In just a few days, Disney World will announce the first round of “Good-to-Go” days for Annual Passholders. As with any attempt to simplify the guest experience, there seem to be plenty of questions among guests as to how the change will impact their vacations. In this article, we’re going to take a look at the difference between Annual Passholder Bonus Reservations and “Good-to-Go” days.
Disney Park Pass Theme Park Reservations
When the theme parks shut down due to COVID-19 back in March 2020, executives were able to accelerate and implement plans to introduce a visitation restriction system. Introduced due to self-imposed capacity limits (at Walt Disney World), the Disney Park Pass system would allow Disney World to carefully limit how many guests could enter a theme park on any given day.
This proved to be an excellent tool for the COVID-era phased reopening, and perhaps an invaluable tool for yield management. In short, what began as a tool to allow for the safe operation of its theme parks became a tool that Disney executives could use to optimize profits by matching staffing levels to allowed demand. This was something that Disney wanted to implement before COVID, and remains something that they want to keep around forever. Back in 2020, Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro famously said that the reservation system was “here to stay“. And he’s right. At least, for the demographic Disney wants to keep a tight grip on – Annual Passholders.
Going forward, the Disney Park Pass reservation system will be sunsetted for date-based tickets, which account for a large portion of guests, but it will stick around for Passholders. More on that in a bit.
Bonus Reservations
With the introduction of the Disney Park Pass system came limitations on how many reservations each Passholder could hold at one time. Depending on which tier of Annual Pass you have, you were allowed to hold a select number of theme park reservations before being prevented from making more. Here are the limits for how many Disney Park Pass theme park reservations each Passholder can have on a rolling basis:
- Disney Incredi-Pass: up to 5
- Disney Sorcerer Pass: up to 5
- Disney Pirate Pass: up to 4
- Disney Pixie Dust Pass: up to 3
While many days out of the year would require a Park Pass, there were some days that Disney wanted to push Passholders to a certain park. To encourage visitation, Disney World introduced Bonus Reservations. A Bonus Reservation would not count against your allocation amount and you could make as many Bonus Reservations as you’d like.
Bonus Reservations were usually found during the slower times of year, or used as a sort of counterprogramming for popular dates. You might see Animal Kingdom Bonus Reservations introduced during anticipated busy days at Magic Kingdom. Alternatively, Disney may have made Bonus Reservations available for Magic Kingdom on slower days like half-days when Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party shut down the park at 6pm.
Good-to-Go Days
Back in mid-December, Disney World announced “Good-to-Go” days for Annual Passholders. In the announcement, Disney said that it wanted to give Passholders “greater spontaneity in visiting Walt Disney World Resort in 2024 with good-to-go days”.
We want to thank you for being part of our Passholder family and are excited to give you, our biggest fans, greater spontaneity in visiting Walt Disney World Resort in 2024 with good-to-go days. On good-to-go days, Passholders may visit a Walt Disney World Resort theme park without needing a theme park reservation (blockout dates will continue to apply like they do today).
As you prepare for your 2024 visits, we wanted to let you know more about how good-to-go days will work:
-On good-to-go days, Passholders may enter the theme parks without needing a reservation (blockout dates will continue to apply like they do today).
-The theme park reservation calendar, Annual Passholder admissions calendar and My Disney Experience app will show days that are good-to-go. The first good-to-go days will be added to the calendars starting January 11, 2024.
-Good-to-go days will take the place of bonus reservations, and like bonus reservations, they will be added periodically and may be released days or weeks in advance.
-If a Passholder has an upcoming theme park reservation that becomes a good-to-go day, the reservation will be removed and no longer count against their maximum reservation hold, but they will still be able to view their previous reservation in the My Plans section in My Disney Experience.
Differences Between Bonus Reservations and Good-to-Go Days
As we look toward the next phase in the Disney Park Pass theme park reservation system, we wanted to outline what you can expect when “Good-to-Go” days arrive.
No Need to Make a Reservation
The biggest difference between Bonus Reservations and “Good-to-Go” days is that you don’t actually reserve a “Good-to-Go” day. Whereas you had to secure a Bonus Reservation similar to how you would secure a standard Park Pass, you can’t “make” a “Good-to-Go” day reservation – you simply tap into the park and enjoy like you would’ve pre-COVID.
If a Passholder has an upcoming theme park reservation that becomes a good-to-go day, they will still be able to view their previous reservation in the My Plans section in My Disney Experience, but the reservation will be removed and no longer count against their maximum reservation hold.
You Still Have to Check the Calendar
Functionally, your day or vacation planning will remain the same as it is today – you check the availability calendar. Disney says that Passholders can find “Good-to-Go” days in the following locations:
- Theme park reservation calendar
- Annual Passholder admissions calendar
- Home screen of the My Disney Experience app (if their pass is linked to their Disney account)
This is probably my biggest gripe with the system. If you still have to check the calendar to see if you’re able to visit the theme parks without a reservation, what’s the point? Reservations will still be required on non-“Good-to-Go” days, so there really isn’t much of a functional change for Passholders.
Also, “Good-to-Go” days will only be added days or weeks in advance. In reality, the Park Pass system only required Passholders to plan ahead and make reservations more than a week in advance for maybe three weeks a year. Disney could, and should, release “Good-to-Go” day information in 3-month chunks, but if Disney only puts out the info days ahead of time, there really isn’t much of a change versus Bonus Reservations.
Disney Park Pass System Remains in Place
Throughout all of this, we go back to D’Amaro’s statement that the Park Pass reservation system is “here to stay”. He was right, or, at least, remains right so far. Passholders will still have to make Disney Park Pass theme park reservations on non-“Good-to-Go” days, so make sure you keep checking the calendar and keep making reservations. It may be a new year and a “new” perk for Passholders, but until the Park Pass system is removed, it’s lipstick on a pig. At least Park Hopping is returning!
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!