Rumor: Disney World Reservations Down for March – May

If you’re looking to go to Walt Disney World in 2022, there may be a window of opportunity for you to enjoy the parks with less crowds than normal. According to sources around the parks, Walt Disney World may have lower reservations and higher availability for late-February through mid-May than what you are probably expecting. Sources say that a variety of issues for Walt Disney World are resulting in some potential guests choosing to go elsewhere for their spring leisure trips.

Using the Sorcerer’s Pass Reservation System, we can see some evidence of what the sources are saying. Even for January, there are no parks locked out due to capacity reservations after January 3rd. President’s Day weekends and the Cheerleading National Championship week are usually as packed as a weekend in June, yet they’re fully available for normal reservations, as well as annual passholders. That seems odd with just a few weeks left to go before the crowds should be ready to appear.

https://twitter.com/NewsFairytale/status/1474137786768769040

One of the issues may be that the public is beginning to hear from friends and families about their experiences in going to Walt Disney World. In October, I covered my experience going to Disney World with a large group where I had the chance to see how others transversed all the new anti-consumer policies put into Disney World since its reopening. Frankly, it wasn’t good, and much of the magic truly is gone from the happiest place on earth. I don’t say that with joy; I plan to return to Disney World as a guest very soon, and I wish it was the full experience I’d like to have again. But it isn’t.

From that review:

So there’s a lot more waiting in lines than there used to be, at least if you knew what you were doing. But something is frankly more annoying, and far more anti-consumer, is the situation with mobile ordering. Just about every restaurant is now going to mobile ordering, and rather than let you come inside while you wait for your order, you have to stand outside in the weather while you wait for your meal. Frankly, it is usually a bit of respite to come inside and wait in line for your order because you get away from rain and/or heat. Now, you have to stand outside. This also means that even at less frequently used restaurants, like Pizzerizzo, they have all this completely unused space for lines, tons of empty tables, and there’s a line around the door with people waiting to be allowed in. Whoever came up with this system is bonkers.

Some of the issues that are likely showing up in Disney’s internal polling are that guests have wised up to the “Lightning Lane”. It’s a lesser version of the old FastPass system, and you have to pay out the wazoo for it. FastPass was free, it gave you three line skips at at time… Lightning Lane is expensive and it gives you one line skip at a time. Maybe guests traveling to Disney for the first time will fall for it, but everyone else remembers a much better offering that was given as part of the normal ticket cost. Additionally, the reservation system is ridiculously cumbersome. A writer here at That Park Place tried to buy hotel rooms for a Disney World trip, but the hotel rooms required a full week’s reservation. Then an attempt was made to switch the rooms to a more affordable option, but the Disney customer service representative couldn’t help because their program wasn’t working that day. Remember when Amazon’s servers went down and Disney World’s entire infrastructure for reservations, Lightning Lanes, and even park entry all collapsed? People were waiting two hours to get in the parks. That’s the sort of thing that is starting to send people to Universal Studios, to Dollywood, and even to Six Flags.

Yes, after hours events have been selling out for Disney. But I’m told that most of those tickets are going to locals who want to enjoy the parks without dealing with all the anti-consumer hurdles that normal days require. Frankly, Disney has created a hassle for anyone wanting to go to Walt Disney World, unnecessary hassles, while simultaneously offering less than they have in decades. Sure, live entertainment is starting to come back slowly and modified, but Disney World was once known for giving you more bang for your buck than anybody else. Sure, you paid a ton, but there were little touches everywhere that made the experience magical. Now, perhaps people are starting to hear about the cuts, and maybe it’s just not worth it anymore.

The one oddity here is that it seems Disney’s hotels are still being booked at pre-pandemic levels. It’s hard to get a hotel reservation. But is that because of demand or is Disney artificially closing enough rooms to create the appearance of demand? Perhaps there’s a new phenomenon of people booking Disney hotels and then not going to the parks as much? That’s definitely something we’re going to be researching here at That Park Place, and we’ll keep you up-to-date.

Let us know in the comments below how you feel about Disney World and the value you receive nowadays. I’d love to read your thoughts.