Anyone else finding 6 Magic Key reservations just aren't enough?

[SherylLC]

Maybe this will pass after the holidays but I am still getting used to having to reserve park days. We go NYE/NYday for three days so with weekend days filling up it's hard to get drop in weekend reservations. I guess this was the point?

 

[lalasmama]

We're in the middle of the holiday seasons, so it doesn't surprise me that weekend days are quickly snapped up. I think drop-in weekend days will be unlikely until after the Christmas holiday and winter break.

 

[Sunnyore]

I think 6 is actually too many and why there is such low availability. That and I’m a spur of the moment APer so I’m struggling making reservations right now. I do hope people are right that it’s a holiday thing for now and itll be easier to go later on without having to plan like a month ahead.

 

[bwvBound]

LOL. @SherylLC, yes! Me, too!

 

[longboard55]

we do DVC staycations so we have to book those days in advance, then we need NYE, so it is tight. But I think it will work once we get the system down. It was just too crowded before and not fair for those who paid full price

 

[Evita_W]

I honestly don't think MagicKeys are worth it until the reservation system goes away completely or the prices drop substantially.

 

[Dory92130]

I honestly don't think MagicKeys are worth it until the reservation system goes away completely or the prices drop substantially.

I actually think the Dream Key is priced too low comparatively to the rest. The Believe key is what we grabbed as wanted Saturdays to be available; otherwise Enchant is what we were used to with FlexPass.

Trouble with allowing more than 2 days and too far ahead causes the grab and hold issue we're seeing and then dropping on thursday/fridays immediately prior to the weekend -- defeats the plan ahead, reserve as needed to anticipate needs intent.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

I honestly don't think MagicKeys are worth it until the reservation system goes away completely or the prices drop substantially.

Chapek is really in love with that reservation system. I don't see it going away anytime soon. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if it never goes away, well...at least during his tenure.

 

[evilmommie]

No issues with booking days w/6 slots. I usually keep one slot open as my "flex" day. I go about once a week as a solo trip, maybe every 2 weeks w/hub and then once a month with a large group. We haven't had any issues getting our days, including weekends.

 

[DizMe]

I don't know whether it should be more or fewer days, but I do know that I'm stuck not being able to reserve enough days for both my December and November trips. I'm 1 short, staying on site, and feel like it's an added stress I don't need. Do I cancel one of my Dec reservations for a Nov 16 res and then hope I'll be able to get the Dec reservation once I've gone a day in Nov? Or do I watch the reservations and book Nov 16 if it's still available after I've used my Nov 14 res? Or will the hotel let me reserve a day from their bucket, which I assume I won't be able to do until I've used one of my 6 reservations?

Oh, how I miss just making a hotel reservation and not worrying about whether or not I can get into the parks. Or eat at my favorite restaurant. I hope I will appreciate the positive aspects of this new system once I've been, but I certainly don't right now.

 

[SherylLC]

I don't know whether it should be more or fewer days, but I do know that I'm stuck not being able to reserve enough days for both my December and November trips. I'm 1 short, staying on site, and feel like it's an added stress I don't need.

Exactly. The difficulty comes when longer stays come into play.

 

[Malcon10t]

I honestly don't think MagicKeys are worth it until the reservation system goes away completely or the prices drop substantially.

I don;t see the reservation system leaving. They started "practicing" with the flex pass.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I don;t see the reservation system leaving. They started "practicing" with the flex pass.

The nice thing about the flex pass is there were many “good to go” days (mostly weekdays) so you didn’t have to use up your reservations for those. I’m wish the Magic Keys had those (or that those were “freebie” reservations).

 

[gelatoni fan]

The nice thing about the flex pass is there were many “good to go” days (mostly weekdays) so you didn’t have to use up your reservations for those. I’m wish the Magic Keys had those (or that those were “freebie” reservations).

The other thing about the flex pass was that you had a 30 day window instead of 90. So the limit was effectively 2 weekends every 30 days, not 6 days total every 90 days. 90 days is longer than an entire seasonal event so if you happened to go for a few weekends during Halloween, you would be blocked from going to Disneyland in the morning for every weekend in the Christmas season.

I fundamentally don't think the issue is 6 reservations; it's the 90 day window. If the window was 7 days (the original reservation window when Hong Kong Disneyland reopened), 6 reservations would be plenty as very few people want to go 7 days in a row. Right now, I need to cover three days in January and 6 days in February. If I can't get the February reservations, I will try very hard to convince my friends from college to not buy tickets for Disneyland and we can all do a vacation somewhere else like Hawaii.

 

[njchris]

I had to reserve my birthday in November and 2 days in December for when a friend is visiting. That leaves me with 3. Which kind of makes things harder because I can't plan too far ahead until the November/December dates are used and I get the full 6 again. With the magic key dates filling faster than the regular tickets, it makes it more challenging. I am glad I can still go, but I do miss the spontaneity of the AP. In the scheme of things, it's not the end of the world. I have bigger life issues to worry about.

 

[cruisehopeful]

I've had 5-6 visits booked ever since I got my key. 6 days really isn't enough at this time for me, having several overnight stays booked. If I was just going for the day, it would probably be fine.

 

[DLgal]

I agree that the 90 day window is too long. Should be 30 days.

 

[mel2014]

A shorter window sounds great if you're local, but for people booking airfare and hotels, 90 days is much better than the 30-day window that existed with the FlexPass. An Enchant Pass makes sense financially for anyone that wants to schedule 2 3-day trips in a 12-month period working around the blockout dates. And once those people have "paid for" their pass with the two trips, they're more likely to schedule a third or fourth trip on the theory that admission is "free" (setting aside all of the costs to travel, stay, eat, souvenirs). My family is definitely in that category and from everything we've seen with this program and the rumored Genie+/Lightning Lane parameters, Disney is trying to pull in more of those people and fewer casual local visitors.

 

[Briarrose1306]

I believe the Enchant only has four days and that's proving very rough for me.

 

[AndrewC]

If Disney wants to drive more money from this they could do one of two things, both of which fans will hate but probably use like crazy.

1. Offer hotel bucket past the 6 reservations if you have confirmed hotel stays over 6 days.
2. Offer $10/reservation after 6 reservations have been used. For me that would be an extra $20 but would ensure I had the last two days of my trip booked. Sure I hate paying extra, but I would jump at that.