situation and we anticipate it won’t be the last round of cancellations. With fireworks and parades halted indefinitely, hard-ticket events look like they will be impossible to run and still have some semblance of a Disney standard.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com for the latest Disney Parks news and photos. We’ll continue to bring you news and photos, where possible, through the Disney Parks closure due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) and will resume our normal coverage once the parks reopen to guests on July 11th!
Here’s my dilemma. I had purchased a pair of 4 Park/4 Day tickets back in November for our April 2020 trip. That trip was cancelled. Now, my tickets on the Disney website say good until December 15, 2020. We then booked new reservations for our timeshare (off-site) airline tickets, rental car, etc. for October 3, 2020. When I called Disney, the Cast Member said that tickets are good until December 15, 2020 and you don’t need to specify exact dates for use. Now that there’s a New Reservation System coming, with hotel guests probably getting first access, what happens IF I cannot secure park admission during the October week I’m planning to vacation? I know I can just cancel (but we aren’t this time), and I can apply the unused tickets to a future visit, but will I visit again? We’re 60 and this was supposed to be our final trip. No refunds. If we cannot afford another trip in a year or two, we’re out $1000 and with today’s economic situation, that is a boatload of cash. There’s no Magic here right now.
Disney is not an evil corporation. They’re a company staffed by real people. If you call Ticketing Services and politely explain this situation, I have no doubts that you will be able to receive a refund.
I didn’t receive the above mentioned email, even though we are booked at a DVC resort for July AND have valid 4-day tickets! Is there any reason I didn’t get an email??
I have reservations at a Disney resort too, and didn’t receive an email.