Magic key Reservations all booked

[Marssiful]

I’m sure this has been posted but here it goes. We are going to DL the first week of November. We have magic keys. I went to make reservations and there aren’t any! We are meeting up with friends and family so changing dates isn’t an option. I know I should have planned further ahead, but I thought 3 weeks was enough time.

is there any chance availability might open up? I never would have bought magic keys if I knew this was going to happen.

 

[87disney]

openings will pop up, but you will need to be diligent and check the access calendar frequently to grab them when they do.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

You are right that this has been discussed a lot on multiple threads here, other fan sites, and the media. To answer your question, yes, there is a chance that your dates might open up. You will have to be diligent and keep a close watch on the calendar. There are two possible things that might occur. One, Disney will release additional reservations, probably a big drop at once for multiple days, as they release reservations they have previously withheld or simply reallocate (you might notice people with tickets can still book most days). Or two, people will cancel as their plans change, especially as you get closer to the dates. I managed to snag two reservations the night before for one of our days recently after presumably another magic key holder cancelled their reservations for the next day.

 

[Wesley815]

Be sure to also check this link for those thinking about buying pass (it shows reservation availability along with block out dates). Basically weekends are gone until January 2022, unless Disney releases more into the Magic Key 'bucket':

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/passes/blockout-dates/

 

[smeg3030]

If you're on twitter, follow DLstats and keytotheresort. These accounts check for magic key availability

 

[Djone121]

Has anyone noticed that keytotheresort doesn't look very accurate? Or is it that by the time its posted the dates are already gone?

 

[smeg3030]

Has anyone noticed that keytotheresort doesn't look very accurate? Or is it that by the time its posted the dates are already gone?

I felt like they're new to the process. I just noticed that account recently.

 

[DizMe]

Well, it would be pricey but you could either buy tickets (which give you much more accessibility to reservations) or stay on site, and you could then use the hotel bucket.

 

[RedVines2001]

Well, it would be pricey but you could either buy tickets (which give you much more accessibility to reservations) or stay on site, and you could then use the hotel bucket.

Would you mind elaborating on the hotel bucket concept? I have a believe key right now and plan to upgrade to a dream key, which I can't do until I get to the ticket booth on Oct 30th. The plan was to get reservations for Dec 19-21 once I upgrade to Dream keys but I'm seeing that those reservations are already going. I doubt they'll be there on the 30th.

I will be staying at the GC for my December trip. Does this mean that once I upgrade my dream key and link my GC reservation to it I will then have access to a "hotel bucket" with my dream key? I'm only going to upgrade if I can get those days. Thanks in advance.

 

[DizMe]

Would you mind elaborating on the hotel bucket concept? I have a believe key right now and plan to upgrade to a dream key, which I can't do until I get to the ticket booth on Oct 30th. The plan was to get reservations for Dec 19-21 once I upgrade to Dream keys but I'm seeing that those reservations are already going. I doubt they'll be there on the 30th.

I will be staying at the GC for my December trip. Does this mean that once I upgrade my dream key and link my GC reservation to it I will then have access to a "hotel bucket" with my dream key? I'm only going to upgrade if I can get those days. Thanks in advance.

You are restricted by whichever key you hold when you make reservations. For instance, the Dream key allows you to book 6 reservations. If you've already booked 6, then you can't use the hotel bucket, even though you're staying on site and they generally have almost complete availability from that bucket. But theoretically, if you upgrade to the Dream key Oct 30th, you have automatically added extra days you're able to reserve. The key will be limited to however many days plus what is available on the Key calendar, which has been quite limited. The hotel bucket is much less likely to shut you out. Does that make sense? Once you have unreserved days you can use with your key, you can access those days through the hotel bucket if you're staying on site. If you don't have any unreserved days, you won't be able to access either the key or the hotel bucket. I'm going in Nov and Dec,, staying on site, but currently holding 6 days on my Dream key and I need a 7th. I have to wait until I go in on the 1st day in Nov before I'm able to reserve the 7th via the hotel bucket or the key calendar, but it's much more likely I'll be able to get it through the hotel bucket.

 

[RedVines2001]

You are restricted by whichever key you hold when you make reservations. For instance, the Dream key allows you to book 6 reservations. If you've already booked 6, then you can't use the hotel bucket, even though you're staying on site and they generally have almost complete availability from that bucket. But theoretically, if you upgrade to the Dream key Oct 30th, you have automatically added extra days you're able to reserve. The key will be limited to however many days plus what is available on the Key calendar, which has been quite limited. The hotel bucket is much less likely to shut you out. Does that make sense? Once you have unreserved days you can use with your key, you can access those days through the hotel bucket if you're staying on site. If you don't have any unreserved days, you won't be able to access either the key or the hotel bucket. I'm going in Nov and Dec,, staying on site, but currently holding 6 days on my Dream key and I need a 7th. I have to wait until I go in on the 1st day in Nov before I'm able to reserve the 7th via the hotel bucket or the key calendar, but it's much more likely I'll be able to get it through the hotel bucket.

Got it. It’s what I had guessed. I’m sitting in 3 days right now leaving with 3 more so once I upgrade to a dream key I can access the hotel bucket for the last three Dec days. I just wasn’t sure if you can access the hotel bucket with an AP. Thought maybe it’s for day tickets only. Thanks for the info. Super helpful.

 

[upritbass]

I have a believe key right now and plan to upgrade to a dream key, which I can't do until I get to the ticket booth on Oct 30th.

You should be able to do it directly online.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Keep checking throughout the day, every day. It is highly likely that your dates will open up, but they will go fast. Also, when the dates are much closer, people start cancelling their reservations.

 

[mel2014]

You should be able to do it directly online.

We got my husband an Enchant Key (kids and I got higher level Believe keys) at the ticket booths and expressly asked about later upgrading. The CM was very clear that you can only upgrade at a ticket booth, which means either upgrading for a future trip during a trip where the lower key is valid or taking a chance on getting last minute reservations if you are going during a block out period for a lower pass. It's yet another confounding situation where Disney appears to be making it hard for them to take your money, which is strange, but then again so is not being able to add days to a ticket without going to a ticket booth.

 

[RedVines2001]

You should be able to do it directly online.

I tried. I called ticketing and they said the only way to upgrade was at the ticket booth.

 

[upritbass]

I tried. I called ticketing and they said the only way to upgrade was at the ticket booth.

Huh, I guess it only works for upgrading from a regular ticket to MK, but not for changing MK levels. I wonder why the people writing the software requirements don't think of these things.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

Huh, I guess it only works for upgrading from a regular ticket to MK, but not for changing MK levels. I wonder why the people writing the software requirements don't think of these things.

Honestly, most of the time the dev team probably DID think of those things, but management said what time they had to roll out the software and deprioritized it. Almost certainly QA thinks of those scenarios, but it ends up a management level decision about what features/behavior is 'must have' and what can be skipped to hit deadlines. And let's just say, the deciders often get it terribly wrong when it comes to how people want to use a piece of software

 

[DieGo2SHAE]

The only reason I don’t regret getting a pass is because we live far away enough that in normal times we'd only ever go once a month anyways (or maybe twice during holidays), for a day or two at a time when we made the drive down. So far it hasn't been difficult to plan around that and keep up normal frequency. But if I were a local that enjoyed going on a whim after work or multiple times a week then yeah the new passes are absolutely and completely incompatible with that.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

But if I were a local that enjoyed going on a whim after work or multiple times a week then yeah the new passes are absolutely and completely incompatible with that.

So, you can’t go on a whim day-of - but with reservations consistently open the night before as people cancel, you could go quite often by booking the night before if you were so inclined.

It’s not as spontaneous or easy for sure… but it’s definitely possible to go multiple times a week, or even every day, honestly.

(This may change, of course, but it’s the current state of affairs.)

 

[Marssiful]

Just wanted to give a quick update…

we got every single day we wanted. We even got last minute Saturday tickets at 11pm on Friday. Thank you to everyone for your advice. We had a wonderful trip!