The Availability Calendar and December

If you’ve read much of what I write here since the Walt Disney World theme parks reopened, you know that I keep a close eye on the Availability Calendar. (Since you have to make theme park reservations right now, it shows which park has openings in three different guest categories.) I was looking at it this morning, curious about what Christmas Week might be like this year. I was surprised by what I saw.

In the month of December, it’s yellow for both Theme Park Ticket Guests and Disney Resort Guests! For the entire month! Yellow means that at least one of the theme parks has reached capacity for that day in that category. I then checked for Annual Passholders, and while some days are yellow, there are still plenty that are green. That includes Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve. Green means that there is availability for all four theme parks for that category of guests.

I explored a little bit more. You can check what is available each day by clicking that date. Most of the days Disney’s Hollywood Studios is full for both Tickets and Resort Guests. On Christmas Day it’s the Magic Kingdom that is full. That’s the only day that does have openings at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. There is no availability at the Magic Kingdom or Disney’s Hollywood Studios on December 31. It’s interesting that both categories are exactly the same, at least when I checked.

I’m not used to seeing more availability for Annual Passholders than the other two groups. Part of it could be because some levels of Florida Resident Passes are blocked out after December 17 until January 3 (it’s January 4 for Weekday Select). Also, since Annual Passholders can only hold three reservations at a time, many may want to wait before making a reservation for next month. That is the case for me.

Remember, Disney does reevaluate the reservations from time to time, and they will sometimes take some from one category and move them to another. That does not mean that they have increased capacity, they have just moved spots around. Plus, people will cancel, but cancelations do not show up on the Availability Calendar. If you hope to get reservations for a specific date and it looks like nothing is available, keep trying. The situation could change.

If you’re wondering about Thanksgiving Day (November 26), I checked that as well. Both Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Epcot have openings in all three guest categories. The Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios are both at capacity across the board.

One more thing is interesting to me. As I mentioned, both the Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios have no availability in two categories on December 31. On New Year’s Eve, the Magic Kingdom is currently scheduled to close at 7:00, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios will close at the same time. Even Disney Springs will close before midnight, at 10:00. If you plan to spend New Year’s Eve at Walt Disney World, make sure you have a backup plan to ring in 2021. Don’t hold out hope for a surprise firework show, it’s unlikely that it will happen.