When Will Disney Increase Park Capacity

[helloconnie]

We are going to WDW at the end of May / beginning of June and the park availability calendar is yellow all the way through. Anyone have any real insight as to when Disney might increase park capacity? With more resorts opening they will need to increase capacity to support the increased guests.

 

[Missingmypooh]

There have been callbacks in the Ears for Each other Facebook group that CMs are going back- many in dining.
Dining increase will likely be the first sign we see of increased capacity.

also, Disney announced the face mask changes 2 days prior. They will likely follow suit (1-15 days before increase) to stem cancelations or surges in new trips.

check back may 15 to see what *might* happen by May 30th

 

[AvidDisReader]

Disney could change park capacity at any time --- and not announce it. Florida has no rules or regulations that require an announcement. Most likely will not know until during one of the earnings calls, which is when the last increase was made public.

 

[helloconnie]

There have been callbacks in the Ears for Each other Facebook group that CMs are going back- many in dining.
Dining increase will likely be the first sign we see of increased capacity.

also, Disney announced the face mask changes 2 days prior. They will likely follow suit (1-15 days before increase) to stem cancelations or surges in new trips.

check back may 15 to see what *might* happen by May 30th

Thank you!

 

[Sarahslay]

That weekend is a holiday weekend as well, so it's gonna be yellow (or worse, gray) from here on out just because of when it is. I could see them raising it slowly as they inch towards the 50th, but they'll never announce it I'm sure. I doubt that a huge increase is going to be happening any time soon though, they really can't handle many more people in the parks with current restrictions.

 

[gharter]

Nobody knows for sure, or even what park capacity currently is.
There have been multiple reports of CMs being called back in multiple areas, so that would lean toward capacity increasing.

 

[GXIncognto]

If it's anything like past capacity increases it'll go like this...

Everybody: "Wow look at the wait times and how crowded it is, Disney has obviously increased capacity."
Disney: "No we haven't."
(a month later) Disney: "Oh by the way we increased capacity."

 

[helloconnie]

Well, hoping I catch any increase. We were supposed to go March of last year but just days before our trip everything closed. So now we are coming in from Colorado when the kids get out of school and we were hoping to spend our final day of the trip in the MK but it is all booked. This is our big vacation for last year and this year and it is a bit frustrating to not get the park we wanted.

 

[Grumpy Mouse]

Hoping that Park Hopping helps alleviate this issue for hard (impossible) to get into parks like HS. I note that HS is fully booked for more than two months in advance now - that is, unless you're an AP holder. The rest of us get the short end of the stick.

And as usual, Disney could fix this issue by limiting the number of days a party could book an HS park pass in any given 7 day period. Or heck, maybe they've given most of the available HS slots to AP holders.

 

[helloconnie]

I can’t see how they can keep selling resort vacation packages but not allow guests into the park of their choice. Not a good feeling to pay thousands of dollars for a vacation and not be able to go to the parks of your choice.

 

[whiporee]

The key to capacity is masks and distancing. When you see those start to be relaxed, that's when capacity will go up.

But I don't think it will be a gradual thing. I think the jumps will be pretty large. I don't know that WDW will announce it, but I think they'll start phasing out the reservations pretty soon.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

I think they are going to slowly be opening up. My guess is that September 21st date that everything was good to reschedule until is going to be a date a lot opens up. There are a few hotel opening scattered and as someone mentioned above in the Ears to Each other group many people are getting calls back, in dining and I want to say a couple of hotel related areas. I wouldnt see a big jump until around the 50th.

 

[yorkieteacher]

I wonder at what point in their planning people are booking their park reservations? We bought our 7 day tickets in February for June, and had no trouble booking two Hollywood Studios days during our stay. I may be in the minority, but I've been going to WDW since 1972, and it has always involved major planning for me so that I knew what was ahead. Even back in the good ole days, I knew where I wanted to eat and what I wanted to ride, and which lines would likely be the longest from word of mouth. I knew how to use paper fast passes when they began and what rides I needed them for. It may be sad, but I don't think WDW has ever been very conducive for spur of the moment vacations.

 

[loves to dive]

I wonder at what point in their planning people are booking their park reservations? We bought our 7 day tickets in February for June, and had no trouble booking two Hollywood Studios days during our stay. I may be in the minority, but I've been going to WDW since 1972, and it has always involved major planning for me so that I knew what was ahead. Even back in the good ole days, I knew where I wanted to eat and what I wanted to ride, and which lines would likely be the longest from word of mouth. I knew how to use paper fast passes when they began and what rides I needed them for. It may be sad, but I don't think WDW has ever been very conducive for spur of the moment vacations.

I booked a trip for April 11-16 early March and booked my park passes then.
On the other side of your coin, we have been going since 82 and have rarely planned anything. I've been known to book a hotel 2 weeks before going back in the days when you could buy length of stay tickets. We have always had park hoppers. We used to just go to CS in the morning and ask them to find us somewhere to eat that night, since we had hoppers the park didn't matter. If it was slow enough the CMs would make a game out of it and compete with each other to find us something. When paper FPs came out, sometimes we would get them and sometimes we wouldn't. More often than not we would get them and give them to someone else when we were leaving the park. We just hopped to another park if the park we were in was too busy. When the new FPs came into play, we might book one while standing in line for a ride but it would only be 30 min. out and never more than one at a time. Now, we check MDE while walking around and book an ADR for that night for whatever is available. I have my hotel and park reservations booked for next week and that's it. No ADRs, I'll eat a lot of meals at the F&G booths and will wing it the rest of the time. I've been looking at MDE every once in a while and have always been able to find something for the night I was looking. Trick is to have PHs, and not care about time and enjoy trying new things.

 

[Grumpy Mouse]

I booked a trip for April 11-16 early March and booked my park passes then.
On the other side of your coin, we have been going since 82 and have rarely planned anything. I've been known to book a hotel 2 weeks before going back in the days when you could buy length of stay tickets. We have always had park hoppers. We used to just go to CS in the morning and ask them to find us somewhere to eat that night, since we had hoppers the park didn't matter. If it was slow enough the CMs would make a game out of it and compete with each other to find us something. When paper FPs came out, sometimes we would get them and sometimes we wouldn't. More often than not we would get them and give them to someone else when we were leaving the park. We just hopped to another park if the park we were in was too busy. When the new FPs came into play, we might book one while standing in line for a ride but it would only be 30 min. out and never more than one at a time. Now, we check MDE while walking around and book an ADR for that night for whatever is available. I have my hotel and park reservations booked for next week and that's it. No ADRs, I'll eat a lot of meals at the F&G booths and will wing it the rest of the time. I've been looking at MDE every once in a while and have always been able to find something for the night I was looking. Trick is to have PHs, and not care about time and enjoy trying new things.

Sorry, I'm not up on all the abbreviations; what are 'PHs'?

 

[Douglas Dubh]

what are 'PHs'?

Park hoppers.

 

[skyp4WDW]

It's not worth the extra money to buy "PHs" these days!

 

[Meglen]

It's not worth the extra money to buy "PHs" these days!

That's debatable. Epcot stays open much later and is a great hop park. So your other days can be other parks.

 

[glocon]

It's not worth the extra money to buy "PHs" these days!

PH would be useful to get into HS if someone was unable to get a reservation also. They couldn't get a Rise BG but they could do all the other great rides.

 

[DLgal]

June 16, right after California drops their restrictions and Disney doesn't have to pretend anymore.