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Finally, the news everyone with 2020 Disney Resort reservations but no tickets have been waiting for! Disney announced today that both park tickets and resort reservations will open for 2020 tomorrow, July 9, 2020.
Buying park tickets is now an essential step before booking your Disney Park Pass, a new requirement for entering any Disney World park.
Previously, Disney only opened up the Disney Park Pass system to guests who already held tickets. This was done to give those guests priority in having access to the parks without exceeding park capacity. Many of these people had tickets leftover from trip cancelled during the closure.
Next, Disney opened up ticket and resort sales for reservations between January 1, 2021 and September 27, 2021. When all of this was going down, they announced that 2020 park tickets *may* go on sale later in the summer, pending park availability.
Well, as you can see from this screenshot, there is full availability for all 4 parks in October 2020.
How to Book Your 2020 Park Tickets
One thing we know for sure is that you can buy your park tickets directly from Disney starting July 9, 2020. Whether you can get tickets through any of the discount ticket sellers immediately is unclear. However, if you want to potentially save some money, head over to Undercover Tourist tomorrow to see if they have 2020 tickets available.
Even though you can buy Park Hoppers for 2021 trips, don’t expect to be able to buy them for 2020. At this time, park hopping is not allowed. If this happens to change prior to your trip, you can always upgrade your ticket at Guest Services once you arrive.
The park tickets will be available to book either through the Disney website or by calling Disney for assistance from a Cast Member.
How to Book Your 2020 Resort Stay
If you are someone who plans to go to Disney later this year, booking day has finally arrived. However, you need to keep in mind that you won’t have the full choice of Disney resorts. Disney released a tentative plan for when each of the Disney resorts will open.
Some of the resorts have no opening date at this time. So if you have your heart set on a very specific resort, you might be disappointed. Take a look at my post all about the Disney Resort reopening plan to get the latest details. Keep in mind, Disney could change this plan at any point in time with no notice, so always double check the Disney website directly.
To book a stay in 2020, you can choose between calling Disney and speaking with a Cast Member to make arrangements or do it online via the Disney website. The phone number to call is (407) 939-5277.
Tips for Booking Tickets and Resorts
This is mainly for people who try to do this specifically on July 9, and potentially a day or two after that. There is a lot of pent up demand for park ticket sales in particular. And if you didn’t know already, Disney’s website is notoriously difficult when suddenly flooded with demand. The day the Park Pass System went up and running was a bit of a disaster because of it.
With that in mind, here are some tips:
Enjoy the Pink Castle Waiting Room
Disney has stated that virtual waiting rooms may be used as necessary to handle volume. This means you might have a lot of time to enjoy the new pink castle waiting room screen! Lucky you…
If you get this screen, sit tight and wait it out. It is your virtual waiting room and will automatically refresh itself every couple of minutes. When it’s your turn, the screen will change.
DO NOT HIT REFRESH! This will simply put you at the back of the line.
However, you can open multiple windows at once, you never know which window will get you in first. Also, use your phone as well as your computer, and even try using an incognito window.
The Time of Release is a Mystery
Unlike most booking window openings, Disney is deliberately not announcing what time everything will open up. In fact, they specifically state that the ticket and resort booking window opening times will likely be staggered to help reduce some of this demand.
Frankly, I think this is a vain hope on Disney’s part. All that means is you’ll have people obsessively checking all day long creating quite the backlog.
I would recommend giving it a try in the early morning hours (5a or 6a) to see if you can happen to catch it open before anyone else wakes up. After that, just keep checking.
If You Call, Be Prepared to Wait
Based on the extreme hold times many people have reported over the past few weeks on release days, calling won’t exactly be any easier. Many people report spending a lot of time getting a busy signal before finally getting through and then holding for a couple of hours.
I wish I was exaggerating, but I’m not. So hook up your bluetooth and be prepared to multitask while you wait on hold.
Book Your Disney Park Pass Immediately
Don’t let this one slide by and then find out there’s no availability once you’ve already bought your ticket. It is absolutely imperative to book your Disney Park Pass as soon as you buy your park tickets.
Before you buy your ticket you can check that there is park availability for that day. At least you can buy your ticket with confidence. Once your purchase is complete, link your tickets to My Disney Experience and go straight to the Park Pass System.
Because everyone will be doing this, I expect the system to get pretty overloaded. Be patient, but be persistent.
Try Undercover Tourist
Like I said, I have no idea if Undercover Tourist will have park tickets for 2020 available right away, or if there will be a bit of lag time. However, while you have a million windows open looking at the pink castle, you might as well head over to Undercover Tourist just to double check.
Undercover Tourist also has information on Disney Park Pass availability so you know for sure that you can get a reservation for the park. Also, you’ll be able to link your park ticket to My Disney Experience as soon as it gets emailed to you, which should be right away.
Final Thoughts
This is exciting for everyone who’s had resort reservations and no tickets. I’ve been watching the comments, and this was a major stress. Now you can put that stress aside and go get your tickets.
Then you just have to worry about a million other things regarding travel in 2020…