It's been just about a year since Walt Disney World reopened theme parks to the public, and if you didn't know better, you'd think things are entirely back to normal. And they basically are. Social distancing is done and masks are no longer required for vaccinated guests. Fireworks are back and while parades and a few other things are not, the parks look a lot like they did before the pandemic began. That includes the fact that they're getting pretty crowded. The good news is that as capacity has increased, getting in has become very close to a non-issue.
When Walt Disney World first reopened, and up until very recently, capacity was so limited that there were more people who wanted to go than there was space. Parks were routinely full to their new smaller capacity. However, reservations for the parks have been largely refilled due to a slow but steady increase in capacity, and now making reservations just isn't really an issue anymore.
Currently you can book reservations through the middle of January 2023. And the only days that have any limitations are the next couple of days. July 14 is booked at Disney's Hollywood Studios and July 15 is booked at Magic Kingdom (though not for Annual Pass holders). And October 1 and 2, the first two days of Walt Disney World's 50th Anniversary celebration, which are booked at Magic Kingdom and Epcot, though not at the other two parks.
It will be interesting to see how the reservation system works going forward. Disney has made it clear it has no plans to end the reservation system, but the fact is that on most days of the year the parks don't fill to capacity. Meaning that most of the time a guest could make a reservation in the morning and visit the park that day. At Walt Disney World, that will only really happen with Annual Pass owners, of course. Most Disney World guests are vacationers who are going to be planning things much farther in advance.
Even in the case of the 50th anniversary, it's likely that even more reservations will open up as the parks are probably not quite at full capacity yet. When more guests are allowed in even more reservations will be allowed. Still, there's a good chance that early October will be quite full. A lot of Disney fans will want to be there on October 1, the 50th anniversary of the day the resort opened. There's also a brand new Ratatouille attraction opening at Epcot to check out.
Those days will be exceptions, but even with the added step of having to make reservations after buying tickets, it will certainly be preferable to guests making their plans for vacation months in advance and then finding their chosen theme park full.
