WDW to prevent AP holders from visiting parks many mornings

[Sandisw]

To me it sounds like an expansion of options for AP holders, particularly the locals.

See if this makes sense. Mr. X, a local passholder, would like to visit the MK on a Saturday. All MK "park opening" reservations are full but he can book one for Epcot. So he books it. Since it's his day off, he wants to sleep in and arrives at the TTC around noon. He jumps on the Epcot monorail and taps in there, maybe rides SE and then leaves before 2:00 in order to hop to MK.

With the rumored plan, he still cannot get a "park opening" reservation for MK but there are noon reservations available. He makes that reservation, sleeps in, arrives at the TTC around 1:30 and heads directly to the MK.

Sounds like a win for Mr. X and other passholders who don't feel the need to rope drop but have been getting shut out of reservations at their first choice of parks. It's kind of like park hopping after 2 PM except it's now at noon for the AP and he doesn't need to jump through hoops to tap in at his unwanted reserved park first.

The downside is that Disney could use this to shrink the "park opening" bucket of reservations for passholders. If they do, it will have an overall negative impact on all AP holders, but will be especially hurtful to those who come from out of town and actually want to rope drop or arrive during morning hours.

See this is how I see it and how it could actually help.

Honestly, I have been on trips in the last year and I did not get to the parks first thing…

Matter of fact, I have MK booked on July 21st and we have no intention of going in until after 2 pm that day.

I realize Disney does what is best for Disney, but this option actually might allow them to do just that because if I was a local AP holder and could book more than 5 at a time, but some are just later in the day? Id see it as a win.

 

[shoegal9]

As frustrated and annoyed with the park reservations and all of the other garbage..... I need an AP. Even if it's an AP with restrictions and headaches. I spend about 25-30 days per year in the parks and definitely cannot pay for daily tickets for that many DVC trips.

Every time someone mentions suing Disney over APs I have this terrible feeling that they are going to get so sick of it that they discontinue APs. As much as I agree with everyone's opinions on the whole thing, I am like shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I hear ya, but I need that pass.

Revamp the program? Fine
Make it harder for me to get in all day [when I'm not staying on property]? Sucks, but fine
Paying over $2000-$3000 for daily tickets in a year when I currently pay $813 for an AP? Nope

 

[wnielsen1]

I've been thinking about this and, assuming WDW doesn't change its park reservation policy for resort guests, regardless of what kind of ticket media they have, they're making it very unattractive to be an AP holder and stay off-site.

Why would they want to make it attractive to stay off-site?

 

[Miffy]

Why would they want to make it attractive to stay off-site?

Well, for one thing, they might want to make it attractive for people to visit more than once every several years.

 

[TraderStitch]

If local AP holders are booking early in the day and no showing until later, this might be the reason for this. I wouldn't be surprised if this roll out came with some updated verbiage as if you book early and don't show until after 2 or 3, they will start taking away the amount of park reservations you can make. A quick look through IG and Youtube, there are plenty of influencers local to Orlando who don't hit the park until afternoon anyway.

 

[paults]

Disney, get rid of the park reservation system, it stinks.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

Every time someone mentions suing Disney over APs I have this terrible feeling that they are going to get so sick of it that they discontinue APs.

Disney does not issue AP's out of the goodness of their hearts. If they weren't profitable, they would never come back.

 

[Flash_Sloth]

It is already annoying that you can't make theme park reservations beyond your AP expiration date even if you have a DVC reservation. There is a very real possibility that park reservations may be unavailable at the 60 day point when you can renew an AP.

I have a fixed week DVC in December, and because of when I activated my AP, today I can only make a park reservation for arrival day and the first full day there. If this rumor becomes true, I have a bad feeling that I'll only be able to make later-in-the-day park reservations, and maybe not even at the parks I'd like to visit. If so, maybe I'll call this chapter "How the Chapek Stole Christmas".

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

To me it sounds like an expansion of options for AP holders, particularly the locals.

See if this makes sense. Mr. X, a local passholder, would like to visit the MK on a Saturday. All MK "park opening" reservations are full but he can book one for Epcot. So he books it. Since it's his day off, he wants to sleep in and arrives at the TTC around noon. He jumps on the Epcot monorail and taps in there, maybe rides SE and then leaves before 2:00 in order to hop to MK.

With the rumored plan, he still cannot get a "park opening" reservation for MK but there are noon reservations available. He makes that reservation, sleeps in, arrives at the TTC around 1:30 and heads directly to the MK.

Sounds like a win for Mr. X and other passholders who don't feel the need to rope drop but have been getting shut out of reservations at their first choice of parks. It's kind of like park hopping after 2 PM except it's now at noon for the AP and he doesn't need to jump through hoops to tap in at his unwanted reserved park first.

The downside is that Disney could use this to shrink the "park opening" bucket of reservations for passholders. If they do, it will have an overall negative impact on all AP holders, but will be especially hurtful to those who come from out of town and actually want to rope drop or arrive during morning hours.

I agree with this. As for the out of town AP holders who do want to go early, I could see priority to those early slots given to those who stay on site. Those people are already allowed to book length of stay reservations so why not add this?

If that happens, this would be a positive change for most AP holders. How often have we heard people complain about having to tap in at one park just to hop to the one they really want? Those that stay offsite and also want to be at rope drop wouldn't be happy.

It would drive more people to stay onsite. I wonder if it would also impact crowds for the better in the morning as well. The more I think about this, I'm honestly surprised it hasn't already happened.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

.

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

The morning hours are prime hours. In Florida, from about June to mid-November the morning hours are the coolest hours. It is not uncommon for real feel temps in the afternoon to be 105° F with humidity in the 90% range. So, once again, prime time goes to ticket holders and maybe resort guests.

Yeah this is definitely true. We just got back from a long stay and we could not bear to be in the parks past about 1:00 pm. We'd then go back around 6:00 pm. I don't understand how people with young kids can stand the 2:00 - 5:00 pm daily heat.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

.

 

[Sandisw]

Maybe I’m missing something but this doesn’t make a lot of sense. Since the reservation system has been active there have only been a very few amount of days where hopping wasn’t available for anyone. Is this just to make it so if you want to go to EPCOT in the afternoon and the reservation for the day isn’t available, you don’t have to make an AK reservation, go and check in, then go to EPCOT? That makes sense. I wouldn’t call that an advantage.

The advantage is that an AP holder gets to guarantee a spot more days if these later reservations are in addition to the current limit of 5..I think that is the number..outside of resort trips.

So, say you want to go to MK after work but MK is booked, you can’t go unless you book another park that is open, go there, tap, and then hop to Mk.

Instead, you can now reserve your spot at MK without having to hop..just go later.

While hopping has pretty much been open, this just saves that AP holder a step but at the same times potentially opens up more days to book in advance.

Done correctly, it could be nice feature for those who don’t care about mornings if it allow more days to be booked at once.

. Maybe there are AP holders who are snagging HS reservations for popular days with no intent to visit until later, potentially blocking a resort guest who wants to go first thing.

 

[Sandisw]

If local AP holders are booking early in the day and no showing until later, this might be the reason for this. I wouldn't be surprised if this roll out came with some updated verbiage as if you book early and don't show until after 2 or 3, they will start taking away the amount of park reservations you can make. A quick look through IG and Youtube, there are plenty of influencers local to Orlando who don't hit the park until afternoon anyway.

I hope they don’t do that because we don’t always do early park visits.

To me, it shouldn’t matter when you enter and would not want ti see anyone penalized for not showing up before 2 pm. In the heat of summer, that tends to be our MO.

But, that is why some level of park reservations that start later in the day for an AP along with chances for morning could work well.

Since they don’t make you reserve to hop, APs get the advantage over other guests who have to hope hopping is not capped.

Again, we have no idea if the program is going to be changed but I can see them having a yearly pass that includes this but still allows them to keep the park system in place which seems like the goal.

 

[loves to dive]

I have an AP and am from out of state and not a DVC owner so I have the most expensive one offered. I just so happen to always stay on site because that's my preference. However, I know some out of state visitors stay off site, maybe because it's less, maybe because they need a bigger space, whatever reason. Those same out of state visitors might want to do rope drop or at least some time close to that. I don't see this as a positive for them. For locals, maybe, but not for people who just so happen to like to visit WDW more than once or twice a year but prefer not to stay on site. The out of state AP is expensive as it is, this seems like punishment on top of having to pay more. If you stay off site even though you paid more for your AP, you are still limited to how many days of park reservations you can make.

Now, if they made this rule for certain levels of AP, maybe. Even though I obviously visit often or I wouldn't have an AP, I like to get to the parks in the morning. I'm not a rope drop person but do usually go some time around opening. If I pay that much for my out of state AP and can't get in a park until noon, not happy. Like I said, I always stay on site so unless they limit it for on site guests, it wouldn't effect me but I can see how those out of state AP holders wouldn't be pleased.

 

[Miffy]

I have an AP and am from out of state and not a DVC owner so I have the most expensive one offered. I just so happen to always stay on site because that's my preference. However, I know some out of state visitors stay off site, maybe because it's less, maybe because they need a bigger space, whatever reason. Those same out of state visitors might want to do rope drop or at least some time close to that. I don't see this as a positive for them. For locals, maybe, but not for people who just so happen to like to visit WDW more than once or twice a year but prefer not to stay on site. The out of state AP is expensive as it is, this seems like punishment on top of having to pay more. If you stay off site even though you paid more for your AP, you are still limited to how many days of park reservations you can make.

Now, if they made this rule for certain levels of AP, maybe. Even though I obviously visit often or I wouldn't have an AP, I like to get to the parks in the morning. I'm not a rope drop person but do usually go some time around opening. If I pay that much for my out of state AP and can't get in a park until noon, not happy. Like I said, I always stay on site so unless they limit it for on site guests, it wouldn't effect me but I can see how those out of state AP holders wouldn't be pleased.

@loves to dive: Yes, I agree. I'm also an out-of-state AP holder and not a DVC owner. I always stay onsite, but for sure there are plenty of WDW out-of-state, AP, non-DVC visitors who don't stay onsite.

 

[jimim]

I would put on here what I think of that if true but I would get banned for life.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

A pass excluding mornings would work great for us.
Even when staying on site, about the earliest we can get ourselves to the parks is about 1:00.

 

[Doug7856]

A pass excluding mornings would work great for us.
Even when staying on site, about the earliest we can get ourselves to the parks is about 1:00.

You make a great point. I guess I take a different view than most because I see this as Disney attempting to increase availability to annual pass holders. Not everyone is a "rope drop" visitor and this option allows for those visitors to have access when they might otherwise be shut out.

 

[Sandisw]

You make a great point. I guess I take a different view than most because I see this as Disney attempting to increase availability to annual pass holders. Not everyone is a "rope drop" visitor and this option allows for those visitors to have access when they might otherwise be shut out.

And, leaves those full day reservations for people who want them. It really can end up being a win win for many people. I mean right now, there are no APs except renewals. If they are toying with ending all together, or finding a way to try to still offer, but put some more restrictions on them, this could work for many people.

Let's put it this way...I would certainly rather have some level of yearly pass that saves me over multi day tickets, even if it means some of the days I want to reserve have to be later in the day....although, as DVC, we always stay onsite so I don't think this would apply anyway.