I really blew it - Park passes!!! Help, advice needed!

[ninafeliz]

OK, I really messed up with our park passes for an upcoming July 8-17 trip. Prior to our ADR day I wasn't sure of our exact plan yet, but DHS Park passes were filing up right to our trip. So I went ahead and made a park pass for each day or our trip for DHS just to make sure we had that park when we ended up needing it. ADR day went fine and we made plans for our park days (2 MK, 2 DHS, 1 EP, 1 DAK). However, I never remembered/bothered/got around to changing our park pass days. I knew I needed to do it, but just never remembered at a good time, whatever... Well, today I decided to take a look at the calendar and the MK is all booked for out entire week ! You cannot imagine how sad and disgusted with myself I felt when I saw that!

I realize there's no way to be sure we can get the MK for the 2 day we want/need it (July 12 and 16, 12th most important), but what would be the best way to try? There are 9 of us, 6 have APs and 3 do not. The 3 that do not have park hoppers, but are grandparents who won't really want to tour any parks together that the rest of us are not in. Right now we all have Epcot booked. I believe if I contact GS they could book the MK for the 6 of us using our AP pool, correct? But then how would I look for the other 3? If I keep their Epcot passes I can't check for the MK, but if I cancel their Epcot passes there is a real risk of them getting nothing as it gets closer. However, if I keep all of our Epcot passes we can't even try for MK without canceling them. I know I can check the availability calendar, but I thought I had read that it isn't really updated after an initial sell our unless the calendar gets a full refilling?

I really blew this, and I'm really hoping I can salvage it somehow. I know we can just hop to the MK if worst comes to worst, but that really isn't what we wanted. It's our favorite park, and we have two four year olds that I really wanted to let spend the full day at the MK with all of us. I'll have 4 bummed/upset kids and my DH and parents/MIL probably won't be thrilled although they won't say much. What's the best way to keep trying for the MK on July 12th and hopefully the 16th?

 

[ziravan]

Hop multiple days and don’t worry about it. We were there recently and honestly the afternoon park hop was always the better park.

Used to be best to arrive at rope drop. Lately with park reservations many people are sticking to one park and leaving early.

We definitely noticed wait times only improved as the day went on.

Keep trying to fix it, yes.

But. Hoping is a perfectly good back up right now so don’t worry so much about it.

 

[scrappinginontario]

There really isn’t a easy way to do it, especially if you have parks booked for each day of your tickets. You may check the calendar but it’s not updated real-time. To book a new park you must first cancel the original park reservation and there is no guarantee it will still be there if you try to rebook it.

Do you have park hoppers? Can you hop to MK on the days you really want to go?

Just keep checking is about the best that can be offered.

 

[Akck]

I think you have to bite the bullet and cancel your reservations and try for MK. I’d just do the ticketed members for now, maybe individually. I know another poster was able get a HS reservation while on hold to MS after multiple tries in the reservation system.

 

[Eastern]

I would call GS now and explain. I just looked and it seems like APs have MK availability the entire week you are there, so you would just have to ask GS about the 3 grandparents. But I would call now and have it taken care of at the same time. Hopefully they can help.

 

[ninafeliz]

Hop multiple days and don’t worry about it. We were there recently and honestly the afternoon park hop was always the better park.

Used to be best to arrive at rope drop. Lately with park reservations many people are sticking to one park and leaving early.

We definitely noticed wait times only improved as the day went on.

Keep trying to fix it, yes.

But. Hoping is a perfectly good back up right now so don’t worry so much about it.

Thanks, and that might be the way we have to do it. It just isn’t our usual. We like to do a 3/4 day at each park, and then relax at the resort/eat at other resorts, etc in the evenings. This would/will be a big change, to have our favorite park only a couple of evenings .

There really isn’t a easy way to do it, especially if you have parks booked for each day of your tickets. You may check the calendar but it’s not updated real-time. To book a new park you must first cancel the original park reservation and there is no guarantee it will still be there if you try to rebook it.

Do you have park hoppers? Can you hop to MK on the days you really want to go?

Just keep checking is about the best that can be offered.

I think you have to bite the bullet and cancel your reservations and try for MK. I’d just do the ticketed members for now, maybe individually. I know another poster was able get a HS reservation while on hold to MS after multiple tries in the reservation system.

Ok, if I cancel their Epcot reservations how do I keep checking? Just start like I’m making them, choose magic kingdom, and then hope that I get the usual page with their names and MK on it that I then just have to confirm instead of the page that says there aren’t any more and to try a different day or park? For people that say they constantly try, is that what they are doing? It’s not like a refresh thing, it’s going through all of the steps until the end?

I would call GS now and explain. I just looked and it seems like APs have MK availability the entire week you are there, so you would just have to ask GS about the 3 grandparents. But I would call now and have it taken care of at the same time. Hopefully they can help.

I will try that tomorrow. I think they can change the 6 of us since we have APs, but from the little I’ve read it sounds like they won’t be able to do anything about the other 3. I guess it doesn’t hurt to ask, but I’ve never heard of GS being able to do anything for park passes.

I have seen readjustments turn months green a few times since I’ve been watching; but I wonder how many times they can do that. Maybe it’s completely done forJuly already, I know it happened once already.

What number should I call to ask about getting our 6 from the AP pool and maybe at least asking about the other 3?

 

[hereforthechurros]

You booked 10 days at HS? No wonder that park fills up so fast. They’ve been releasing more availability so hopefully you can change but the system is pretty black and white. Not to be mean but it was a little unfair to book that many HS days knowing reservations are limited so not sure why/what Disney could do to fix it for you now. Just keep checking.

 

[zoo2tycoon]

I would call GS now and explain. I just looked and it seems like APs have MK availability the entire week you are there, so you would just have to ask GS about the 3 grandparents. But I would call now and have it taken care of at the same time. Hopefully they can help.

This is poor advice and unfair to GS. What if everyone did this? OP made mistake not Disney.

 

[Dug720]

You booked 10 days at HS? No wonder that park fills up so fast. They’ve been releasing more availability so hopefully you can change but the system is pretty black and white. Not to be mean but it was a little unfair to book that many HS days knowing reservations are limited so not sure why/what Disney could do to fix it for you now. Just keep checking.

Agreed! I don't care about going to Studios, but I do think some people are so blinded by this need to get a boarding group or their vacation will be "absolutely and totally ruined" that they are not thinking and will do things like the OP did...and then whine when they aren't able to get any other parks either because they came to their senses or they get a group their first try and don't need the Studios park reservations for the rest of the trip yet other parks are booked up.

 

[Dug720]

This is poor advice and unfair to GS. What if everyone did this? OP made mistake not Disney.

100%!! I see all these "just call Guest Services" responses to a variety of questions (on another forum I actually saw someone suggest it because a poster "didn't realize that dining reservations opened on the computer at 6am".

Having had friends who have worked at Disney (in a variety of roles), the least favorite words when used together are "I read it online" (or insert forum or FB - yes, many of them consider "The DISBoards" in the same category as 4-letter words) because 9 times out of 10 it is some kind of pixie dust that happened to someone who announced it all over social media and now everyone thinks they are entitled to special treatment.

(On a similar note... I'm sure the retail shops are DREADING the likely rush of people wearing inappropriate shirts to get a voucher for $50 and then whine their way into getting a $75 spirit jersey for free after a Tik Tok "influencer" broadcast how she did exactly that. Disgusting.)

 

[ninafeliz]

I’m releasing them (actually all of our non DHS days are released now, and there were only 3 of them - 1 day we did AK and one day for Epcot, and the day that should have been MK but I changed to Epcot) not holding them and not using them, so now someone else can get (got) them. I’m sorry, but I don’t think it’s that bad . It’s all part of the game you have to play, and I didn’t want to close the door on DHS before we had our plans set in stone. Heck, at that point we had 3 people who were still deciding if they wanted to come down for a weekend or not. So now I have all of our actual
Days set, including ADRs, but missed out on the MK. Also, you maybe noticed I didn’t blame Disney, I blamed myself. I didn’t ask how they could fix it, I asked the best way I could try to get the MK. So maybe you can feel smug that karma got me, and I’ll work on the best way to fix it for our plans. Like I’ve said before on here, I always seem to learn lessons the hard way . My fault for not changing things the day after I got our ADRs amd our entire party was set.

 

[Eastern]

This is poor advice and unfair to GS. What if everyone did this? OP made mistake not Disney.

People make mistakes. I'm sure OP won't do it again. Not your job to determine what is fair to GS. GS can always say they can't do anything. It's part of their job.

 

[Eastern]

100%!! I see all these "just call Guest Services" responses to a variety of questions (on another forum I actually saw someone suggest it because a poster "didn't realize that dining reservations opened on the computer at 6am".

Having had friends who have worked at Disney (in a variety of roles), the least favorite words when used together are "I read it online" (or insert forum or FB - yes, many of them consider "The DISBoards" in the same category as 4-letter words) because 9 times out of 10 it is some kind of pixie dust that happened to someone who announced it all over social media and now everyone thinks they are entitled to special treatment.

(On a similar note... I'm sure the retail shops are DREADING the likely rush of people wearing inappropriate shirts to get a voucher for $50 and then whine their way into getting a $75 spirit jersey for free after a Tik Tok "influencer" broadcast how she did exactly that. Disgusting.)

Not everyone who requests GS help is whining or entitled. Entitled is expecting (or hoping for) something and then getting mad when you don't get your way. OP has realized their mistake and is only blaming herself/himself.

I thought the original post was well written and properly contrite.

 

[Eastern]

Days set, including ADRs, but missed out on the MK.

I am still seeing all parks available for APs. I would have a talk with the grandparents and explain the situation. I'm sure they don't want their grandchildren to miss out on MK. Maybe they can just tap into the original park and then go onto MK when hopping is available (I think it's 2pm). Probably a lot for them to spend all day in MK anyway. They can sleep in, have breakfast, and join the rest of you later.

 

[soniam]

I’m releasing them (actually all of our non DHS days are released now, and there were only 3 of them - 1 day we did AK and one day for Epcot, and the day that should have been MK but I changed to Epcot) not holding them and not using them, so now someone else can get (got) them. I’m sorry, but I don’t think it’s that bad . It’s all part of the game you have to play, and I didn’t want to close the door on DHS before we had our plans set in stone. Heck, at that point we had 3 people who were still deciding if they wanted to come down for a weekend or not. So now I have all of our actual
Days set, including ADRs, but missed out on the MK. Also, you maybe noticed I didn’t blame Disney, I blamed myself. I didn’t ask how they could fix it, I asked the best way I could try to get the MK. So maybe you can feel smug that karma got me, and I’ll work on the best way to fix it for our plans. Like I’ve said before on here, I always seem to learn lessons the hard way . My fault for not changing things the day after I got our ADRs amd our entire party was set.

Doing it the day you made ADRs might not have helped. They could have already been all booked. Park reservations have been filling up quickly for months now. Unfortunately, you just have to bite the bullet these days and make your best guess. Good luck.

 

[Dug720]

Not everyone who requests GS help is whining or entitled. Entitled is expecting (or hoping for) something and then getting mad when you don't get your way. OP has realized their mistake and is only blaming herself/himself.

I thought the original post was well written and properly contrite.

Yes, the OP was contrite.

BUT many people who go running to Guest Services ARE whining. Those are the ones to whom I was referring.

 

[Eastern]

Yes, the OP was contrite.

BUT many people who go running to Guest Services ARE whining. Those are the ones to whom I was referring.

Apologies, didn't realize it was a random rant.

 

[tanyaandallie]

I’m releasing them (actually all of our non DHS days are released now, and there were only 3 of them - 1 day we did AK and one day for Epcot, and the day that should have been MK but I changed to Epcot) not holding them and not using them, so now someone else can get (got) them. I’m sorry, but I don’t think it’s that bad . It’s all part of the game you have to play, and I didn’t want to close the door on DHS before we had our plans set in stone. Heck, at that point we had 3 people who were still deciding if they wanted to come down for a weekend or not. So now I have all of our actual
Days set, including ADRs, but missed out on the MK. Also, you maybe noticed I didn’t blame Disney, I blamed myself. I didn’t ask how they could fix it, I asked the best way I could try to get the MK. So maybe you can feel smug that karma got me, and I’ll work on the best way to fix it for our plans. Like I’ve said before on here, I always seem to learn lessons the hard way . My fault for not changing things the day after I got our ADRs amd our entire party was set.

I'm not sure why some people are making it sound like you cheated the system or something. I wouldn't sweat it one bit. Disney implemented this new reservation system and we are all dealing with it the best we can.

And I hope you are able to get your MK days!!!!

 

[zoo2tycoon]

My point is no matter how contrite a guest is Guest services can’t magically make every persons errors right. They can’t pixie dust everyone.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

OK, I really messed up with our park passes for an upcoming July 8-17 trip. Prior to our ADR day I wasn't sure of our exact plan yet, but DHS Park passes were filing up right to our trip. So I went ahead and made a park pass for each day or our trip for DHS just to make sure we had that park when we ended up needing it. ADR day went fine and we made plans for our park days (2 MK, 2 DHS, 1 EP, 1 DAK). However, I never remembered/bothered/got around to changing our park pass days. I knew I needed to do it, but just never remembered at a good time, whatever... Well, today I decided to take a look at the calendar and the MK is all booked for out entire week ! You cannot imagine how sad and disgusted with myself I felt when I saw that!

I realize there's no way to be sure we can get the MK for the 2 day we want/need it (July 12 and 16, 12th most important), but what would be the best way to try? There are 9 of us, 6 have APs and 3 do not. The 3 that do not have park hoppers, but are grandparents who won't really want to tour any parks together that the rest of us are not in. Right now we all have Epcot booked. I believe if I contact GS they could book the MK for the 6 of us using our AP pool, correct? But then how would I look for the other 3? If I keep their Epcot passes I can't check for the MK, but if I cancel their Epcot passes there is a real risk of them getting nothing as it gets closer. However, if I keep all of our Epcot passes we can't even try for MK without canceling them. I know I can check the availability calendar, but I thought I had read that it isn't really updated after an initial sell our unless the calendar gets a full refilling?

I really blew this, and I'm really hoping I can salvage it somehow. I know we can just hop to the MK if worst comes to worst, but that really isn't what we wanted. It's our favorite park, and we have two four year olds that I really wanted to let spend the full day at the MK with all of us. I'll have 4 bummed/upset kids and my DH and parents/MIL probably won't be thrilled although they won't say much. What's the best way to keep trying for the MK on July 12th and hopefully the 16th?

Honestly, looking at how the crowds are in the mid-day of MK versus the afternoon/evening, I kind of regret how I structured my trip for the same week (July 9 - 19th). I think I did MK too much. It looks like the time to be at MK is from 4:00 on. You can close the park every day of your trip with low lines. I guess what I’m saying is, don’t despair, this may be for the best for you and your family.