The HARDEST Dates to Get Disney World Park Passes in 2023

When the Disney parks reopened in July 2020, we were introduced to something new along with it — Disney park pass reservations.

Although this system has been controversial since its start, many ticketholders will not have to use it as of January 9th, 2024. In the meantime, though, we’re here to help you navigate the system. Let’s talk about dates through the year that will be the HARDEST to get into the parks with this system.

You might think to yourself, “That’s easy–the parks that will fill up quickest will be the most popular.” While Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios are arguably the most popular when making park pass reservations, their popularity alone isn’t always the deciding factor. Let’s take a deep dive to learn more about what you need to know.

Holidays

Ah yes, holidays– they do tend to bring everyone together. And by everyone together we mean everyone together at the Disney World parks. Many holidays have consistently been the days we’ve seen fill up park pass reservations the fastest. If your next visit to the Disney parks falls during a holiday, you need to purchase tickets as soon as you’ve decided on your dates and make park pass reservations with as much advance notice as possible (read that as soon as you’ve purchased and linked your ticket to your My Disney Experience account).

There are several bigger holidays that seem to be the more obvious choice for people to travel to Disney World — like Christmas, New Year’s, Thanksgiving, Easter, 4th of July, and Halloween, and while it’s important to know those and their significance in how they will drive the Disney parks traffic, it’s also important not to underestimate “smaller” special days like President’s Day, May the 4th,  and Mother’s Day/Father’s Day holidays.

Historically, we see more crowds around these times due to the opportunity for people to couple the holiday with extended weekends or extra time off, so it’s important to note if your travel dates fall within any kind of holiday.

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Spring/Summer Break

It is extremely reasonable to expect fully sold-out days of park pass reservations for travel dates all throughout March and into mid-April, depending on when Easter falls .

Summer months like June & July are typically the busiest for their season with kids out of school. If you’re watching the Disney parks pass reservation calendar we want to remind you that yellow on the calendar means at least one park is showing availability, and you can park hop after 2PM if your type of ticket allows park hopping.

As an added tip, if you are an annual passholder you will be able to go to any park after 2PM without a park pass reservation — with the exception of Magic Kingdom on Saturdays and Sundays.

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runDisney Weekends

Ok, so you’ve picked out your perfect dates to visit, but have you checked them against these dates? runDisney race weekends happen four times a year for the Walt Disney World Marathon, Walt Disney World Princess Half Marathon, Springtime Surprise races, and Wine & Dine weekend.

If you’re not familiar with when these take place they’re usually in January, February, April, and November and may spoil your plans of a “less crowded” time to visit the parks. With the right planning, these weekend usually are not bad times to come, but if you’re expecting a “slow time” you may not find it if there are races happening.

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EPCOT Festivals

EPCOT is host to four annual festivals throughout the year. Festival of the Arts, Flower & Garden, Food & Wine, and Festival of the Holidays. These times are usually popular for people to flock to the Disney parks and most specifically, EPCOT.

There’s a lot of entertainment offered during these festivals, and they really know how to pack a crowd. We would caution you to especially be aware of park pass reservations selling out on festival opening dates and through the first weekend of each festival.

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Restaurant and Attraction Opening Dates

Yes, restaurants and attraction opening dates CAN and DO affect park pass reservation availability!

Take for example TRON Lightcycle / Run. This incredibly anticipated high thrill attraction is the latest addition to Tomorrowland in Magic Kingdom and sold out park pass reservations for weeks prior to its scheduled opening — even during previews offered exclusively to annual passholders. 

When Happily Ever After returned to Magic Kingdom as the nightly fireworks presentation, we also saw that date sold out weeks before the official return. Eventually, the other parks filled up as well as other people planned to park hop in to see the fireworks that night!

There’s nothing like food to really get people moving, and when Roundup Rodeo BBQ announced its official public opening in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we saw park pass reservations sell out for the day prior to the release of dining reservation availability.

But what’s right in front of you isn’t always so apparent. If you’ve got a trip planned that coming in the next few months, you’ll also want to prepare yourself for other attractions and restaurants that will be opening soon like Journey of Water-Inspired by Moana in EPCOT and the Cake Bake Shop at Disney’s Boardwalk Inn Resort.

Conclusion

Here’s the best advice we can offer you about park pass reservations: Try to grab the park pass reservation you prefer early. If you’re not able to get your preferred park at first, keep checking the park pass calendar for changes or new availability drops (we’ve seen that before with the 50th opening day and Christmas holidays). As a last effort, consider booking another primary park until you’re able to park hop for the park you really wanted for that day and enjoy some time in the first park before hopping. Oh, and if you didn’t already have a park hopper ticket, you can visit guest services to upgrade your tickets to include the park hopping option.

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Have you had trouble getting park pass reservations in Disney World? Tell us in the comments.