Why the difference between Tickets, Resorts, and APs when you reserve parks when this criteria will often overlap??

[Princess Katelet]

So I don't understand the difference between the pools of park availability. If you want to go to to a park and you are staying onsite, then you are BOTH a resort guest AND either a ticket holder or AP holder... So which pool are you supposed to book from?? I didn't realize this when I made my reservations and I honestly don't even know how I booked! I think it was under tickets as I did it right after linking my tickets on MDE. However, I also have a SSR reservation so that makes me a resort guest. I was not able to get the Studios so now I'm wondering if I had realized there was a difference, perhaps I would have had look lucking under the other category I fall into.

I just don't understand why it's like this when again, if you're staying onsite and want to go to a park, you ALSO have either a ticket or AP...

There's absolutely no hope of me getting a Studios ressie for two people May 13-20 at this point, is there? I've heard the calendar isn't always correct or up to date when people change ressies or cancel trips, but I can't see a way to attempt Studios without first canceling the park I DO have, which I can't risk. Sigh.

 

[Fangorn]

You do not get to choose the bucket your park reservation comes from.

If you have a Disney resort reservation, it comes from the Resort Guest bucket. This is true even if you are also a passholder. You do not get a choice.

If you don't have a resort reservation, but have an AP, then it pulls from the AP bucket.

No resort reservation AND no AP? Then it pulls from the ticket holder bucket.


AP holders with resort reservations have reported that they have successfully called the passholder line and the CM has been able to temporarily disconnect the resort reservation so that the park reservation could pull from the AP bucket. But there's nothing you can do yourself to change the bucket.

Steve

 

[kevgraub]

From everything I have seen, the "ticket holder" bucket and the "resort guest" buckets are actually the same buckets. I am yet to find a single day where one of those two had availability for a park and the other one did not. No question the AP bucket is different, but I think that there are really only 2 buckets of reservations.

As for getting DHS at this point - you are correct that the only way to find out is to cancel your other reservation first. Very, very frustrating part of the reservation system. I do not understand why Disney did not set it up like ADRs, where your original reservation is only cancelled if you are successful in getting the new one.

 

[PatMcDuck]

I agree, the resort guests have no advantage over offsite or local ticket holders. APs generally have more options to get park reservations over resort guests, with the exception of weekends. This policy makes no sense to me, but has been holding true in April for sure, and I think May so far.

 

[WITN-E]

I agree with PatMcDuck above. The onsite advantage is basically gone at this point with no magic hours and no extra park reservation ability. There really is only a slight advantage in booking ADRs, but pretty frustrating for people paying the premium to stay on site IMO.

All the love for APs, but folks paying a bundle to stay on site should have at least the same availability as they do. I am super frustrated because I was able to snag an Oga reservation (yay) but I am traveling the same week as you and now know I probably won't be able to use the reservation because I cant get a HS park pass. Womp womp.

 

[luv2cheer92]

It's been a bit since I've actually looked, but there were definitely days back in the fall/winter that had availability for resort guests but not the ticket bucket.

 

[Brett Wyman]

CMs can grant you park access to days open to AP and not resort guests when you are both. You just have to call in and choose the help me with park pass option.

 

[DL1WDW2]

And even more questions... Why do I see guests lined up to purchase day of tickets after driving and parking and walking (no parking lot trams ) and temp screen ... No capacity parks online but Cash is Magic at MK ?

P.S. Don’t forget to be kind and patient to Castmembers...I think they have been blocked since the Mickey & Minnie Runaway Began

 

[Brett Wyman]

And even more questions... Why do I see guests lined up to purchase day of tickets after driving and parking and walking (no parking lot trams ) and temp screen ... No capacity parks online but Cash is Magic at MK ?

Probably ignorance mostly. But there are probably some unique cases happening there too. You can buy tickets for any park at any window. Or maybe buying for another day with an open park pass. Or adding a park hopper or other ticket modifications. But most standing in line just to be turned away most likely.

 

[jump00]

Thanks for all the explanations Dis experts!!!!! I will wait for WDW to return to “normal” before we book our next vacation......

 

[lanejudy]

And even more questions... Why do I see guests lined up to purchase day of tickets after driving and parking and walking (no parking lot trams ) and temp screen ... No capacity parks online but Cash is Magic at MK ?

Are you sure they are buying tickets? My guess is those are guests with “Will Call” tickets. At least weekly someone on here asks if they need to stop at a ticket window so I suspect there are a lot of folks doing just that. The general public is much less informed than those of us on the DISboards.


As to park resrrvation buckets...I'm not sure anything is actually "better" for APs. Unless onsite, they are limited to just 3 park passes at any given time. So the park reservations don't fill up as early but they do fill. And WDW will re-allocate from the AP bucket to the other 2 -- I believe that was the reason behind the "increased capacity" (more reservations available) that occurred earlier this week.

 

[subtchr]

And even more questions... Why do I see guests lined up to purchase day of tickets after driving and parking and walking (no parking lot trams ) and temp screen ... No capacity parks online but Cash is Magic at MK ?

To add to what @lanejudy wrote above — I’d also bet very few of those guests are actually “buying” tickets. They are very likely picking up ticket cards for tickets they purchased online, some of which may need verification with eligible ID (military, Florida resident).

They would have been asked at the parking booth if they had a park reservation for the day, so the likelihood of them being completely clueless is slim.

 

[kylenne]

All the love for APs, but folks paying a bundle to stay on site should have at least the same availability as they do. I am super frustrated because I was able to snag an Oga reservation (yay) but I am traveling the same week as you and now know I probably won't be able to use the reservation because I cant get a HS park pass. Womp womp.

This is not an either/or proposition, plenty of APs stay on site too. A not insignificant portion of WDW APs come from out of state, self included. And not all of us are DVC members staying on points either.

Disney will adjust the buckets on the fly like they’ve been doing for the past year, just like they did the other day. Just keep checking. The calendar also doesn’t update right away so even if it says no availability you might be able to get one. A lot of people have reported that.

 

[Lynzer4]

Does anyone know if you cancel a resort reservation if the park reservation gets deleted too?


I have a Oct 1 reservation. I’m pretty sure I booked the park under my AP but then booked a resort stay.

I can book 3 AP reservations outside of the resort stay so it seems it’s now linked to the resort stay.

I have no AP park reservations though I do have resort stay reservations.


So if canceled it still would be within my AP allowance but the park is full. So I wasn’t sure if anyone had this issue and can share what happened to the reservation.

 

[Lizgistix]

I don't know either and it resulted in some frustration booking this vacation. I had park reservations set up with my AP. Then I booked a resort room. When I went to change a park reservation it said none were available for resort guests (but was available for AP holders) but still wouldn't let me add it since it changed my park reservation group.
So I essentially had to cancel the room (blessing in disguise, actually), redo the park reservations, and rebook the room.
Absolutely annoying!

So now I learned to book AP park reservations first, get those figured out for sure, then book the room, and leave it alone.

 

[solosara]

For my trip last week, I purposely booked HS under my AP before I made the hotel reservation since there weren't any more hotel specific HS spots left. There is a way to beat the buckets without having to call Disney to fix it but it is kind of annoying.