Long weekends have traditionally been very popular times for Walt Disney's (DIS) Florida theme parks. People have an extra day and that makes Disney World an attractive destination, not just for travelers but also for locals who hold annual passes.
Add in that some northeastern state schools have February vacations that include the holiday, and you get a very busy time at the Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot.
This normally crowded time period gets even more complicated for Disney, its guests, and its would-be guests as the shadow of Covid still hangs over the parks. Capacity limitations remain in place due to staffing issues and certain high-capacity shows not operating yet.
And to further complicate things, Disney's parks still require reservations to visit, and most of those reservations -- especially the ones for annual passholders -- have already been claimed.
Disney World, at least for President's Day weekend, is too popular.
That may be a good problem, but it's still a problem.
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Disney World Has Too Many Visitors
Disney knew that crowded parks and being at capacity was a problem. The company had stopped selling most categories of annual passes (except for one that has a lot of blackout dates) as a way to manage demand at its already stressed parks.
That may have helped, but it has not fully worked as the President's Day weekend crowd looks to push the parks to their limits, according to a news report from Theme Park Tourist.
"For those people wanting to visit Walt Disney World over the next week, beware, as Theme Park Reservations are limited and some parks are already at capacity on various days, meaning there is no more availability," wrote Natalie Sim.
"Currently, there is still availability for Annual Passholders on some days apart from Presidents' Day itself on Monday, Feb. 21, and there is limited availability for Feb. 18 and 19."
The Magic Kingdom has no availability from Feb. 17 through the end of the Monday holiday. There is currently no availability at any park on Monday, Feb. 21.
In theory, reservations open up as people cancel their visits to the parks. That's not likely to happen in significant numbers for people who flew in for a visit to Disney's theme park.
Annual passholders, however, may make a reservation and then choose not to go. If they cancel, that slot goes back into the available pool (so sometimes sitting on the reservations page on Disney's website and hitting refresh can score you a reservation on a seemingly sold-out day.
Why Is Being Sold Out a Problem for Disney World?
Disney offers different pools of reservations for passholders and people who bought single or multiday tickets to the parks. Not having available reservations -- entering requires both a valid ticket and a reservation -- frustrates people visiting the Florida theme parks for just a few days.
They may be able to visit one of the parks, but if their heart was set on Magic Kingdom because they have kids, or Hollywood Studios because they love "Star Wars," getting to go to Epcot or Animal Kingdom may be disappointing. That's an expensive piece of disappointment when you factor in airfare, hotel, and food costs.
Annual passholders have a different complaint. Before the reservation system, they could go to the parks on a whim. Now, not only do they need to make reservations, they run the risk of one not being available.
Effectively, both of these issues are the same problem. Disney runs the risk of giving paying customers less than what they had hoped for. Parks did reach capacity before the pandemic. It usually happened at Magic Kingdom during major holidays. In those days, however, capacity just meant guests could wait in line until someone left, and then a new person could be admitted.
That's not how it works under the current system, and it suggests that Disney could actually further raise prices during peak periods. This would increase revenue while possibly lowering the crowd by driving some visitors to less peak times of the year.
