Disneyland fans in the past few years no doubt experienced plenty of days where the parks were either at capacity or beyond. The most in-demand dates saw Disneyland shunting guests across the Esplanade to DCA. Despite blackout dates for Annual Passholders, we kept seeing this pattern repeat. Now we see Disney World reservations completely booked during Spring Break.
Even if you were on vacation in Hawaii last week, you probably know about the imminent reopening of Disneyland. The falling rates of infection in southern California combined with economic pressures made a difference in California legislature. As we reported last week, the opening date is not set at the moment. After a full year of closure, the return to Disneyland operation seems possible.
There is still plenty of room for speculation. Disney CEO Bob Chapek stated during the company's annual shareholders meeting that there is quite a lot of work to do in advance of opening. All of the "news" sites out there get excited when they spot a new Main Street lightbulb from the Esplanade. That does not mean Disneyland is ready to open. Disney needs to rehire and retrain thousands of workers. They need to reacclimate horses to park life again. They need to re-corn those corn dogs, for goodness sake!
We do not know much about what to expect when the Parks do open. Some restaurants and attractions are definitely going to be off-limits to the horde of vloggers waiting to pounce. Disney will set levels at a slim 15% of each park's capacity. This is where Walt Disney World comes in.
Those who made a trip to the East Coast learned to adapt to Disney World's Park Pass reservation system after the four theme parks reopened. Guests need a park ticket for the day and must also make a reservation to get inside. Starting January 2021, guests could once again hop between parks, but only after entering their reserved park in the morning and their second park after 2 PM. Listen to Jeremy's experience with the system on this episode of InDepth! You can also listen to Jimmy reference his trip to Disney World several times on The Supreme Resort. Here's one instance.
Shucking all normal protocols around referencing the main theme of a blog somewhere near the top of the post, we arrive at the point. Eagle-eyed journalists all over the place noticed that those park reservations were getting more and more scare as mid-March approached. As of the morning of March 10th, every park is fully booked from March 13th through the 19th. On plenty more dates into April, Hollywood Studios and the Magic Kingdom are already booked solid. Spring Break is slamming the parks as more and more guests vie to be part of the 35% capacity Florida allows.
Think how much smaller the Disneyland Resort parks are. Fifteen percent is a very small number. Cancelling Annual Passports makes even more sense through this lens. Disneyland has a much more straightforward path ahead with its own as-yet-unannounced reservation system.
We understand those old overcrowding problems, but this is going to be a new experience. If Walt Disney World is fully booked at all four parks while guests have to wear masks in a swamp, Disneyland doesn't stand a chance.
What do you think? Will you take part in the first few days/weeks/months of Disneyland's opening? Or is it better to sit this one out and live through the vloggers who will somehow get tickets every day? Let us know!
