For a stress-free Disney or Universal Studios vacation, let the FREE expert planners at Royal Carriage Vacations take care of every detail including dining reservations, applying discounts, and onboard cruise credit.
Disney is switching things up with the park pass system with regards to which resort you are staying at. Here’s everything that we know.
Park Passes
Disney implemented the park pass system to manage capacity at the theme parks. It is essentially your reservation for a park for each date of your vacation. There are three categories: Annual Passholder, Disney Resort Guests, and Theme Park Ticket Guests.
Usually, the Passholder category fills up quickly for certain events and/or dates. However, for the busy spring break crowds arriving, all four theme parks are sold out for all categories on select dates. You can read about that HERE.
New Change
A new change to the system shows “Select Resort Hotels” instead of the previous “Disney Resort Guests”. While we don’t have a reason for this change, it appears Disney simply wants to specify which resorts qualify as Resort Hotels.
Take a look at the screenshots below. First, we have a screenshot from earlier today when we reported on EPCOT park pass availability for Annual Passholders:
Now, you can see in this new screenshot where it says Select Resort Hotels.
You can see Disney slightly changed the names of the other categories.
Disney also states the following on the availability calendar:
Different types of admission—such as tickets, Annual Passes or packages—may have different reservation date availability. See which hotels qualify as “Select Resort Hotels.”
So, which hotels qualify?
List of Resorts that quality as Select Resort Hotels
Disney states, If you booked an upcoming stay at one of the following hotels, you can review theme park reservation availability for “Select Resort Hotels”:
Disney Resort Hotels
- Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort
- Disney’s All-Star Music Resort
- Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Jambo House
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village
- Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
- Disney’s Beach Club Resort
- Disney’s Beach Club Villas
- Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
- Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
- Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
- Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
- Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
- Disney’s Old Key West Resort
- Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows
- Disney’s Pop Century Resort
- Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter
- Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside
- Disney’s Riviera Resort
- Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
- Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
- The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort
- The Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort
- The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
Other Walt Disney World Resort Area Hotels
- Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel
- Walt Disney World Swan Hotel
- Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World
- B Resort & Spa Lake Buena Vista
- Doubletree Suites by Hilton Orlando
- Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace
- Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista
- Holiday Inn Orlando – Disney Springs Area
- Wyndham Garden Lake Buena Vista
- Wyndham Lake Buena Vista
- Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek
- Waldorf Astoria Orlando
- Shades of Green
My guess is this change was made to clarify which resorts qualify as Disney Resort Hotel for the purposes of booking park passes. If you have a reservation at one of the above resorts, you may use the “Select Resort Hotels” category when checking availability. If you are not, then you will have to use one of the other categories depending on your ticket.
What do you think of this change? Does it help clear up any concerns you had about Disney hotels? Let us know on Facebook.
Share the love!
Christine Olson
Friday 12th of March 2021
Question: If your staying at the Swan then its considered a "Select Resort Hotel" correct? we have our arrival night and 1 additional night at the Swan before moving over to the Grand Floridian for 6 more nights. We booked Swan because we have free Marriott points and its easy to get to Hollywood Studios from there as well as Epcot.
I sure hope the Swan qualifies because i already made my reservations for December.
Monica Street
Saturday 13th of March 2021
Yes, it is listed in the second category that is eligible as a select hotel.
Darla Forsnes
Wednesday 10th of March 2021
It could also be that they are gearing up to start the 30mins early for hotel guests.
Kathleen Barr
Wednesday 10th of March 2021
They keep changing things, just open everything up and if you are afraid to go, then don't. These changes are gonna frustrate alot of people in my opinion. If you don't feel safe about going to Disney then stay home. I'm sure alot of people are getting tired of these rules and stuff.