Before you jump all over Disney, they have to do these closings for legal reasons and according to safety procedures. But, there are some loopholes or “phases,” so to speak, that will allow you to get into the parks. Well, they’ll allow you to get into the parks depending on where you are staying or what type of ticket you have.
The information listed below is how phase closings will and do go within the Walt Disney World Parks. Please note that they can change in a moment’s notice and that if a park does close due to one phase or another, it will and should reopen once the right amount of people have left the park.
With that in mind, it is time for Doctor Disney to explain the different phases of closures for the parks:
Phase A
No admission of guests with Magic Kingdom one day tickets, and no admission of guests even with Magic Kingdom FastPass+ reservations unless they have one of the following:
- WDW Resort Guests, including The Four Seasons Resort, Swan, Dolphin or Shades of Green, Hotel Plaza Boulevard hotels arriving by bus (Best Western Lake Buena Vista Resort Hotel, The Buena Vista Palace, DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel, B Resort, Wyndham Lake Buena Vista Resort, Hilton), Golden Oak residents and guests.
- WDW Premier Passport, Annual & Premium Passholders
- Guests with Park Hopper tickets re-entering or crossing over from another WDW Theme Park
- Guests with Memory Maker
- Guests with dining reservations
- Magic Kingdom Guests with reservations for Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, Harmony Barber Shop or The Pirates League.
Phase B
No admission of guests with one day tickets, and no re-entering or crossing over from another park unless they have one of the following:
- WDW Resort Guests, including The Four Seasons Resort, Swan, Dolphin or Shades of Green, Hotel Plaza Boulevard hotels arriving by bus (Best Western Lake Buena Vista Resort Hotel, The Buena Vista Palace, DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel, B Resort, Wyndham Lake Buena Vista Resort, Hilton), Golden Oak residents and guests.
- WDW Premier Passport, Annual & Premium Passholders
- Guests with Park Hopper tickets re-entering or crossing over from another WDW Theme Park
- Guests with Memory Maker
- Guests with dining reservations
- Magic Kingdom Guests with reservations for Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, Harmony Barber Shop or The Pirates League.
- FastPass+ reservations
Phase 1
Those without tickets or one-day tickets or single-park tickets or getting into the parks via Cast Member passes will be told to turn around at the park toll booths.
Other guests may enter:
- Guests with multi-day or multi-park tickets
- Guests staying at a Walt Disney World Resort
- Annual Passholders
- Guests re-entering the park that day
- Guests that were already in one park and hopping to another park
- Guests with in-park reservations / appointments
- Guests arriving via Disney transportation
Those Guests that have not yet purchased a park ticket and Cast Members using their Silver Passes or Main Gate Passes will be turned away.
Phase 2
These guests are allowed through the toll booths, into the parking lots, and into the parks:
- Guests staying at a Walt Disney World Resort, Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin, and Guests arriving via bus transportation from hotels on Hotel Plaza Blvd.
- Annual, Premier, and Premium Annual Passholders
- Guests re-entering the park that day
- Guests that were already in one park and hopping to another park
- Guests with in-park dining reservations or appointments (BBB or Pirate’s League)
- Guests arriving via Disney transportation
- Guests who have pre-purchased one-day Magic Kingdom tickets
Phase 3
These guests are allowed through the toll booths, into the parking lots, and into the parks:
- Guests staying at a Walt Disney World Resort, Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin, and Guests arriving via bus transportation from hotels on Hotel Plaza Blvd.
- Annual, Premier, and Premium Annual Passholders
- Guests with in-park dining reservations or appointments (BBB or Pirate’s League)
Phase 4
Toll booths, parking lots, and Disney Parks are closed off to all guests.
Phase A and B closures are a bit more common.
Phase 1 closures since 2006
- Magic Kingdom: December 25, 26, and 29 of 2014; December 31, 2015; December 31, 2017
Phase 2 closures since 2006
- Magic Kingdom: April 8-9, 2009; December 29, 2010; December 25 and 28, 2011; December 24, 25, and 30, 2012: December 25 and 30, 2013; July 4, 2014; December 31, 2014
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom: December 28, 2009; December 28, 2011
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios: December 29, 2009; December 28, 2011
Phase 3 closures since 2006
- Magic Kingdom: April 7, 2009; December 29 and 31, 2009; March 30, 2010; December 25 and 31, 2010; December 31, 2011; December 27, 28, and 31, 2012: January 2, 2013; March 25-28, 2013; July 4, 2013; December 31, 2013
Phase 4 closures since 2006
- Magic Kingdom: April 7, 2009
Some may say that parks have been at capacity more often than what is listed above, and the main reason for that is they’ve seen signs such as the one at the top of this article.
These signs are a tad misleading even though they’re quite accurate. When guests see these signs, some take it to mean the park is at capacity, but it really isn’t. Disney displays these signs to kind of deter guests from entering at the time and allowing others to exit and slow it down a bit before it hits the next phase closure.
The main thing at this time of year is to not simply throw around the word “capacity” when referring to crowds at the WDW parks. Telling someone it is at capacity when it is merely at a phase closure that would allow them in could result in messing up their vacation.
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