It’s almost Christmas time (and Hanukkah time)! The halls are decked with boughs of holly. Stockings are hung by the chimney with care. Dreidels have been made out of clay. And Disney Cast Members are gearing up for the busiest time of the year at Walt Disney World!
If you happen to be lucky enough to be traveling to Walt Disney World for the holidays, you might have “phased closures” on your mind. This is where Disney detects that crowd levels are getting too high, so they put into effect various measures to limit entry into the park. Some of these measures can be very disruptive to guest plans. Imagine purchasing a ticket, expecting to be able to experience the Magic Kingdom on New Years Eve, only to be turned away at the gate. While I understand the need to keep the parks safe from overcrowding, it does have an impact on the guest experience for those who cannot enter despite having tickets that they paid for. That’s why these sorts of controls are usually a last resort.
Obviously, the times of the year that are most likely to experience closures are when attendance is highest: Spring Break (particularly around Easter week), and of course the time between Christmas and New Years.
In this article, we will discuss the types of controls that Disney has implemented in the past, and what guests might expect this year as they travel to WDW.
The History of Capacity Controls
Disney’s capacity control strategies have evolved over the years. In order to understand what Disney is likely to do in 2024, it is helpful to review the history of how they have managed crowd levels in the past.
The Pre-COVID Era
Prior to COVID, park admissions was sort of a “Wild West”. When you bought a ticket back then, you didn’t have to worry about park reservations. You didn’t have to worry about when you could park hop. The situation was the same for Annual Passholders. You could show up at any park / any time without any advanced notice.
Disney generally also didn’t block the advance sales of tickets. If you wanted to purchase a ticket for some future date, you were usually able to do so.
The decision to start restricting entrance to the parks generally occurred day-of based upon current conditions. Historically, Disney implemented capacity controls in phases based upon the size of the crowds.
Disney never officially published the exact phases that they used. However, based upon my research, it generally followed the order below:
- Stop selling single day tickets for the current day
- Stop admitting off-property guests unless they are re-entering, park hopping, have an Annual Pass, or have a dining reservation
- Stop admitting off-property guests unless they have an Annual Pass or have a dining reservation
- Stop admitting all guests
Historically, Magic Kingdom was the park most likely to experience phased closures.
Post COVID: The Reservation Era
After Walt Disney World opened up again after its COVID closure in 2020, Disney implemented a reservation system to limit the number of guests who could be in the park. The main goal was to ensure that there was enough extra room for guests to “social distance”. However, this also had an interesting side effect.
Because Disney was limiting the number of guests in advance, there was no need for any phased closures!
This provided a much better guest experience. Guests would know in advance whether or not they would be able to enter the park of their choice as planned. They wouldn’t get all excited about being at the Magic Kingdom on New Years Eve, only to be turned away at the gate. As long as they had their park reservation they would be (mostly) guaranteed of getting into the park.
[Note: I say “mostly” guaranteed since Disney kept the legal language that they could still deny admission based upon park capacity. However, because of park reservations, they didn’t have any need to exercise this option during the reservation era]
Park hopping was still a bit of a wildcard. Disney had to allow for the fact that some guests could still enter the park via park hopping, and there was no way to accurately predict or control the number of park hopping guests. It was still possible that if more than the expected number of guests park hopped, the park might reach capacity. Fortunately, this never happened during the reservation era. Disney seemed to do a good job of managing the number of park reservations to allow for park hopping capacity.
For proof of that, look at Christmas 2023. Despite being one of the busiest times for Walt Disney World since COVID, Disney did not have to institute a single phased closure. Not on Christmas 2023. Not on New Year’s Eve 2023. This is because they used limits on park reservations to restrict entry in advance.
Post COVID: The Post-Reservation Era
This is where things stand today.
On January 9, 2024, Disney no longer required park reservations for multi-day date based tickets, which represent the majority of tickets. If you bought a 3 day park ticket, you could enter any park on any three days during the time period when the ticket was valid. You didn’t have to “declare” which parks you wanted to visit on which days.
This would appear to bring us back to where we were prior to COVID. However, Disney still retains a number of levers to control the number of guests in advance. That way, they could reduce the likelihood of phased closures.
- Annual Passes and other non-date based tickets (ex: military tickets, convention tickets, etc) still require park reservations
- Disney now limits the sales of certain tickets for peak times in advance. Unlike pre-COVID they are no longer waiting until the day-of to suspend sales.
By utilizing the above, Disney has greatly reduced the possibility of any phased closures!
In fact, the only “phased closure” during 2024 thus far was the temporary suspension of park hopping to the Magic Kingdom on April 4, 2024 (Thursday after Easter). Guests for whom MK was their first park were still allowed to enter without any issues.
What Does This All Mean For Christmas 2024?
Here are the steps that Disney has already taken to limit capacity in advance of the Christmas holiday (as of December 21st):
- The Florida Resident Annual Passes (Pixie Pass, Pirate Pass, Sorcerer Pass) are completely blocked out from 12/19 through 1/2
- Annual Pass park reservations are no longer available for the Magic Kingdom on 12/30-31, and for EPCOT on 12/31. However, you can still park hop to these parks as of now.
- Non-date based ticket park reservations are no longer available for the Magic Kingdom from 12/23-1/3, and for EPCOT on 12/31
- You cannot purchase one day park tickets for the Magic Kingdom for 12/24-25 or 12/30-31, or for EPCOT on 12/31
- You cannot purchase two day park tickets that start on 12/29, 12/30, or 12/31
Of course, it is certainly possible that Disney might further restrict park reservations and advance ticket sales as time goes on.
This confirms that Disney is continuing to use the strategy of proactively limiting capacity in advance. That way, they don’t have to implement further day-of phased closures. Based upon the precedence they set earlier this year, their first (and hopefully only) phased closure would be to restrict park hopping.
Based upon the current limits on ticket sales and park reservations, I would guess that Magic Kingdom on 12/30 and 12/31 are probably at the most risk of seeing a park hopping restriction.
If you plan to park hop to MK on those days, you may want to consider doing so early. Alternatively, you can make MK your first park of the day, so you don’t have to worry about this potential restriction.
What About EPCOT?
Even though there are one day ticket and park reservation restrictions on EPCOT for 12/31, I would say that chances of restrictions on park hopping to EPCOT are lower. Even in the pre-COVID era, EPCOT very rarely saw any phased closures, even on New Years Eve. Out of all of the WDW parks, EPCOT has the highest capacity – even higher than Magic Kingdom.
That said, there is always the possibility that park hopping to EPCOT is restricted on New Years Eve. I would still consider park hopping to EPCOT early, just to avoid any possibility of being shut out. Better safe than sorry!
What About Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom?
Given that there aren’t any restrictions on ticket sales and park reservations at these parks, I would judge that the chances of a phased closure are minimal. You should feel safe planning to park hop to these parks without fear of being turned away.
Wrap Up
Since COVID, Disney has a lot more options to restrict people from entering the park that they can exercise in advance. That means that the chances of them turning people away at the gate are a lot less than it was in the past.
For the 2024 holiday season, this means that if you already have your tickets and your park reservations, you should be fine. You still might need to plan around potential park hopping restrictions, but this is definitely less of an inconvenience than the phased closures of the past.
This will likely be our last post before Christmas and Hanukkah, so from all of us at Buster and the Banshee to all of you, have a wonderful holiday with your friends and family! And here’s to a great 2025!!
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